I posted a few weeks back asking for some feedback on what I was considering trying out. Thanks to those who replied, it was good insight. Now here’s part II of the saga.
This is not technically my first cycle. I’ve been on TRT for about 2 years now. I started out with androgel then switched over when my employer and insurance changed and they would no longer cover it to weekly test-cyp injections. Much cheaper route, and I liked the results better. Still, I was only injecting 120mg / week, but still saw some minor improvements over where I had been.
I’ve been upping my dose to 200mg for 3 weeks now (over-using the prescription in the hopes that my new stuff would show up before it ran out so I would not raise any alarms with the doc when I asked for a refill). The new stuff showed up, so I’m relieved.
Thus far I have seen some improvements as far as vascularity and bodyfat decrease. Some strength boosts too, I think. I was squatting raw sets of singles at 405, but the other night I upped it to 425 for 7 sets without any concerns. Did 7 sets of close grip bench (singles) at 295 last night and felt that I should have gone with 315 instead (nursing a screwy shoulder though, so I’m taking it easy on it when I bench without my shirt on).
My last maxes, several months ago, were:
-shirted bench: 365 (my spotters were non-weightlifting friends that had no idea what they were doing - I think I could have had 385 - 405 if they were not clueless since I’ve done 2 board presses at 385 for reps)
-raw squat: 455 (failed at 500 by not going low enough - no trust in the spotters again)
-belt only Deadlift: 550
No idea when I’ll have spotters available again (won’t be competing until next year), but I plan on maxing as soon as I can get them around. I’m only doing 200mg / week of test, and I plan to ride that for at least another 2 - 3 weeks before I consider upping it. I figure this cycle should last at least 8 - 12 weeks before I drop back to my regular TRT for a while so I can get labs done by my doc, then I’ll look into ramping back up afterwards.
Right first time there Game IMO, on this site if they (new posters) dont research EXACTLY what we look for when critiquing a cycle, then they will be shot down immediately! lol!
That’s all there is to it. 200mg test for a few weeks until I feel I’m ready to try more. Going slow and easy; I don’t want to put on too much too quick (weird, I know). I’m after strength more than size.
A couple more weeks in I’ll bump up to 300mg / week, and probably ride that until I decide to drop back down. I’m already seeing some benefits, so to my way of thinking it makes no sense to not enjoy what I’ve got just because I could have more. I’m not a greedy guy, I’m more the patient type.
Forgot to mention: I started this at 6’1" and 218 lbs with approx 11% bf. My diet is 90% clean and I try to get down 3k calories a day or so with 1.5g - 2g of protein / lb (that’s a moderate bulk for me normally).
Sounds like you got it covered. Sensible etc… not really bodybuilding or steroids in the ‘normal’ sense of test, deca and dbol with fighting and impotence… but hey - some of us have to be sensible
Just kidding… i dont fight… ;/
(Joke people, JOKE!)
Good idea. Test cyp huh? well i would say that a good idea would be to cycle your dosage on a rota of 10 week intervals… so basically, just change it up every 10 weeks, it is a good amount of time for results and not too long to stagnate. 8 even.
After you get more accustomed to the shit, you can level off at 400mg a week and then add in a little halotestin… - JOKE! Deca maybe, for some more size or some masteron for more strength and tightness.
I was thinking masteron or tren, but after reading about losing a lot of tren gains, I think I’ll wait a while before I try that one.
I like the idea of strength without too much size because as much as I admire (platonically) really freaking big guys, I don’t want to be one. I’d be happy to top out no heavier than 235 or 240.
It does amaze how this has rejuvenated my interest in learning more about training. I’ve brought myself a long way and trained a few friends as well, but I’ve had a hard time finding new ideas and material to learn, now I feel like I’m back in the beginner stages as far as education is concerned, and I dig it.
I guess the bug never left, it was just the availability of new stuff was hard to come by. It’s like writing a story; everybody just dusts off what is already out there, puts a new spin on it, and then repackages it for consumption.
This has offered me a venue to expand my education beyond mere research and into experience and observation.
I keep telling myself after I finish my MBA I’ll keep going to school and switch into the area of kinesiology, nutrition, and / or chemistry / biology. So much data…so little time.
