1st cycle 33yo

[Antic]

Hi All.

First off I want to say a big thank you to all the members here. I've found this by far the most informative no BS forum on all aspects of training, diet and AAS and the information you guys have provided has been invaluable.

STATS
33yr old male, 185lb, 5'9", 14-17% BF
15 years training natural.

I trained for 13 years 5 days a week without any real breaks until the birth of my daughter almost 3 years ago. While altogether awesome, my training, diet and most importantly sleep took a very hard hit. I went from 175lb under 10%bf to a 210lb fatburg in 2 years and dropped to sporadic training. A year ago I started training again. I cut to 185lb and have been re-comping since then (6mo eating at maintenance). My last natty workout session is today.

TRAINING
My current split is a PPL 6 days a week split. First half of the week is focused on strength 2nd half is hypertrophy. I don't really do any 1RM sets because I have been training at my home gym and I don't have the equipment or perfect technique to do them without high injury risk. Workouts are usually 1.5 hrs and include a warm up (5 mins cardio and joint warm up depending muscle group), compound lifts followed by isolation and 15 mins of cardio (if I haven't done it in the AM fasted)

Fatigue has been real especially as I'm eating at maintenance and I do a lot of volume. I think I'm going to start doing 6 week meso cycles where I gradually decrease my RIR (from 3RIR to 0 RIR) and de-load after 6 weeks. Currently I've been training between 2-0 RIR constantly and I don't think I have been resting enough. I'll post some of my workouts in following posts.

DIET
Currently I'm around 2700 calories a day. 40/30/30 macro split C/P/F and making sure I get in a surplus of 200g of protein a day. I do supplement with 2-3 scoops of whey a day (which I know is not ideal) but really convenient with my current lifestyle. Chicken, fish, lean steak, eggs, rice, sweet potato, beans and green vegetables make up the bulk of my diet. I supplement with Fish Oil, Creatine, Zinc, Magnesium, Joint Support, Vitamin D, UBQH or CoQ10, Vitamin C and NAC.

Here is what's on the menu today
meal 1- 2 whole eggs, 2 whites, 4oz ground chicken, spinach, 1 tbsp ghee, 4 mushrooms, 1/4 onion and 1 Ezekiel English muffin.
Intra workout- 25g Cluster Dextrin w my EAA's
Post workout- 40g Oats, Banana, Maca Powder, 1 cup almond milk, 1.5 scoops whey and cinnamon
Meal 3- 1.5 cups white rice, 1 tbsp ghee, Mexican beef barbacoa (slow cooked lean chuck in tomato and spices), grilled peppers.
meal 4 1 cup whole milk, 1 scoop casein whey
2700 kcal
215g P
258g C
96g F

Goals
My profession forced me to stay very lean and not to big for many years but no restrictions any more. I'd like to put on a some size and then cut back to 10%BF again. Ideally I'd like to do it while putting the least amount of fat on as possible. I think I can achieve a good re-comp by gradually upping my calories during this first cycle as I'm not at my genetic potential yet. Please correct me if this is not a good strategy.

12 WEEK CYCLE PLAN
Week 1-12 250mg Test C every 2.5 days (500 total a week) (UGL)
Week 1-12 250 iu HCG 2x a week (500iu a week) (PHARMA)
Week 8-12- 50mg VAR (split into 2 doses) ED (UGL)
week 12-16 HCG 500iu 2x a week (1000iu a week) (I'm still researching dosages and if this is a good idea. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated)
Week 16-20 CLOMID 70/50/50/50 NOVA 40/20/20/20 (PHARMA)
Arimidex on hand (PHARMA)

A few questions I have regarding the cycle.
- Is there any advantage to pinning HCG on days I'm not pinning AAS?
-Is 4 weeks the correct amount of time to wait before commencing PCT?

Pre bloodwork done 2 weeks ago and everything is in the normal range except globulin which was 1.8 (normal 1.9-3.7). My doc told me not to worry about it.

Total test- 621
Free test- 118.3 pg/ml
Estradiol- 27

Very excited for this first cycle. I'll post my last natty pics soon.

Peace,
Antic

 

[FlyGuy3232]

You could run Var and DBOL the last four weeks instead of just var so you get estrogen support. Just like 10mg a day should be enough.

At your age getting T back in any less time than you spent on gear is iffy. Just be aware of the risk. After 30 it may take many months to return (and sometimes it doesn't). That's why most of us are on TRT.

 

[Antic]

You could run Var and DBOL the last four weeks instead of just var so you get estrogen support. Just like 10mg a day should be enough.

At your age getting T back in any less time than you spent on gear is iffy. Just be aware of the risk. After 30 it may take many months to return (and sometimes it doesn't). That's why most of us are on TRT.

Thanks Fly. I'll look into it!

I'm aware of the risks. That said I will try PCT first before I B&C or TRT.

First pin just went in this morning in glute after warming gear. Drew w 23G 1" and slowly pinned (45 seconds) with 25G after aspirating. No pip. Yay!

 

[Antic]

Last natty pics.

 

[Wa1shy]

Good luck with the cycle mate. Will be following your thread

 

[broschmo]

Good luck, bro.
Commenting to follow.

Also, 4 weeks is not nearly enough to clear all the compounds from your system before starting PCT, at least from what I've read.
I would wait at least 8 weeks or else you're going to be basically wasting drugs and potentiating side-effects related to said drugs (clomid).

 

[Silentlemon1011]

Good luck, bro.
Commenting to follow.

Also, 4 weeks is not nearly enough to clear all the compounds from your system before starting PCT, at least from what I've read.
I would wait at least 8 weeks or else you're going to be basically wasting drugs and potentiating side-effects related to said drugs (clomid).

4 weeks is okay for Cyp

The math is as follows
Divide total dose by 50% per half life

IE
Week 1 (Following last pin)
250mg
Week 2
125 mg
week 3
62.5 mg
Week 4
31.25 mg /and/or negligable/ at a low enough level to begin PCT
Give it an extra week if you want, but 8 weeks is 3xcessive and your body will already be restarting by itself, therefore you'll be skipping the benefits of shocking the system with SERMs
Especially with this guy using HCG throughout cycle to prevent testicular atrophy.

 

[broschmo]

4 weeks is okay for Cyp

The math is as follows
Divide total dose by 50% per half life

IE
Week 1 (Following last pin)
250mg
Week 2
125 mg
week 3
62.5 mg
Week 4
31.25 mg /and/or negligable/ at a low enough level to begin PCT
Give it an extra week if you want, but 8 weeks is 3xcessive and your body will already be restarting by itself, therefore you'll be skipping the benefits of shocking the system with SERMs
Especially with this guy using HCG throughout cycle to prevent testicular atrophy.

Even if it was 50mg it wouldn't be negligable as your HPTA would not be restarting whatsoever.
I understand many people have done the math like that successfully but I don't feel
that's based on actual evidence and doesn't seem congruent with what I've learnt in my physiology classes, haha.

As long as exogenous hormones are in your system, your HPTA will be shutdown.

 

[NLM36]

If you’re not recovering well then lower your volume and stop training 6 days a week. You don’t grow in the gym.
ive also got a different idea on how to recomp diet wise. Eat at maintenance for your lean body mass not total scale weight. I got this from Skip Hill.
I’d also up protein to 1.5-2grams per lb. just my opinion.
As far as deloads, don’t plan them just take them when needed. If you need one at 4 weeks take it and if you’re still going strong keep going.

 

[Silentlemon1011]

Even if it was 50mg it wouldn't be negligable as your HPTA would not be restarting whatsoever.
I understand many people have done the math like that successfully but I don't feel
that's based on actual evidence and doesn't seem congruent with what I've learnt in my physiology classes, haha.

As long as exogenous hormones are in your system, your HPTA will be shutdown.

Ideally you never actually suit down either, there is some T production due to the addition of HCG

Ideally.your body will kinda balance itself out with the SERMs.

TECHNICALLY Testosterone is a bioidentical hormone, if it were something like Nadrolone, where metabolites stick around for an OBSCENE qauntity of time, and will shut down your HPTA more harshly.

There is obviously still a good amount of research that should be done, would be super nice if we had more studies brother!

 

[Antic]

Thanks for the input guys! There is so many different views on when to commence PCT but your logic silentlemon makes the most sense to me. I followed the recommendations made here in the PCT forum. Much better than the 2 weeks that most forums claim. I'll push it out to 5 weeks to make the most of it. 2nd more studies!

 

[Antic]

If you’re not recovering well then lower your volume and stop training 6 days a week. You don’t grow in the gym.
ive also got a different idea on how to recomp diet wise. Eat at maintenance for your lean body mass not total scale weight. I got this from Skip Hill.
I’d also up protein to 1.5-2grams per lb. just my opinion.
As far as deloads, don’t plan them just take them when needed. If you need one at 4 weeks take it and if you’re still going strong keep going.

Sounds great! Is there another accurate way to get LBM without a dexa pod scan? I'll def try to up protein. I think deloading by feel is a good strategy especially as I'm introducing AAS. I usually will take a rest day if i'm not progressing in lifts or feel really run down.

 

[NLM36]

Sounds great! Is there another accurate way to get LBM without a dexa pod scan? I'll def try to up protein. I think deloading by feel is a good strategy especially as I'm introducing AAS. I usually will take a rest day if i'm not progressing in lifts or feel really run down.

You could use calipers or honestly just make a good guess. There’s no 100% way to know unless you boiled someone and scooped the fat out and weighed it lol.
You could also say we are only as lean as our fattest area.
Post a physique pic and we can all make a good guess.

 

[NLM36]

You could use calipers or honestly just make a good guess. There’s no 100% way to know unless you boiled someone and scooped the fat out and weighed it lol.
You could also say we are only as lean as our fattest area.
Post a physique pic and we can all make a good guess.

Damn I’m dumb lol. You posted one. I’d say you’re about 17ish

thatd put you at about 153lbs lbm.

 

[Antic]

Awesome thanks! Will work with that.

 

[Antic]

LEG SESSION
5 mins air bike
5 mins hip and ankle mobility work
HAM CURLS 12,12,12 (1 RIR)
HIGH BAR ATG SQUAT 12, 8, 6, 6 (Last 2 sets to failure)
BARBELL HIP THRUST 12,12,12,12 (1RIR)
SLDL 8,8 (1RIR)
SUMO DEADLIFT10,8,6,3 (Last 2 sets to failure)
CALF RAISE 15,15,15,30 (LAST SET MESO REPS)
15 mins AIR BIKE

Usually I don't deadlift and squat in the same session but hams were dead today and back was feeling good so I switched over to sumo's and hit a new PR which was nice. I'll also usually do a Bulgarian split squat but knees were a bit sore from last session so I left it out.

 

[Supremo44]

U could run an oral week 12-16 when ur waiting for the test to clear (var)

 

[Andy060181]

Don’t want to hijack but I’m on a similar cycle 3 weeks in.
test cyp 400 mg per week 12 weeks.
Planning on adding Anavar week 6-12.
clomid and nova for pct.
I don’t have HCG though.
Is it worth me getting some?
Can I add it to my test injection?
Thanks

 

[Silentlemon1011]

Don’t want to hijack but I’m on a similar cycle 3 weeks in.
test cyp 400 mg per week 12 weeks.
Planning on adding Anavar week 6-12.
clomid and nova for pct.
I don’t have HCG though.
Is it worth me getting some?
Can I add it to my test injection?
Thanks

Hcg is a good addition for guys that PCT
Even if you pin some in the final few weeks before PCT it can be beneficial

No, do not mix it with your oil
Slin pin, SubQ injection, very easy.

 

[Andy060181]

Hcg is a good addition for guys that PCT
Even if you pin some in the final few weeks before PCT it can be beneficial

No, do not mix it with your oil
Slin pin, SubQ injection, very easy.

Thanks for that. So add hcg weeks 9-12? Any benefit to running the hcg for a bit after cycle before starting pct?