Tapering is a Waste of Time
Typical cycles are designed in a tapered fashion, starting low and slowly rising to the maximum dose. Once the maximum dose is reached, these cycles begin to steadily decline in dose to reach a very small amount at the end. The theory behind these cycles is as follows: At the start of the program, the body doesn't require much in the way of
anabolics to grow. As the cycle progresses and growth occurs, more steroid is needed to maintain growth. At the peak of the cycle, the amount of steroid is slowly decreased to allow the body to return to a normal hormonal state. This ensures that the body does not experience a shock as the endogenous production of androgens has been restored
through the gradual tapering of exogenous androgens.
Unfortunately, this theory of cycling is flawed. Designing cycles in this fashion usually ensures that the optimum level of steroid to induce growth is only present in the body for a short period. Most of the cycle is either spent climbing towards this goal or retreating
from it in the hopes of restoring the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis.
When designing a cycle, the very first question that must be answered is what is the peak mg amount of steroid that will be used during the course of the program. This amount of steroid should be used for most of the cycle, with little fluctuation at the beginning and end. This ensures that an adequate dose of steroid is being used to induce
growth throughout the length of the cycle.
Concerns over maintaining or restoring proper function of the
hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis (HPTA) are easily addressed via the use of a variety of pharmaceuticals. Once endogenous production of androgens has been halted due to excessive levels of androgens in the blood, the only effective methods of restoring normal hormonal function is by cleaning out or the use of pharmaceuticalslike clomiphen or HCG. Tapering to restore normal hormonal function is a waste of time since it can easily be restored using these drugs.
TAPERING CYCLES IS BULLSHIT
Any amount of injected testosterone (or its derivatives) in the amount required to produce gains is going to shut down your natural production. Studies show sterility(temporarily, guys and gals) at dosages around 200 mg of testosterone per week, from which you can assume that your natural testosterone production has come to a halt.
Keeping this fact in mind, you need to find the weekly dosage of hormones you want to use to get your gains and stick to it throughout your cycle. Now granted receptor sites are being occupied and only a small portion of them are becoming "free". Think of it like a
parking garage. When the movie is showing the garage is packed, but a few people will trickle out early opening spots for the few desperately circling cars. If you had extremely limited amounts of drugs you could load up your sites with a great deal of drugs then use
very small amounts to fill up those open receptors as they become available. This is impractical. Your best option is find a weekly dosage of androgens (say 750 mg per week) and keep on it for the 6-8 weeks you are on. You may want to switch esters of the drugs (esters generally change solubility and absorption time) as your cycle nears its end so that you can be sure when the drugs are out of your system, but that's about it. Let your "helper" drugs like HCG, clomid and nolvadex get your body back online.
Non-testosterone drugs, like nandrolone (trade name deca-durabolin) or trenbolone acetate (parabolan-want to buy some…here the best thing to do…build a time machine and travel back to the 1980s because that was the last time it was manufactured…) absolutely should not be tapered in my opinion.