Bodybuilders throw the term around “pro-hormone” and “legal steroids” as a term for over the counter steroid supplements. But is this really proper terminology and what is the difference between the two terms? And how close to illegal steroids are they really?

What are Pro-Hormones?

Pro-hormones are pre-cursors to anabolic steroids. In other words an enzyme in the body will convert the pro-hormone supplement to an active anabolic steroid. There is no inherent difference between the steroids that pro-hormones convert to and the traditional illegal ones such as Tren and Testosterone. Every steroid has different properties and potencies. Illegality has nothing to do with their potency. Many illegal steroids are weak such as anavar and primobolan, while methyl-1-testosterone which used to be over the counter before the pro-hormone ban in 05, was more potent and toxic than them.

How Pro-hormones work:

Pro-hormones need a body enzyme to convert to the active steroid. As a result there is an “upper limit” on how much can be converted at any given time. Usually the bodies upper limit is fairly high causing significant gains with only a few grams of pro hormones. However, there is research that points to the idea, while not as potent, that pro-hormones themselves also have inherent activity on the androgen receptors. This would make them have dual activity, part pro-hormone and part steroid.

Difference between Legal steroids & Pro-Hormones?

Pro-hormones and Legal steroids are often used interchangeably for these group of compounds. Why is this? Legal steroids are usually used to best describe the over the counter hormones that don’t need to convert. Pro-hormones is the term for the ones that need to convert to the active hormone. Since some pro-hormones may have inherent activity and to make it easy to group them under one name, often legal steroids or pro-hormones term is used by bodybuilders to describe the entire group.

History of Pro-Hormone use:

Androstenidione was the first pro-hormone to hit the market back in 96. It was the supplement infamously found in Mark McGwire’s locker. Androstenidione was marketed as a pre-cursor to testosterone, but bodybuilders found it to be a poor prohormone. Studies showed it didn’t help muscle gain, but converted to high levels of estrogen instead of mainly testosterone.

Eventually some stronger pro-hormones came out that were better such as 4-AD. Another called 1-AD by ergopharm, became an overnight success for providing significant muscle gains. While it had some negative side effects it was the most potent mass builder available at the time. Eventually this led to research into modern transdermal formulas using the active hormone (dubbed 1-testosterone) that 1-AD converted to. 1-testosterone was not on the steroid controlled list(passed originally in 89) at the time and therefore was able to legally stay on the market. Through some weak scientific evidence, they argued it was found in nature and therefore could be sold as a supplement over the counter.

In 2003 Legal Gear(Now called legal sciences) first marketed methylated orals for 1-testosterone called Methyl 1-testosterone (M-1T). Methylated orals allowed the hormones to be taken orally and to bypass the livers breakdown, just like traditional methylated illegal steroids such as d-bol and anadrol.

Pro-Hormone ban:

With supplement companies pushing the envelop and letting everything on the market, in 2005 Bush signed the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 outlawing dozens of these prohormones and active steroids(including 1-testosterone and m-1t and 4-ad). The legislation made them controlled substances and punishable by law. It made it also possible for the attorney general to have an easy time banning new hormones sold over the counter.

Did the pro-hormone ban work?

Not really. While some of the more milder “pro-hormones” are coming out such as 11-oxo, many of the “legal steroids” today are highly toxic methylated steroids. Many are even more dangerous than most of the ones from a few years ago that are now banned. One of these post-ban compounds is “superdrol”. I wrote up a scientific analysis and my opinions of Superdrol, in a article here.

Many of these companies producing these new compounds, are operating in a legal grey area with the risk of it being added to a ban list. A lot of these companies making these compounds, are “shell companies” so they can dissolve quickly, when necessary.

Legal steroids scams:

Many online pharmacy and supplement stores use the term “legal steroids” to try and trick newbies. They often use names close to traditional illegal steroids. Don’t fall for these online scams. These are different from the group we have been talking about in this article. These sites purposely give the impression of selling illegal steroids by using similiar names and by the design and word choice of the website.

To keep up to date on this everchanging group of supplements, one must ask questions in a bodybuilding Forum to get the latest on pro-hormones, pro-hormone scams, and any possible side effects.