Test and Anavar Cycle: Effects, Risks and What Research Shows

A test and Anavar cycle is the non-medical use of testosterone together with oxandrolone (Anavar), an oral anabolic steroid, usually to hold onto muscle and strength while getting leaner. It has a reputation as a “mild” stack, but both drugs shut down your own testosterone production, and the oral component is hard on cholesterol and the liver.

The stack is popular for an obvious reason: testosterone is the most studied anabolic drug there is, and Anavar is seen as a gentler add-on that won’t cause water retention. What gets talked about less is what happens to your blood lipids, your heart and your hormones during and after the cycle.

This guide covers what each drug is, why lifters combine them, what the research actually shows about results and risks, how long recovery takes, and where the law stands. It is not a how-to, and it does not recommend doses.

What Is Testosterone?

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone, made mainly in the testes under signals from the brain’s hypothalamus and pituitary gland (the HPTA). It drives muscle and bone mass, sex drive, sperm production and red blood cell production.

Doctors prescribe it for diagnosed hypogonadism, when the body doesn’t make enough. In bodybuilding, it is used at doses well above natural levels and forms the “base” of a test and Anavar cycle.

Testosterone binds directly to androgen receptors, and the body also converts it to DHT (which affects the scalp, skin and prostate) and to estradiol, an estrogen. That estrogen conversion is why high doses can cause breast tissue growth (gynecomastia) and water retention. Its injectable esters, such as enanthate and cypionate, mainly differ in how long they last, and none is meaningfully “better” for results.

What Is Anavar (Oxandrolone)?

Anavar is the original brand name for oxandrolone, an oral anabolic steroid derived from DHT. A methyl group at the 17-alpha position lets it survive digestion and work as a pill, and it is also what makes it harder on the liver than injectable testosterone. Because it is DHT-based, oxandrolone does not convert to estrogen, which explains its reputation for “dry” gains.

Oxandrolone’s Medical History

Oxandrolone was approved in the US for helping patients regain weight lost after major surgery, chronic infection or severe trauma, for offsetting muscle loss from long-term corticosteroid use, and for relieving bone pain linked to osteoporosis.

That approval no longer exists. In June 2023, the FDA withdrew approval of the brand-name product Oxandrin and four generic versions. The notice pointed to a 1984 FDA advisory committee finding of “no evidence of efficacy,” along with serious labeled risks: peliosis hepatis (blood-filled cysts in the liver that can lead to liver failure or internal bleeding), liver tumors, and blood lipid changes linked to a higher risk of atherosclerosis. A later FDA determination confirmed the tablets were withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness.

That leaves no legitimate US pharmaceutical supply. Anything sold as Anavar for a test and Anavar cycle comes from unregulated sources, which matters for the quality issues covered below.

Why Is the Test and Anavar Cycle So Popular?

The test and Anavar cycle has stayed popular in bodybuilding circles for a few reasons:

• Testosterone as a base. Because other steroids, Anavar included, shut down natural testosterone, users run testosterone alongside them to keep libido, mood and other male functions from crashing.
• Anavar’s reputation as mild. Oxandrolone is seen as less likely to cause water retention, gynecomastia or aggressive androgenic side effects than many other compounds.
• Cutting goals. The pairing is mostly associated with dieting phases, when lifters want to protect muscle and strength while losing fat.

That “mild” label is relative. Anavar is mild compared with harsher orals, not compared with taking nothing. And adding it to testosterone stacks two sets of side effects on top of each other.

How a Test and Anavar Cycle Is Commonly Run

In the bodybuilding community, the stack is typically described as a testosterone base with oxandrolone added for part or all of the cycle, usually during a cutting phase or in the weeks before a physique competition. We don’t publish doses or schedules here. There is no safe, research-backed dose for non-medical use, and higher doses and longer cycles generally mean more side effects.

Experienced lifters also repeat two rules of thumb worth taking seriously:

• Don’t stack on a first exposure. If you react badly to two drugs at once, you can’t tell which one caused the problem. Our guide to steroids for beginners covers this risk in more detail.
• More drugs mean more side effects. When two compounds hit the same systems, such as cholesterol, blood pressure and hormone production, the effects add up.

For how this stack compares with other combinations, see our overview of steroid cycles.

Expected Effects vs What Research Shows

Testosterone

Testosterone’s muscle-building effect is well documented. In a 1996 New England Journal of Medicine trial, 43 healthy men took 600 mg of testosterone enanthate weekly or a placebo for 10 weeks. Men who took testosterone and lifted gained an average of 6.1 kg of fat-free mass, and even non-training men on testosterone outgained placebo.

On muscle mass, then, steroids work. But the study was small, short and supervised, and it did not measure long-term heart or hormone effects.

Oxandrolone

Oxandrolone evidence comes mostly from older or sick patients, not young lifters. In a 12-week trial of 32 healthy older men, oxandrolone added about 2.7 kg of lean mass and modest strength gains within six weeks, but it did not improve leg power or walking speed. In a 1995 trial in obese men aged 40 to 60, oxandrolone reduced abdominal fat more than injectable testosterone or placebo, but it also worsened cholesterol enough that researchers switched the group to a different drug after three months.

The claim that Anavar is an “extremely potent” fat burner goes further than the research. On a test and Anavar cycle, most visible fat loss comes from diet and training.

What This Means for the Stack

There are no controlled studies of the test and Anavar cycle as bodybuilders run it. Claims about results come from anecdotes and photos that leave out diet, training, genetics and other drugs. Our article on steroids before and after explains why those comparisons are so unreliable.

Side Effects and Health Risks

Cholesterol and Blood Lipids

This is the most underplayed risk of a test and Anavar cycle. Oral 17-alpha methylated steroids, including oxandrolone, hit blood lipids hard. In the 1995 oxandrolone trial, HDL cholesterol dropped and LDL rose significantly. The FDA’s withdrawal notice also lists lipid changes linked to atherosclerosis as a labeled risk.

High-dose testosterone can push lipids the wrong way too, so the stack can drive HDL down while blood pressure and red blood cell counts rise.

Liver Strain

Testosterone injections bypass the liver’s first-pass metabolism. Oral oxandrolone does not. Its labeled liver risks included peliosis hepatis, liver cell tumors and cholestatic hepatitis. Serious liver damage is less common with oxandrolone than with some other orals, but less common is not absent.

Heart and Blood Vessels

The strongest modern data on steroid users’ hearts comes from a 2017 study in Circulation that compared 86 experienced male lifters who had used steroids for at least two years with 54 non-using lifters:

• Steroid users had lower heart pumping function, with an average left ventricular ejection fraction of 52% vs 63% in non-users
• Current users had weaker pumping function than former users (49% vs 58%)
• Users had more coronary artery plaque, and plaque volume increased with longer lifetime use

That shows association, not proof of cause, but it fits the broader picture. A 2024 Danish study in JAMA found that men sanctioned for steroid use were 2.8 times more likely to die over an average of 11 years than matched controls, with 2.2 times the risk of natural death and 3.6 times the risk of unnatural death. For more context, see our anabolic steroid statistics.

Hormone Suppression (HPTA Shutdown)

Any outside androgen tells the brain to stop signaling the testes, and a test and Anavar cycle is no exception. In the 1996 NEJM trial, LH (the hormone that tells the testes to make testosterone) was markedly suppressed in the testosterone groups. Adding Anavar doesn’t soften this. It adds a second suppressive drug. Suppression also means lower sperm production and smaller testes during use, which matters for anyone who wants children.

Other Effects

• Hair loss: Testosterone converts to DHT, and oxandrolone is itself DHT-derived. Men with a genetic tendency toward male-pattern baldness may see it speed up.
• Acne and oily skin: Common with androgens, especially at higher doses.
• Gynecomastia: Driven by testosterone’s conversion to estrogen. Anavar itself does not aromatize.
• Blood pressure and red blood cells: Androgens can raise blood pressure and hematocrit, both of which increase strain on the heart and blood vessels.
• Mood: Irritability, low mood and libido changes are reported, especially after a cycle ends.

Recovery After a Test and Anavar Cycle

Recovery is where reality most often differs from forum advice. A 2020 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism compared 41 current androgen users, 31 former users and 21 non-using exercisers. Reproductive and heart function were suppressed in current users. In former users, most measures returned toward normal over roughly 6 to 18 months after stopping, but testicular volume remained smaller than in non-users.

Some men do not fully recover. In a 2016 Danish case-control study, former steroid users who had stopped an average of 2.5 years earlier still had lower testosterone than non-users (median 14.4 vs 18.8 nmol/L). About 27% of former users fell below the normal reference range, and they reported more depressive symptoms, erectile dysfunction and low libido.

Post-cycle therapy (PCT) is widely used to speed this up, but the evidence is thinner than most assume. Our guide to PCT for testosterone looks at what the research does and doesn’t show.

Bloodwork and Monitoring

Anyone who has run a test and Anavar cycle should be honest with a doctor, because tests are only useful when someone qualified interprets them. Markers relevant to this stack include:

• Lipid panel: HDL, LDL and triglycerides, given oxandrolone’s effect on cholesterol
• Liver enzymes: ALT, AST and bilirubin (hard training alone can raise ALT and AST, so context matters)
• Complete blood count: Hematocrit and hemoglobin, which testosterone can push up
• Hormones: Total testosterone, estradiol, LH and FSH, before and after use
• Kidney function: Creatinine and eGFR (high muscle mass can raise creatinine on its own)
• Blood pressure: Measured regularly, not just once

Bloodwork can flag problems early, but it does not make a cycle safe or detect heart muscle changes.

Counterfeit and Underground Lab Risks

Because oxandrolone is no longer approved and steroids are controlled, nearly all of it comes from unregulated underground labs. A 2022 systematic review in BMC Public Health pooled lab analyses of 5,413 black-market steroid samples. About 36% were counterfeit, meaning the active ingredient did not match the label, and in the studies that measured it, about 37% were substandard, with the right drug at the wrong strength.

A pill sold as Anavar may contain a harsher oral steroid, no steroid at all, or an unknown dose, and non-sterile injectables add infection risk. That uncertainty makes the “mild” reputation of a test and Anavar cycle meaningless.

Is a Test and Anavar Cycle Legal?

United States: Anabolic steroids, including testosterone and oxandrolone, are Schedule III controlled substances. Possessing them without a valid prescription is a federal crime under 21 U.S.C. 844, and distribution carries heavier penalties. With oxandrolone’s approval withdrawn, it can no longer be legally prescribed as an FDA-approved product.

United Kingdom: Anabolic steroids are Class C drugs. Possession for personal use is not an offense, but supplying them, including giving them to friends, can lead to up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.

Laws vary by country, and many places treat possession more strictly than the UK.