Primobolan is an almost pure anabolic with an extremely low androgenic component. The ratio of the anabolic to the androgenic effect is indeed very favorable but, since the overall anabolic effect is only moderately strong, Primobolan tablets have only a limited effect in building up muscle mass and strength. With Primobolan neither fast weight gains nor explosive strength gains occur. Primobolan is therefore mostly taken over a prolonged period since it gives only a slow but also a high-quality muscle gain which mostly remains after use of the compound is discontinued. An effective daily dose observed in athletes is in the range of 50-150 mg so that the 25 mg tablets are preferred to the 5 mg tablets. As for the recommended dose, the athlete obtains interesting information from the German package insert by Schering AG for their compound Primobolan S: "Unless otherwise prescribed the following guidelines apply: The dosage should be 1 - 1.5 mg per pound of body weight/day, that is 4-6 tablets for 100 pound of bodyweight". A bodybuilder weighing 100 kg should therefore take 200-300 mg daily which would correspond to a dosage of eight to twelve 25 mg tablets per day. We believe that this dosage is too high; however, this example shows that a fairly large dosage of the oral acetate form is necessary. The reason is that the Primobolan acetate tablets are not 17-alpha alkylated and, during the first pass in the liver, a large part of the substance is destroyed and thus deactivated leaving only a much smaller quantity of the substance to get into the blood.