That's not why body builders use hCG nor why other athletes use hCG. AI (aromatose inhibitors) cut bloat by blocking estrogen conversion. high estrogen levels cause water retention - think of women being bloated during their cycle. Besides that fact, if people are diving into steroids, they'll likely use a 'cutting steroid' if they're looking to gain only lean body mass.
Here's why they use hCG. hCG is the most cost effective hormone that is CLOSELY linked with LH (luteinizing hormone). [there are other alternatives that are costly and that have chemical properties that are much more fragile, but for our purpose here, assume that hCG is a direct replacement for LH].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luteinizing_hormone
I'll try to make this a 30 second snap shot of why hCG is used by these people and why it can be very dangerous, if not monitored very closely.
hCG mimics LH. LH tells your leydig cells, in your testicles, to produce more Testosterone (see diagram in my post below). At this point, the HPTA should recognize that there's an imbalance of Testosterone in your system and it should begin to convert some of that T into estrogen.
What athletes do is shoot the hCG, boost their T levels, and then take an aromatose inhibitor like anastrozole to block the conversion of T to estrogen. If you're only being blood tested for synthetic T, you would pass the drug test because none of the T in your body is synthetic. Its a cheap, easy way to gain an edge, for $100 you can order it online and call it a day. However, if the athlete has to go through olympic style blood testing, you're tested for a million other things as well. You'll be tested for your total T count, free T, and estradiol. That same athlete would fail the olympic testing because their Total T count is outside of the normal limits and their T to E2 ratio is outside of the 4:1 (or 6:1) ratio that the sports commissions allow. By understanding these basic parameters, this is how so many pro athletes doped but were able to pass a number of drug tests. See Lance Armstrong, see a ton of NFL football players that don't want to blood test for HGH, etc., etc.
Cliff Notes:
So why is this little tangent important to Calesta? Well it would be good for him to understand that the substance he's using is used for performance enhancement by steroid users, used for male fertility purposes by urologists, and is used in hormone replacement therapy for hypogonadism in males. hCG isn't just something you stop and start. If you inject "too much" (which is different from person to person), you shut down your HPTA. What that means is your body basically throws up its hands, says I can't regulate and balance the hormones currently in the body, so I'm just going to take my union break and stop working. You can't just tap your HPTA on the shoulder and say 'restart', once its shut down. You may need clomid or another drug to assist in the restart. That's just if your HPTA shuts down. What can also happen is that your body starts converting all of that T to E2 and DHT. Cue feeling like garbage, being testy (think PMS - roid rage isn't from Test, its from an estrogen imbalance) and male pattern baldness.
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