An Introduction to your Endocrine System
Your endocrine system is a system (duh) of cells, tissue, organs, and parts of the nervous system which all act together within your body to maintain homeostasis (the status quo). What we're gonna do is figure out how to tweak this system to grow some more muscle and gain some more strength.
Hormones:
A hormone is simply a substance secreted by a cell that has an effect on another cell.
They can stimulate changes in target cells even when they are only present in miniscule amounts.
Testosteron:
This is the primary male coïtus hormone. Settle in, this is going to be a long explanation, but possibly the most important one.
testosteron is manufactured in the Leydigs cells in the testes, at about 2.5-11mgs/day for the average male.
You know those dudes with full beards in Junior High School? Yeah, they are probably producing somewhere around the upper limit.
The testosteron molecule floats around in your body eliciting various changes including the building of muscle, and development of male coïtusual characteristics.
Remember those receptors I told you about earlier? Yeah, well testosteron "parks" in those spaces and delivers it's message ("Build more muscle"), then "unparks" and drives around the lot looking for another spot to park in and deliver it's message.
In normal males 2% of testosteron is unbound to protein (free), 54% is bound to albumin and other proteins, and 44% is bound to coïtus hormone-binding globulin (SHBG).
Prolactin:
This is a protein that promotes milk production in the female body, and even worse, if you screw up, in the male body.
Prolactin causes a decrease in Luteinizing Hormone, and this lowers testosteron (see below).
Follicle Stimulating Hormone:
This hormone (commonly referred to as FSH) is a gonadotropin, which is responsible for egg-cell-containing follicles in the female ovaries, and it also stimulates follicular cells to secrete estrogen. In males, it helps stimulate the production of sperm cells in the testes during puberty.
It also may tell the testes to secrete testosteron, but certainly influences the number of leydigs cells. which we secrete testosteron. .
Finally, FSH stimulates the production of Androgen Binding Protein in the Sertoli cells.
Luteinizing Hormone:
This stuff (usually called LH, in shorthand) promotes the secretion of coïtus hormones.
We're hoping to keep it high (or not let it get too low) so it keeps telling out testes to secrete testosteron.
Both LH as well as testosteron is sec-eted in pulses between eight and fourteen times per day, testosteron being preceded by LH by approximately an hour.
testosteron is, of course, controlled via a negative feedback loop, thus a higher level of testosteron in your body causes a decrease in LH.
Estrogen:
This is the primary female coïtusual hormone.
Men don't want much of it floating around, as it is responsible for some nasty side effects like water retention, gynocomastia, acne, etc.
It also may aid in growth by helping production of IGF and GH and may even enhance immune function.
It can also increase the amount of Androgen receptors in the body. We certainly want some of it around, but not too much, as it can also lower testosteron levels.
Steroids:
These are compounds whose molecules contain fairly complex rings of Carbon and Hydrogen atoms.
Steroid hormones include (but are not limited to) testosteron and estrogen, and we will be primarily concerned with those two although we will examine many other hormones.
Sometimes we use the term "steroid" to mean anabolic steroid, which is only one possible type. Steroid hormones (like testosteron) are soluble in the lipids that make up cell walls.
This means they can get into a cell and mess around with the receptors in the nucleus, which is exactly what we want.
Receptor:
This is a thing in the cell that is basically like a parking spot. When a steroid hormone comes in, it's like parking a car in that spot.
The steroid hormone then tells the cell to do something. If the hormone is testosteron, it may tell the cell "build more muscle!"
If the hormone is estrogen, it may say, "Watch Desperate Housewives!"
Well, not really, but you get the idea.
Androgen Receptor:
This is the parking spot "reserved" for steroids like testosteron and such, in other words, androgens.
Prostaglandins:
Some of these regulate cellular responses to hormones and stimulate the secretion of a variety of hormones.
Negative Feedback System (or loop):
This is the system by which your body recognizes an abundance of a particular hormone and consequently stops producing it.
In simple terms, if you are injecting testosteron, your body will sense this and Kop producing its own.
Pituitary Gland:
The anterior lobe of this secretes a variety of hormones such as growth hormone, thyroid- stimulating hormone,
prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone.
You want to keep this thing healthy and happy.
Growth Hormone:
Growth Hormone (GH) is a protein that stimulates your body's cells to undergo more rapid cell division.
It enhances the movement of amino acids through cell membranes and causes an increase in the rate in which they convert molecules
to proteins and decrease the rate they use carbohydrates and increase the rate they use fats.
It is secreted in rhythmic pulses, especially while you're asleep and has an important anabolic effect on the body.
Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone:
This stuff is the hormone that releases growth hormone. Clever name, huh?
Whenever it's released, a pulse of GH is also released.
Insulin:
Insulin is a protein secreted by the pancreas that acts on the liver to stimulate the formation of glycogen from glucose
and inhibits the conversion of noncarbohydrates into glucose.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor:
Insulin-like growth factor is released from the liver in response to GH.
It has an important anabolic effect on the body.
Glucagon:
This is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas and regulates blood sugar levels.
Unlike insulin, glucagon is released when blood sugar levels are low.
It causes the release of glucose from glycogen.
Thryoid Stimulating Hormone:
This is a protein bound to a carbohydrate.
Yum! No...just kidding ...it is a protein bound to a carbohydrate,
but what it does is control the secretion of hormones from the thyroid gland.
Hypothalamus:
This releases gonadotropin- releasing hormone, and also controls most secretions of the pituitary gland, which leads me to the. ...
Pituitary Gland:
This is where the Philosopher Rene' Descartes thought the soul lived. Actually, it's much more important because it controls the secretion of LH and FSH,
and thus, the production of testosteron!
It also controls secretion of GH and thyroid stimulating hormone.
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Testicular-Axis:
This is usually called the HPTA, and as you can guess, it basically regulates all of the hormones that stimulate the production of testosteron as well as GH and other goodies.
Needless to say, keeping your HPTA in good working order is very important.
Aromatization:
This is the process by which testosteron converts to estrogen, via the aromatase enzyme.
This occurs in various tissues, such as skeletal muscle and adipose tissues.
Also, you'll experience less of this if you have less adipose tissue (less fat on a cycle means fewer sides, believe it or not).
Dihydrotestosterone:
This stuff, also called DHT, is made from testosteron in your body via interaction with the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, which adds 2 hydrogen atoms to testosteron.
It has a variety of effects in the human body, and is responsible for certain unwanted side effects such as hair loss.
DHT interacts strongly with the central nervous system, and has both anabolic as well as androgenic effects.
Ok, so let's take a look at all of that stuff in action.
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar]
That was by no means a comprehensive list of the hormones in your body, or their functions, and of course it's not everything that each and every hormone does or can do under special circumstances. But it's good enough for our purposes here, and knowing what those hormones do will help you know what the various steroids we're going to discuss will do in your body. That doesn't mean you can't read this book out of order, or read the profiles first. Actually, quite the contrary, I've written this book so you can read just one anabolic steroid profile (if you want) and walk away with a complete knowledge of how it works and what it does. Actually, while I prefer you read the whole book, you can read it out of order, mix and match chapters, etc. and walk away with a wealth of knowledge about every single item you read. But as least now you have a basic understanding (actually, I prefer to call it a "working understanding") of the primary hormones we'll be discussing in this book. And now that you whats going on in your body, we can talk about what steroids are and how they exert their effects.
Your endocrine system is a system (duh) of cells, tissue, organs, and parts of the nervous system which all act together within your body to maintain homeostasis (the status quo). What we're gonna do is figure out how to tweak this system to grow some more muscle and gain some more strength.
Hormones:
A hormone is simply a substance secreted by a cell that has an effect on another cell.
They can stimulate changes in target cells even when they are only present in miniscule amounts.
Testosteron:
This is the primary male coïtus hormone. Settle in, this is going to be a long explanation, but possibly the most important one.
testosteron is manufactured in the Leydigs cells in the testes, at about 2.5-11mgs/day for the average male.
You know those dudes with full beards in Junior High School? Yeah, they are probably producing somewhere around the upper limit.
The testosteron molecule floats around in your body eliciting various changes including the building of muscle, and development of male coïtusual characteristics.
Remember those receptors I told you about earlier? Yeah, well testosteron "parks" in those spaces and delivers it's message ("Build more muscle"), then "unparks" and drives around the lot looking for another spot to park in and deliver it's message.
In normal males 2% of testosteron is unbound to protein (free), 54% is bound to albumin and other proteins, and 44% is bound to coïtus hormone-binding globulin (SHBG).
Prolactin:
This is a protein that promotes milk production in the female body, and even worse, if you screw up, in the male body.
Prolactin causes a decrease in Luteinizing Hormone, and this lowers testosteron (see below).
Follicle Stimulating Hormone:
This hormone (commonly referred to as FSH) is a gonadotropin, which is responsible for egg-cell-containing follicles in the female ovaries, and it also stimulates follicular cells to secrete estrogen. In males, it helps stimulate the production of sperm cells in the testes during puberty.
It also may tell the testes to secrete testosteron, but certainly influences the number of leydigs cells. which we secrete testosteron. .
Finally, FSH stimulates the production of Androgen Binding Protein in the Sertoli cells.
Luteinizing Hormone:
This stuff (usually called LH, in shorthand) promotes the secretion of coïtus hormones.
We're hoping to keep it high (or not let it get too low) so it keeps telling out testes to secrete testosteron.
Both LH as well as testosteron is sec-eted in pulses between eight and fourteen times per day, testosteron being preceded by LH by approximately an hour.
testosteron is, of course, controlled via a negative feedback loop, thus a higher level of testosteron in your body causes a decrease in LH.
Estrogen:
This is the primary female coïtusual hormone.
Men don't want much of it floating around, as it is responsible for some nasty side effects like water retention, gynocomastia, acne, etc.
It also may aid in growth by helping production of IGF and GH and may even enhance immune function.
It can also increase the amount of Androgen receptors in the body. We certainly want some of it around, but not too much, as it can also lower testosteron levels.
Steroids:
These are compounds whose molecules contain fairly complex rings of Carbon and Hydrogen atoms.
Steroid hormones include (but are not limited to) testosteron and estrogen, and we will be primarily concerned with those two although we will examine many other hormones.
Sometimes we use the term "steroid" to mean anabolic steroid, which is only one possible type. Steroid hormones (like testosteron) are soluble in the lipids that make up cell walls.
This means they can get into a cell and mess around with the receptors in the nucleus, which is exactly what we want.
Receptor:
This is a thing in the cell that is basically like a parking spot. When a steroid hormone comes in, it's like parking a car in that spot.
The steroid hormone then tells the cell to do something. If the hormone is testosteron, it may tell the cell "build more muscle!"
If the hormone is estrogen, it may say, "Watch Desperate Housewives!"
Well, not really, but you get the idea.
Androgen Receptor:
This is the parking spot "reserved" for steroids like testosteron and such, in other words, androgens.
Prostaglandins:
Some of these regulate cellular responses to hormones and stimulate the secretion of a variety of hormones.
Negative Feedback System (or loop):
This is the system by which your body recognizes an abundance of a particular hormone and consequently stops producing it.
In simple terms, if you are injecting testosteron, your body will sense this and Kop producing its own.
Pituitary Gland:
The anterior lobe of this secretes a variety of hormones such as growth hormone, thyroid- stimulating hormone,
prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone.
You want to keep this thing healthy and happy.
Growth Hormone:
Growth Hormone (GH) is a protein that stimulates your body's cells to undergo more rapid cell division.
It enhances the movement of amino acids through cell membranes and causes an increase in the rate in which they convert molecules
to proteins and decrease the rate they use carbohydrates and increase the rate they use fats.
It is secreted in rhythmic pulses, especially while you're asleep and has an important anabolic effect on the body.
Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone:
This stuff is the hormone that releases growth hormone. Clever name, huh?
Whenever it's released, a pulse of GH is also released.
Insulin:
Insulin is a protein secreted by the pancreas that acts on the liver to stimulate the formation of glycogen from glucose
and inhibits the conversion of noncarbohydrates into glucose.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor:
Insulin-like growth factor is released from the liver in response to GH.
It has an important anabolic effect on the body.
Glucagon:
This is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas and regulates blood sugar levels.
Unlike insulin, glucagon is released when blood sugar levels are low.
It causes the release of glucose from glycogen.
Thryoid Stimulating Hormone:
This is a protein bound to a carbohydrate.
Yum! No...just kidding ...it is a protein bound to a carbohydrate,
but what it does is control the secretion of hormones from the thyroid gland.
Hypothalamus:
This releases gonadotropin- releasing hormone, and also controls most secretions of the pituitary gland, which leads me to the. ...
Pituitary Gland:
This is where the Philosopher Rene' Descartes thought the soul lived. Actually, it's much more important because it controls the secretion of LH and FSH,
and thus, the production of testosteron!
It also controls secretion of GH and thyroid stimulating hormone.
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Testicular-Axis:
This is usually called the HPTA, and as you can guess, it basically regulates all of the hormones that stimulate the production of testosteron as well as GH and other goodies.
Needless to say, keeping your HPTA in good working order is very important.
Aromatization:
This is the process by which testosteron converts to estrogen, via the aromatase enzyme.
This occurs in various tissues, such as skeletal muscle and adipose tissues.
Also, you'll experience less of this if you have less adipose tissue (less fat on a cycle means fewer sides, believe it or not).
Dihydrotestosterone:
This stuff, also called DHT, is made from testosteron in your body via interaction with the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, which adds 2 hydrogen atoms to testosteron.
It has a variety of effects in the human body, and is responsible for certain unwanted side effects such as hair loss.
DHT interacts strongly with the central nervous system, and has both anabolic as well as androgenic effects.
Ok, so let's take a look at all of that stuff in action.
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar]
That was by no means a comprehensive list of the hormones in your body, or their functions, and of course it's not everything that each and every hormone does or can do under special circumstances. But it's good enough for our purposes here, and knowing what those hormones do will help you know what the various steroids we're going to discuss will do in your body. That doesn't mean you can't read this book out of order, or read the profiles first. Actually, quite the contrary, I've written this book so you can read just one anabolic steroid profile (if you want) and walk away with a complete knowledge of how it works and what it does. Actually, while I prefer you read the whole book, you can read it out of order, mix and match chapters, etc. and walk away with a wealth of knowledge about every single item you read. But as least now you have a basic understanding (actually, I prefer to call it a "working understanding") of the primary hormones we'll be discussing in this book. And now that you whats going on in your body, we can talk about what steroids are and how they exert their effects.
