Guide to PCT construction

It seems that guys struggle allot to determine the correct PCT for their cycles, so I’ve made this guide to the different PCT protocols I recommend.

First of all note that I’m providing this for educational purposes only and it’s not my problem if you decide to use this and experience adverse effects.

Now that my ass is covered we can start…

I’m assuming that you already did research and fully understand the importance of doing a proper PCT after your cycle. If you don’t know what PCT is or why it is necessary you are not ready to use steroids and I highly recommend that you read around on the site until you know the basics, but here is the short explanation of why PCT is needed:

In men, AAS administration produces a predictable, dose-dependent depression of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), via the negative feedback loop of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPGA/HPTA). Thus, AAS administration can result in hypogonadism and oligospermia, leading to infertility, because both LH and FSH are required for spermatogenesis. Bodybuilding literature suggests that post-cycle treatment (PCT) with chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) may speed recovery by stimulating LH production.

The first question most asks is: What’s the required PCT I need to recover from my cycle?

At first glance that question seems pretty simple, but it’s not and there are many factors that will determine what you use in the end. Here are a couple of examples that will be crucial in your decision-making.

1: Compounds used.
This is the first thing I look at when deciding on a PCT. Some compounds like Nandrolone (Deca, Nandro-Prop) and Trenbolone (Fina) cause considerable more “shutdown” than others like Testosterone for example. I always recommend beginners to avoid Nandrolone and Trenbolone until they have more experience. These two need additional HCG treatment during cycle, but I’ll explain that later.

2: Ester attached to the compound.
A Decanoate ester stays much longer in your body than a Propionate ester, so that will determine the timing of when your PCT starts, but more on this later.

3: Dosages you used for the various compounds.
The higher your dosage the more you will be “shutdown”, so the more powerful your PCT will have to be.

4: Duration of your cycle.
Similar to above, the longer you stay on steroids the harder it will become to recover fully after the cycle ended.

5: Your age.
The younger you are the easier it is to restore natural testosterone production, but once you go over 40 you might have to extend your PCT or use stronger compounds.

6: Your diet and supplements.
Following a good diet with all the nutrition you require will greatly improve recovery. Supplementing with ZMA will also help greatly.

7: Your general health and genetics.
Everyone is different and what works for one might not work for the next. A PCT is a very individual thing and you will soon realize what works for you and what doesn’t.

Now that you know more about the influential factors I’m going to attach three levels of PCTs. Level 1 is the mildest and Level 3 is the strongest I’m going to discuss in this tutorial.
I’ll provide some sample steroid compounds with every level and the maximum AAS dosages recommended for that particular PCT. Just note that it’s impossible for me to provide all the combinations of AAS a PCT might work for… this is just a guideline.


Level 1:
This is the most basic PCT I will recommend to guys. This PCT is for beginners only.

This PCT is only effective if you use Testosterone <500mg <8 weeks max with one of the following orals; Anavar, Dianabol, Winstrol, Turinabol, Proviron or Primobolan

This PCT will NOT be enough for Nandrolone, Trenbolone or 500mg+ of Testosterone.

It’s important to note that the Clomid dosages are split in two per day.

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Level 2:
This is a stronger PCT that will provide much better recovery and a greater flexibility of compounds and dosages.

This PCT will work for a cycle similar to this:
Testosterone <750mg <10 weeks combined with one of the following injecables:
Nandro-Prop <300mg <6 weeks
OR
Equi <500mg <10 weeks
OR
Masteron <500mg <10 weeks

One of the following orals can also be used with the above; Anapolon, Anavar, Dianabol, Winstrol, Turinabol, Proviron, Superdrol or Primobolan
It’s important to note that the Clomid dosages are split in two per day.

This PCT will NOT be enough for Nandrolone Decanoate, Trenbolone or 750mg+ of Testosterone.

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Level 3:
The protocol here is also known as Doctari’s PCT protocol and is known to be effective on most cycles used by athletes. This PCT is the one I recommend to guys that go over 1g of hormone per week.

This PCT will also work for compounds like Nandrolone or Trenbolone providing you use 500iu HCG per week during the entire cycle leading up to PCT.

I’ve compiled two versions of this cycle. The original is the one with Ovidrel, but since some don’t have access to Ovidrel I also made the equivalent in HCG dosages.

It’s important to note that the Ovidrel/HCG and Clomid dosages are split in two per day. Every component in this PCT is critical for it’s effectiveness and you cannot substitute anything in this PCT.
Eg. You cannot replace Aromasin with any other AI, because Letrozole or Anastrozole doesn’t work in the same way, as Aromasin and replacing it will make your PCT useless.

Here is the Ovidrel version with some additional info:

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The Ovidrel one is the better of the two for the following reasons:

Ovidrel is the alpha-sub-unit of the HCG molecule. Most of you would be familiar with the beta-sub-unit, called Pregnyl (B-HCG). This acts as a LH-analogue, stimulating the LH production, leading to testis stimulation of own-testosterone production.

Where Ovidrel is much more superior to Pregnyl, is that the alpha unit stimulates the FSH, LH and TSH production simultaneously - so, it repairs your testosterone function, sperm production and thyroid function in one go, whereas Pregnyl does only the testosterone function.
Another reason for Ovidrel's use above that of Pregnyl, is that the whole month's worth is cheaper, it can be mixed and kept at room temperature and the same vial can be used for more than 30 days after being mixed.

Ovidrel comes in one unit vial, multi-dosed, at 250mcg. That's equal to 6000IU's of the alpha-sub-unit, equal in potency to 10 000IU's of Pregnyl's beta-sub-unit. The vial is accompanied by 1ml sterile water for mixing. But I don't prescribe it that way. This is what should be done. Get a 2ml sterile water ampule and insulin needles. Draw up the 1ml ampule provided in the Ovidrel box and mix it into the powdered bottle. Take another 1.5ml sterile water from the 2cc ampule and mix it in extra. Now your Ovidrel vial should have 2.5ml in it. Ovidrel is now used from day 8 onwards as 10IU's drawn into insulin needle twice per day. It is then used one day on, one day off. The last day will only have enough for one injection though. Can be used intra-muscularly.

Here is the HCG version:

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Now that you have chosen the PCT that will work best for your cycle you have to determine when to start using it. Below is a list of the half-lives of most steroids commonly used:

Oral steroids:
Anapolan (Oxymetholone) = 8 to 9 hours
Anavar (Oxandrolone) = 9 hours
Dianabol (Methandrostenolone) = 4.5 to 6 hours
Winstrol (Stanozolol) = 9 hours
Halotestin (Fluoxymesterone) = 9.5 hours
Turinabol (4-­?Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone) = 16 hours
Superdrol (Methyldrostanolone) = 6 hours
Primobolan (Methenolone Acetate) = 4.5 to 6 hours

Injectable steroids:
Deca (Nandrolone decanate) = 15 days
Equi (Boldenone Undeclynate) = 14 days
Tren Ace (Trenbolone Acetate) = 3 days
Tren E (Trenbolone Enanthate) = 8 to 10.5 days
Primobolan (Methenolone Enanthate) = 8 to 10.5 days
Sustanon = 18 days
Testosterone Cypionate = 12 days
Testosterone Enanthate = 8 to 10.5 days
Testosterone Propionate = 4.5 days
Testosterone Suspension = 1 day
Winstrol (stanozolol) = 1 day

You will have to wait to commence this PCT protocol until the t-half life of your longest acting cycle component used in the last week of your cycle is reached. For instance, say you used Anavar and Testosterone Enanthate. Anavar is cleared within days, but the Enanthate will stay for 8 to 10 days. At 14 days only half the original dosage will be in your system. For the drug to totally clear your system of all its active metabolites, a period of 7 times that of the t-half life has to expire. Any Enanthate thus will take 56-70 days to totally clear your system. Pharmacodynamically, the drug's plasma levels will drop below the therapeutic (active working) level, once the t-half has been reached.

I think at this stage we should engage in a bit of academic stuff:
Drugs accumulate and eliminate in your body, following a constant logarythmic curve - mostly log-2 with a value of 0,7 constant. What this means, as far as elimination of the drug is concerned, that 50% of the drug will still be left in your system when the drug's t-half life has been reached, 75% of the drug will be excreted once 2 x t-half life has been reached, 90% of the drug will be excreted once 4 x t-half life has been reached and 100% of the drug will be excreted once 7 x t-half life has been reached. I'm quite comfortable to commence the first week of PCT when the longest acting injected drug's elimination curve has reached a value of 3 x t-half life. By the time of the 8’Th day of your PCT cycle, very close to less than 10-15% of the initial drug dosage will be left circulating. At these circulating levels, the drug should not suppress the PCT's effort to stimulate the HPT-axis' repair.

Back to the Enanthate example. If the longest acting ester was an Enanthate used, I will commence day one of the PCT protocol about 24 days from my last Enanthate injection date (3 x t-half life of 8-10 days for the Enanthate). Hope this academic stuff makes some sense to you...

I hope that this guide will help you with your PCT and I’d like to point out that some of the stuff above like the t-half life calculation was determined by Doctari and credit should be given to him for this work.

Please contact Liquid Pharmaceuticals for more info about the PCT compounds used in these examples.

Please vote above if you found this helpful or not.