Steroid Cycle Tapering

One of the most fundamental beliefs among steroid users is that tapering, or the practice of slowly reducing their drug dosage when discontinuing a cycle, is an absolute necessity when wishing to preserve your newly gained muscle mass.

It is rare to find an athlete who does not religiously dedicate (at least) three or four weeks to a tapering schedule after every serious cycle. The belief is that the body will notice the lowering androgen level, and compensate by resuming the manufacture of testosterone. Unfortunately, you will see that this theory is, in fact, extremely flawed. This is because in order for the production of testosterone to be fully restored, the body will really need to recognize an androgen deficit, not just a drop in steroid dosage. For example, since even one Dianabol tablet could provide the equivalent of a full day's androgen supply for the average male, tapering from five, to four, to three, etc. will accomplish relatively nothing. In the three or four weeks the athlete will spend doing this, his body is still reading "androgen overload", and will not attempt to restore the output of testosterone. This will hold true for all anabolic steroids, not just the strong androgens. Anecdotal evidence suggests that even tapering with mild anabolics such as Primobolan or Anavar (normally thought of as mild in terms of testosterone suppression) is enough to prevent or delay a hormonal rebound.

So, if tapering is useless, what should the athlete do in order to properly discontinue a steroid cycle? The obvious answer is to pay much closer attention to ancillary drug use than tapering. The proper application of testosterone stimulating compounds like HCG, Clomid and Nolvadex are the most critical, as these can greatly aid in the balancing of body hormones.