so a few weeks ago i posted a video where i outlined the toxic effects of a popular
supplement known as fedoja aggressis where i briefly mentioned my top three alternatives
that can be safely used to increase testosterone ashwagandha tonkat ali and shilajit and then last
week i released another video on ectosteroids and the overwhelming response to those two videos was
zack how do we properly cycle these together and so that's what today's
video is all about guys how to properly and safely cycle these together in order to
maximize results and minimize the risk of side effects so let's go ahead and dive right in
hey guys my name is zach and welcome to nutrition library where we take an evidence-based approach
to supplementation and nutrition if you are new to the channel or you haven't already do me a
huge favor and hit the red subscribe button this below this video so you can stay up to date with
all of our future content thank you so much now before we get into the specifics of my specific
dosing protocol i do think it would be extremely beneficial for us to get a general grasp of the
mechanisms of action of all four of these compounds so that you guys can kind of get
a glimpse into my thinking process as to why i chose my specific dosing and cycling protocol now
when it comes to ashwagandha and testosterone there are three primary mechanisms of action
one is that it decreases cortisol which has an inverse relationship with testosterone
two is that it increases thyroid hormone which is a direct stimulator of luteinizing hormone
and subsequently testosterone production as well and three is that it interestingly enough
increases serotonin signaling now the reason this is interesting is that when you increase serotonin
signaling typically this does one primary thing which is increased prolactin levels and prolactin
actually typically suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone and testosterone however it
has been shown in several clinical trials as well as rodent trials that ashwagandha
actually has the opposite effect and so if you dig a little bit further into the research what
you'll notice is that the suppressive effects of serotonin on luteinizing hormone and testosterone
are actually mediated through a very specific serotonin receptor known as the 5-ht-1a receptor
and what's interesting is that ashwagandha seems to down regulate this receptor and is actually one
of the ways that ashwagandha increases luteinizing hormone and testosterone but what's more is that
ashwagandha also seems to improve the signaling of another serotonin receptor known as the 5-ht-2a
receptor which actually has the opposite effect of the 5-ht-1a receptor when the 5-ht2a receptor
specifically is stimulated it actually suppresses prolactin release and increases luteinizing
hormone and testosterone production now this is fantastic for testosterone production but this is
also where we tend to run into some of the side effects of ashwagandha if taken for too long or
in too high of a dosage and the reason for this is that the 5 ht2a receptor is extremely inhibitory
to neurological function and because ashwagandha also has some other inhibitory actions from
reducing cortisol levels as well as improving gaba signaling again if ashwagandha is taken for
too long of a period or in too high of a dosage there's always the risk of running into what i
call the gray effect and this is just simply where nothing really is exciting but nothing's really
depressing as well and so everything is just well gray and this is why proper cycling and proper
dosage is just so important with ashwagandha however it is really important to note here that
it usually does take several months for these side effects to work themselves out however some people
do tend um and do appear to be somewhat more sensitive to these side effects now when it comes
to tonkat ali the primary mechanisms here seem to be one the possible up regulation of the enzymes
that are needed to produce testosterone two is that it also seems to antagonize the alpha subset
of estrogen receptors and when estrogen binds to these receptors in the brain it usually suppresses
testosterone production and tonkat ali can prevent this from happening and the third mechanism of
action here seems to be the dopaminergic effects of tonkat ali the more dopamine you have in your
central nervous system means that there's less prolactin released more luteinizing released
and subsequently more testosterone as well now it has been wrongly stated that tonkat ali's primary
mechanism of action here is the reduction of sex hormone binding globulin however this just isn't
anywhere in the literature whatsoever and so i'm not really sure where this rumor started but um it
is fairly safe to say that this is not a mechanism of action here now the main reason that tonkat ali
needs to be cycled is because of its potent effects on antagonizing the alpha subset of
estrogen receptors if taken for too long or in too high of a dosage there does tend to be somewhat of
a suppressive effect on bone health joint health and heart health as well now when it comes to
shilajit the main mechanism of action here seems to be one that it increases testicular antioxidant
capacity too is that it increases mineral content in the testes and three is that it also appears
that the fatty acid content seems to confer some protective effects on the testes as well now
because of the very specific mechanisms of action here um shilajit is actually one of the compounds
that i really don't think needs to be cycled which is why shilajit's actually one of the compounds
one of the few compounds that i take every day now shilajit also seems to increase gaba levels
as well as dopamine levels which also contribute to its mood and cognitive enhancing effects as
well as its hormone regulatory properties however because this is presumably happening because of
nutrient replenishment in the body again i really don't think shilajit is a compound that needs
to be cycled now when it comes to ectosteroids the main thing to understand here is that they
don't have a major effect on hormone levels they actually act through binding to the beta subset
of estrogen receptors to initiate muscle protein synthesis now because ectosteroids technically can
be considered a phytoestrogen and work through phytoestrogenic mechanisms in the body i would
also consider ectosteroids more of a food product kind of like shilajit as well and because of this
i really don't think things like tercesterone and ectosteroids absolutely need to be cycled
at all now i do think it is worth pointing out here that there does seem to be some type of
interaction between tonkat ali and ectosteroids because tonkat ali does potently block
both of the estrogen receptors it does seem to negate and antagonize the effects of ectosteroids
in the body and because of this tonkat ali and ectosteroids don't really stack well together
and again is where cycling and timing becomes so important now with all of that being said
let's go ahead and jump into my personal dosing protocol now this is my personal dosing protocol
and this is not a specific recommendation to any of you guys however i do think the
most important thing to note here is that i do take shilajit and ectosteroids every single day
in the morning with breakfast and the main reason that i take these in the morning is because i find
shilajit to be somewhat stimulatory and so i don't want to take it too close to bedtime and disrupt
my sleep patterns and i take ectosteroids in the morning because i'm trying to space out my intake
of ectosteroids and tonkat ali as much as possible now the second thing to note here is that i
exclusively take tonkat ali and ashwagandha only on workout days and typically i'll just take them
with my pre-workout concoction which i'll probably make a video on here in the future
however i do try to kind of like play around with it sometimes and sometimes i'll kind of
split my dosage apart and take some of it before my workout and some of it after my
workout now because i only work out three times per week this ensures that i'm not
over using these herbs and helps me to kind of keep track of my use of them and ensure that
i'm not going to run into any side effects now it is also important to note here that i do tend to
work out in the late afternoon to evening time and so again this is the reason that
i'm taking ectosteroids in the morning and then tonkat ali before my workout there's usually
roughly a 12-hour gap there um and seems from my experience to allow both the benefits of
ectosteroids to happen as well as also getting the benefits from the tomcat ali as well now if
you are someone who exercises in the morning time these same principles can be applied to to your
workout schedule as well however you are going to have to kind of play around with what you like
best in the morning versus the evening time now one of the difficult things here is that because
everyone's biology is so different just depending on your exercise protocols and your genetics as
well as just other environmental factors there is some wiggle room here as to what will work
best for you personally now another thing to note here is that there really isn't any hard science
here and so my recommendation to you guys is just experiment with these compounds figure out what
works best for you it is worth noting here as well that works best right now may not work best in six
months from now and so continuing to play around with your dosing and your timing and your cycling
of all of these is really important and really helps to teach you to stay in tune with your
body and how your body is reacting to specific compounds and exercise protocols as well as diet
and so i say all that to say that it it's okay to experiment with these things just have fun with
it and see what works now if you guys are new to this conversation on natural hormone optimization
i would highly recommend go ahead and getting a at-home blood test to test your personal hormone
profile everyone is at a completely different place when it comes to their hormone profile
and so being able to implement a strategy that is geared towards your personal profile is extremely
important so if you guys are interested in this there is a link in the description where you guys
can find the absolute best hormone test uh on the market but other than that guys if y'all haven't
downloaded any of the supplement guides that i've got on my website there's also gonna be a link in
the description to that but other than that i will see you guys next time thank you so much