Should I avoid Deca if I want to get maximum growth?
Question: I’ve read that testosterone has great IGF-1 generating abilities, and Deca Durabolin is not nearly as good. Should I avoid Deca if I want to get maximum growth?
Testosterone is a more potent anabolic than Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate). It might be that a steroid’s ability to aromatize into estrogen is tied into the IGF-1 elevation. Testosterone has more conversion to estrogen than Deca Durabolin does, even though Deca Durabolin is made from an estrogen . We know that the use of the estrogen blocker Nolvadex lowers IGF-1. And we knew years ago that something about Nolvadex was inhibiting muscle growth because I received many comments that bodybuilders grew better without Nolvadex.
So should you avoid a steroid which has less side effects than testosterone in your quest for ultimate growth? It depends on how old you are. From AIDS research, we now know that testosterone depresses the immune system. Deca Durabolin does the opposite (but not to any great degree). My recommendation is that from middle age onward (pick an age, I use age 40 as the starting point), men should use Deca Durabolin instead of testosterone, even in situations of testosterone replacement. We also should be realistic. After a certain age, both growth and IGF-1 are not secreted at their previous youthful levels. So does it matter if Deca Durabolin reduces IGF-1 production if normal levels in middle age and onward are already insignificant? No research on that question has been done. I have a feeling that IGF-1 production declines so much by middle age that its suppression from Deca Durabolin would have no effect.
Another point to make about testosterone use — we don’t have a blood test that can tell us which individuals are going to lose their hair from testosterone use. I have a close friend who is 60 years old and uses 600 mg of testosterone a week and has a full head of hair. And he has been using various steroids, including testosterone, for close to 30 years. As we can see in the professional bodybuilding ranks, some bodybuilders are losing a lot of hair to be able to compete at the over 250-pound body-weight mark. It would be interesting to interview a number of balding bodybuilders and ask them if they wished they had avoided the various baldness-causing steroids. Is the loss of hair just a small price to pay for greatness? That probably depends on if the individual has any kind of life outside of bodybuilding. If the person’s whole self and peer esteem is completely centered around his body “looking awesome,” then I imagine that hair loss is no big deal. But remember, when the person stops steroid use and muscle size decreases, the hair, of course, doesn’t grow back.