A Guide to Safe Injection Technique

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A Guide to Safe Injection Technique
By sam1976
for juicedmuscle.com

I often see questions regarding various aspects of the injecting procedure. This article may be common knowledge to the experienced AAS user, but knowing how important safe and sterile injection technique is, if I can save one newbie from hurting themselves, then it will have been worth writing. I’m writing to explain the procedure that I use. My point isn’t to create a be all, end all guide to injection, but more so, share personal experience of what has worked for me.

Equipment :

Barrels :

Most commonly, a 3cc (3ml) barrel has been my weapon of choice, as it is for most athletes I know. I’ve been stuck with 5cc barrels and let me tell you, it is no picnic, getting that oil into the muscle with a 5. Unless I get to a point that I’m using more than 3mls at a time (which I don’t see happening), I’ll stick to my 3’s.

Pins :

First of all, when talking about needles, notice that the smaller gauge number, the thicker the pin is. I recommend using two separate pins for drawing and injecting. Drawing oil can be a slooow process with a small pin. I’ve found that a 20g works great for me. The oil fills quickly into the barrel and the rubber stopper of my vial stays intact. I’ve found that too often, if I use an 18g to draw, the stopper gets beat up and at times, even small pieces of rubber break off and fall into the bottle. Not good! So the 20g is good for drawing, but there is no way in hell that I would like to inject with it! For injecting, I use a 25g for most everything now days. Today, so much of the UG gear is made with EO or other thin carriers that a 25g works very well. It would work with thicker gear too, but you may find that injecting becomes a much longer process. If that is the case, a 23g will probably better suit your needs. 23g is a very common pin to use for injections. Still, I choose the 25 when I can. I’ve found that the smaller pin seems to reduce the amount of scar tissue build up I get during a cycle.

Besides the gauge of the needle, another important aspect is the length. 1 ? inch is what is most recommended for glutes. It is important to inject deep into the muscle and often, the glute is covered with a good layer of fat, so the 1 ? is a good choice. I’ve heard of very lean people getting away with using a 1 inch pin for glutes, but it isn’t something I’ve tried. Even at 3.5-4%BF, I’ve still gone with the 1 ? for glutes. Other common areas to inject are the quads and side delts. For both of these sites, 1inch is great.

Alcohol :

No not a shot of bourbon to get the courage up to inject. Isopropyl or rubbing Alcohol. I believe the best thing to do is drop $2 on a box of prep pads at your local drug store, often found in the diabetic care section.

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Preparation and Injection :

First off, I make sure that everything is clean in the environment I’m using. A freshly cleaned kitchen table works well for me. Wash your hands! We want to reduce the chance of dirt and bacteria getting injected into the muscle. Pick the site to inject and get the proper pins and barrel. I leave each item in it’s sterile package until I need it. For help on leaning where to inject, visit this site... spot injections For this article, I am going to assume you are using a multi-use vial. Use a prep pad to clean the top of your rubber vial before drawing your oil. Draw your oil using your 20g pin. Then switch your pin to the one you’ll use for injecting. Use another prep pad to clean the site that you plan to inject. Once, you have the needle in the muscle, ASPIRATE! That means, pull back on the plunger. If you see an air bubble when you draw back, you are clear to begin injecting. If you see blood, you are in a vein and need to pull out, replace your pin with a new one and try again. You do not want to inject into a vein. Injecting oil is a slow process. Take your time and don’t push it in all at once. Doing so may increase damage to the muscle tissue. After you finish injecting and pull the pin out, use another prep pad to wipe the site. Massage the muscle and try to work the oil into your body. Going for a walk after a glute or quad injection is a great way to work it in. These things always help reduce the amount of pain I feel the next day. As a matter of fact, I often like to sync it up so that I can train the muscle that has been injected. Another trick that I’ve picked up that helps with pain and good absorption is to heat my gear before it is injected. Letting my vial sit in a warm water bath lowers the viscosity of the oil, making it thin and easier on my body.

I’ve heard standardized explanations as to how much oil you can inject into one body part, but I don’t think they are a be all, end all. I’m sure that Jay Cutler would have no problem injecting double the amount of oil into his delt than an average sized man would. That being said, the standard response is a good place to start.
2-3cc’s per glute
1-2cc’s per delt
2cc’s per quad
For me personally, I am comfortable with 3cc’s per glute, 2-3cc’s per quad and and 2 ? per delt. It’s important to rotate your injection sites. One shot per week per site is standard protocol. Overuse could result in a sterile abscess at the worst and a build up of scar tissue, at the least.

Infection :

Here are common infections that can occur. In most cases, an infection is caused by non-sterile procedure or a contaminated product. As I’ve just mentioned, over use of a site, even with clean gear, can lead to a sterile abscess. If you suspect you have an infection, there is a good chance you will need medical attention. An abscess left untreated can kill you. Never attempt to drain an abscess on your own. If you puncture it, it is possible that the walled off infection will spread to your blood. The sooner you take care of it, the less

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the chance is that surgery will be necessary. Here is some info on common infections that I?ve copied from a couple different sources.

Cellulitis (taken from the mayo clinic web site)


A person's cellulitis symptoms can occur at the location of the infected skin (local symptoms) or they can occur on other parts of the body (systemic symptoms). Signs and symptoms that occur at the location of the infected skin have four common characteristics: redness, warmth, swelling, and pain when touched. Systemic symptoms can include fever, chills, muscle aches, and fatigue.


Abscess (taken from medical dictionary)

An abscess is an enclosed collection of liquefied tissue, known as pus, somewhere in the body. It is the result of the body's defensive reaction to foreign material.
Description
There are two types of abscesses, septic and sterile. Most abscesses are septic, which means that they are the result of an infection. Septic abscesses can occur anywhere in the body. Only a germ and the body's immune response are required. In response to the invading germ, white blood cells gather at the infected site and begin producing chemicals called enzymes that attack the germ by digesting it. These enzymes act like acid, killing the germs and breaking them down into small pieces that can be picked up by the circulation and eliminated from the body. Unfortunately, these chemicals also digest body tissues. In most cases, the germ produces similar chemicals. The result is a thick, yellow liquid?pus?containing digested germs, digested tissue, white blood cells, and enzymes.
An abscess is the last stage of a tissue infection that begins with a process called inflammation. Initially, as the invading germ activates the body's immune system, several events occur:
? Blood flow to the area increases.
? The temperature of the area increases due to the increased blood supply.
? The area swells due to the accumulation of water, blood, and other liquids.
? It turns red.
? It hurts, because of the irritation from the swelling and the chemical activity.
These four signs?heat, swelling, redness, and pain?characterize inflammation.
As the process progresses, the tissue begins to turn to liquid, and an abscess forms. It is the nature of an abscess to spread as the chemical digestion liquefies more and more tissue. Furthermore, the spreading follows the path of least resistance?the tissues most easily digested. A good example is an abscess just beneath the skin. It most easily continues along beneath the skin rather than working its way through the skin where it could drain its toxic contents. The contents of the abscess also leak into the general

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circulation and produce symptoms just like any other infection. These include chills, fever, aching, and general discomfort.
Sterile abscesses are sometimes a milder form of the same process caused not by germs but by nonliving irritants such as drugs. If an injected drug like penicillin is not absorbed, it stays where it was injected and may cause enough irritation to generate a sterile abscess?sterile because there is no infection involved. Sterile abscesses are quite likely to turn into hard, solid lumps as they scar, rather than remaining pockets of pus.

[eterpr Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close eterpr]

great article! best one i read for following injecting directions. My GTG technique since now.

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

great article! best one i read for following injecting directions. My GTG technique since now.

thanks eterpr! glad i could do something for the community.

[omni Member Find all posts View Profile Close omni]

I wish I could've had all this info when I started. My first shot was prepped on a dirty workbench. Great post!

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

I wish I could've had all this info when I started. My first shot was prepped on a dirty workbench. Great post!

thanks omin. i feel the same way and it was fun to write. LOL at dirty workbench!!!

[GXR64 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GXR64]

Great step by step insturctions on injections and techniques for sure. Many new people can learn from this.

[dave65 Member Find all posts View Profile Close dave65]

good info thanks !!

[Gawd Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gawd]

Great article!

[Kristofer68ss Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kristofer68ss]

great article!!!

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

thanks guys. i had fun writing it and am kind of proud to have something to share, as lame as that might sound lol

[Devil34 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Devil34]

any info is good info from sam lol good piece of info

[kingdingaling Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kingdingaling]

thanks sam