That lines up fairly well with my experiences. I think something to keep in mind, is that many people mention putting absurd numbers to their lifts (“I added 50 lbs to my bench on my first cycle”) type of thing, but they don’t list their starting number very often. Much different to go from 180 to 230, than 350 to 400 lbs.
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With regards to your question concerning “deloads” while on blast…well, I guess I’m showing my age[43] or lack of a variety of training knowledge but I don’t really see the need for this while truly blasting, regardless of your experience level, overall musculature, etc.
I’ve always either been “ON” or “OFF”…never done the cruise/blast thing. Of course, when I was younger I wasn’t on TRT so it didn’t really make sense then. But I’ve always felt that if you are truly “ON” a a cycle/blasting, then you should be working out as heavy, with as much volume, and as often as you can BUT while still giving your body adequate rest time. Meaning, yeah, you’ll hit each bodypart more than once a week for sure, but if you’re training shoulders/triceps on a Monday, you wouldn’t train triceps again[directly] until at least thursday, thus giving them adequate rest/recovery time.
That’s the absolute beauty of AAS…they practically turn you into a training machine. Your rate of muscle repair/recovery is astronomically higher than when you are natural, and as long as you are consuming 1-1.5g protein per lb of bodyweight, and an excess amount of overall calories, your body will be able to assimilate all that protein into bigger, thicker, stronger muscles.
If I were to make an educated thought on actual deloading, I would say probably the best time to do it (lol, I’m assuming deload means lighter training weights/volume to allow for overall better recovery and healing…putting less stress on the body for a brief period) would be when you are simply cruising at your TRT dose. A few months before a blast BUT also a few months AFTER you’ve gotten off a blast. The worst mistake people make is when they get off a cycle, and then they decide to lift lighter weights, to greatly lower their volume, and take it easy on their body. Granted, you should reduce volume and frequency once off cycle, but it’s imperative you continue to lift as heavy as possible in order to try and hold onto your gains. Your muscles won’t be as responsive due to a less anabolic/androgenic blood environment, but you can still help stimulate the muscles with very heavy lifting, thus keeping more of your size/strength gains.
If I’m wrong in what I think deload means LOL, well, just totally and completely forget everything I just said!
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I’ve done a deload right before a blast in the past. Just a week of basically half the volume at 80% of weight that I did the week prior. Just an easy week basically. My thinking is that it just allowed me to heal up any sore joints, and be itching to lift hard and heavy.
I am split on the idea of deloads during a blast still. Training can still get pretty taxing at least for me (both mentally and physical). I suppose if I start to feel that way during blast, I could just do a half of a deload. Just two workouts at half volume at 80% weight.
I’ve kept approximately the same volume but upped the intensity via weight, mostly and have noticed that 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off 3 on and so forth is about where I’ve felt best with my recovery. I’ve eaten to grow and have felt great, but there are definitely some days where I’m like “shit, I need one” but I’m guessing it’s more my CNS than my actual muscular exhaustion/recovery abilities.
I’m 67 years old. Started TRT a year ago. I was at 140 T. Had a vasectomy decades ago so well past needing parts functioning for a family. Started with gel on shoulders, minimal result. Switched to Sustenon 250, played with doses and did labs every few weeks to see where I’m at. Felt best at 250 a week. Running above replacement levels at 1100T.
I’m a former lifter who let myself go to hell. Fat & weak. Started seeing good results at about the 6 month mark. Now I’m adding a few light cycles of other compounds 3 times a year.
I’m also taking Arimidex, .5 mg every 3 days. Estrogen is running between 25-30.
I don’t live in the US, my meds are over the counter, I can get labs without Dr. orders, and labs are cheap.
I can also get Dexa scans for $20 cash and have seen a recomp effect going from 26% body fat to 19%. 15% is my new goal.
My numbers are good, I feel great in every aspect. Wish I had done this 20 years ago.
I’m training push/pull/ leg splits 3 on, one off, repeat. 10,000 steps a day minimum for cardio, just added a Versaclimber to the routine. Eating cleaner and tracking calories is next. I’ve dropped 6 inches off waist. Went from 228 at 5’10” to 207, goal is 185
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This is a familiar story for me. I started TRT about eight years ago at 52. My T was 170. I was in the gym on the regular, a lot of bike riding as well, no gains. I started on 100mg of Test C and slowly titrated up to 140mg. Bodyfat went from 21% to about 18% according to BIA. I ran a “blast” of 300mg per week for about ten weeks with Adex. Crashed my E2, quit the Adex, but got my bodyfat down to 13% at about 55 years old. I am 6’1" and was 193 at 13%.
At 140mg I would test at 650 at trough.
I am not a fan of Adex. It seems your E2 is running okay, but it might actually be low for you at your peak.
Also, remember, at your age, 19% is considered very lean (mine too). Lower than that may not be healthy for you.
Just some feedback.
Rock on!
1/9/2023
Been off 500 for two weeks, feeling good, still strong, still feeling dense. Cruising at 150mg/week. Going to do that for 6-9 months. May look at throwing a SARM in to aid with appetite/cutting for the summer. And then plan on blasting again in the fall/winter when food is abundant and its sweatshirt season again 
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Just my opinion here, but semaglutide is a solid choice for cutting. It’s also FDA approved for that purpose (weight loss), so I assume it is likely safer than things like DNP, Clen, or various SARMs.
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Update
Hit a 355 bench (big PR) after going back to cruise doses (150mg/week) and after some looking around and reading got 8 weeks worth of Ostarine (20mg/day) as it is regarded as one of the “safer” SARMS. Tastes awful, been on it about a week or so, nothing wild but I feel good.
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I had some liquid MK-677, and that was possibly the worst tasting thing I’ve ever ingested.
Update: Used Ostarine for ~7 weeks and while it tasted awful, it definitely provided a boost. Had ~8 weeks worth but the last week was a week long family vacation. Was sick the two weeks before that, but had a solid 4 weeks on it and felt like it paired with test at 150/week was really solid. Felt big, full and strong.