Winstrol - Stanozolol is a very commonly used anabolic steroid for cutting cycles. While many people will attempt to use Dianabol or even Anadrol for cutting cycles, I´ve really never heard of anyone using Stanozolol for anything except a cutting cycle. It´s a bit of a one-trick-pony in this respect. Let me repeat that: Stanozolol is a cutting drug. Not many people will argue for its use in a bulking cycle. It´s certainly not a very effective compound for treating anemia (1) and thus, one could rightly assume that its role in bulking cycles is very limited. One novel use for Winstrol in any cycle (perhaps even bulking) would be to use it at a very limited dose, in order to lower SHBG. (2) One of the properties of Winstrol is it´s profound ability to lower SHBG much more than other steroids. A dose of .2mg/kg lowered SHBG significantly, which would in turn, raise the amount of free testosterone circulating in the body. As with 99% of steroids, however, it´s important to note that suppression of your natural hormonal levels will occur (though perhaps not to the extent that it will with many other steroids).(10) As with running virtually any compound, testosterone supplementation (i.e. running test in a cycle containing Winstrol) is warranted to avoid possible sexual dysfunction.

Winstrol & Stanozol Side Effects

Adding it to a heavy bulking cycle could be problematic, as Stanozolol is a 17aa compound, meaning that it´s been altered to endure the first pass through your liver without being destroyed. This makes it an orally active compound; so many people choose to take the pills which are available from both legitimate pharmaceutical companies as well as Underground Labs. Unfortunately, since it is 17aa, it is also liver toxic& in fact; Stanozolol has one of the worst hepatoxicity (mg for mg) of any steroid. This is the reason its addition to a bulking cycle could be problematic; generally a bulking cycle will be very heavy, dosage wise as well as toxicity-wise. It also has undesirable results on Cholesterol, and a mere 6mgs/day of Stanozolol can lower HDL by 33% and raise LDL by 29% (3). Cardiac Hypertrophy, even at lower doses could be a concern with Winstrol as well (4) Thus, many people limit their intake of Stanozolol to precontest or Summer-cutting types of cycles. It´s generally accepted that due to the toxicity issues of Stanozolol, its use should be limited to 6 weeks& as with anything though, many people have run it for up to 12 weeks with no problems.

Stanozolol (Winstrol) and Women

Stanozolol is also one of the few compounds that women can take safely, as it´s anabolic:androgenic ratio is quite skewed towards anabolism. It´s generally accepted that women can tolerate around 5-10mgs a day of this compound. Men, on the other hand can dose themselves in the .5-1.5mg/kg range. I find 100mgs injected every other Day to be sufficient, but of course, even with the injectable form, every day dosing is optimal. I tend to favor DHT based compounds, and have enjoyed great success with a Winstrol/Masteron/Testosterone cycle, but I suspect that replacing the Masteron in that cycle with Trenbolone would prove more beneficial for most bodybuilders seeking to get ripped.

Although the anabolic ratio of this product is very high as compared to its androgenic actions, not many people report huge weight gains off of Stanozolol. Also, interestingly, it has a relatively weak AR binding ability (7), which is quite unusual for a "cutting" steroid. Many of the effects of this drug, as relates to building muscle, are probably from its very high protein synthesizing ability (6) (8). In addition, since this compound is derived from DHT, it tends to promote a very nice, "quality" look to the user´s muscles, with little or no water retention. Winstrol does not aromatize at any rate and has even been speculated to have anti-progestenic properties (in at least some cases, where it may "block" that receptor) (9). If one were to run ancillary compounds with Stanozolol, perhaps Tamoxifen would be appropriate for it´s beneficial effects on blood lipids, but an anti-estrogen (in it´s classic sense) would be unwarranted; proper post cycle therapy is still needed, though.

Winstrol Profile

Stanozolol
     [17beta-Hydroxy-17-methyl-5alpha-androstano[3,2-c]pyrazole]
     Molecular Weight: 344.5392
     Molecular Formula: C22H36N2O
     Melting Point:N/A
     Manufacturer: (Originally) Sterling
     Release Date:1962
     Effective Dose(men): 50-100mgs/day
     Effective Dose (women): 2.5-10mgs/day
     Active Life:8hours
     Detection Time:3 weeks (oral) to 9 weeks (injectable)
     Androgenic/Anabolic Ratio:30:320

Source: steroid.com