Equipoise (Boldenone)

Overview and history of Equipoise

Equipoise is the brand/trademark name for the anabolic steroid boldenone, an oil-based injectable anabolic steroid with an attached undecylenate ester to prolong its release rate and half-life.

It is a derivative of testosterone, retaining the anabolic properties of testosterone but with relatively reduced androgenic effects.

Equipoise is a veterinary product originally developed for use in animals.

Equipoise is a less masculine form of testosterone with less estrogenic activity than testosterone, and has gained popularity among bodybuilders and athletes.

While many users like to compare it to nandrolone (deca durabolin), this comparison is highly inappropriate as nandrolone exhibits different properties than Equipoise and is a completely different class of compound (19-nor, also known as a progestin).

However, many consider nandrolone and equipoise to be solid substitutes for each other in certain cycles.

First, let's look at some interesting facts about these compounds.

Equipoise was actually developed in 1949, long before Dianabol (methandrostenolone), so Equipoise is technically the first synthetic derivative of testosterone, even before Dianabol was conceived.

Additionally, Dianabol itself is an equipoise (boldenone) with a methyl group attached to the 17-beta hydroxyl group of the steroid's chemical structure (also known as C17-alpha alkylation), which is intended to increase its oral bioavailability in the body.

Technically, Dianabol (methandrostenolone) is actually a C17-alpha alkylated equipoise.

It was considered an oral form of Equipoise, but the methylation of the 17th carbon atom changed the properties of the compound enough that it was considered a completely different anabolic steroid analog, hence the name Methandrostenolone (Dianabol).

If you look at a picture of the chemical structures of Equipoise and Dianabol side by side, you can easily see that the chemical structures of both compounds are completely identical, with the exception of the methyl group attached to the 17th carbon in the chemical structure of Dianabol.

It is very clear that these two anabolic steroids are essentially completely identical.

Equipoise was first developed in 1949, but it wasn't until the 1960s that the compound was finally released and marketed as Pareabol.

Between 1949 and its release in the 1960s, Ciba tried many different things with Equipoise, including adding different esters to increase its half-life and release rate.

The final conclusion was that it was released with the undecylenate ester attached, and eventually boldenone undecylenate was prepared.

After the release of Pareanabol, various clinical trials and tests were conducted on the compound in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the goal of using it as an anabolic steroid that promotes and preserves muscle mass to treat people suffering from sarcopenia and weight loss, as well as for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Pareanabol was rarely used after its release and by the end of the 1970s, it was withdrawn from the market and discontinued.

Squib subsequently acquired the patent for this anabolic steroid and re-released boldenone under the name Equipoise as a veterinary anabolic steroid, primarily for use in horses but also for use in other animals.

Equipoise is well known for its lean mass gains and appetite stimulating effects, which are common to almost all anabolic steroids.

However, Equipoise tends to stimulate appetite much more than any other anabolic steroid.

The manufacturing and marketing of Equipoise has changed hands many times over the years, but there are still many generic brands and actual brand names available in the US market as well as internationally, and Squibs acquired the patent on this anabolic steroid and re-released it under the name Equipoise as a veterinary anabolic steroid that uses boldenone primarily in horses but can also be used in other animals.

Equipoise is well known for its lean mass gains and appetite stimulating effects, which are common to almost all anabolic steroids.

However, Equipoise tends to stimulate appetite much more than any other anabolic steroid.

The manufacturing and marketing of Equipoise has changed hands many times over the years, but there are still many generic brands and products with the actual brand name available in the US market as well as around the world.

Chemical Properties of Equipoise

As mentioned earlier, Equipoise is a synthetic derivative of testosterone, which means that carbon 1 and carbon 2 in the steroid's structure have been modified, adding a double bond between these two carbon atoms.

This is a modification that is known to reduce Equipoise's affinity for interacting with the aromatase enzyme (the enzyme that converts androgens to estrogen).

As a result, its estrogenic activity is considered to be lower than that of testosterone.

Equipoise is boldenone with an undecylenate ester attached.

Specifically, the “undecylenate” is undecylenoic acid, but once it's attached to boldenone, it's more properly called an ester bond (or ester linkage) in chemistry.

Undecylenoic acid is chemically bonded to the 17-beta hydroxyl group of the boldenone structure.

The addition of this ester increases the release rate and half-life of the hormone, resulting in a longer release period.

The main reason for the increased half-life and release rate is that once boldenone undecylenate enters the bloodstream, enzymes work to break the bond between the ester and the hormone, a process that takes varying amounts of time.

The end result is that the ester is removed from the hormone by these enzymes, leaving pure boldenone that is then free to act in the body.

This process of enzymes removing the ester from the hormone is what causes the hormone to release slowly.

When the undecylenate ester is attached to boldenone to create boldenone undecylenate, the half-life of boldenone is extended to 14 days, resulting in a slower release and activity of the hormone than the hormone without this ester.

Also, as mentioned at the beginning of this section, Equipoise and Dianabol are structurally identical, with the only difference between the two products being that Equipoise has an undecylenate ester attached to the 17-beta hydroxyl group and Dianabol has a methyl group attached to the 17-beta hydroxyl group.

Dianabol contains a methyl group (also known as C17-alpha alkylation) to prevent it from being metabolized and broken down in the liver through oral ingestion.

Other than this modification, the two hormones are completely identical and can be considered the same compound.

However, the two hormones behave quite differently in the body, indicating that adding a methyl group (C17-alpha alkylation) to the 17th carbon does not just affect the hormone's resistance to being broken down by the liver, but actually changes the effects and properties of the anabolic steroid.

Also, as mentioned at the beginning of this section, Equipoise and Dianabol are structurally identical, with the only difference being that Equipoise has an undecylenate ester attached to the 17-beta hydroxyl group, while Dianabol has a methyl group attached to the 17-beta hydroxyl group.

Dianabol contains a methyl group (also known as C17-alpha alkylation) to prevent it from being metabolized and broken down by the liver through oral ingestion.

Aside from this modification, the two hormones are completely identical and can be considered the same compound.

However, the two hormones behave quite differently in the body, indicating that the addition of a methyl group (C17-alpha alkylation) to the 17th carbon does not just affect the hormone's resistance to being broken down by the liver, but actually changes the effects and properties of the anabolic steroid.

Properties of Equipoise

Since Equipoise is a derivative of testosterone, it has many of the same properties as testosterone.

For starters, Equipoise has exactly the same anabolic strength rating (100) and is also an anabolic steroid that can be converted to estrogen in the body through interaction with the aromatase enzyme.

However, due to the double bond modification between carbons 1 and 2, the affinity for the aromatase enzyme is reduced, resulting in a lower rate of aromatization and therefore lower estrogenic activity in the body.

This means that Equipoise still converts to estrogen, but in much lower amounts than its parent hormone, testosterone.

While this is a very comforting fact and a satisfying characteristic, the issue of estrogenic side effects is still an issue and should not be ignored by all users.

Therefore, individuals can expect to see a significant difference in reducing water retention with Equipoise alone, rather than eliminating potential water retention.

While Equipoise does not cause bloating or other estrogenic effects when taken in moderate doses (depending on user sensitivity), the risk of these estrogenic side effects actually increases as the dosage of Equipoise is used more and more.

Increasing the dose means that the rate at which the anabolic steroid is converted to estrogen increases.

Equipoise itself has a low androgenic strength rating (lower than the parent hormone testosterone), which may be satisfactory for those sensitive to androgenic side effects.

Overall, Equipoise can be expected to produce the same anabolic size, strength, and muscle mass gains as testosterone, but with a lower incidence of estrogenic activity and androgenic side effects.

That said, the gains on Equipoise itself are mostly fairly solid lean mass gains with minimal water retention (depending on the dose), making it a perfect addition to any bulking or cutting cycle.

It can even replace nandrolone in any stack.

Equipoise Side Effects

As mentioned earlier, Equipoise is less estrogenic in the body than testosterone itself.

Studies have shown that compared to testosterone, Equipoise is about half as aromatized in the body.

Therefore, the magnitude of estrogen related side effects of Equipoise should be much lower than testosterone, but it is important to note that its estrogenic activity is still slightly higher than nandrolone (Deca).

Of course, as the dosage increases, the aromatization (and thus estrogenic effects) will increase proportionally.

In general, when Equipoise doses increase above 200-400mg per week, estrogenic side effects will increase noticeably.

In such cases, anti-estrogen and aromatase inhibitors may be required to prevent and counteract these side effects.

Estrogenic side effects include water retention and bloating, increased blood pressure (as a result of water retention), fat gain/retention, and the possible development of gynecomastia.

Although much less common than testosterone, androgenic side effects can still occur with Equipoise.

Equipoise interacts with 5-alpha reductase (5AR), the enzyme that converts testosterone to the more potent androgenic hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT), but instead of being converted to DHT, it is converted to dihydroboldenone (DHB). Although it does convert to DHB, studies have shown that Equipoise converts at a much lower rate than testosterone converts to DHT.

Androgenic side effects may include increased oily skin (sebum secretion), increased acne formation (related to sebum secretion), increased body and facial hair growth, and an increased risk of developing male pattern baldness (MPB) if you have a genetic predisposition to it.

Equipoise is not hepatotoxic and has the same level of cardiovascular risk and suppression of endogenous testosterone production as most anabolic steroids.

Dosage and administration of Equipoise

Because Equipoise is not currently approved as a medicine, medical Equipoise dosage and instructions do not exist.

It was used very briefly as a human medicine in the 1970s, but is no longer in use.

In the bodybuilding and athletic world, the dosage of Equipoise for beginners is typically 300 to 500 mg per week, and for intermediate users, 500 to 700 mg per week is common.

Equipoise doses are generally very similar to testosterone, and it is extremely rare for users to use higher than intermediate doses, especially if they are using Equipoise with other compounds within a cycle (which is usually the case).

Female anabolic steroid users may find Equipoise to be a suitable compound for them as it has significantly lower androgenic activity than testosterone.

In this case, women can get away with using 50 to 75 mg per week.

However, because Equipoise has a very long half-life of 14 days, users may encounter problems with slow plasma levels.

This results in a slow elimination of the compound from the body, which can be problematic if female users develop signs and symptoms of erection, so it is of utmost importance to discontinue the drug immediately.

With a half-life of 14 days, it is ideal to divide the weekly dose into two evenly spaced doses over the course of a week (e.g., 500mg per week administered as 250mg on Monday and 250mg on Thursday).

Equipoise Cycles and Usage

An EQ cycle is typically a mass gain cycle that uses minimal testosterone in some form (usually a long ester of testosterone, to match the half-life of EQ).

This is typically done using either testosterone enanthate or testosterone cypionate.

Equipoise cycles are typically run for a much longer cycle duration than other compounds, as the longer half-life results in a slower release and a longer peak time for effects to be seen.

A beginner Equipoise cycle typically involves the use of about 300 to 500 mg of testosterone enanthate (or cypionate) per week in combination with about 400 mg of Equipoise per week.

This cycle should be run for a total of 14 weeks.

This will allow you to gain a significant amount of muscle mass over a long period of time.

In an intermediate Equipoise cycle, the oral compound Dianabol (methandrostenolone) can be used in addition at a dose of about 25 mg per day.

In this case, the testosterone enanthate (or cypionate) can be reduced to 100 mg per week to maintain normal physiological function, and the Equipoise can proceed at around 400 to 600 mg per week.

In this case, Dianabol would be administered in weeks 1-4 for a total cycle of 12 weeks.

Advanced Equipoise cycles typically do not utilize EQ at doses above 600mg per week.

As with intermediate Equipoise cycles, testosterone can be run at a testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) dose of around 100mg per week, and advanced compounds such as trenbolone enanthate at 400mg per week can be used with everything. The total cycle length is 12 weeks.