Epi-Andro is the common abbreviated name used on bodybuilding forums, and amongst knowledgeable people, for an artificial steroidal hormone precursor called Epiandrosterone.
What I’m going to do in this review is tell you all you need to know to use this effectively, and as safely as possible. I’m doing this based on my own experiences, and some pretty thorough research.
I’ll tell you what sort of Epiandrosterone results are realistic, the dosage range you should work within, how good it is it cutting fat, as well discussing maximum cycle length with you.
As well as all that, I’ll talk about safety and side effects, and whether the results you can achieve are as good as alternatives such as natural steroids and SARMs.
What Is Epi-Andro?
Epi-Andro is a steroidal precursor to testosterone. In the body, it’s converted into increased levels of plasma testosterone.
It’s known by many names, which can create confusion as several other of this type of prohormone, collectively known as “Andro’s”, can be very similar in construction, and therefore naming:
- Epiandrosterone
- Epi-Andro
- 3-hydroxy-androstane-17-one
- Trans-Androsterone
- 3-Epiandrosterone
- 3B-hydroxy-5a-androstan-17-one
- 5-androstan-3a-ol-17-one
- Mesotrope (brand name)
- Dymethazine (brand name)
You’ll read that this new breed of prohormones is legal and safe to use. You will also be told that they are milder than the old prohormone types, which is true.
However, in terms of legality they are still illegal. Some people will claim that they are not covered by the 2004 federal legislation banning both prohormones and anabolic steroids in the USA.
That’s not true though, and because they are still steroidal prohormones, despite having different chemical structures and being milder, they are still banned substances under that legislation.
Epiandrosterone Results: What’s Typical?
You’ll read a lot of stuff online about how potent these new types of bodybuilding prohormones are.
I’m telling you, that a lot of those claims aren’t actually true. There’s a lot of hype around this product, and the real world results certainly aren’t as potent as SARMs in my experience.
These are the potential Epiandrosterone results you can achieve in a single cycle:
- Increased lean muscle mass
- Muscle growth that dry and hard
- Faster recovery times
- Dramatically increased vascularity
- Significant increase in strength
- Increased libido
- Better mood
- More drive and determination
The problem with all that is that there are degrees of it. I’m telling you, that at a sensible dose, you might not experience all of those, and the ones you do may not be that significant.
The truth here is that Epi-Andro is not that potent, and certainly not as potent as anabolic SARMs that I have experienced.
It’s also not as potent as the old banned prohormone supplements, and certainly not when used within safe dosage ranges.
For me, I experienced some muscle hardness and slight gains. They were dry gains, but certainly no better than a mild SARMs cycle.
I also felt more strength and had higher levels of endurance. But I could get that from Cardarine in a safer and non-androgenic way.
I also didn’t get faster recovery times. In fact, in common with a lot of people, one of the side effects was muscle pain after several sessions. So I can’t say it helps, in fact it could do the opposite.
Overall, I noticed minor gains, and had better endurance plus, I did cut more fat than I know I usually do naturally. But other than that, I didn’t really experience any of the other benefits that people claim they have experienced.
Epi-Andro Dosage Range & Cycle Length
Let’s now talk about Epiandrosterone dosage ranges. Unfortunately, no advice is going to be perfect, and there’s a huge variation in doses that can be recommended or discussed.
The problem is that it’s a completely unregulated substance. All we can go on is anecdotal evidence from the very few human studies that have been done, and bodybuilding community evidence.
When I looked at the dosage range I wanted to work within, I did online research and talked to people I knew to get a ballpark figure.
Now I’ve seen people claiming they have taken 1000 mg or higher per day, and in a few instances up to 2 g per day. Those people seemed to have been roundly criticized and advised against that by experience bodybuilders on the threads I researched.
People I knew were also using Epi-Andro products, with dosage ranges low as 50 mg, up to 250 mg per day. But researching those, I found that not all of them were pure, while others were metabolized into Epi-Andro and then into testosterone, meaning the actual conversion rate in the body was much lower than the dose consumed because of this double metabolization.
The consensus, and from my own experimenting with a cycle now, is a dosage range between 200 mg and 300 mg per day.
You could go as high as 500 mg, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that for many weeks. You could perhaps do it for four weeks and then taper down.
Moving onto the length of that cycle, I would recommend you don’t go longer than eight weeks on Epi-Andro.
The problem is that the androgenic side effects can suddenly hit you. They build up in the body until they become very pronounced. The longer the cycle, and the higher the dose, the harder they can suddenly hit you.
So overall, if you’re going to give this a try, at the conservative end I’d say do eight weeks at around 200 mg, and at the more liberal end, 300 mg for eight weeks. But don’t be afraid to lower the dose and shorten the cycle if you see any of the warning signs of side effects kicking in.
How Safe Is Epi-Andro?
Let’s quickly cover Epi-Andro side effects, because they can be quite severe.
At low doses, over short cycles, and with big gaps between cycles of this prohormone and other supplements, you should be okay.
But if you keep doing cycles of this stuff at high doses then you could get side effects which are approaching the levels of anabolic steroids, because this is an artificial steroidal hormone.
The side effects you can get include:
- Increased estrogen levels
- Depleted testosterone levels
- Anger and aggression problems
- Overproduction of DHT
- Joint problems
- Shrunken testicles
- Enlarged prostate
- Cardiovascular deterioration
- Liver toxicity problems
Most of those should be self-explanatory, but DHT overproduction needs to be talked about. High levels of DHT can trigger male pattern baldness. Although it shouldn’t be significant, if you are already genetically prone to it, then it could accelerate it dramatically.
I’ll also mention some people claim that Epi-Andro does not aromatize to estrogen. That’s crap. Don’t believe it. That’s why you can suffer the side effects of high estrogen and low testosterone using this.
Does Epi-Andro Need PCT?
Epi-Andro definitely does require some level of PCT supplement. You might get away with it if you use doses of 100 mg or less, and only over for six weeks, but for longer cycles at higher doses, you definitely will.
When the testosterone drop is noticeable it can be quite severe. So you might get away with using Nolvadex PCT, but you might need a much stronger Clomid is a PCT supplement instead.
I’d actually recommend if you’re going to use this that before and after your first cycle you consider getting blood work done, that way you can see if there are any potentially damaging enzymes for the liver in your bloodstream, or if testosterone has significantly dropped from your baseline.
Epi-Andro Vs Other Prohormones Vs SARMs
Epi-Andro is relatively mild in terms of the positive benefits it can bring through the androgenic effects it has in the body.
It’s similar in strength to 1-Andro, but weaker than 4-Andro in my experience, and anecdotally from what I’ve seen others discuss.
Comparing all three of those new prohormones with SARMs, I have to say that the anabolic SARMs are definitely stronger.
But not only are androgenic SARMs like RAD-140, S-23, S3, and LGD-4033 stronger, but they are also the androgenic effects around the body like prohormones and steroids do.
Alternatives To Prohormones
The conclusion of this review of Epi-Andro has to be that it’s worth trying if you get your hands on good quality product, and you are sensible.
However, I’m not convinced it’s a better choice than just using androgenic SARMs. They are more targeted, and with hard work will definitely see better results, especially if you stack them.
Finally, you could stick to a natural sapogenic supplement. Plant sapogens are naturally occurring steroidal substances that can affect growth in the plant.
There is limited evidence out there scientifically and anecdotally that these naturally occurring steroidal substances can work in humans. I’ve certainly seen benefits from using these cheap and completely safe naturally occurring steroids.
A good starting place is Sapogenix, from Huge Supplements. Affordable, containing several different types of sapogenin, it’s definitely a supplement to consider if you don’t want to use androgenic SARMs or prohormones.
