What up guys. New poster here. I’ve decided to start a beginner’s cycle in a few months and need some advice about how to best train/eat leading up to the the cycle, as well as other things. Here is some history on me (lengthy):
I am 6’3" 155 lbs, 21.5 years old. I’ve always been very skinny despite being pretty athletic/functionally strong. My weight lifting numbers have never been very high at all, but I have been able to tackle and over-powere in-shape guys that weigh 70 pounds more than me. I have been trying to gain weight for as long as I can remember (since before puberty). I would always eat plenty (much more than others my age) when trying to gain weight and workout. I’ve used creatine, whey, various mass gainers, and homemade shakes. Never had any significant gains at all. Tired of people I know thinking I’m too skinny.
I’ve been around weights since a young age. My father had an Olympic weight set, curl bars, and dumbbells. I remember lifting weights off and on for weeks at a time as a kid probably from age 9-12 (weighing 70-90 pounds). My father is shorter than I am, but weighed about 200 lbs in his prime. My grandfather, who I resemble, was my height and skinny, but got up to 245 pounds in his prime. He was not as skinny as I was at my current age. My younger brother is about an inch shorter than me, but weighs about 30 pounds more than I did at his age.
I played football in middle school and high school, for a total of 3 years, which meant I was lifting weights 4 or 5 times a week doing full-body exercises with compound-lifts using Olympic weights. When I first started weight lifting for middle school football, I weighed 99 pounds. I got up to 135 lbs by the time I was 15 years old in high school, but that was mostly due to puberty.
I quit playing football after this age, but continued to lift weights, trying various routines with friends. I got my body weight up to 145 pounds by the time I was 18 years old. When I went off to college, I did Starting Strength for about 5 or 6 months before I stopped seeing gains and got my body weight up to 155 pounds. I have lifted off and on, no more than a month or two off, since this time, mostly doing Starting Strength.
Since lifting weights with teammates in middle school to watching others lift in the gym at college, I’ve always felt that others get stronger with weights much quicker than I do. A lot of times I feel like a have low energy and have suspected that my testosterone levels might not be optimal.
Around a year or 2 ago, my shoulders became sensitive to fast throwing motions such as throwing the football or throwing a punch. I’ve been to a couple of specialists and been told it is tendonitis/bursitis. X-rays and MRI came back negative. This pain has not affected weight lifting much, however.
About a year ago, suspecting my testosterone levels of being lower than optimal, I had a private company do blood work on me. My testosterone levels came back as 578 ng/mL, which is within the “normal” medical range, but lower than optimal (which is understood as being at least 800), and very low considering my then age of 20. I’ve also had a small gyno lump under my left nipple since I was 14 years old. Given my low energy and motivation (compared with friends, nothing "medically wrong with me) as well as my inability to gain muscle mass, I want to get my levels up to were they need to be.
Over the past year, I have lifted weights pretty consistently, but not gained any weight or much strength. I bought Rippetoe’s Starting Strength book and read it cover to cover. I’ve eaten at least 3300 calories a day, fairly clean with fruits, vegetables, and nuts, though I do eat fast food regularly. But the fast food shouldn’t be a problem considering I’ll take any weight I can get and body fat has never been an issue for me, as I have a visible 6 pack. I’ve always gotten plenty of sleep. My strength on all the major lifts (Squat, Dead lift, Bench) has seen very little gains at all over the past 2 years (5-10 pounds maybe).
I’ve been working a manual labor job for the past 4 weeks, and it has been pretty physically demanding and taken some time for my body to get over the soreness. I lost about 5 pounds over this time period, but I’ve started eating closer to 4000 calories a day to gain the weight back this last week. I haven’t been lifting weights the past 4 weeks because I’ve been way too tired and sore, but I plan on starting back in a week or two when my body has completely adjusted.
I’ve also watched my younger brother and his friend complete a basic 8-week beginner’s steroid cycle with PCT over the last month or two. They both gained about 20 pounds and look great. They have gotten much stronger too. My brother’s friend had on-going pain in his ribcage from an injury he experienced months earlier, but all signs of the injury disappeared and have not returned since he started his cycle. I think I could experience similar success with my shoulder problems. Seeing their recent success with steroids has convinced me to do a cycle.
I’ve always had a decent knowledge of steroids, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading on steroids and other PEDs lately. I’m thinking about doing a 12 week cycle of Test E with PCT. I would like to safely gain as much mass as possible while keeping most of my gains.
My questions are what kind of training routine would you advise for the months leading up to my first cycle, and what kind of diet would you suggest during this time period. Also, what would be a good training routine while on the cycle as well as diet? Any other additional info and advice would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not planning on cycling steroids and PEDs for years. I just want to get to my target weight goal of 210-225 pounds, while staying very functionally athletic and keeping internal organ damage risk at a minimum. I’ve never had a desire to look like a Arnold or Jay Cutler, just don’t want to be skinny anymore.
Thanks guys.