need some help/advice on a cycle I’m running in the next month. protocol plan is for 16-20 weeks depending on blood work and how I’m just feeling overall. running 600mgs of test cyp and 300mgs of EQ for 16 weeks. front loading with obol at 30mgs for the first 4 weeks until blood saturation has happened. then at week 8 throwing in Masteron for the cut at 300mgs along with clen at 40-60mcgs. then anavar for the last 4 weeks to really dial in the cut. any recommendations or adjustments I should consider would be helpful. Not a newbie to the anabolic world but wanted to experiment with a contest prep style protocol. goal is to do a competition next year and wanted to experiment with the process this year to see if id respond well to it. thanks in advance.
Sorry I’m not experienced with stage prep cycles other than to know that’s not exactly how I think I would do it or is done. Tagging @s.gentz
Cutting is diet my man. Steroids build muscle and will help in calorie deficit but taking compounds isnt the way to do it . Sounds like huge blood pressure spike for DBOL and eq. At least I think you meant DBOL . I’m not experienced in contest prep either and I’m not saying you’re wrong here for compounds but if you wanna shred then kitchen is where it’s at .
For best results next year, do a real trial run and enter a contest this year. There is no experiment with a make believe contest date. You need to feel the anxiety of the real thing, and get an idea how to manage the anxiety.
It would appear to me you have 0 idea what your doing.
If your doing a mock contest prep then pick a date and work toward it. The contest date isn’t going to be 16-20weeks out.
List out what you think you want to do in an orderly fashion.
What are your current stats? Let’s see a pic of your physique.
List out where you are in your training. Where you are in your diet.
Also, what @RT_Nomad said about the pressure of the upcoming show is real. If you aren’t committed to something the pressure is not the same. Managing stress going into a show is huge. I learned a lot in the process and def did some things wrong. Only way to know is to do it!
Well I was just looking for advice in the protocol and advice on if adjustments need to be made. Im 6’2” 228 now. Been training for a long time 10plus years. My diet and training are dialed in. I understand that drugs aren’t what makes the physique. I’m not some kid that’s doesn’t understand what he’s doing. I’m well aware of what drugs do and don’t do. I was mainly curious on if someone could give me some pointers on implementation. Sorry I hit a sore spot.
Your physique looks great from what I can see. The issue I have is your post is all over the place. My take is you want to build for 8 weeks and then start to diet?
Your not really clear but that how it looks based on your drugs and timing?
What drugs have you used?
What class are you thinking about?
Do you have better pics?
Yes I was going to do a semi clean bulk for 8 weeks. Then start cutting the final 8 weeks. Again I’m just experimenting. I’ve been taking testosterone for about two years now.
I’m currently on a cruise of 250.
My last cycle was 600 test cyp 300 deca. Also was taking mk-677 at 30mgs daily. I felt fantastic. Water bloat was a big issue however. That pic was peak cycle in December.
I still don’t feel like some areas are quite ready for a contest yet.
I’m not going full on contest prep mode cut. I’m just trying to figure out how my body responds to specific protocols. If I were completely honest I have a vacation to the beach in July and I’m trying to look pealed AF. So forgive me for not being more clear.
I’m not trying to pretend I know everything just looking for advice on if my plan was a good approach or if I need to change things up or do it differently. I’m trying to learn to do this correctly.
If anyone has advice for me then great. I’m just trying to do this as safe as possible.
I do all the things I’m supposed to do. Blood work quarterly. Doctor visits at least twice a year to check BP and other areas of importance.
I just enjoy the process of it. I’m just trying to be better at it.
If this is all I knew about you and your upper body pic and you were planning on a contest, I would like to know what kind of contest you were planning on competing. 6’2" is tall for a bodybuilding contest. Legs for a tall man are truly an uphill battle.
Maybe you are planning to enter a Men’s Physique contest. Then leg development is insignificant.
Yes I’m not interested in open at all either classic or men’s physique because of what you stated I know legs will be a big issue if I want to compete with the big dogs.
Without knowing your current stats or goals it’s hard to make suggestions. It’s all going to be diet in the end anyway, so IMO you could ease up the PEDs. But good luck either way.
About the best I can offer is general principles of contest prep and AAS use. Many will disagree with me. After many contests (over 3 decades at about 3 contests per year) I settled on a general plan.
I can do a contest using most any of the AAS. That said, I like to be on all “dry” AAS the last 4 weeks.
All my cycles contained:
- 200mg/wk of testosterone
- An injectable anabolic AAS
- An oral anabolic AAS
- Clenbuterol the last 5 weeks (body fat should be near 10% by the start)
The longest cycle I ever ran was 12 weeks.
Deca was my injectable anabolic steroid of choice. It seems most here believe that Deca must be used longer to be a maximum benefit. I can’t question the success that I had using it for 8 week cycles. I do know that the benefits of Deca after ceasing use drops as fast as any other AAS that I have used. I believe what I experience far more than what “experts” say. (200mg/wk is the most Deca I ever took.)
I typically changed orals mid-cycle from “wet” (ex: Dianabol) to “dry” (ex: Anavar or Winstrol). 20mg/day was my maximum oral dosage, unless I was using Anadrol-50, which I only used at 50mg/day for a maximum of 3 weeks.
And, of course, diet is critical to achieving sharp definition, regardless of what AAS cycle protocol you have.
What did your contest prep diet look like?
This is a typical prep cycle. I’m traveling most of today but could expand on this later if you like.
12 week prep
12 weeks out
testC/E, primo/EQ, anadrol.
8weeks out
drop testC/switch to testP
Drop any other wet compounds
add mast
add tren if you like
add winstrol(i used inj)/anavar
2 weeks out
drop everything and dry out.
I’ve never used diuretics but you could uses some dandelion root to help shed water.
Obviously diet is gonna be key here. You need to know how your body responds to macro changes. I made the mistake of going too low on carbs too early and could not fill back up.
You must consider that I had done this so many times that I knew what happened every time I made a diet adjustment.
My contest AAS protocol started 12 weeks away from my targeted contest. I had been “off cycle” at least 8 weeks. At the start of contest prep my guess is that my percent body fat was about 15%.
Two weeks before I started AAS I cleaned up my diet. Absolutely no more processed foods. Excess sodium fixes itself.
My protein rule was at least 40 grams of protein every meal and six meals a day. Typically, all my protein came from food. (I did use MetRx when it came out.) All the meat I ate was lean, but I did eat 7 whole eggs in the morning.
My fat rule was to add no fat, except essential fatty acids (I used one tbps flax seed oil per day)
My carbohydrate rule: Use carbohydrate consumption as the variable to allow by body fat to drop at a controlled rate.
- Too slow a fat drop: I won’t be ready for the contest
- Too fast a fat drop: my strength decreases, which meant to me that I was losing muscle. That was poor option if time remained to get back on track
I used three metrics to make decisions for the carbohydrate variable: The scale, the mirror, and an upper body pressing strength metric.
Cardio figured in similar to the carbohydrate variable. I started low with 30 minutes a day. My maximum cardio was 45 minutes twice a day
How would you go about playing with the carbs till you got it dialed in right? Did you do a carb cycle or did you just cut them down completely. Always been curious about how to play with the carbs when you’re trying to get that lean
I found that I could not look good on zero carbs, or time the carb loading.
I got down to about 100 grams of carbohydrates a day at the lowest. My contest prep carbohydrates came from white rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I dropped rice the last two weeks. I never ate fruit during my contest prep.
Thanks for the Nomad, I’m currently cutting, not for a competition, but going away on a cruise and the weather should be good (first decent, hot holiday for years). Hoping to spend some time sunbathing and in the pool and want to be the leanest I’ve ever been.
I’m not doing that dissimilar to you, protein is around 200g a day, fats are relatively low (TRT so not worried about hormone disruption), carbs are the variable. Been getting 1lb a week loss and seeing some changes in the mirror (unfortunately I am on an enforced 2 week lifting hiatus due to injury, but will.be back in whatever capacity I can be next week!). Almost all whole foods (6 eggs at the first meal of the day), chicken, lean (5%) beef and 0% greek yogurt for protein, veg, sweet potato, potatoes and occasionally rice or oats for carbs.
I’m not a bodybuilder and haven’t trained like one, but recognise that when it comes to getting really lean bodybuilders are the absolute experts, doesn’t look like I’m too far off the mark.