Diverse stacks- do you like them? Or prefer to keep it simple? Let’s talk trends in stack building and what works for you

[Biglittlejoe]

Care to elaborate more on this tren experiment of yours? I'm currently running an experiment myself with it for my first dabble, 5mg Tren A daily, today is week 3. I'm a big believer of less is more with gear now that I'm older, back in the younger days it was just the common plan of attack to blast 500mg test e for 10 weeks, assess, then plan out the next cycle with higher doses. Since starting trt and monitoring my blood levels and dosing more religiously than prior cycles in the past, I've discovered I respond quite well(140mg weekly put me over 1400). Watched vigorous steve's video/presentation on the microdosing of tren to get the glucocorticoid receptor benefits at low dose and decided to give it a go for my first try. So far, feeling great, lifts are going up, vascularity and the look are changing almost daily. Added this in for the last stretch of my diet/cut to see what it can do. So far, extremely pleased. 3iu hgh nightly, 20mg test c daily, 5 mg tren a daily and that's it for now. Simple and effective!

Can you give us an update on how the 5 mg/day of tren treated you?

 

[NightBeast666]

Howdy

TLDR: moderate diverse stacks vs ‘keep it simple’ - harm reduction and benefit maximization- what do you like and why?

Did some searching, didn’t find any juicy discussion. Of course everyone has different goals, tolerances, & responses to different compounds. I am interested in sparking a discussion and hearing opinions, history from your perspective if you’ve been around the block a few times, and what works for you- not specifically asking a question with a black & white answer. I know what I like but I’m curious how this topic changes with trends in bodybuilding and the trickle down to gym bros.

Of course the enhanced big risk taking size monsters are often starting with 1000+ test lots of primo or eq, then one or two more compounds. They are probably outside the scope of my intended topic here- I’m not so interested in talking about diversifying a stack because of diminishing returns of each compound at high dose.

I’ll start the discussion with my ideas and practice- hopefully I’ll get to hear yours!

For myself I really like the ‘keep it simple’ philosophy- anywhere from test only cruise to test & ai blasts work great, or something like test and a second compound because I want the specific effect and tolerate it well, like for example lower test and whatever amount of deca I need for a nice long bulk. Simple. My health/trt cruise phases are like this- I drop everything but some test.

But the more experience I got into experimenting with different compounds the more attractive it got to sprinkle in a little of this, a little of that into high cruise phases and blasts. It turns out that for me a little mast is like chocolate and peanut butter with almost anything- great mood lively bedroom. I found myself trying and enjoying low dose deca for smoother joints without trying to leverage strength out of it. It’s all very mild dosing but also easy to start wading into polypharmacy.

Lots of folks would rather dial in primo or eq as their AI and get some more anabolism out of controlling e2. Then there’s different tools for different jobs- examples would be Nand for wet bulk or tren for cutting or dry bulk, so many strategies that work for different people and different effects of different compounds, each with it’s own sides and risks. And some people find thresholds where benefits are there but sides are very minimal for a bunch of compounds.

Do you like to use a more diverse stack because the effects are complimentary? Or because the total anabolism gets boosted up with less risk of sides from each one? Do you have a few favorite compounds to achieve mass or a certain look but always also use mast or primo as well? Or do you keep it simple? Have you been at this long enough to see knowledge and trends change for better or worse over the years?

I don't like to use more than 2 compounds at a time, especially for bulking. So, I keep it simple, I guess you can call it that.

What I do, is switch the secondary compound (NPP/Bold Cyp) every 6-8 weeks. By doing so, I get to control the bloat from NPP before it gets out of hand and the mental sides before they become serious.

That's the only way that I can run NPP, now that my body can't handle long 12-16 week cycles on it.

It has also saved me from upping the dosages, trying to match the power of Test NPP, with Test + something else.

In the future, I will be prioritizing my health even more, by shortening my cycle duration, say 3 months blast, 2 months cruise.

 

[Mfras]

I don't like to use more than 2 compounds at a time, especially for bulking. So, I keep it simple, I guess you can call it that.

What I do, is switch the secondary compound (NPP/Bold Cyp) every 6-8 weeks. By doing so, I get to control the bloat from NPP before it gets out of hand and the mental sides before they become serious.

That's the only way that I can run NPP, now that my body can't handle long 12-16 week cycles on it.

It has also saved me from upping the dosages, trying to match the power of Test NPP, with Test + something else.

In the future, I will be prioritizing my health even more, by shortening my cycle duration, say 3 months blast, 2 months cruise.

Damn you’re still making significant gains at 12 weeks on NPP and EQ? Just swapping back and forth? And keeping the gains when you go back ro cruise?

 

[NightBeast666]

Damn you’re still making significant gains at 12 weeks on NPP and EQ? Just swapping back and forth? And keeping the gains when you go back ro cruise?

Gains are about 25% less that what would've been in a long continuous NPP cycle. But, the gains are much, much easier to keep.

The biggest benefits that I have found to this switching back and forth, is that-

1. The bloat from my NPP vanishes about 3 weeks into the EQ cycle.
2. My blood markers, mood and digestion improve significantly when I go onto EQ and before my hematocrit and systemic inflamation takes a hike, I am back to NPP, which reduces systemic inflamation.

I don't think this kind of switching is something unique, for I myself learned it from Matt Porter. I at one point was coached by him. I am sure many pros now a days do that.

Here's a video about him explaining the process-


View: https://youtu.be/Szyw3Tnl-Vg?si=jSrEkYxtD8M65Uh4


Sad thing he passed away few years back.