HCG Dosage
Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) has essentially only one valid primary use within the anabolic steroid use community, and that is to maintain, increase, or restore adequate endogenous testosterone production.
HCG doses are best used in conjunction with other testosterone production stimulating compounds during post cycle therapy (PCT), and the use of HCG alone for hormonal recovery purposes after an anabolic steroid cycle is highly discouraged.
The practice of using HCG alone as the sole hormonal restorer after the end of a cycle is an outdated practice from the pre-1990 era and is no longer valid.
Our understanding of HCG and all other drugs has greatly improved since bodybuilders used anabolic steroids in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
In fact, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, most anabolic steroid users did not use any compounds for hormonal recovery, and the term PCT did not even exist at that time.
When the use of HCG became increasingly popular (around 1980), it was the only compound used.
Since then, the medical and scientific understanding of it has grown exponentially, and there is no reason for anyone who is informed and properly trained to utilize HCG alone for PCT.
HCG is one of the most misunderstood and misused compounds in the anabolic steroid use community as well as the general public.
The misuse of HCG as a fat loss agent by the general public has already been covered in detail, but it is the misuse by the anabolic steroid using community that is of primary concern here.
The misuse of HCG can indeed be dangerous, and if used too often, for too long, or in too high a dose, it can act against the restoration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis (HPTA) and cause permanent damage to the Leydig cells in the testes [1][2].
At the same time, if used improperly, HCG can end up putting the user “back to square one” and accomplish nothing.
It is very important to understand a few preliminary details and considerations regarding the use of HCG.
First of all, HCG use has been proven to increase aromatase activity in the body through increased testicular aromatase expression [2].
Aromatase is the enzyme that converts androgens to estrogen, so it follows that HCG use results in increased levels of estrogen in the body in addition to stimulating testosterone production.
As a result, many users have reported developing gynecomastia.
The elevated estrogen levels that can result from HCG also inevitably suppress HPTA and endogenous testosterone production, so as mentioned earlier, misuse of HCG doses can put the user “back to square one”.
Therefore, the use of an aromatase inhibitor is essential when using HCG.
While the use of HCG is central to its single purpose, there are actually many different uses and protocols for HCG administration, as there are numerous protocols and uses that have been developed over the years.
Here we will only cover the most effective and prominent protocols.
Medical HCG dosage
Within the medical establishment, HCG is approved for the treatment and reversal of hypogonadism, and prescribing protocols represent several different treatment methods.
- Short-term HCG therapy of 6 weeks
- Longer-term treatment of up to one year duration
- Patient-specific program based on individualized discussion between patient and doctor
For medically prescribed HCG doses, we recommend 500 to 1,000 IU of HCG three times per week for three weeks, after which the dose is reduced to the same amount only twice per week.
For long-term treatment, a higher dose of 4,000 IU three times per week for six to nine months is recommended.
After this period, the HCG dose should be lowered to 2,000 IU three times per week for the remaining three months.
HCG dosage during anabolic steroid use
Notably, HCG cannot be categorized into three tiers (beginner, intermediate, advanced) as is commonly described and listed in the common profiles of other compounds and drugs.
This is due to the fact that HCG is not specifically used for athletic performance enhancement purposes, but rather is an ancillary drug used to maintain, increase, or restore adequate endogenous testosterone production.
HCG administration during anabolic steroid use should only be performed under very specific conditions and circumstances, and the following points should be made clear to readers considering HCG use during an anabolic steroid cycle
(1) HCG should not be automatically used during an anabolic steroid cycle unless the cycle is very long (12 weeks or more), or the individual has a tendency to suppress/stop HPTA very quickly and very severely.)
Unless recovery of endogenous testosterone production after a cycle is very difficult, it is not necessary to use HCG during an anabolic steroid cycle to maintain testicular function.
This is especially true if anabolic steroid cycles are kept short (8-10 weeks), as even if testicular atrophy does occur, it will not last long enough to make it difficult to restore testicular function.
If you are participating in a very long anabolic steroid cycle (12 weeks or more), you may need to use a weekly dose of HCG for the duration of the cycle because of the longer time that testicular atrophy remains.
In the case of excessively long cycles, testicular atrophy may result in greater difficulty with hormonal recovery during PCT due to insensitivity to gonadotropins.
Standard doses of 250 to 500 IU of HCG should be administered once or twice weekly (injections evenly spaced throughout the week) as needed to maintain testicular function during an anabolic steroid cycle.
Do not exceed 500IU for this purpose.
HCG Dosage for Increasing Endogenous Testosterone Secretion and Post Cycle Therapy (PCT)
Earlier in this profile, we clearly stated that using HCG alone for the purpose of restoring endogenous testosterone production during PCT is a very bad idea.
HCG is, for all intents and purposes, a synthetic luteinizing hormone, and like any other hormone in the human body, LH acts in a negative feedback loop, causing the body to suppress or shut down its own endogenous hormone production when it detects an excessive exogenous source of hormone in the HPTA.
Therefore, administering HCG alone to restore hormones during PCT, as many bodybuilders did prior to the 1990s, is actually counterproductive.
While it may have worked for some, the vast majority of people who did this ended up with more endocrine and recovery issues than they were trying to solve.
This is an old outdated practice of pre-1990 bodybuilders and should not be used.
Ideally, HCG should be used as part of a multi-component PCT protocol, with HCG being used for the first 1-2 weeks of PCT and the other components being used for the remaining weeks of the full PCT program (4-6 weeks total).
The best additive to HCG in a PCT protocol is Nolvadex (tamoxifen citrate), as research has shown that using HCG and Nolvadex together has a remarkable synergistic effect in terms of stimulating endogenous testosterone production, and that Nolvadex is actually effective in blocking the desensitizing effect on Leydig cells in the testes caused by high-dose HCG.[3][4] The best additive to HCG in a PCT protocol is Nolvadex (tamoxifen citrate).
Additionally, we discussed earlier in this profile that HCG can increase testicular aromatase expression, which can lead to estrogenic side effects from HCG use.
Therefore, the combination of HCG and Nolvadex must be used in conjunction with an aromatase inhibitor (AI).
However, when two other AIs (letrozole or arimidex) are used with nolvadex, only aromasin (Exemestane) may be the most valid choice when combining HCG and nolvadex because studies have shown that nolvadex reduces the plasma concentrations of letrozole and arimidex.
Therefore, aromasin is the best choice of aromatase inhibitor to mitigate the increased aromatase activity caused by HCG administration.
Finally, the dose of HCG aimed at hormonal restoration during PCT is 500 IU daily for the first 1-2 weeks of PCT.
Higher and more frequent HCG doses are required only in the first few weeks after the end of an anabolic steroid cycle to provide an initial 'shock' of testosterone after prolonged testicular atrophy may have occurred.
Female HCG Dosage
Except for medical use for the purpose of inducing ovulation in infertile women, there is no need to use HCG with anabolic steroid use in women, and in most cases it is useless for this purpose.
Proper dosing and timing of HCG administration
In the medical field, HCG is primarily administered via intramuscular (IM) injection, but it can also be administered subcutaneously, and subcutaneous injections are being used just as frequently as IM injections.
Studies have shown that when comparing intramuscular and subcutaneous injections, the results are nearly identical for both, with little difference between the two [4].
The only difference between the two injection methods is the rate of release from the injection site and the time required to reach peak plasma levels (6 hours for intramuscular injection and 16-20 hours for subcutaneous). Most anabolic steroid users choose to inject subcutaneously.
HCG should always come in lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder form in a vial or ampoule, which must be reconstituted with the appropriate amount of bacteriostatic water (or sterile water) before administration. The number of IUs of HCG an individual can get from a given amount with a syringe depends on the amount of bacteriostatic or sterile water that reconstitutes the HCG powder.
The more water you add, the more diluted the concentration, and vice versa if you add less water.
HCG should always be refrigerated after reconstitution (approximately 2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 35.6 to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Due to the fragile nature of protein hormones, storing at room temperature after reconstitution denatures and destroys the molecules and renders HCG ineffective. Vigorous shaking of reconstituted HCG destroys the delicate protein molecules, so vigorous shaking should be avoided when reconstituting or otherwise reconstituting.
Medical references
[1] Multiple mechanisms for suppression of pituitary and testicular function. Sandow J, Engelbart K, von Rechenberg W. Med BioI. 1986;63(56):192-200.
[2] Acute stimulation of aromatization of Leydig cells by human chorionic gonadotropin in vitro. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 76:4460-3/1979.
[3] Tamoxifen inhibits gonadotropin-induced accumulation of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone in normal men. Smalls AG, Peters GF, Dreyer JI, Boers GH, Benard TJ, Kloppenborg PW. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1980 Nov;51(5):1026-9.
[4] A randomized three-way crossover study to compare the bioavailability of human chorionic gonadotropin (pregnenil) after intramuscular and subcutaneous administration in healthy pituitary-suppressed women. Mannaerts BM, Geurts TB, Odink J. Hum Reprod. 1998 Jun;13(6):1461-4.
