During a cycle, how much should you allow your:
and
2.max weights
to increase?
This is assuming that while on a cycle one would have significant strength increase and end up using weights one had never used. I’m looking for a percentage here, such as:
“1. only increase you work set weights by 20%”…or
“2. Don’t increase you max more than 15% in two months or you risk injury”
I can’t think of any reason to limit yourself. The stronger I get, the more I want to push. Could be the powerlifting as I’m not much of a “bodybuilder” type but it seems to me you’re on the gear to give you that help you need to bust through barriers and go beyond your potential. I wouldn’t then decide that I only wanted to go a certain % beyond my potential. Do as much as you can, and when you hit the goal you’re looking for, push harder.
steroids can weaken tendons, so if you’re monstrously strong, you might want to limit max attempts, however if you’re not abusing with an insane stupid cycle and you bench 400 or less and squat 600 or less, go for it.
You must make the conscious effort while “on” to increase your weights on almost a daily basis or do more reps…you’ll be surprised to find that whenever you put more on the bar -you’re gonna lift it!
Coupled with increased training aggression caused by androgens, you will have some great workouts.
Just be a little weary of adding too much weight as whilst your muscles will be stronger by the day, your tendons and ligaments will be a few steps behind.
As far as percentages go - none exist that I know of.
Good luck,
Patch
Thanks for the replies.
I lift close to the same weights I did when all natural. I just lift with better form. Unless you are into power lifting, its not how much you can lift, its how good you look (and lifting it)If you hurt yourself, you’ll loose everything you gained plus more, Pushing it is not worth it. Listen to your body. Unfortunately this takes much experience.
[quote]Yami Mao wrote:
steroids can weaken tendons, so if you’re monstrously strong, you might want to limit max attempts, however if you’re not abusing with an insane stupid cycle and you bench 400 or less and squat 600 or less, go for it.[/quote
I always thought it was more of muscles getting stronger faster rather than the tendons getting weaker, in the hierarchy of strengh I thought it was muscles get stronger faster, then tendons over time, and bones it takes even longer to strenghen up
[quote]superpimp wrote:
Yami Mao wrote:
steroids can weaken tendons, so if you’re monstrously strong, you might want to limit max attempts, however if you’re not abusing with an insane stupid cycle and you bench 400 or less and squat 600 or less, go for it.[/quote
I always thought it was more of muscles getting stronger faster rather than the tendons getting weaker, in the hierarchy of strengh I thought it was muscles get stronger faster, then tendons over time, and bones it takes even longer to strenghen up
[/quote]
In some studies steroid use (actually abuse) was linked to abnormal tendon growth, resulting in weaker tendons. however most of these studies used much larger than normal amounts (13 mg per kg body weight deca a day for three weeks!) and were in lab animals like rats. But you can train the tendons and joints specifically, gaining strength in them faster than in your muscles.
Cy Wilson did an article on this very issue here on T-mag.
It would seem that most steroids decrease the rate of collagen synthesis while increasing the rate of protein synthesis. Winstrol actually increases the rate of collagen synthesis BUT made the tendons ‘brittle’ and much more susceptable to injury. Only Deca, Equipoise, Primobolan and Anavar (from memory) actually increased the rate of collagen synthesis, without the weakening effect of winstrol.
I believe I experienced this first hand on my first cycle. An 8 weeker I noticed that I felt very twingy about week 6 onwards and had to reduce the intensity of my training or suffer a tendon injury. I was training as powerlifter though. Now I will always add something like equipoise to help.