Context: I lifted for 4-5 years consistently from 19-24ish, for reasons I won’t state I completely stopped working out until about 3 months ago, I’m 33 now. I maintained an athletic build throughout with running etc but did zero weights.
As you can imagine it’s incredibly frustrating starting again at this age and being at a fraction of the strength and physique I was at. My technique and knowledge regarding how to train for hypertrophy + nutrition is high, my patience is not .
The one thing I know almost nothing about is doing a cycle, I had my test measured twice and it was between 550-700 differing depending on the time of day.
I’ve started taking 5mg clomid a day just as a test phase to see what it does to my test levels.
I’d like to get on a cycle to fast track my comeback, nothing crazy maybe one 12-18 week cycle to pack on some mass and then go natural for a while.
What is the safest option? I’m not going near anything that gives crazy side effects, particularly on the mental side of things i.e Tren etc.
I know the best course of action is to wait but I’d still like some advice on what the best cycle will be in my situation, even if it say 6 months or however long down the line. I just didn’t want the only responses to be “Wait x time”
So what you want is to basically take steroids to get to where you were naturally? It would take you 6 months to a year to do this without any drugs and 3-6 months with drugs. Are you really in that big of a hurry?
Your age is still in the sweet spot for muscle gains.
IMO, the only method I would consider, even if I planned on competing on stage, is let Muscle Memory do its work. How long have you been back to training? You should get back to the muscle size you had when you stopped lifting at 24 in less than 6 mouths. Then, and only then, would I consider AAS. I want all the “low hanging fruit” gains first, before adding some health risk to the formula. In the long run you will get more muscle gains this method.
Or, if you have absolutely no patience (self control), go full on AAS cycle, and prepare for quick gains and multiple injuries. Your muscle gains will exceed your tendon strengthening gains. Then I will try to help you find some work around exercises as you try to heal your injuries and still make some progress.
Taking steroids after recently returning to the gym is a great way to injure yourself out before making substantial progress.
Climb your weights back up to where they were naturally; allow your body time to adjust to lifting those heavy weights. Once there, it seems a lot more reasonable to start steroids, though even then - your natural test numbers are good. Not sure why you would want to fuck with them tbh.