Once a staple in just about any professional bulking steroid stack, Deca Durabolin is rarely used these days.
That’s quite surprising because it was one of the most widely used compounds in the golden era of bodybuilding.
Most of those guys are still around (barring a few) kicking ass. Take a look at Bob Paris. The dude is as fit as ever and he doesn’t look a day older than 45. He’s 61 by the way.
So it makes us wonder why guys these days would skip good old Deca in favor of Insulin, GH and a metric ton of Trenbolone risking some of the nastiest side effects that they could get.
Well, it’s the day of the aesthetic physique.
People are scared shitless about looking round and juicy and prefer dry and shredded instead. That could be one of the reason why Deca isn’t finding favor.
True, Deca is a wet compound. But it’s a very effective bulking compound, one that can produce some steady and long term gains if you use it well enough.
If you have been considering Deca, but weren’t sure whether it was worth it, then here’s what you can experience from your first Deca cycle.
Pain relief – Week 2 onwards
All that talk about Deca being a slow-acting compound can fool you into believing that it may be weeks before you experience the therapeutic benefits of Deca.
Not the case. You will experience pain relief right from the second week onwards. Some people even report reduced joint pains after their first pins. But there’d be some amount of the placebo effect at work there.
Within 3-4 weeks, your joint pains should completely dissipate which in turn will allow you to train harder. Also, if you have been cramming OXYs by the dozens, Deca is much gentler on your system.
And you just need very low doses if you are looking purely for the therapeutic benefits.
According to animal model clinical trials, you may need just 75-100mg/week of Deca to heal your sore joints and to amplify the rate of healing after an injury.
Strength – Week 6 onwards
All the other positive effects of Deca Durabolin, including the strength and lean muscle mass gains will only be experienced after week 6.
This is another reason why a lot of athletes have started to look for alternatives. The Decanoate ester is just too slow acting to be a popular steroid in the era of instant gratification. Some users have switched to NPP, which is the shorter, fast acting ester.
Having said that, the strength progression on Deca Durabolin is unparalleled. It is slow, steady but impressive as hell.
No, you will not be adding 30 lbs. to your compound lifts all of a sudden, like you’d do with say Dianabol. That’s a recipe for an injury.
Instead, if you have your diet and lifts dialed down, you can add 10-15 lbs. to your compound lifts every week.
That’s pretty good progress considering that you’d be running it for 12-16 weeks. Imagine the progressive overload that you’ll be able to make to your lifts.
Pumps and fullness – Week 4 onwards
Deca Durabolin will take around 6-weeks to peak and saturate. But you’ll start to notice the muscle fullness around week 4.
Like we all know there will be a bit of water retention. But this is where that effect works in your favor.
The muscle seems like it’s engorged from within. This is unlike the typical gym pump that you get with Anavar and other orals.
The pump is permanent for weeks after you stop using Deca.
Feels great – Throughout the cycle
When you run a 19-nor like Trenbolone, you can make some amazing gains but it can make you feel like shit.
You will be sweating like a pig, your sleep is messed up, you are experiencing anxiety and paranoia that makes you want to kill random strangers and your cardio is absolutely fucked.
Deca is the exact opposite. It is one of those steroids that you can run for weeks while feeling absolutely healthy and good.
You will sleep like a rock, you will recover a lot sooner, your appetite won’t be fucked.
In fact, Deca makes you eat like never before. That’s the reason why it’s the preferred bulking compound.
Lean Muscle Mass – Week 4 onwards
300-400mg/ week of Deca will allow you to pack on lean muscle mass slowly and consistently.
Since the gains are not as dramatic as what you’d get in oral kick starter drugs like Anadrol and Dianabol, you will retain the gains for much longer after the cycle.
True, you will shed some of the water weight when you come off the compound. But if you are careful with your diet, you can retain most of your gains.
A case in point is Arnold Schwarzenegger who used just three or four steroids primarily. That’s Testosterone, Deca Durabolin, Dianabol and Primobolan.
He added tons of mass with this very stack and stayed swole throughout the year.
Moreover, he did it for years without dropping dead in his 40s with a heart the size of a football. (No offence meant here to anybody)
Potential for gyno and Deca Dick – Week 4 onwards
There’s a notion that Deca Durabolin increases Prolactin which in turn causes gyno. But that’s not the case.
In a clinical study that was conducted to test the effectiveness of Nandrolone in treating Anemia, it was noted that Nandrolone infact reduced prolactin by 35% below baseline.
However, Testosterone increased it slightly.
Hence it can be argued that your prolactin levels may only gets enhanced when you run it with Testosterone.
Most people run a low dose of Deca with a 2x dose of Test to combat ‘Deca Dick’, whereas all that you might need is a low dose of Test (75mg/week) with a 1mg of Finasteride per day to inhibit DHN, which is what Deca breaks down into.
DHN inhibition automatically prevents your potential for Deca Dick.
To add to this, run caber through the cycle but only after doing bloodwork.
You need to dial your E2 as Deca produces E1 in sufficient enough quantities for it to get converted to E2. Further, you need to dial down your prolactin levels, which can be done with Caber.
This will help you combat two of the most common niggles that users face while using Deca.
