nforeseen circumstances are a fact. We can't plan out life, we all know that. But when some short term plans go down the drain because of such events is often harder to accept. So too with the case study. Many of you have wondered what happened to the weekly updates, and I received a ton of email from people, some concerned, others angry, asking me what was up.
Well, I was recently stricken with illness. Nothing serious at first, a little throat ache and a stuffy nose. I didn't think much of it to begin with and medication at that point was the farthest from my mind. I was taking driving lessons for the motorcycle so I pepped myself up with some ECA pills to not feel so out of the weather. Four days later I realized what a mistake I had made. The pills wore off, I fell off the motorcycle. Nothing was hurt but my pride, but when I came home I felt for the first time how sick I was. My throat ache was gone, but my stuffy nose had developed into a nasty cough which immediately affected my bronchia. It's a remnant from my childhood asthma and it always happens. I was a fool not to see it. I got a fever and it skyrocketed, and my bronchia closed up. The next day I could barely breathe. My dad, coincidentally also my doctor, immediately got me on heavy doses of broad spectre anti-biotics and 50 mg a day of cortisone which I was to reduce over time. It would still be a while before I could breathe normally. On top of that my blood pressure skyrocketed as well and we located a weird deformation in my nose cartilage that is apparently keeping me from breathing normally even when not ill.
I'm glad all that is behind me now and I'm well on the road to recovery. I didn't want to let anyone down, so I continued with my prohormone and supplementation regimen. But obviously I missed a week and a half of training and my nutrition was nowhere near as meticulate as it should have been. Together with the cortisone I was taking I was in fairly catabolic states. So hopefully people will forgive me for the delay and the compromised aspects of the case study, but here is the summary of weeks 2, 3 and 4 of the case study.
The Second, Third and Fourth Weeks
I'm still consuming the 1AD in 3 doses of 300 mg daily totaling 900 mg and for the duration of the norandro spray study, which finished at the end of week 3 I stayed on 2 doses of 300 mg, one every twelve hours, very consitently. Test Subject B was still doing the same as well, he stayed on the old diet of 16 cals per pound of bodyweight, as did the other two test subjects. My diet varied, and some days I was eating below that. I tried, but illness and appetite do not mix. We also reduced their training to 4 days a week.
The 1AD
Of all the side-effects reported in week one, I noticed very little now. I increased my water intake and that seemed to solve the problem of painful urination. Despite illness, not always taking the 1AD with food and so on, I never had gastro-intestinal complaints since the first 2 days. That would lead me to conclude that its basically just something that occurs early on, but once you are adapted its no trouble. I remember I suggest two days on 300 mg and two days on 600 mg before starting 900 mg was advisable perhaps to avoid this problem, but it appears I was wrong. Several people have written to me explaining they did lower doses to start off with and still got some gastr-intestinal upset. So the best course of action is to make sure you take your doses after a big meal the first few days to avoid it. Which is the suggestion on the bottle by the way.
I still urinate more often than I used to. But now with the extra water intake I'm not so sure what is causing it. But I can honestly say its not a real hassle. It hasn't inconvenienced me or anything, just means I have to go to the bathroom between classes like clockwork. But the final conclusion is that most of the inherent flaws of 1AD quickly subside after which it no longer forms a bigger risk than another quality hormone like 4AD, Nor-diol or 1,4-andro.
Addressing that issue, past the third week I feel safe to discuss the matters of real side-effects. Obviously no estrogenic effects, but to say 1AD helps reduce body-fat is just a lie. That's still the work of a diet and cardio. My irregular eating pattern of the last weeks seems to keep these love handles right where they are. Which is also keeping me from checking the fact if my muscles are indeed denser due to the 1AD. I feel not and largely due to my high BF percentage at this point. In terms of androgenic side-effects, I have a few zits here and there, but nothing to warrant a plague of acne that I experienced with andro when it first came out. No centralization, just a few zits on my face mostly, chest and shoulders. No one even really noticed I had them, except my girlfriend. My prostate is fine, although because the 1AD makes me urinate more to begin with I don't have an accurate lead of course. And even if I did, I'm still young, I don't think I'd be a good measure to determine the risk of BPH. I'm experiencing mild hair loss in that I'm losing more hair in my brush. The same way it started on my last heavy cycle, but actually a bit slower. So I may have been a bit hasty in saying it would have more of an effect than other prohormones, but really it doesn't. Nonetheless hair loss is a fact. But after 4 and a half weeks no reduction of the hair line that is actually visible yet, which makes me relatively content with the use of this product. One side-effect I can't seem to explain is an ache in my left testicle. No one seems to be able to provide an answer as to what is causing it.
The Norandro Spray
With week 3 came the conclusion of the Norandro spray trial. The major downside of using a transdermal Nor-diol was the immense suppression of HPTA, which frankly had me worried. Testicular shrinkage was worse than I had experienced in three weeks with any type of oral prohormones and I wonder if my aching testicle wasn't the result of this. It suppressed my libido almost 24/7 and by week 3 I honestly didn't feel like sex at all anymore. This seemed to resolve slightly after coming off. The 1AD still suppressed libido, but not to a point where I couldn't get it up when my girlfriend was here, which was the case near the end of the Norandro trial. I feel in terms of gains it contributed adequately for it to be worth the money spent on it. Subject B, who used only the Norandro ended with a total gain of 7.5 lean pounds after three weeks of use. These are the measurements one week after coming off so I think he will maintain them fairly easy. This wasn't always the case with oral Nor-diols, where over 6-8 weeks you could gains 15-20 pounds, but in the end you were lucky if you kept 6 or 7 of them. For the simple reason that they seemed to cause more water retention and of course because Nor-diol is very suppressive. I have a feeling that longer use would result in bigger gains, but considerably harder to maintain.
One positive side-effect: While on the spray our shoulders and upper chest swoll up like we were pros. This was however temporary. Looking in the mirror now, a week later, the difference is truly amazing. Our shoulders seem so much smaller. I've always had wide shoulders, genetically and of course they are still big, if not bigger than before we started, but the visual trickery of the Norandro made them look almost twice their size during the trial. I have no idea why this is, but apparently we aren't the only ones to have experienced this.
The Results
The efforts of continual and dedicated ICE training have begun to pay off for control subjects C and D. After 3 weeks they had gained 1.3 and 1.4 pounds respectively, up to 1.7 each after week 4. All of this on what I would consider a sub-calorie diet of only 16 calories per pound of bodyweight. This has nothing to do with the trial, but I figured I'd mention it as a plug for my ICE system. I was frankly surprised with such consistent results myself. Subject B, as was said was up 9 pounds at the end of the Norandro cycle, but after only two days it has dropped and leveled to 7.5 pounds and maintaining well with the same diet as the other two. The largest gains for subjects C and D seemed to have been in the legs and back. For subject B the gains were fairly even with a slightly larger increase in shoulder and leg mass.
My gains were limited due to illness, lack of sleep and bad diet. But I can honestly say that continuing to use these products throughout these catabolic affairs, not to mention the time I took cortisone has helped me maintain my weight. At some point I was up 2 pounds, but right now I'm hovering around my weight at the end of week 1. This may not seem impressive, but remember that I am not a small person and that most people with an extomorphic body-type would lose considerable weight dealing with the seriosity of illness I had to deal with. So I am amazed at the potential of these products. Now I'm back in the gym, since two days and will be implementing and increase of calories to 18 per pound by the next week. Now of course it's only a 1AD trial.
I started off very skeptical thinking 1AD was all hype, after the first week I was using the term legal anabolic. I was wrong on both counts. 1AD does work, that much I will vouch for, and it works great. Few if any supplements can touch it, including the classic prohormones, and I'm also fairly sure no new supplement will top the effects of this one in the near future (no matter what Biotest says). However, legal anabolic was perhaps a premature statement. But it's quite an achievement for me to say that a product that costs so much is actually worth that money. I wouldn't pay the $80 retail price for it , but if you can get it for $44.98 like here at Bodybuilding.com, doing a 6 week cycle at 900 mg a day is well worth the money.
raven1008@yahoo.com
Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here!
Back To Big Cat's Main Page
Back To The Articles Main Page.
Related Articles
Battle Of The Bars!
John & Baz's British AST Challenge - Introduction.
Promotional Article
 |
ABB Steel Bars
American BodyBuilding Steel Bars are a tryed and true bar stuffed with 16 grams of protein, 19 vitamins and minerals, and great taste. 24 Bars In A Box!!!
Learn More! |
