My TRT protocol is: 80mg twice weekly and 0,05mg Arimidex 24 hours after each injection (=160mg test + 0,1mg Arimidex per week). My total test is at about 1100 and my e2 at 25 a day before the next injection. No HCG. I realize my Arimidex dosage is extremely low and shouldn’t do much anyway, but if I don’t take it, I get burning nips and my erection quality gets worse (tried severel times to completely lay of the Arimidex).
I’m a gym enthusiast and starting my cutting phase in May and as little help to preserve muscle I will raise testosteron a bit for 8-10 weeks, to 125mg twice weely (250mg/week). After that period, I’ll go back to my 80mg twice weekly. For the 8-10 weeks, how much would you raise the Arimidex dosage? My test dosage is 56% higher than before, should I just raise Arimidex the same percentage (0,08mg twice weekly) or would you recommend going higher, since I’ll have substantially supraphysiological levels and should therefore experience a higher degree of aromatization?
You are an anastrozole over-responder. Most then need 1/4th the expected dose of 1mg anastrozole per 100mg T. We have see one or two guys who needed 1/8th the expected dose and you are .1 vs 1.6 expected which is 1/16th. Your AI costs are very low.
Yes, keep the same ratio of AI:T and you should be good. Best you can do until you get E2 labs. You are very diligent and will figure this out. You are a sample of one.
I typically suggest T twice a week and AI dosed at that time. That routine is simpler and then serum FT/Bio-T and serum AI levels roughly rise and fall together, maintaining a roughly matched up ration.
FT–>E2 production rate is mostly determined by FT levels. If you double FT, FT–>E2 can be expected to double as well. You may present some exceptions to this linearity. Your FT:TT and SHBG might present further insight. Liver function and E2 clearance are one of the same and must be good. AST/ALT would then be good, but sore muscles and training can drive AST/ALT high creating a false positive.
During cutting, are you maintaining protein intake?
Yes, I am aware that my reaction to the AI is unusually strong. I suppose my age (27) and my rather low bodyfat (about 13-15%) contribute to my “overresponsiveness”. After my cutting phase I’ll try again going without an AI (bodyfat should be below 10% then, so there should be even less aromatization) at my standard dosage of 160mg/week (no HCG), but my hopes are not very high. I guess I’d have to lower the testosterone dosage to about 100-120mg/w to cut the AI out for good.
I’ve adjusted the AI dosage for now to approximately 0,08mg twice weekly at 250mg/week (125mg Monday & Thursday). I’ll get bloodwork done in 4 weeks. Until then I’ll stick to the dosages, unless I feel something going on with my nipples again, then I’d slightly rise the AI beforehand.
Yes my nutrition is on point, my protein intake is about 180-200g per day, at 85kg (about 188lbs).
I apologize for my orthografic mistakes, english is not my first language.
Well-being: I do believe that I feel better at a higher dosage - more energetic, need less sleep and better mood.
Aesthetics/strength: I’ve been working out for 11 years, regressed/stagnated the last 5 of them, and really enjoyed the slight boost I’ve gotten from the 160mg/week, going from barely below the reference range to the top of it - so I’d like to stay there as long as it’s safe from a health perspective.That’s also why I’m doing the 250mg/w cycle currently, aesthetic reasons and to accomplish strength goals.
As part of my TRT my doctor and I monitor my hematocrit & cholesterol levels anyway quaterly / every 6 months at the latest, and so far everything is perfectly fine with this dosage, other than I have to take a tiny bit of Arimidex with it. So why take less if I seem to tolerate it and get slightly better results in the gym as well?
Btw I’m neither competing in any natural federations nor am I claming a natural status, so I have no ethical reasons holding me back.
Update:
So I’ve been on 125e3d for 2 weeks (292mg/w - my TRT dose was 160mg/w, so roughly doubled the dose). I just doubled the AI dose (actually a bit more, since I also increased the frequency to e3d instead of twice a week/e3,5d) to 0,1mg with each injection (so a bit more than 0,2mg/week).
Due to burning nips and worsening of erection & sleep quality I suspected my E2 being too high, so I took a bloodtest 2 days ago. Turns out my E2 is at 62 (lab range is 20-52)!
Therefore I can conclude that when I am in the supraphysiological spectrum there seems to be a lot more aromatization happening for me, it’s not a lineary correlation.
I’ll now have to figure out how much arimidex I’ll need to come back to about a steady 25, I guess my only option here is to experiment, go by feel and take bloods again when I feel fine.
I will raise the testosterone dosage now even a bit further to 250e5d (350/w) for the next 10 weeks, due to a recommendation of my coach (according to him 250/w is still just a high TRT dose, noticable benefits in terms of strength&hypertrophy occured above 300mg/w in most athletes he has coached). This is my absolute upper limit, I believe more is absolutely not neccessary and I’m generally rather conservative with drugs.
I was thinking of just taking 0,25mg of Arimidex with each injection now (so in total 0,35mg Arimidex and 350mg/testosterone per week). That’s a significantly higher AI ratio compared to my TRT protocol (160mg test + 0,1mg Arimidex), but I’m pretty sure I’ll need this much or even a bit more.
What would you guys recommend? Starting with 0,25 Arimidex e5d with injections or right away 0,25 Arimidex twice a week (would be “independent” of the injections then, because the new interval is e5d), because my E2 is now significantly too high.