Escalating dosages only as needed?

[naps_for_gains]

Has anyone tried a cycle where you escalate dosages and introduce compounds as needed (I.e. when gym performance stalls/drops) instead of planning the cycle ahead of time either with fixed dosages across the whole cycle or a few pre-planned changes.

I’m wondering if this could be the way to dial in the sweet spot of the effect / side effect tradeoff.

 

[adrenalytic]

No but this is exactly how I plan to run my next cycle.

 

[Liter O' Test]

i think some factor in the body just gets used to the gear at some point so titrating up makes sense.
kind of hard to identify a stall rather than just getting used to your current dose.

 

[adrenalytic]

kind of hard to identify a stall rather than just getting used to your current dose.

As a natural, if I hit a perceived "stall", I would deload for a week, then reduce all lifts by 15% and work my way back up to the stall weight over about a month. If I stalled again, I would make one more deload and again reduce weight by 15%. If on the second attempt, I still could not get the weight then I considered it a true stall.

I don't see why this wouldn't work with AAS as well except you can increase your drug load to overcome. As a natty you can only increase the food or tweak the angles at which you're hitting the muscle(s) in question via exercise variation.

 

[ackmack78]

Not really, I thought about it but then kind of settled on a longer 36 week cycle broken up into 3 12 week blocks. With a dosage increase at week 12 and 24

 

[Elektrobot]

Has anyone tried a cycle where you escalate dosages and introduce compounds as needed (I.e. when gym performance stalls/drops) instead of planning the cycle ahead of time either with fixed dosages across the whole cycle or a few pre-planned changes.

I’m wondering if this could be the way to dial in the sweet spot of the effect / side effect tradeoff.

Lots of good information to be found here: What you are looking for

 

[Slowww]

Has anyone tried a cycle where you escalate dosages and introduce compounds as needed (I.e. when gym performance stalls/drops) instead of planning the cycle ahead of time either with fixed dosages across the whole cycle or a few pre-planned changes.

I’m wondering if this could be the way to dial in the sweet spot of the effect / side effect tradeoff.

Yes this is how I approach the off season. Start at leanest, and trt then add mgs as I add food. Next add compounds at low doses when I no longer want to escalate another one in order to minimize sides, and titrate up. It’s just like adjusting a diet— we don’t say I’ll do 3 weeks at 2400 then 3 weeks at 2700, we add food when the scale isn’t moving up, for example. The changes are holistic and ad-hoc not pre-planned. So diet and cycle is based on response, rather than predetermined or tenuous expectations.

In order to do this though, your training quality/recoverable volume and progressive overload does have to be clearly working prior to changing other variables though. Some people brought up deload. I will 100% not do this in off season. frankly I think if you need to deload your MRV is wrong. When you cut then reduce volume, but basically (in my opinion) you need to recover and progressive overload consistently to grow

 

[dinfar1337]

Yes this is how I approach the off season. Start at leanest, and trt then add mgs as I add food. Next add compounds at low doses when I no longer want to escalate another one in order to minimize sides, and titrate up. It’s just like adjusting a diet— we don’t say I’ll do 3 weeks at 2400 then 3 weeks at 2700, we add food when the scale isn’t moving up, for example. The changes are holistic and ad-hoc not pre-planned. So diet and cycle is based on response, rather than predetermined or tenuous expectations.

basically every big guy not including myself(i do it i just dont wanna claim im "big") ive talked with does something similar to this.

just thought it was common end point as we progress.

1 year on steroids: 10000g testosterone 1000g tren

5 years on steroids: half of his blast is under 400mg testosterone

 

[Slowww]

basically every big guy not including myself(i do it i just dont wanna claim im "big") ive talked with does something similar to this.

just thought it was common end point as we progress.

1 year on steroids: 10000g testosterone 1000g tren

5 years on steroids: half of his blast is under 400mg testosterone

I think a lot of guys who are serious about body building will do this, regardless of size because it simply works better hahaha. We also don’t need so much gear the whole time. Why do I need 2 grams at week one, and week 16? Am I as big and strong week 1? No lmao my weight is probably a lot less why should a 95kg me for example Use the same gear as a 115kg me?

 

[Wannabesamsulek]

Increasing androgen exposure accelerates hypertrophy, but the effect follows a saturable, logarithmic dose–response rather than a linear one. The goal is to keep anabolic signaling as high as possible while staying below the threshold where adverse effects outweigh benefits (“below the red line”). Instead of over-analyzing incremental dose escalations, use the minimum effective load that sustains progression without compromising health. When further increases produce only marginal growth at disproportionate risk, you’ve essentially reached your adaptive ceiling.


This is similar to training: you don’t need to endlessly raise training volume each cycle. Progress happens when you provide enough mechanical tension and recovery to flip the molecular switch so that muscle protein synthesis outpaces breakdown. Gear dose and training load both work on the same principle: find the smallest stimulus that maximally engages the pathways, rather than chasing ever-larger inputs for diminishing returns.

 

[dinfar1337]

Increasing androgen exposure accelerates hypertrophy, but the effect follows a saturable, logarithmic dose–response rather than a linear one. The goal is to keep anabolic signaling as high as possible while staying below the threshold where adverse effects outweigh benefits (“below the red line”). Instead of over-analyzing incremental dose escalations, use the minimum effective load that sustains progression without compromising health. When further increases produce only marginal growth at disproportionate risk, you’ve essentially reached your adaptive ceiling.


This is similar to training: you don’t need to endlessly raise training volume each cycle. Progress happens when you provide enough mechanical tension and recovery to flip the molecular switch so that muscle protein synthesis outpaces breakdown. Gear dose and training load both work on the same principle: find the smallest stimulus that maximally engages the pathways, rather than chasing ever-larger inputs for diminishing returns.

you either have a phd in english literatture or are you using AI to write your stuff.

keep user experiences authentic please

@Banana Joe these new members man

 

[adrenalytic]

Increasing androgen exposure accelerates hypertrophy, but the effect follows a saturable, logarithmic dose–response rather than a linear one. The goal is to keep anabolic signaling as high as possible while staying below the threshold where adverse effects outweigh benefits (“below the red line”). Instead of over-analyzing incremental dose escalations, use the minimum effective load that sustains progression without compromising health. When further increases produce only marginal growth at disproportionate risk, you’ve essentially reached your adaptive ceiling.


This is similar to training: you don’t need to endlessly raise training volume each cycle. Progress happens when you provide enough mechanical tension and recovery to flip the molecular switch so that muscle protein synthesis outpaces breakdown. Gear dose and training load both work on the same principle: find the smallest stimulus that maximally engages the pathways, rather than chasing ever-larger inputs for diminishing returns.

AI or not, this is pretty spot on.

But yea, anyone that wants to be sam sulek is not that smart. Be yourself man.

 

[Slowww]

I just wanted to add one thing: would you pay a coach that you do weekly check ins with to hand you 1 program, 1 diet and 1 ped protocol for 16 weeks then says ok fuck off follow the plan and we will adjust after?

 

[explodingHeart]

Take 18iu of GH a day and shrek yourself. Become a discussion point for polumboism 10 years latter as you manage to gain 5 inches on your arms but 10 inches in waist.

 

[Slowww]

Take 18iu of GH a day and shrek yourself. Become a discussion point for polumboism 10 years latter as you manage to gain 5 inches on your arms but 10 inches in waist.

Yeah because gh causes the gut. Sure that’s why so many guys have bubble guts since the 90s. Guys who claim not to use insulin and gh have bigger guts than guys running the kitchen sink. That must be it

 

[ve79]

Has anyone tried a cycle where you escalate dosages and introduce compounds as needed (I.e. when gym performance stalls/drops) instead of planning the cycle ahead of time either with fixed dosages across the whole cycle or a few pre-planned changes.

I’m wondering if this could be the way to dial in the sweet spot of the effect / side effect tradeoff.

Always start low then increase as needed. There is no magic number to what you or anyone can respond better to. Everyone is different

 

[Wannabesamsulek]

AI or not, this is pretty spot on.

But yea, anyone that wants to be sam sulek is not that smart. Be yourself man.

I’ll take that as a compliment. My biology thesis reads the same way. And yes, despite being older than Sam Sulek, I genuinely admire his grind: full-time college, a booming brand, a YouTube channel, and an amazing physique.

I literally teach biology everyday and it’s my true passion. Thanks for the ego boost.