HCG is a polypeptide hormone that has the same biological effects as the luteinizing hormone. It’s probably the weirdest substance in the whole bodybuilding world, but it’s a “last resort” for the most desperate athletes on the most hardcore cycles.
When Do You Need HCG
When you run long cycles on steroids or blast and cruise non-stop for years, your body gets used to the gear.
Your testicles get the signal from the brain that you have enough testosterone and they don’t have to worry about producing it anymore. At some point, they just get lazy and stop making it at all. What’s the point if your body doesn’t need their function? You get your testicles’ best product from a different source and in greater amounts.
When your testicles don’t work long enough, they shrink to the size of raisins. Almonds, brown beans, or a nickel coin – I believe you get the concept. No pics will be here, and for God’s sake, I dare you not to google it. Besides, your ejaculations get weaker. Not to mention that orgasms get significantly less pleasurable and you get less satisfaction from sex in general.
Sounds bad, right? That’s what medical professionals call hypogonadism. Athletes had to deal with it for decades, it has become a common thing shortly after the first steroids became popular. Hardcore gear usage and decreased testicular function are inseparable. You can buy HCG in advance in our store, it’s lab-tested and comes in 5000IU per vial.
In MOST situations, all you need is a regular PCT. Here’s our complete guide to the most popular PCT compounds for it. In a short version — you can get one of the SERMs, aka Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators. Nolvadex or Clomid work great after regular cycles.
However!
Some cycles are not like the others. No Nolva or Clomid will save you after a year of non-stop blasting and cruising Tren or a prolonged Deca cycle. Your balls in this case are absolutely fucked.
Luckily, there is a solution. And this solution is HCG.
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. With Gonadotropin injections, you can get your testicles the prime size they’ve always had, get a decent amount of load for every ejaculation, and get your testicular function back to the pre-cycling level. Like any other miracle, it is waiting for you where you least expect it.
What Is Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
That’s where all the weirdness kicks in. Women produce Gonadotropin in the early stages of pregnancy. About 6-9 days after the ovulation, to be precise. It’s a vital hormone for the development of a child when it’s most vulnerable. Basic pregnancy tests that you can get from the nearest pharmacy react exactly to Gonadotropin to show one or two stripes.
For medical use, scientists extract HCG from pregnant women’s urine. Sounds weird, I know. I’m not a fan of this fetish either and had to study the process to make sure that it is not what it looks like. Luckily, we don’t live in a stone age anymore and the high-tech procedure of HCG extraction is way more complicated than you could expect.
To get to the vial, any Gonadotropin has to go through ion-exchange chromatography, nano (or ultra) filtration, recomposition, and numerous other purification stages. Otherwise, it simply wouldn’t work and would never be approved for medical use. In case you’re interested, here is an example of an HCG patent with the whole procedure description.
What matters most, is that you get the pure HCG that works, and you get it in a sterile vial. No pregnant women in sight.
HCG Benefits
Normal Testicular Function
The way your testicles work is defined, along with other factors, by the amount of two hormones: Leuthenising hormone (LH) and Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH).
Injectable HCG is similar to them in structure, with minor differences that receptors in your brain don’t notice. When you get HCG, receptors in your brain send to your testicles a signal to wake up and start working. The little trick brings their function back to normal.
Normal Size of Testicles
No, they don’t get bigger than usual, just grow back to your normal size. In 10 days you can turn your raisins into full grapes again. The size of your testicles is defined by the amount of work they have to perform. Gonadotropin gives them a feeling that they have to do A LOT of work, so the size returns. Simple as that.
Bigger Loads
This one works in two major ways. When your testicles are suppressed and can’t produce a decent amount of sperm, you get less amount of it with every ejaculation. In this case, HCG can bring the function back to your pre-cycling level.
On the other hand, in case you’re not that suppressed and run Gonadotropin on your blast to support the testicular function «just in case», you can get a little extra here.
Sometimes “a little extra semen” from HCG can turn into the ungodly amount of semen, so much that it would easily fit in the most bizarre Japanese porn from the ’90s.
Luckily, it’s considered to be a sign that you should lower your Gonadotropin dose immediately. No need to drown the whole neighborhood.
HCG Myths
Like any other long-standing, popular compound, HCG is surrounded by beliefs that are not supported by anything but lies or just taken completely wrong by the general public. Here are two of the most popular.
Does HCG make your penis bigger?
Yes, the thing from spam e-mails. The surprising part is that it actually works, just not for everyone. A study some years ago has proven that HCG works this way only on male patients with so-called «micropenis». You are not one of the poor guys and just ask for a friend, I know. On a serious note, only 0,6% of men worldwide have this unpleasant “micropenis” diagnosis and you are most likely to belong to the other 99,4% part. This means two things: your penis won’t grow bigger on HCG, and you don’t actually need it that much. Thank God for the little miracles, right?
Does HCG help you to lose weight?
The Internet is full of instructions for the «Epic HCG Diet» that promises you a «quick and easy» weight loss of about 3 pounds a day. Seriously, here, here, literally everywhere. They even make HCG diet brochures to promote it. To reach this weight loss speed, you are supposed to eat 500 calories a day for about 8 weeks. HCG during that time is believed to work as a compound that helps you feel less hungry.
You don’t have to be a nutritionist to see that these HCG diets are complete bullshit.
Yeah, sounds mean, I know. And here is why:
- A healthy weight loss rate is around 2 pounds a week. A week! 3 pounds a day is way beyond healthy. The endocrine system can go off the rails, your hormonal system can suffer significant damage, even your mental abilities are likely to take the hit. If you don’t care about your health THAT much and want to lose weight so desperately, why don’t you just cut off your leg though? You’ll lose around 25 lbs in half an hour this way. Oh, and you can double the result right after they will let you out of the mental hospital.
- HCG is somewhat capable of decreasing your hunger and appetite just because it helps your body to get fuel from fatty acids instead of calories. However, HCG doesn’t decrease your need for certain calorie intake. It depends on your lifestyle, body stats, age, gender, and should be calculated individually. The basic daily norm for men is between 2000 and 3000 calories, for women – from 1500 to 2000 daily.
- 500 calories a day that HCG diets suggest is simply not enough for anyone. Not only you will lose mostly muscle tissue on this «magic plan», you definitely will seriously damage your health. Surely, on a short-range, you can benefit from limited calorie intake, but the HCG diet suggests it on a longer period and makes the process plain dangerous.
Even midgets need at least 1000 calories a day. The «500 calories» diets are intended to literally starve you.
The dude we have to thank for this «diet», A.T.W. Simeons has first described it well over 50 years ago. In recent times, the medical community has had sufficient studies to prove that the magic diet shouldn’t be used by anyone. However, the diet is still somehow popular.
Seriously, if you’re THAT desperate about weight loss — here’s our complete guide on Clenbuterol. It’s a way safer and more effective option for those who want to get a leaner look.
HCG With Anabolic Steroids
Back to the deal. The end of the cycle is the most popular time for HCG therapy.
Most athletes run it to support their testicular function when their main compound peaks in dosage and concentration in the body. It’s important to find the peak time because most bodybuilding HCG protocols last for about 10 days.
HCG Post Cycle Therapy
The PCT part is kind of controversial. There is no scientific data on this, but some athletes believe that HCG is totally suitable for the recovery phase. The key here is to start it in the second week of PCT. Due to suppressive properties, HCG can mess up your whole recovery if you take it at the very beginning of the PCT.
How To Take HCG On PCT
First of all — make sure Nolvadex or Clomid won’t work. HCG is a nuclear option, so you’ve got to be sure that the situation is desperate enough. When you check your balls (and probably can’t find them) — you can get to the action. Here’s what you need to do step by step:
- Calculate one half-life of the longest ester that you’ve cycled. Wait for this period to pass;
- Inject 2500IU HCG 4 times, every 4th day;
- In 10 days drop the HCG and finish your main PCT compound in elevated dosage (for example, 40mg Nolvadex ED);
- Check your balls. They should be in their place and in full glory.
HCG Dosage
You can break the dosage above into smaller parts and inject them daily or every other day, but this way — things get blurry. There’s a huge difference between 250IU and 750IU of HCG, as well as between ED or EOD administrations.
The thing is, there’s no universal solution and you have to take your individual dose of HCG. Here are the most popular options that set the frames for it.
How To Mix HCG
The pharm-grade HCG doesn’t come injection-ready from the shelf. You typically get a vial of the compound in crystal (powder) form and a vial of the substance to mix it with. Yes, you need to mix it before the administration. In mixed form, HCG doesn’t live long. You have two possible compounds to mix HCG with:
- Bacteriostatic water;
- Sterile water.
In case it doesn’t come in a package (which says a lot about your source), you can buy both easily in the nearest pharmacy. The difference between them? Just 0,9% of benzyl alcohol in the bacteriostatic water. Sterile water can cause some serious pain during the injection, so most athletes land on the bacteriostatic (or just «bac») option.
Now, to the mixing process. It’s way easier than you might think. Here is how to do it:
From that vial, you can take your preferred dosage of Human Chronic Gonadotropin for a daily injection. It expires in about 2 months, so you have plenty of time to do your 10 days protocol. The fridge is the best place to keep your mixed HCG during that period. Remember to disinfect everything when you go for injections!
HCG Side Effects
HCG side effects are dose-dependent, and the best thing you can do to counter them is to stay in healthy 500IU dosage frames. Here are the most common consequences and how to counter them:
Gynecomastia
Yup, Gonadotropin can convert to estrogen (here’s a study on HCG that proves the aromatization possibility) and give you moobs, along with balding and acne. Catch the problem on early-stage by identifying it when your nipples start to itch. To avoid it, run AI’s with it and just don’t take insane amounts every day, stay in healthy frames. Here’s our guide on aromatase inhibitors and the best ways to use them.
Water retention
The notorious edema looks like swelling of your limbs and face puffiness. Counter it with a low sodium diet and drinking more water daily.
Rebound adrenal effects
HCG can lead to elevated cortisol levels and cause blood pressure spikes, faster heart rate, and sweating. Lower your natural amounts of cortisol by reducing stress and maintaining a proper daily sleep regime, some melatonin supplements would be helpful as well.
Due to individual intolerance, Gonadotropin can cause numerous other side effects that occur rarely. Such as:
- Deposition of fat in the hips;
- Frequent erections;
- Coarser facial hair;
- Headaches;
- Fatigue;
- Irritability;
- Depression;
- Anxiety;
- Arterial hypertension.
Personal Opinion On HCG
When you finish the article, you might have a question – «what all this weird shit has to do with bodybuilding, muscle growth, and getting massive?» The answer here is simple. Literal damn nothing. You get big from using anabolic steroids. To get muscles, you take Testosterone and Trenbolone, Deca, Dianabol, but almost all steroids suppress your testicular function. Especially if you love blasting and cruising. At some point, you will care about your balls more than about your gains. And this is where HCG kicks in.
As far as I know, no athlete would ever inject something extracted from female urine without understanding that their balls are at stake. HCG is a solution to one of the most notorious problems in bodybuilding. The one that is rarely mentioned. Luckily, with a proper protocol and thoughtful usage, HCG can allow you to say «my balls are OK» anytime you want to say it and be totally frank with yourself.