To the best of my knowledge, cycling was largely created bodybuilders for the use of drugs. When taking exogenous hormones you would cycle off them for a time so that you didn’t shut down your own production. As many things in the bodybuilding world do, this idea of cycling spread out from its initial use.
Now some supplements are cycled. And that includes herbs.
We have a number of pretty strong hormonal herbs, most notably pine pollen tincture and tongkat ali. Even though they are strong for herbs, that doesn’t mean they are strong in comparison to drugs. (Though they can work better than drugs in many cases because they are not reduced to a single compound.)
To be on the safe side we recommend that you cycle with these herbs. Note that these are currently the only two herbs we sell on the website where this cycling is necessary.
While you can cycle with any herb, you don’t need to, besides these two as recommended.
The 7 Day 7 Herb Plan
A popular online writer that likes our herbs and sends lots of people to our site espouses a method of taking herbs that we end up receiving lots of questions on. So to clear up some of those, and share my viewpoint, read on…
The basic idea is to get seven different herbs, such as the seven listed below, that each have some sort of hormonal action and to take one herb, and only one herb, each day. Over the week, you have thus rotated over all seven herbs, and then you start once again next week.
- Horny Goat Weed
- Black Ant Extract
- He Shou Wu
- Nettle Root
- Pine Pollen
- Tongkat Ali
- Schisandra
Hormones work by feedback mechanisms. If a hormone goes up, there tends to be a signal, through other hormones, which then will slow the gland from producing it. If a hormone goes down, the same thing happens, but in reverse. (This is an oversimplification of course and there are times when this feedback loops get out of whack so it doesn’t always happen this way.)
Thus the idea behind this plan is that an herb will have some hormonal action when you take it. But then your body will not adapt or change anything its doing feedback-wise due to its signal, because it only happens one day. The next day something else. The following week it repeats, but this is infrequent enough that the body won’t adapt.
Some have taken this to mean that they should feel something each time they take an herb. While this can be the case for some people, with some of the herbs, this doesn’t mean that it will be the case for everyone, or for all herbs.
I feel tongkat ali and can notice it’s effects right away. I can feel schisandra, but its not from it’s indirect hormonal effects, more from the mental clarity it brings. Then again I’m also sensitive to the energetics of herbs because I’ve been working with them for years.
The Drawbacks
While this plan can work well for some people, that doesn’t mean its the best route for everyone.
Remember how I said that the body doesn’t have time to adapt to the herb, since you’re only taking it once a week? That can be beneficial, but that can also be a drawback.
Specifically, the adaptogen herbs like ashwagandha and rhodiola, bring the most benefit when taken regularly over time. Your body needs some time to have those components build up in your system and then they start to make changes.
After all, most research that is done is looking at what happens to people when they take something consistently for a length of time. And while I feel tongkat ali right away, I feel it even more when I’ve been taking it twice a day, every day, for four or five days straight.
We always encourage people to experiment and see what works best as everyone is individual. The 7 Day 7 Herb plan is a great option. Obviously, there are those that are getting great results with it. And taking one or more herbs regularly is also a great plan for many as well.
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David Julseth says
Tongkat for me is a love/hate, raise in heart rate, blood pressure, but the muscle benefits are hard to ignore. I take a capsule, open and dump contents into an oz of hot water, stir , then add to 32oz water bottle and drink after a meal throughout the day. Pomegranate juice or supplement will keep blood pressure in check, while it won’t completely offset. As the tonkat is powerful, so it will rise slightly, but not enough to make you angry or have heart health concerns.
I will be adding a panax notoginseng supp to further keep the blood pressure in check as to reap the togkat bennefit!
If this don’t help, move on to a different herb.
Gary Kitchen says
Hi Logan!
I’m trying out LEH Cistanche, adding to my daily regimen of others. Starting out at 1g in the morning for the past 3 days. Not noticing a difference yet. Should this be cycled, or rotated 1x /7 days? I also use PPT and nettle tinctures 1/2 dropper 2x /day, 5 days on, 2 days off. These are working well. Considering Cistanche as a tincture, as PP this way works MUCH better. Your thoughts?
Chelsea Satterthwaite says
Cistanche doesn’t need to be cycled. All dosage recommendations are on each product page, under the additional information tab. If you have questions concerning a product, please contact our support team via email at [email protected] or phone at 1-831-454-8947
Ryan says
First off…love you guys and what you guys offer. Just ordered some tongkat ali and cistanche. And i was going to do one day TA next day cistanche continuously. How do you feel about this protocol? And do you think i would need to break from it or do you think the continuous switch everyday would keep me from having to take a break
Tony S. says
I started cycling after reading the post you referred to but now I’m not sure I should. I will cycle the Pine Pollen and Tongkat as you recommend but I would like your opinion on a few others. Should Ashwagandha ever be cycled or continuous? Also, can/should Horny Goat Weed be taken daily to increase the PDE5 blocking and should Nettle use be daily for the prostate benefits?
Please let me know.
Logan Christopher says
Daily on ashwagandha and nettle root is fine. You can do Horny Goat Weed daily for some length of time but that does appear to be one that you shouldn’t always be on indefinitely.
Adam says
In my experience it’s imperative to listen to your body and determine whether habitual ingesting of herbs is causing your body to become ‘lazy’ and dependant on herbs to produce hormonal balance. I think ‘balance’ is the key, and a lot of men are probably seeking super high T level as their primary goals and slamming loads of hormonal herbs.
My own observation is that my body tends to react to herbs more strongly when I have had a break from them and through experimentation I’ve created my own protocol that I feel gives me enough rest time to get this super boost from them. I sense that this is better for my body personally than taking herbs everyday.
This is isn’t scientific on my part, I’m not doing blood tests, I’ve researched as much as I can and this is what I feel works better for me than a criticism of anyone else’s experience. Find what works for you.
muggins11 says
i was wondering your thoughts or opinion on whether ant needs to be cycled or not? will the body etc adapt to it and make it less than optimal? this is the only herb i take presently. thanks mike
Zane Christopher says
Hi Muggins11,
I do not believe that you do. While this is an extract of ant, I believe nutritionally being on this herb everyday is for your benefit. Having insects as a part of the diet will make you a much more robust individual.
Keith says
So I’m taking toncat Ali, nettle and pine liquid and power. I take all 7 days a week but for tongkat it’s 5 days on 2 off. Are you saying I should cycle pollen too? I’m confused
Zane Christopher says
For this method of taking herbs, probably yes. I am not 100% on this method but since the nutritional profile will be different then the tincture I am assuming that you could consider it a different herb for this method. Personally though, I would probably take the powder and tincture on the same day instead of separating as they compliment each other.
Jonathan says
How many days/weeks of dosing does it take to have a real discernable effect on energy, motivation, mindset & quality of life?
Zane Christopher says
Highly variable and depends on the person taking the herbs! Honestly, I have no way of answering this as some people respond really fast to herbal ingestion while others sometimes need months before seeing discernible results. I would recommend doing it for 3-4 weeks though before giving up on it. It should give you enough time to notice something and rules out many possible flukes. Good luck if you go ahead with this protocol.
Ricardo Batista says
I agree Logan,
Taking a herb only once a week is not enough to feel the effects since most of them need to taken consistently and for periods between 4 to 8 weeks to notice “changes” in your body.
Unfortunately most people behave the same way with diets, workouts, miracle supplements and etc. The tendency is to jump from one to the next without allowing sufficient time to feel the long term effects and declaring that they did not work…
Lack of patience, consistency and perseverance is the culprit in failure to succeed!