Phase One: Taking a Pro-hormone

If you have read any of my other pro-hormone articles then this will sound familiar. A pro-hormone is a pre-cursor to steroid hormones within the body. Unlike androgenic anabolic steroids, a pro-hormone must first be activated in the liver by picking up the necessary enzyme to turn it into a steroid hormone.

For a much more detailed explanation of the difference of anabolic steroids and pro-hormones, please check out my article on Trenavar.

While gains are limited, to an extent, by genetics, the benefits you will see while taking a pro-hormone are numerous. It all comes down to how much effort you put in with training and nutrition. Overall, users of pro-hormones will see a respectable increase in lean muscle tissue and strength.

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These gains are possible due to the actions the pro-hormone is taking inside your body. It is dramatically increasing the amount of testosterone that your body is producing. Testosterone is a very powerful anabolic hormone, which influences the size of your muscle mass. When you have a lot of testosterone, you’re also going to have a lot of Dihydrotestosterone. Testosterone is converted into DHT within the body. Like Testosterone, DHT is an extremely effective muscle-building hormone.

Since the human body is constantly striving to be at homeostasis, where all levels are balanced, what do you suppose is going to happen when you dramatically increase just one of the two major sex hormones? With sky-high levels of Testosterone floating through your system, your body is going to be fighting to boost estrogen levels.

What’s the big deal with estrogen? Estrogen is a female sex hormone. It influences feminine features such as breast development, a higher-pitched voice, and the overall soft and round shape of a woman. The trouble comes in once your cycle if finished. If you are new to the pro-hormone scene, you may think the only thing you have left to do is buy new shirts and parade your gains all over town. You can do that but you better have started on the next phase in a complete pro-hormone cycle.

Phase Two: Taking a PCT

Your 6-week cycle on your pro-hormone of choice has concluded and you’re left with impressive gains in size and strength. You are also stuck with the following:

• Suppressed production of testosterone due to supplementation
• Higher than baseline levels of estrogen (even with intra-cycle estrogen support)
• Hepatotoxicity, or chemical induced liver strain and/or damage

Since your estrogen levels end up higher than your natural testosterone levels when you come off of a pro-hormone cycle, you need to immediately begin a post cycle therapy supplement. A PCT serves three key purposes:

• Restores natural testosterone production
• Suppresses estrogen product while testosterone levels are increasing
• Detoxifies the liver to avoid any potential long term damage

Let’s take a look at why you would want these three factors to happen following your pro-hormone cycle.

The Importance of a PCT

Restoring Your T-Levels

Earlier, I mentioned how testosterone is a prime muscle-building hormone while estrogen is a hormone that produces feminine features. You just spent 6 weeks performing brutal workouts while supplementing with a pro-hormone, do you really think a set of man-boobs is going to complement your newfound muscle mass? Testosterone is the key to building and, more importantly, preserving lean muscle tissue.

Your goal post-cycle is to maintain as much of your muscle mass as you can. It is not going to be possible to hold on to all of it simply because of how high your estrogen levels are post-cycle. The faster you restore your testosterone production, the more muscle you keep. A PCT will help to encourage the Hypothlamus-Pituitary-Testicular-Axis to suppress estrogen levels while your body restores normal testosterone production.

Taking Care of Your Liver

If you take a methylated pro-hormone, there is a very high chance that you will cause some serious strain to your liver. Why would anyone use a performance enhancer that is known to cause damage? Methylated pro-hormones are able to pass through organs and tissue without breaking down in structure. This high rate of absorption and assimilation makes these pro-hormones very cost effective, potent, and desirable. The price you pay is with your liver. This is the main reason why most cycles on a methylated pro-hormone only last 4 to 6 weeks. Any longer and you’re looking at potentially irreversible damage.

The importance of the liver in the body cannot be overstated. Your liver has many critical responsibilities including the following:

• Cleaning and filtering the blood before sending it throughout the body
• Removing harmful waste and toxins from your body
• Producing key digestive enzymes

Okay, you get it. The liver is important. What does that have to do with your muscle gains? Everything. Again, estrogen impacts muscle. When the male body has too much estrogen, what does it do?

It metabolizes it.

Where does estrogen metabolism take place?

The liver!

If your liver is not functioning as it should due to hepatotoxicity, that means it will NOT be able to effectively metabolize and eliminate excess estrogen from the body. This will then begin a vicious cycle of estrogen production and testosterone suppression. Put simply: You need to take care of your liver, especially during a pro-hormone cycle. A PCT helps to detoxify the liver and restore normal function to this critical organ.

The Perfect PCT Ingredient: Arimistane

Now that you are sold on using a post cycle therapy supplement, you may be wondering where Arimistane factors in. As mentioned above, Arimistane is a very well known Armoatase Inhibitor. Armoatase is also called estrogen synthase. Does that give you a hint as to what it does?

Armoatase is a key enzyme in the production of estrogen. Since you will want to suppress estrogen as much as as possible, an Armoatase Inhibitor is the number one thing you’ll be looking for. Arimistane will be able to provide you with the estrogen blocking and testosterone boosting properties you are looking for post-cycle. Here are a few key benefits that have reported when using Arimistane:

• Increase in testosterone levels
• Decrease in estrogen levels
• Reduction in cortisol levels (stress hormone that may result in muscle breakdown)
• Maintaining or gaining muscle mass
• Enhanced recovery
• Reduction in body fat
• Increase in libido

How Arimistane Works

Arimistane has been labeled as a “suicide aromatase inhibitor.” Don’t let the scary name worry you. That simply means that when you take Arimistane, it will be able to shut down your estrogen production for an extended period of time. Ignore the marketing you see about suicide aromatase inhibitors permanently shutting down your estrogen production. Whether you’re male or female, your body needs both types of sex hormones. The difference is in the amount based on gender. It’s not possible to completely eliminate estrogen production from your body. You can suppress it. You can even suppress it for a long time. You can never stop it. Arimistane is one of the few legal and relatively safe ways to significantly suppress estrogen production without the need for a prescription.

Potential Side Effects of Arimistane

You can scan every bodybuilding and supplement forum that the Interwebs have to offer and you’ll be hard pressed to find severe side effects with Arimistane. The few horror stories that I have come across are all from users that have abused Arimistane. When you exceed the recommended dosage, you do risk straining your liver enzymes. I think I made my case earlier with the liver being a critical organ, especially for maintaining muscle mass.

As I’ll expand on below, even though the side effects are few and far between, I still suggest taking Arimistane in conjunction with other PCT ingredients. This is for the safety of your liver.

What the Research Says about Arimistane

There is a reason that Arimistane has been a supplement staple in the world of bodybuilding and weight lifting: it works. Not only does the product have a seemingly endless supply of positive user reviews but it also has the research to back it up.

One study published in the journal for the National Center for Biotechnology Information showed the superiority of Arimistane as an Armotase Inhibitor. It was compared to two other Armotase Inhibitors and while all three did prove to be effective, Arimistane still came out on top.

Arimistane is often compared to Aromasin, a prescription-only Armotase Inhibitor. Just like an anabolic steroid, many Armotase Inhibitors are going to have a stronger, prescription-based counterpart. As you can see in this study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Aromasin has been shown to effectively decrease estrogen levels while boosting testosterone in the body.

Best Way to Use Arimistane

While some veteran weight lifters and pro-hormone users take only Arimistane intra cycle, I would recommend taking it post cycle as a part of a well-balanced PCT supplement. This is because, as mentioned above, you will want your liver functioning at maximum capacity to metabolize and eliminate estrogen from your body. Still, due to the fact that Arimistane has such rare side effects yet is so efficient, there are a number of ways that you can supplement with it:

Only Arimistane

• Very popular among older men to manage your estrogen levels.

Dosage:

• Keep in mind that based on the brand you purchase, serving sizes may vary. In general, you will want to supplement with 100 mg to 200 mg per day. Never exceed the recommended dosage as that will increase potential side effects..

Cycle Length

• This will vary by company. The general time frame is up to 6 weeks.

Cycle Support

• No cycle support is needed.

In conjunction with PCT ingredients

• Intra-cycle – Take it during a pro-hormone cycle to suppress estrogen.
• Post cycle – To suppress estrogen while restoring your natural testosterone levels.

Dosage:

• Keep in mind that based on the brand you purchase, serving sizes may vary. In general, you will want to supplement with:
• First week: 75 mg to 100 mg per day
• Second and third week: 50 mg to 75 mg per day
• Fourth (and fifth) week: 25 mg to 50 mg per day

Cycle Length

• This will vary by company. The general time frame is up to 6 weeks.

Cycle Support

• The other PCT ingredients will act as the cycle support.

Stacking Method

Due to its estrogen blocking properties, Arimistane is usually the stack for other pro-hormones. You wouldn’t stack with another supplement to boost Arimistane. It’s just the opposite. You would use Arimistane to enhance the benefits of another supplement. For instance, let’s say you’re doing a pro-hormone cycle of Trenavar. You would stack Trenavar with Arimistane to help to block estrogen and increase testosterone; thereby, increasing strength and muscle mass. Put simply: If you want serious results from your next pro-hormone cycle, consider using Arimistane as well.

Popular Brands of Arimistane

• ELIM1NATE by Olympus Labs
• E-Control RX 2.0 by IronMagLabs
• VMI Arimistane

Conclusion

Arimistane is a popular suicide aromatase inhibitor, capable of effectively suppressing estrogen production in the body. It can be taken on its own, as an intra-cycle supplement, or a post-cycle supplement.

As long as it not abused, Arimistane can be a relatively safe and legal means of increasing lean muscle mass and ridding yourself of estrogen-based symptoms such as mood swings. Safety practices are in order with taking it and you should not exceed the maximum recommend daily dose. Compared to other similar competitors on the market, it is fairly low risk and easy to self dose.

It has definitely earned its reputation and there is a reason that it has gained attention in the world of testosterone boosting supplements and is worth taking a closer look into.

It is a popular and cost effective supplement that I would recommend for those going on a pro-hormone cycle. I’d also recommend it for older guys looking to combat low testosterone levels.

Have You Used Arimistane?  Leave Your Review Below!