First post but I’ve had 2 successful bulking cycles and wanted to get feedback on my first cutting cycle. I’m 39 6ft 255lb with BF 20%. currently on trt 150mg/wk. I’ve been lifting for 25 yrs. In the past yr and half have done 2 cycles. The first test c 500mg/wk 16 weeks the second just added in deca 300mg/wk. No sides. Diet maintenance cal 3000 and try to eat 1.5g/lb/d in protein. Will try to cut cal slowly 200-300 at a time as weight loss plateaus.
Proposed cycle would be 12 weeks with test prop 100mg/eod and tren A 75mg/eod. Last 6 weeks will pyramid anavar 50mg/d to 80mg/d. I have arimidex on hand. Should I take it .5mg eod or just wait until possible sides? I seem to be pretty sensitive to it as when I’ve used in past cycles estradiol levels have crashed. That was just using .5mg twice/week. PCT would be getting back on trt. Would appreciate all feedback. Main goal is getting to ~10-12% bf. TIA
I would add a secondary goal to try to not lose any strength. When I cut for a contest I had a strength metric that tracked. If I was holding my strength, I would focus on losing fat. If my strength took a dip, I would add a few carbohydrates and see that my strength quit dropping. Then reinitiate the cut. This was very easy for me, because I did it numerous times and knew how my body would respond.
How much experience do you have losing fat? The first time is by far the most difficult, as you don’t know what to expect.
Don’t think I’d do Tren at that dose (you mean 75mg EOD or 75mg divided EOD?). Var would keep strength up with minimal issues. But really you could just use test and a low-cal diet and likely hit your goal. Then add in some finishers after to keep that hard look for whatever event you’re doing this for
Thanks for the response. Tren A 75mg every other day so 225mg week. My main concern is keeping strength up while cutting and being able to power through the workouts. In the past when I train in a deficit I feel like shit and hard to push through workouts. I mainly do heavy compound barbell exercises 5x5 3-4 times week. the other days sled work/muay thai . Squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, and barbell row are my main exercises. I’ll throw in some finishers for shoulders, biceps and abs. In regards to the sled work and muay thai but will probably reduce significantly/eliminate during cycle.
Thanks for the response. I’ve trained in a deficit before but felt horrible doing it. Unable to get through workouts and lost quite a bit of muscle mass, strength doing so. See response below. I can lose weight but I want to try to preserve as much muscle mass/strength as possible while cutting down this time. I’ve never done a cycle for cutting. The previous cycles have been for bulking/strength.
I have never cut when not on a cycle.
you’ve got a point lol
If that’s happening while cutting, either a) your programming is horrible, b) too large of a deficit that’s unsustainable long-term.
AI should only be taken if you are really feeling sides like gyno. Killing e2 for no reason can actually hurt your libido, motivation and also - gains.
There are lots of stuff that e2 does and if test raises your e2, there is a chance that it is where it needs to be.
Unless the sides are really noticable, you shouldnt fuck with e2.
I felt the best in my life when i was on 1g of test, my e2 was 300, when the range is 12-38. As soon as i started fucking with it because i read on the forum that i should, i lost half the willpower to live, lol. I had no gyno, no bloat, no mood swings, no nothing, but i took AI just because “my e2 is not in range”.
Nowdays, i actually take a large dose of test when on a cruise, here and there, just to spike the e2 as high as possible.
Not saying you should try high e2, but im saying that unless there is something you feel like is needed to fix, dont fuck with it.
I agree with you. When i took it in the past was based off lab work with slightly out of range estradiol. No sides whatsoever. So I’m going to stay away unless sides develop. Thanks for the insight
Well i should say I’ve never done a cycle in a caloric deficit. Training with just trt in deficit somewhere in the 1800-2200 cal/d range really impacted my strength and motivation.
In my old days we didn’t have blood test information. What I noticed was that when I started to get gyno, I tried Nolvadex. What seemed to happen was that my strength gains stopped. But if I just backed off the testosterone instead of adding in Nolvadex that my strength would continue.
We thought that without Nolvadex the androgen binding sites stayed compliant, allowing the AAS to bind easier. But with the addition of Nolvadex the binding sites hardened, and gains slowed. Maybe the extra estrogen helped the binding sites absorb more AAS.
I never knew what was actually happening, but I tried to run testosterone as high as I could without activating gyno. With testosterone at 200mg/wk, I could run 500 to 600mg/wk of AAS with no gyno issues.
Some 15+ years ago we didnt have any AI or PCT stuff here at all. We did 500-750 test, 500-750 deca and 30mgs dbol, in any combination. No AI, no bloodwork. No one had any sides. We didn’t even know that there can be sides.
We also didnt do PCT or knew what it was. It was considered normal to go off cold turkey.
In fact, there is a Masters class pro bodybuilder who i know still does that. His methods always work for him so he haven’t changed a thing. He is close to 60 now, still cycling and going off with no PCT and he still is at the top of international pro shows.