Winstrol is the brand name for the anabolic steroid stanozolol, a synthetic derivative of testosterone. It was initially developed in 1962 to help treat people suffering from muscle wasting diseases, but it’s also used by athletes looking for increased speed, strength, and performance.
Physical Characteristics
Winstrol has two primary forms: oral tablets and injectable liquid. Only the injectable form of Winstrol will be discussed here because there is no known “effective” or “safe” way to take Winstrol orally. However, since taking this drug orally would lead to massive health problems (including severe liver damage), nobody would ever take it that way. So instead, it’s handled via injection, typically in cycles that last from 4 to 6 weeks.
What Are Injectable Winstrol’s Effects?
Contents
Winstrol has several noticeable effects when used by athletes during training and competition: it makes muscles more complex and more defined, improves muscle density, increases body strength, and helps with fighting off fatigue. However, the effects of Winstrol are not limited to physical changes in the body — there can also be several psychological changes that occur. For example, users may experience increased confidence stemming from increased testosterone levels (which is necessary for building muscles) or become more aggressive towards other people. Either way, the primary reason many athletes take this drug is that it allows them to train harder and longer, which gives them the ability to become bigger and stronger.
Almost every one of Winstrol’s effects can be attributed to its ability to inhibit glucocorticoids, so you’ll inevitably lower your cortisol levels by taking this drug. Cortisol is a hormone that we all produce naturally. Its primary function is to regulate blood pressure, carbohydrate metabolism, immune system functions, inflammation responses, and blood clotting — it can also increase protein breakdown rates. The fact that Winstrol reduces cortisol levels means that it’s beneficial for athletes who are trying hard to gain muscle mass because cortisol not only stops muscle growth but also encourages fat storage — based on these facts alone, it should be obvious why their bodybuilders’ unspoken motto is “less cortisol, more muscle.”
Most athletes primarily take stanozolol to increase strength and general athletic performance. The effects seen most often with this drug are increased cardiovascular activity, fat loss, and improved recovery from intense training sessions — all of these effects can contribute to better overall body composition in the long term. In addition to being a potent anti-catabolic agent, stanozolol also has strong anabolic properties, which facilitate faster recovery from intense workouts, increasing lean muscle mass over a short period while simultaneously decreasing body fat levels. People who have used Winstrol typically report that they can add around 10 pounds or more to their maximum lifts after just a couple of weeks, which is why many weight-trained athletes have made this drug a regular part of their training regimens even though it’s only meant for short-term use.
Originally, stanozolol was developed to treat burn victims and people who suffer from muscle-wasting diseases — the effects are so profound that it quickly became one of the most popular anabolic steroids available. It’s also highly effective in women because it doesn’t cause masculine side effects like physical changes or skin problems (even high doses fail to produce any feminizing side effects). Still, users should be cautious with this drug due to its potential for virilization.
Due to its powerful effect on cortisol levels, recreational athletes can also use Winstrol to enhance their performance or physique. In addition, many athletes take this drug in a stack with other steroids to increase muscle mass.
So How Long Does Winstrol(Stanozolol) Stay In Your System?
Once you stop taking stanozolol, it has a short half-life and quickly gets eliminated from your system. As a result, most people experience a rapid decline in hormone levels just a few days after stopping the medication. However, some may still have detectable amounts of steroids up to 2 months after their last dose [Note: this isn’t likely since most users follow the standard two-week cycle]. If you’re being tested for performance-enhancing drugs and your urine is analyzed for traces of Winstrol (or its metabolites), the drug will appear roughly two weeks after you last took it.
Of course, there’s no way to know how long this stuff stays in your system since everyone responds differently to various drugs — some people report that their blood pressure would be too high if they used it. In contrast, others wouldn’t get any side effects unless they took extremely high doses (beyond recommended).
Regardless of that fact, many athletes like taking Winstrol because its adverse side effects are relatively easy to control compared to other steroids; most notably, you won’t experience hair loss or “roid rage” when using this drug. However, because of its powerful effect on cortisol levels and extent of suppression, Winstrol use should be limited to only a couple of weeks at the beginning and end of a cycle (for example, two weeks on and two weeks off).
The Half-life of Stanozolol is 4 Hours.
Stanozolol has an extremely short half-life. A typical dosage will stay in your system for less than 5 hours before being eliminated through your urine or feces. After taking this drug, most traces are expected to disappear within about eight days — although some may take up to 14 days depending on how much they took initially, their body fat percentage, metabolic rate, etc. Most people experience noticeable withdrawal symptoms just three days after stopping the medication.
Although you’ll probably pass the drug within 14 days if you exercise regularly, things will go much faster if you don’t — it’s common for athletes to take this steroid right before a competition because they’re able to metabolize it just before weigh-ins quickly.
When athletes stop using Winstrol, they expect their blood pressure to rise suddenly and sharply. As the dosage is reduced, the body starts producing more cortisol naturally (while also experiencing other adverse side effects). This is why weight-lifters who are used to taking stanozolol must taper off slowly rather than stop all at once. For example, some people recommend cutting your daily dose in half every 3 or 4 days until you no longer use the medication. Others recommend reducing the dosage by 25% every 2 or 3 days until you reach zero.
(Note: The half-life of Winstrol is 4 hours; its active life is less than 10 hours. Therefore, when taking a standard stanozolol dose, blood levels will return to normal in approximately 24 hours.)
You must take this drug for short periods and not use it continuously since this might lead to adrenal fatigue (a condition where the adrenal glands fail). For example, suppose you ever took stanozolol for more than four weeks straight without cycling off. In that case, chances are pretty high that you experienced terrible side effects such as excessive water retention and elevated blood pressure caused by extreme cortisol suppression [Note: this doesn’t mean that you’ll experience side effects if you’ve never taken it before].
