Anavar for Bodybuilding. What does it do, how to use, what are the potential side effects and caveats. Can women use it? Should I use it? What is a good cycle and dosage? All Questions answered.
If you are reading this review you most likely wish to find out information on Anavar.
You’ve probably read the garbage that is currently populating the internet (Google) and want some legitimate content.
You may think that it could be a good anabolic steroid to use. Perhaps a gym buddy even recommended it.
The number 1 legal Anavar brand and best seller in the United States
The truth is, one of the reasons there is so much talk about Anavar is it’s got a reputation for being one of the mildest anabolic steroids there is in terms of side effects.
side effects less likely
Its androgenic rating is 24 percent lower than testosterone. That means it is less likely to cause you to grow man boobs or lose your hair.
It’s milder nature also allows it to be a better steroid option for women because it’s ability to promote masculine traits is less intense.
Content Table
It’s a Safer Steroid
However, the word “milder” is only good for comparative purposes.
There’s a take-home point here and it’s a pretty simple one. Steroids are seriously powerful substances.
In it’s favor, the Anavar steroid has an anabolic rating that far exceeds that of testosterone.
It is good for cutting, strength and energy
Anavar has more value for preserving muscle mass while cutting, it is used by bodybuilders to sculpt their physique and define the muscle
Anvarol is a safe and legal alternative to Anavar. It can be used for cutting cycles, to create lean muscle retention, strength and energy. It is great to stack
Anvarol gives you the ongoing energy and explosive power you need to push your workouts harder and longer whilst shredding fat for a harder, sharper, leaner body.
It can be used as a standalone supplement of stacked to maximise your results.
| Anabolic Rating | Androgenic Rating | |
| Testosterone | 100 | 100 |
| Oxandrolone (Anavar) | 322 – 630 | 24 |
What Is Anavar?
Anavar is a brand name used for the steroid Oxandrolone. It’s an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) that doctors sometimes use for preventing bedbound patients from being struck by muscle atrophy.
It’s also good for helping people to regain the weight they have lost due to surgery or medical conditions that cause wasting.
Anavar is not and never has been intended to be used for bodybuilding purposes. However, due to its ability to provide improved muscle growth, it is often abused in this way.
Unlike many other steroids, Anavar is not injected. It’s taken by mouth. This only serves to give it extra appeal.
The problem is, like all oral steroids, it can be hard on the liver. Admittedly, Anavar is less harsh than other oral steroids but the liver is an important organ. It works hard.
Furthermore, although instances of liver failure are rare, they do occur. Using any form of drug that may damage the liver or impair its abilities in any way does not make good sense. [SOURCE]
It’s History – Oxandrolone
Oxandrolone was first synthesized at the Searle Laboratories in 1962. Two years later it became available as a pharmaceutical drug in the United States.
Anavar was primarily used to support weight gain and muscle growth. This ability made it useful for treating people suffering from HIV and AIDS.
The drug was also used as a treatment for osteoporosis and proved to be quite successful in this regard.
In 1989, Searle Laboratories discontinued production of the drug. This was, in part, because Anavar had attained a bad reputation due to its illicit use for bodybuilding purposes.
Six years later, in 1995, Bio-Technology General Corporation began producing and distributing Oxandrolone as Oxandrin.
At this point, the company had the monopoly in the drug’s production and the price was sky-high.
Other companies have since got in on the action and have adopted an equally greedy attitude. Oxandrolone in all its forms is one of the most expensive steroids you can buy.
For this reason, many steroid users take further chances with their health by buying Anavar produced in illegal underground labs.
Anavar Benefits
The Anavar steroid provides four main benefits:
- Improves performance
- Supports faster recovery
- Provides strength gains without increases in mass
- Protects against muscle loss during cutting
How Anavar Improves Performance
Anavar improves physical performance and helps you enjoy a better workout by providing your muscles with extra oxygen.
Like nutrients, oxygen is carried to the muscles by the blood. The task of absorbing oxygen and transporting it around the body is carried out by the red blood cells.
When most people think about energy production their thoughts drift to blood sugar (glucose) and calories. This is not surprising. The muscles need glucose for energy and the amount of energy they receive and expend is measured in calories.
However, energy is generated via a process known as cellular respiration and oxygen is needed too. [SOURCE]
The Two Forms of Cellular Respiration
There are two forms of cellular respiration. The first one is aerobic respiration and it occurs with oxygen. The second one is anaerobic respiration. It comes into play when oxygen stores are depleted.
In normal circumstances, your muscles are fuelled by aerobic respiration. When you work them harder than normal the need for oxygen increases.
That’s why exercise, in any form, can make you get out of breath. All that puffing and panting is your body’s way of trying to provide your muscles with more oxygen.
Sometimes this increase in respiration is enough to maintain the increased activity. It just depends how hard the muscles are being worked.
Anaerobic Respiration
A trained marathon runner can maintain their activity for 26.2 miles (42 kilometers). However, trying to sprint the distance would be physically impossible. Their lungs would not be able to keep up.
Anaerobic respiration comes into play when the supply of oxygen to the muscles becomes insufficient.
Although physical activity can be prolonged by the process of anaerobic respiration, it will only be possible to continue for a very limited amount of time.
Anaerobic activity causes lactic acid to build up. This interferes with muscle contraction and causes physical pain. After two minutes or less of anaerobic activity, the discomfort will become too great to proceed. [SOURCE]
Because Anavar increases red blood cell production and increases oxygen flow to the muscles, it helps you to maintain aerobic respiration for longer. This won’t prevent lactic acid build up indefinitely, but it will help you to train harder and longer.
How Anavar Provides Faster Recovery
Anavar helps muscles to recover faster by improving protein synthesis.
Protein synthesis is the process your body uses to repair the muscle tissue you broke down during exercise.
Basically, your body is taking the amino acids that flow through the muscles with the blood and using them to build muscle protein.
However, protein synthesis can only occur in a nitrogen-rich environment. The problem is, exercise causes nitrogen levels within the muscles to deplete. Anavar helps prevent this from becoming an issue by improving nitrogen retention.
By improving the efficiency of these two important processes, the steroid helps you to recover faster after training. [SOURCE]
Anavar Effects on Muscle Mass and Strength
Anavar is an unusual steroid because it provides increases in strength without notable increases in muscle mass. It can provide size gains, but it takes a long time to do so.
The strength gains are actually provided by the steroid’s ability to increase muscle contraction. This causes the muscle fibers to become stronger.
Getting a little more technical, it’s all a matter of myofibrillar sarcoplasmic hypertrophy V myofibrillar hypertrophy.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy provides an increased volume of non-contractile fluid in the muscle cells. The results in improvements to muscle size, but the density of muscle fibers decreases. There is no real increase in strength.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy is a different kettle of fish. It increases the density of muscle fibers but there is very little change in muscle size.
If you’ve ever come across someone who looked small but appeared to have superhuman strength, now you know the reason why. Their secret was nothing more than muscle fiber density.
Anavar to Protect Muscle Mass During Cutting Cycles
Anavar does help you to burn fat faster, but it’s not one of the best steroids for that purpose. Its main value during cutting cycles is for protecting existing muscle mass. This is largely due to its ability to improve nitrogen retention and protein synthesis.
However, Anavar does offer somewhat of a metabolism boost. When the metabolism is faster, the body burns more calories than normal. This helps create or maintain the calorie shortage required for fat burning.
Additionally, it’s ability to protect existing muscle mass helps maintain fat burning.
When people do cutting cycles without the help of steroid or a suitable legal steroid alternative, they can find some of their muscle mass is lost along with their fat.
Muscle tissue requires calories for its upkeep. Any significant loss of muscle mass can reduce the amount of calories burned per day.
By preserving existing muscle mass, Anavar also helps maintain a greater need for calorie burning.
Anavar Delivery Method and Dosing
People typically use Anavar in six-week cycles. It’s not good for the liver so using it for longer is a really bad idea. As is using a dose that exceeds 100mg per day.
When the steroid is being used solely as a performance booster, the dose is 10 mg -30 mg per day.
If it’s being used to prevent loss of muscle mass during cutting cycles the dose is 20 mg – 80 mg per day.
It’s not a good steroid to use for bulking, but some people use it for this purpose. Generally at a dose of around 40 mg – 100 mg per day.
Each tablet is 10 mg and a 60-tablet box can cost up to $150. It’s a very expensive steroid to use.
Even at the lowest dose of 10mg per day (as a performance booster), a six-week cycle would require the best part of a box.
At a dose of 100mg per day, you would be using a full box every six days. That would entail a cost that could exceed $1,000 per six-week cycle.
It’s also important to be aware Anavar has a half life of only nine hours. That means you will need to split the dose and take it twice per day.
Stacking Considerations
The steroid should be able to go it alone just fine if it’s being used as a performance booster. The same goes if you are using to preserve muscle mass during cutting cycles.
However, if you using Anavar for bulking, it’s probably going to need extra help. That means you will be using one of the most expensive steroids on the market and then paying again.
That’s an expensive way to try and bulk-up and you will be looking at paying for a post cycle therapy on top.
There are much cheaper and safer ways to gain bulk.
Anavar and Women
This is one of the most popular steroids with female bodybuilders. This is mostly due to its low androgenic rating.
The higher the androgenic rating of a steroid is, the greater the potential for virilization.
Women considering using steroids need to give a lot of thought to the risk of virilization. Unless they actually want to become more like a man that is.
A baritone voice and a hairy chest are not endearing feminine features. The risk of these things happening due to Anavar is less than with most other steroids, but it still exists.
Anavar Side Effects and Dangers
Let’s not forget that although this is a steroid that has medicinal uses, it’s intended to be used under the supervision of a doctor.
Make no mistake about it. Although the risks of premature balding and other nasty side effects are not as great as with most other steroids, there are still risks.
When doctors prescribe it they only do so because they believe the benefits outweigh the dangers. They also have the opportunity to supervise their patients closely.
This kind of supervision is extremely important with a steroid that can cause liver damage. A doctor may catch the first signs of danger quickly. The average bodybuilder may not.
Other Anavar side effects may include:
- Acne
- Headaches
- Nausea/vomiting
- Skin discolorations
- Greasy skin
- Anger
- Mood swings
- Trouble urinating
- Swollen breasts (women)
- Enlarged clitoris (women)
- Irregular menstrual periods (women)
- Deeper voice, increased body hair and other signs of virilization (women)
- Shrinking testicles (men)
- Prolong/painful erections (men)
- Impaired sex drive
- Infertility
- Water retention
- Heart failure
Admittedly, it may be possible for some people to use this steroid without experiencing any side effects at all. However, why take the risk? There are safer alternatives that can provide all the benefits without any of the risks.
How It Effects Normal Testosterone Production
Some steroids reduce normal testosterone production by around 70 percent. Anavar is more likely to reduce it by 40 percent. That may sound a lot better, but anyone who uses this steroid will still need to do a PCT.
Failure to do a PCT will undoubtedly result in a loss of muscle mass so it’s a must. On the one hand, it’s going to entail more expense. On the other, if you’ve spent up to $1,000 on a six-week cycle you don’t want to end up with less muscle than you had when you started.
A Look at the Pros and Cons
| Reasons to Use Anavar | Reasons Not to Use Anavar |
| Improves performance | Illegal to use without a prescription |
| Protects muscle mass during cutting | Risk of side effects |
| Faster recovery after exercise | Toxic to the liver |
| Strength gains | Expensive to buy |
| No need for injections | May damage your sex life |
| Requires post cycle therapy | |
| Risk of death through organ failure | |
| Safer alternatives available |
Anavar: Is It Worth the Risks?
Women find this steroid appealing because it’s less likely to butch them up than other steroids are. Guys feel there is less worry of hair loss. Both sexes are seduced by the idea that it brings less chance of side effects to the table than other steroids do.
Fine. There is less chance of these things happening. That’s not the same as saying there is no chance that they will occur. There’s still going to be a certain level of luck involved.
The price of this steroid is also ridiculously high and the need for a PCT causes additional expense.
Is Anavar worth the risk? Absolutely not. Is it worth the money? Again, the answer is no.
And let’s not forget this is a prescription-only medication. Using it for bodybuilding purposes is against the law.
Lots of people still buy Anavar illegally and use it for bodybuilding, but this does not make good sense. Due to incredible advances in the supplement industry, there are safer options available.
The safer options are also cheaper and using them is not going to make anyone run foul of the law.
Anavar FAQ
In most countries, it’s illegal to buy Anavar unless you are doing so on the back of a doctor’s prescription. Needless to say, doctors do not issue Anavar prescriptions to people so they can use it for bodybuilding purposes.
Women tend to be attracted to this steroid because it presents less chance of virilization than other steroids do.
People typically use Anavar in six-week cycles. It’s not good for the liver so using it for longer is a really bad idea. As is using a dose that exceeds 100mg per day.
Yes. If you use Anavar you will always need to do a PCT. Your muscles require testosterone for maintenance and growth. This steroid disrupts normal testosterone production and the effects last for a number of weeks. That means PCT is an absolute must.
It all comes down to a matter of greed. The original manufacturer stopped making this steroid. Bodybuilders still wanted it, but it was impossible to buy. Later, when another company began manufacturing it they had no competition and were able to charge stupidly high prices. When other companies arrived on the scene they decided to do the same. If one of the companies brings the price down, it may force the others to do so as well. However, the price has been high for over 20 years. The companies know they can get away with it, so nothing is likely to change.
Buying any form of drug from an underground lab is always an extremely risky business. The manufacturing standards are not monitored by the FDA or any other official bodies. There is no way to know what you are buying. It could be a poor quality version of the genuine steroid or it may be something completely different.
