Most injectable anabolics have a bound ester that determines their half-life and duration: let's take a closer look at this.
This article is not intended to be a scientific treatise filled with difficult words and incomprehensible sentences; instead, we will try to explain, in the most practical and understandable way possible, what the esters associated with various anabolic steroids are. In fact, many people write to us asking about the difference between a propionate and an enanthate anabolic steroid; they ask us what distinguishes the various esters and how to use them most effectively.
What exactly is an ester?
Esters are organic compounds derived from a chemical reaction that we will not explain in detail to avoid boring you. Put simply, this reaction releases elements that have different absorption times in our bodies: by binding an ester to an anabolic molecule, we can therefore deduce that the half-life of the product can be manipulated. The anabolic half-life is simply the time that the product acts on our body.
Let's take a practical example
If a drug has a half-life of only two hours but the levels of that drug must be constant in the body, we have to take the drug every two hours. If a longer ester is attached to that drug, the half-life increases and we can "spread" the intake over time. Keep in mind that the half-life not only affects the duration of the drug's action in the metabolism but also affects the time it takes for the active ingredient to leave our body.
How many times have we asked ourselves,“Is testosterone enanthate better than cypionate?” “Is Sustanon (which is a blend of esters) better than testosterone propionate?” The answer is always the same… the molecule itself doesn’t change, but the duration of action (and consequently, the method of administration) does. Depending on your needs, you’ll choose the ester that best suits you.
Other effects that anabolic steroids have on our cycle.
It is universally accepted that a drug with a slower action has less pronounced side effects on the body. Anabolic steroids with a short half-life tend to cause peaks and troughs in blood concentration, which are not always beneficial for our metabolism.
Furthermore, anabolics with a fast ester tend to aromatize more due to the peaks and troughs in serum levels, meaning that the values are less stable. For the same reason, we recommend frequent (and possibly smaller) injections even with longer esters.
The most well-known anabolic esters:
It should be noted that there are hundreds of possible ester combinations, and we certainly won’t list them all here: below is a list of the most common esters and those most frequently used in the world of anabolic steroids:
Acetate: The acetate ester is very short-acting and is absorbed into the body very quickly. Trenbolone Acetateis a well-known product that uses this ester.
Propionate: a widely used and very fast-acting ester with a half-life of just over 2–3 days. Well-known anabolic steroids that use this ester include Testosterone Propionateand Masteron Propionate
Phenylpropionate: With a half-life slightly longer than that of propionate, steroids with this ester should be injected about twice a week. The Nandrolone NPP uses this ester.
Isocarpoate and Carpoate: These esters are very similar and have a half-life of about one week. They can be found in the Sustanon blend.
Enanthate: A widely used ester with a half-life of between 10 and 14 days. The most famous is Testosterone Enanthate is based on this ester, as is Parabolan
Cypionate: An ester that is virtually identical to enanthate, designed specifically to replicate the enanthate ester where the latter had been patented and was therefore unusable. Its half-life is only slightly longer. The Testosterone Cypionate is part of this family of esters.
Decanoate: a very long-acting ester (lasting just over 14 days) made popular by its use with nandrolone, which led to the creation of Deca Durabolin
Undecylenate: a very long-acting ester that can extend the half-life to more than 21 days. Boldenoneis the classic steroid that uses this ester.
