What Is Winstrol V?

Winstrol V is an injectable steroid hormone manufactured by both Winthrop Veterinary and Upjohn. It is the companies' brand name for the chemical compound stanozolol. Winstrol came to widespread public knowledge when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for stanozolol during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It is currently banned by the governing bodies of most sports, and some nations have declared it illegal for possession without a prescription. Despite health risks and illegality, however, many athletes continue to use Winstrol because of the physiological benefits.

Benefits

• Winstrol promotes dramatic strength gains by showing a strong bonding affinity to androgen receptors in muscle tissue. Its similarity to DHT also increases muscle hardness and helps athletes trying to lose weight maintain the muscle they already possess. Track athletes take it because it stimulates the production of red blood cells, which allows their blood to carry more oxygen to muscle tissue during exercise and competition.

  Medically, doctors continue to prescribe stanozolol to decrease the frequency of attacks of hereditary angioedema, a disorder that causes periodic bouts of swelling in the face, hands and feet, genitalia, bowel wall and throat.

Recommended Dosages

• The typical dosage of Winstrol V that athletes and bodybuilders use is 50 mg daily. As bodybuilders often stack Winstrol V with other steroid hormones, some users take a smaller dosage (25 mg daily) for the first six to eight weeks of a steroid cycle, to capitalize on the strength gains that Winstrol V offers. Winstrol V comes in an aqueous (water) solution, so users must inject it frequently. The aqueous solution allows users to inject it into smaller muscles, so that repeat usage of injection sites is unnecessary.

Use in Sport

• In 1988, Sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal at the Seoul Olympics for his use of the drug. Since then, a continuing number of positive drug tests show many other athletes also use it. In 2006, two Indian weightlifters, Edwin Raju and Tejinder Singh, tested positive; and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska had to forfeit her silver medal after testing positive for the drug. In August 2009, Major League Baseball (MLB) suspended three players in the minor leagues after they tested positive for stanozolol.

  For sports testing purposes, the half-life of injectable stanozolol leaves metabolites in the blood and urine for up to five months.

Health risks

• Winstrol V is slightly hepatoxic (corrodes the liver) and often leads to elevated liver values. Use should be restricted to no longer than eight weeks. Common side effects include muscle cramps, headaches, elevated blood pressure, elevated LDL cholesterol and, less frequently, liver damage. Additionally, many users, especially women, suffer from the masculinizing effects of Winstrol, as it stimulates the androgen receptors. These effects include acne, enlarged prostate, increased facial and body hair, and an acceleration of male pattern baldness.

Legality

• In the United States, Stanozolol is listed as a Schedule III narcotic. Possession is illegal without a prescription. Illegal sale, distribution or possession of Winstrol V is considered a felony and violations can be punishable by up to five years' imprisonment under federal law, and more than five years under some state laws.

  In sport, the International Olympic Committee, all of the major professional sporting associations and the NCAA ban the use of Winstrol V. In amateur athletics (the NCAA and IOC), those who test positive for Winstrol V face a two-year suspension on the first offense, and any subsequent offense can be punished with a lifetime ban from the sport.