History
STEEL Supplements has not been around for long, in fact the founder Jason Huh began the business in a recent year, 2016. This leaves the question of how they grew to be the business they are now. Well, Jason was actually a business owner in years prior to STEEL Supplements. In 2007 Mr. Huh started a business by the name of, Elite Nutrition and Smoothie. During this time of running his first business, he was also training to become an IFBB Pro body builder. For nine years he ran this while, in 2011, gaining his pro card in IFBB Pro. That leads us to the beginning of STEEL. As an IFBB Pro it makes sense he was interested in this supplement field. With his wife also earning a pro card, they both had knowledge on the industry and hence STEEL was started and took off being backed by two great athletes.
Products
STEEL has a wide variety of products. Think of any health commercial products and boom, STEEL most likely will have a remedy in stock for you. They range from sleeping supplements to sex pills for males. I will say, as anecdotal evidence, they have a very strong line of pre-workout supplements as well as intra-workout supplements. Specifically, ADAbolic. I have used this product before and wow does it make you pump up and last longer in the gym. I will be covering this supplement in another article as well as on YouTube. That being said you can go check out the brand for yourself and see the plethora of options they provide but, today we have a very specific products in mind.
Figure – STEEL Products
Mass Stack
STEEL Mass Stack is well known for being a great T-Booster. The question lies with the science and that is my motivation for covering this product. At a hefty $250, this product deserves to be looked into more. A quick explanation of Mass Stack is necessary for those of you who may be in the dark. Others may skip to the next paragraph if having knowledge on it already. This is a two month “cycle” to boost testosterone and, in turn, build more muscle etc. Figure 1 will show the full list of intended positive effects.
Figure 1 – Effects
With a list like that, you would expect this to be a hot product. Now, these are the intended effects but they obviously don’t include bad side effects which will be discussed later in this post. So, the purpose of Mass Stack is to boost T for men with low levels or men who want higher levels to build more muscle and live a higher quality of life. On a side note, testosterone is responsible for many important aspects of someone’s life like actual energy and keeping depression under wraps but that is all for another article. Back on track now, this two-month cycle is split into two parts. First, we have 1-Andro^3, and second is Alpha AF. In a generalization, Andro is the main booster and Alpha is anti-estrogen. After a T-booster, a post cycle supplement such as Alpha AF is recommended to keep estrogen levels under wraps because it can raise after coming down from a T boosting supplement. This is the concept behind the stack.
Figure 2 – Ingredients labels
Side Effects
With any sort of testosterone supplement there are going to be side effects and just to let everyone be aware of those possible effects I have listed a few below quickly. The potential side effects of testosterone supplements include:
- Hair loss
- Male breast enlargement
- Acne
- Testicular atrophy
- Prostate enlargement
- Loss of libido
- Increased aggression
- Infertility
The Science
Before I dive into this and get into the research, I have my own personal hypothesis on the product. Looking at the back of the first bottle, again shown below, there is a big FDA label but reading into the fine print we see that this is manufactured in an FDA registered facility. Then further down you read that this actual supplement has not be reviewed whatsoever by the FDA. That isn’t uncommon in supplements such as these and even the shelf bought vitamins you may be getting, but it must be noted. Before researching I just came up with this idea. I am assuming, with all the people backing this product up, that the ingredients listed may not be all that is included in the doses. I will tell you why I think this is the case coming up.
Figure 3 – FDA Labels
After a few hours of research of the citations listed below I have a stong grasp on the situation. I am surprised to say the least. This is some interesting stuff so get ready. We are mainly addressing STEEL’s 1 – Andro. This compound has a few names in the industry: 1-DHEA, 1-Andro, and 1 Androsterone. This is not a steroid. Though you may look it up and see that this is considered a steroid, that is just false and not the case. A proper description would be a pre-prohormone. Closely related is a steroid known as Boldenone that is currently banned. The reason this is a misconception is because of how it affects the body to, through metabolism of the liver, create 1-Testosterone or more specifically dihydroboldenone (1-T). Now 1-T is not the parent steroid itself either, which is why this is confusing. 1-T is what is formed when the steroid Boldenone is combined with an enzyme in the body known as 5 Alpha Reductase (5AR) by the liver. The steroid is Boldenone which we do not find in this supplement which is why it is legal etc. 1-T is the final product we get out of 1-Andro. To clarify, STEEL offers 1-Andro which is then metabolized through two enzymes to get into the form of 1-testosterone. This 1-T is the same product you get from boldenone. We arrive at the same outcome in the end but the reason the muscle building effects are not the same as boldenone is all because of the two-step enzyme process. 1-Andro needs to have 2 different enzymes present to be converted twice into 1-T, while that is not the case with the original banned Boldenone supplement. With a limited supply of enzymes holding back the production of 1-T, there is a limit to what 1-Andro can do. Unlike steroids, you cannot take more and get more results. On top of that though, since 1-T is reduced by 5AR, it loses its ability to be converted to estrogen by the body leaving less bloating and gynecomastia side effects as compared to Boldenone.
It’s Legit
Personally, I had to take a moment to absorb all that and you can to. In the end this STEEL supplement is very well thought up and they have found a legal way to promote testosterone and androgen receptors to work at higher rates for better muscle gains. I was very skeptical of the product until now. I expected to find that this was a sort of a cover for other ingredients in the supplement, but turns out what is in there is in there and it works, or at least according to the literature. Unfortunately there has only been one study recently in 2013 that proves these results but the study had great results. I will link it below. Those participants had twice the daily dosage that STEEL’s 1-Andro provides and that is important to take into consideration. I am dropping a table of the study’s results below if you are curious.
Figure 4 – Study Results on Body Comp
Conclusion
Overall, I think I covered the concept behind this product. The post cycle supplement known is Alpha AF is just for reducing the rise of estrogen levels and if you are curious send me a message through my about page and I can dive into how that works as well.
I am currently trying this product and will be posting another short article on my personal results. That post will include pictures of my body comp as well as numbers for weight and radius at certain points on my body. I am glad to have dug into this product more and I really do hope this is a helpful article for anyone who stumbles upon it curious about STEEL. If there is anything to take away from this, it is that STEEL’s Mass Stack is no joke. If you want to be trying things like this, please read into it and prepare for effects and everything. Newcomers to the gym should be avoiding prohormones and focus on perfecting the art of the gym first. Again, be careful out there and catch you all in another post!
Works Cited
“1 Testosterone.” 1 Testosterone – an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, 2018, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/1-testosterone.
1-Andro / 1-Androsterone / 1-DHEA: Everything to Know, www.priceplow.com/1-androsterone.
Granados, Jorge, et al. “Prohormone Supplement 3β-Hydroxy-5α-Androst-1-En-17-One Enhances Resistance Training Gains but Impairs User Health.” Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 116, no. 5, 2014, pp. 560–569., doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00616.2013.
Steel Supplements. “About Us.” Steel Supplements, steelsupplements.com/pages/about-us-steel#:~:text=We%20started%20off%20as%20a,shop%207%20days%20a%20week.