Steroid injection technique is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of chemical bodybuilding. The goals are initially to plan out the cycle, locate steroids, make a purchase, and then start growing. It’s not until the bodybuilder finds himself sitting alone in a room, staring down vials of oil with a needle in his hand, that the reality of the situation tends to set in: “I’m about to inject this into my body and I’m not really sure what I am doing.” The process is easy and takes less than a minute, but for the first time “plunger”, time should be dedicated to researching and mentally preparing for the injection process. There are no “redo’s” once the skin is broken, so it’s always better to prepare mentally beforehand. Here are the steps: Fill the syringe Hold the vial of oil upside ...

When it comes to steroids, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before one can successfully take that first shot. You have to research the stack you plan to construct – which steroids you’ll need, in what doses. You’ll have to secure these steroids. In today’s political climate, it’s getting harder and harder to obtain them. You’ll have to weigh the side effects of each compound, as well as the synergistic side effects of mixing them. You have to place your order online, placing your personal and financial information at risk as you send your money to a faraway land in the hopes that the recipient will have the business integrity to mail you authentic gear that may or may not be confiscated as ...

Q: Whenever I inject, I always pull back to see if any blood is in the syringe. I was told to do this when I first started. I did actually pull some blood the other day, but pushed it back in and gave the injection at that site. What is going to happen? Also, is it better to inject slow or fast? A: Well, first of all, if you’re going to be painstaking about injections and pull back to see if you have blood in the syringe, why would you push it back in? That seems to be defeating. Also, when you pull back, do it slowly so that you can just see the blood barely come past the pin. But the good news is, if you see just a little blood, it’s really okay. ...

Q:  How about shooting your lats for back width? I see guys who compete at the pro level and I could swear they'd just start flying away they are so wide and have such amazing lats. Surely they must shoot their lats on a regular basis, right? A: Good hard training never hurt anyone either! Truth is, the lats are a problem. There are enough places that are easier to hit than the lats and will be more beneficial. Plus, nobody really has proven that you are making better gains by site injecting. It may or may not be valid. It appears to be, but then growth is something that happens with AS use and it's hard to quantify why it happened and where it happened first or more profoundly. It's like the "chicken vs. the egg" theory... ...

Q:   I'm curious to know how injections into the quads affect training... How sore does an injection make a limb, and does it prevent you from training? A: There are a lot of factors that present themselves as issues with injection sites. Even shooting your glutes can result in tremendous soreness if you don't hit the spot correctly, and that can affect your training schedule. So, no matter where you inject, you can always end up with the potential of some kind of injury, soreness, or even worse, infection. But let's just say that abscess and infection do not result.  Soreness is at least probable when you inject a more sinewy muscle with less fat surrounding it. However, you can minimize the chance of this by using an inch sized needle instead of your normal 1.5 ...

Q:  I feel really bummed this week because twice I feel like my shots went into the fat and not the muscle. Will it still be absorbed enough to work and count toward my mass cycle? A: It's going to take longer, but dude, if you've got that much adipose in the off season, you may want to go to an inch and a half needle or longer! Also, you could be going in at an angle since you are doing it yourself and are, perhaps, inexperienced. While it's probably a relief at times to find a not-so-tough spot to go into, but it's going to be less effective. Also, if you go in at an angle, as opposed to perpendicular, you're going to have far more chances for lumps, and subsequently, abscesses. Keep rotating your sites so ...

Q: About five weeks ago, I finished a 12-week cycle of Sustenon (500ew). The final 7 weeks I ran EQ (600ew), along with some Anavar tabs the last 5 weeks. I also took Nolvadex throughout until about 2 weeks after the last inject. About 2 weeks after that last inject, I had a massive outbreak of crater-like acne. It’s awful and I won’t even take my shirt off. He said I looked like a steroid user. (Busted!) He gave me benzoil peroxide of 6% I think, and then a ‘scrip of Doxycycline. It’s gotten better, but it’s still there. Help! I feel like this is social suicide. A: Acne is a big risk and no one really knows what will happen when they take certain drugs, or combination of drugs. Some tolerate androgens very well (EQ) and some ...

Q:  I’m on my first cycle ever, and I inject 1cc of test into my glutes on Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s been going great, but this last week, I hit my left glute again for the second time and I woke up and it hurt like hell. I couldn’t even get out of bed or walk!  I talked to a friend’s dad who’s a chiropractor and he said I could have hit my sciatic nerve. I moved it closer over to my hip and that made me sore as hell again, to the point of dire pain. So I shot it in my shoulder and it was sore, but it didn’t incapacitate me. What am I doing wrong? A: It’s hard to say, but nerves are a big area of concern. And that’s something none of us ...

Q:  During a recent triceps injection - and a quad injection a couple of weeks ago - I hit a nerve, I think. At least I assumed that because it felt like a wasp stinging me. In the quad injection, it felt like the stinger went down to the bone! I was okay with the quad one within a day or two, but my triceps is actually still numb in one of the heads of my triceps horseshoe. Is this serious? A: Sticking various body parts is something that came into fashion back in the late 80's, went out of fashion and came back quickly. It's something most bodybuilders do routinely. But the fact is, you're all luckier than you think because mistakes in injecting can end up in some disastrous results. Everything from abscesses that cause permanent tissue damage ...