There is a lot of truth here, but the mirror is sufficient if you are your hardest critic.
I do like the arm vs waist measurement. I would recommend that. But you must pick a consistent time to measure your arms. If you ego is strongly intact, first thing upon waking would be a consistent time of the day.
Thank you. I keep a daily log of weights/reps, as well as do full body measurements twice a week.
I use a Renpho scale, which doesn’t provide the most accurate body fat %, but it does reflect changes. (Like it’s recording much lower now than I was 9 months ago, when I was much heavier and not exercising). I measure neck, shoulders, each upper arm, forearm, chest, abdomen, waist, hips, each thigh and each calf. I do this twice a week.
I have a data log of weight changes and body part changes going back for a year.
As for weight logs, I started recording on 8/3, and see that my dumbbell chest press went from 70lbs (35lbs each) and now 130lbs (65lbs each). As one example. I have a Google Sheet broken down by body part training days, aligned with a schedule, documenting weights and reps.
Did you (or anyone else reading this) just shoot for a certain size for arms or chest and set that as a goal? My goal each week is just beating the weights and/or reps from the week prior. I know size will come with that.
I found using arm size as a goal to be pretty demoralizing haha. I just go by gym performance now. Is what I am doing now more difficult than a few months ago.
The arm size is also influenced heavily by body fat. My grandma has the same size arms as I do if not bigger lol.
Arms size seems to come fairly slow. Not to mention your precision of measurement is probably an 1/8th of an inch if you are accomplished at arm measurement.
There are plenty of distinct categories for “x” weight lifted “y” number of reps. It is easy to track small gains.
I’d ride out the easy TRT gains first
Imo, if one can’t get a pretty good physique, or pretty strong (whatever the goal is with steroids) on TRT, there isn’t much point in blasting.
It’s not necessarily genetics. Could be training related or diet, or drinking… But one should be able to get those things good enough before blasting.
Thanks. I guess I just want more gains, even faster. Like most of us. Lol.
There is just an X amount of gains a body can produce. If you are not at 100% now, adding more stuff wont really fix the problems you have which are the reason why you are not at 100% now.
Enjoy the journey. IMO, the big advantage of TRT isn’t that you can have a lot of muscle, it’s that you can have slightly more, but be a lot leaner. I’ve been on TRT with a doctor, and now doing it by myself (actually a slightly lower dose than with the Dr.). I’ve also done a few blasts. TBH, maybe I don’t have everything dialed in as well as I should, but I don’t think my blasts have added that much muscle to my frame. Maybe 5 lbs total in lean tissue (which is significant), but it took a 325 mg/wk blast, a 650 mg/wk blast and a 875 mg/wk blast to do it. I lose some of the size on my cruise / TRT. Maybe because I am close to my potential on that cruise dose? Maybe it is because I don’t blast very often (less than one per year)?
My best physiques were not while blasting if I am being honest. I was a bit bigger yeah. I did some PR lifts that were big for me at least. But I wasn’t as lean, and I think to the general public, I looked worse.
I am kinda now at the point that I just want to maintain an underwear model look while being strong and athletic. I don’t need to bench 500 lbs, or be 230 lbs jacked (I am 5’10", a weight doesn’t mean much without height). There isn’t anything wrong with those goals, but I am not comfortable using the amount of gear I would need to use to be there. I don’t want to cruise on 500 mg/wk minimum with 2 gram blasts. Maybe if my genetics were better I could do it with less, but most of us require doses like that for those goals.
I say do at least 6 more months on TRT, then think about dabbling with a simple testosterone blast (with perhaps a mild oral like Var or Tbol, of which I like Tbol a lot better). The TRT gains are slower, but I think I added 50 lbs to my deadlift and like 30 lbs to my bench in the first 6 months on TRT.
Thank you for a helpful, thought-out and kind reply. I’ll give my TRT at least another 3 months. I should be thankful for the progress I’ve made thus far.
My desire for MORE! NOW! is probably shared amongst many here in this community. I know some cycle because they feel they’ve reached their max natural potential, they feel. Then the rest of us are just impatient guys. Lol.
Thanks all for you help and advice. I’ll hold off for a bit before I contemplate doing a full-blown cycle, and continue with my TRT journey.
If this is your goal, I don’t see that time is on your side.
Going further with getting back in shape. Not modeling. You left off the rest of the sentence and paragraph prior to that phrase. That’s cherry picking. Why ya looking for a fight/argument? Making that comment, out of left field, does no one any good.
If it is no longer your goal, sorry for bringing it up. I always make my decisions based on my goals.
Still not sure how this could have become an argument.
Forgive my stupidity as I know very little about TRT, but wouldn’t your doctor pull your script if you did bloodwork and your test levels were astronomically high? They would suspect AAS use, no?
Depends. Most Docs don’t pull labs for 6 months after you’ve been on a steady protocol. That gives you a solid window to run a blast and be back at baseline for your upcoming bloodwork. It only takes 4-5 weeks for your levels to come back down on Test C/E.
Probably. But if you know when the lab work will be (no reason you shouldn’t) then you just time your cycle to match
Sorry for the intuition but i love this topic because i am inthe same boar you are i am 48 year old i am on trt for over a year and i have been wanting to blast i have not found any information on the subject till now i am considering blasting with 400mg deca 400 test and possible additional debal 30 mg a day to go along with my trt 75 test e i have done aas in the past and i am 241 6 ft lean at max any info i could get would be appreciated again sorry to intuited ???
What’s the question?
Would love to see a pic of this
Here you go
Im doing alright but want to further my growth with a blast i feel like i am at a stand still