by Mike Arnold
This week I want to talk to you about a couple steroids which are not only great alternatives to the more traditional injectables, like Deca and EQ, but have been making their way back onto the market with increasing frequency in recent months. I am talking about trestolone and 1-testosterone; two completely different, yet effective anabolics which can be used during either cutting or bulking cycles. We have seen a ton of new orals hit the market over the last 10 years, mostly as a result of the OTC designer steroid explosion, but we have been presented with comparatively new injectables, which makes the addition of these two steroids all the more special.
Unlike almost all orals, injectables are generally non-methylated, which means they lack the liver toxicity and inherent cardiovascular side effects associated with their methylated cousins. Not only does this decrease potential health risk, but it allows them to be used for a longer period of time. Furthermore, they rarely cause the type of severe appetite suppression that many oral AAS do. This generally makes them more pleasant to use and in many cases, better mass-builders as well. After all, if you can’t eat, you can’t grow.
At this point plenty of people have used these drugs, providing us with more than enough real-world feedback from which to draw conclusions regarding their effects on the user. This is probably truer with trestolone than 1-testosterone, as 1-tesosterone is still pretty sparse in terms of availability and has been for the last 8-9 years. So, much of today’s younger generation will be largely unfamiliar with the drug and probably won’t know anyone who has used it. However, it did enjoy a brief stint of popularity during the mid-2000’s; a time period I was fortunate enough to enjoy. Being the astute steroid student I am, I took full advantage of this opportunity and likely amassed more real-world experience with the drug than 99.99% of the bodybuilding population. In short, I have a pretty good idea of how this steroid works, which is why I was excited to see it return to the market this past month.
So, what makes these two drugs different than their traditional injectable counterparts? First of all, understand that these steroids aren’t really new, but were originally synthesized and researched many years ago. In fact, trestolone has even been considered a potential prescription medication for male birth control. Although I don’t believe either of these drugs have been subjected to human clinical testing (there just hasn’t been a need), real-world experience hasn’t revealed any side effects out of the ordinary, at least that we know about. Ok, let’s look at trestolone first, but I’ll let you know right up-front that I am going to skip over most of the technical info—for a couple reasons. One, it has been talked about many times before and two, I really just don’t feel like it. It sounds boring to me right now.
Trestolone has an effect profile much like testosterone in terms of both appearance and in how it affects the psyche. Some, including myself, have referred to it as a “super testosterone”. Aromatization is pretty high with this stuff, so you will certainly need an A.I. or at the minimum, an estrogen antagonist like Nolvadex, etc. Otherwise, be prepared to not only bloat up like puffer fish, but to experience other unwanted estrogenic side effects as well. Assuming you control your estrogen levels, trestolone is a fairly enjoyable drug to run. You will feel good, function well, and add mass & strength quickly. If I had to sum it up in a few words, I would say it is a classic mass drug with a propensity to cause heavy water retention.
It stacks well with pretty much anything, including testosterone. Obviously, this stuff is much better suited for use in the off-season than pre-contest, although it is a viable option during the first half of contest prep due to its great mass-retaining properties, but again, only if you don’t allow estrogen to spiral out of control. Keep in mind that trestolone is a very suppressive drug on the H.P.T.A—about 10X more so than testosterone. While this is not a concern for most long-term steroid users, it may be of relevance to those who cycle their drugs and wish to gain a full recovery inbetween each cycle. Aside from this and its highly estrogenic nature, it really doesn’t cause any other side effects out of the ordinary.
PIP doesn’t seem to be an issue, at least with properly manufactured products, and the cost is reasonable. In terms of mass-building, when compared to other injectables on a mg per mg basis, it surpasses nandrolone and is certainly more effective than boldenone. It is difficult to compare it to trenbolone simply because the two are so different. Yes, trestolone will add more overall mass than trenbolone, but we can’t say one is necessarily better than the other because it really just depends on what kind of effects the user is looking for. I will tell you this, though. Combining the two works exceptionally well, particularly when paired with testosterone. A testosterone, trestolone, trenbolone stack is probably the single best mass-building injectable trio I have ever come across, and many of those I know who have experience with the stack tend to agree.
1-testosterone is on the complete other side of the spectrum, but better compared to trenbolone than trestolone or testosterone. This is because 1-testosterone is essentially a dry steroid with exceptional muscle hardening effects. There is no aromatization to worry about here, but the PIP can be brutal. I have used a few versions which lacked this side effect, but they seem to be the rarity. Whether this is due to less than ideal manufacturing/production practices, or something else, I couldn’t say, but finding a PIP-free (or close to it) 1-test product is worth its weight in gold. You would understand why if you’ve ever experienced a nearly incapacitating golf ball sized knot the day after an injection.
When it comes to 1-test’s effect profile, it has often been compared to both trenbolone and primo, which is understandable. However, its greatness lies in the fact that it supplies a muscle building effect almost on par with trenbolone, but with the mild side effect profile of Primobolan. Because of this, I have often referred to it as a type of “Super Primobolan”…because it really does seem to produce effects almost identical to primo, just with greater muscle building potency. This makes it unique because there really aren’t very many dry, non-methylated steroids out there capable of building impressive mass. There are plenty of methylated AAS that can make this claim (usually in oral form), but when it comes to non-methyls, only tren and 1-test fall into this category.
Now, don’t think you can use 1-test by itself and blow up…that’s not going to happen, just as it wouldn’t happen with trenbolone. But when combined with a typical aromatizable mass-builder, like testosterone or trestolone, it works exceptionally well, providing not only a more visually appealing appearance (in terms of hardness, dryness, vascularity, etc), but accelerated muscle gains. Frequently, off-season bodybuilders attempting to obtain this effect will turn to stacks such as Test & EQ or Test & Mast, but 1-test is better than either of these from a mass-building standpoint, while providing equal hardening and drying effects. Actually, 1-test is a significantly better than EQ at hardening and drying out the physique. When compared to Mast, both are equally dry, but 1-test is a better hardener.
As a pre-contest drug 1-test is an excellent choice and can be run all the way into a show. Again, its effects are very similar to primo from a cosmetic standpoint. Being that 1-test is almost molecularly identical to Primo, this isn’t very surprising. In conclusion, both of these drugs have been under-rated for years—largely because most people have never had a chance to use them. Fortunately, trestolone is now produced by quite a few UGL’s, so it has gained in popularity quickly, but it still isn’t anywhere near as available as the more traditional injectables. As a result, it has only been used by a comparatively small number of bodybuilders. 1-test is even worse off, with only one company currently selling it, to my knowledge. I will be assessing its quality shortly.
For those of you who have not yet had the option of experimenting with these drugs, but whose interest has been piqued, keep your eyes open the next time you purchase from your favorite UGL. If they don’t carry it, let them know you are interested. Only by expressing interest in these drugs—by directly telling your UGL that you would like them to include them in their Inventory—will more UGLs consider adding them to their product list. There is some great stuff out there, guys…demand it.
