8 Weeks into Test C cycle and not what i was expecting

[maxx the dogg]

That's a relatively low dose and it takes 6-7 weeks to probably notice anything at all worth mentioning anyway. It's a great place to start to see how your body reacts but seriously, not many are going to get blown away by results at that dosage and after just 8 weeks.

 

[T&H]

I weigh 185. Hovered around 175-180 depending on time of day before starting test.

My calories on workout days are around 2300-2500. Protein: 150-180g/day. carb: 200-250/day. Fat: around 100g/day. I eat the same breakfast almost every day which is where a big chunk of fats come from. It's 100g almonds, 20g coconut mana, collagen peptide shake.

If i increase protein past this point my farts become constant and ungodly smelling...

This screams of a troll, who just happened to have joined yesterday. Hilarious.

 

[MisterSuperGod]

This screams of a troll, who just happened to have joined yesterday. Hilarious.

i don't know, seems plausible enough.
He's not gaining because he's eating at maintenance and i can attest to some pretty raunchy protein farts. i've brought tears to my own eyes with them before.

 

[Rido]

i don't know, seems plausible enough.
He's not gaining because he's eating at maintenance and i can attest to some pretty raunchy protein farts. i've brought tears to my own eyes with them before.

I agree.. op did say he was new...

 

[T&H]

I agree.. op did say he was new...

True but come on, 2500 calories is maintenance for many guys. I guess I expected most to know the basics of eating when cycling, especially your first cycle. Apparently not all do.

 

[hometeam]

True but come on, 2500 calories is maintenance for many guys. I guess I expected most to know the basics of eating when cycling, especially your first cycle. Apparently not all do.

That is the average adult male couch potato maintenance diet. But is he really counting calories or just guestimating?

 

[T&H]

That is the average adult male couch potato maintenance diet. But is he really counting calories or just guestimating?

Most guys on here are not average, between lifting and training daily. You need to eat more, that's where one of your problems is. Not much else to add imo.

 

[Someguy22]

I started my first cycle 8 weeks ago (250-350mg/week ~ test c) and have experienced lackluster results.

From what I read you did 250 for 5 weeks, then upped the dose to 350 for the last 3 weeks pinning EOD. Have you heard of steroid plotter?

The first 3-4 weeks the drugs are building in your system. Your levels won't stabilize until around week 5 / 6. You judged the initial results and upped the dose before you were saturated for any decent amount of time.

I was hoping this would combat shut down but might be retarded for thinking so.

Why this supplements and not something like HCG? There should be many protocols around the internet like 250 IU EOD for instance. Your prob going to have to adjust your AI dosage, at least in my experience HCG aromatizes A LOT.

My calories on workout days are around 2300-2500. Protein: 150-180g/day. carb: 200-250/day. Fat: around 100g/day. I eat the same breakfast almost every day which is where a big chunk of fats come from. It's 100g almonds, 20g coconut mana, collagen peptide shake.

That's a very large range, also not a lot of calories. Are you basing this off of some random maintenance calculator on the internet? If so you should use a TDEE (factors in food - calories burned automatically) calculator (even those aren't great considering water weight fluctuations). You're gonna need a lot of daily weight in's + ACCURATE calories counts (i.e put the food on the scale before in your mouth) for each day for a while to make this useful.

Lastly, I find most likely expect too much out of the drugs. Building muscle is slow. It's faster on drugs, but it's still slow. Especially at 350mg of test per week.

This has been stated by loads of fitness youtubers. Drugs aren't magic, everything else has to be in place for them to make a noticeable difference.

 

[Piromanu87]

Add 200 calories, if you dont gain weight add 200 calories.. The sky is the limit. I am 93 kg and my maintenance is 4500 calories now.
2300 calories seems very low. You cant gain much at maintenance or in a deficit.

 

[Someguy22]

Not an expert on blood work, but should your test level not be higher than 1850 ng/dl on 350 mg per week?

That's 50 mg a day, after ester let's say 35 mg. Most men produce between 3-10 mg a day. Your levels should be triple the reference range then no? They are a bit over double the range.

 

[hometeam]

Not an expert on blood work, but should your test level not be higher than 1850 ng/dl on 350 mg per week?

That's 50 mg a day, after ester let's say 35 mg. Most men produce between 3-10 mg a day. Your levels should be triple the reference range then no? They are a bit over double the range.

Depends on how many days after injection he did the bloodwork.

From what I read you did 250 for 5 weeks, then upped the dose to 350 for the last 3 weeks pinning EOD. Have you heard of steroid plotter?

The first 3-4 weeks the drugs are building in your system. Your levels won't stabilize until around week 5 / 6. You judged the initial results and upped the dose before you were saturated for any decent amount of time.

Keep in mind at week 0 he was natty, so he probably was producing some natural testosterone the first few weeks.

 

[paddy_juan]

Not an expert on blood work, but should your test level not be higher than 1850 ng/dl on 350 mg per week?

That's 50 mg a day, after ester let's say 35 mg. Most men produce between 3-10 mg a day. Your levels should be triple the reference range then no? They are a bit over double the range.

You test level is usually somewhere around 5x your mg/wk. So he's right on the money

 

[hometeam]

Most guys on here are not average, between lifting and training daily. You need to eat more, that's where one of your problems is. Not much else to add imo.

Mmhmm, probably around 3000 to maintain if you're very active and not to mention the more muscle you have on your frame the more calories you need to supply it with energy.

 

[Someguy22]

Keep in mind at week 0 he was natty, so he probably was producing some natural testosterone the first few weeks.

This is a good observation, might have reached a saturation point earlier.

You test level is usually somewhere around 5x your mg/wk. So he's right on the money

This is good info, thanks!

 

[VenomYo]

New user, sorry if these is in the wrong place, I'm not familiar with this forum and I'm also a dummy.

I started my first cycle 8 weeks ago (250-350mg/week ~ test c) and have experienced lackluster results. I ran 20mg/day anavar for 2 weeks at the beginning but ended it because I was prescribed a long term Anti inflammatory by my doctor for a persistent knee problem. I figured this was the right move for my organs.

I got a testosterone panel before starting cycle and just got another one this week, which i will post here.

Over all, my lifts have not increased much and are lower than there were when i was in high school. Current bench is 315, squat is around 275, deadlift is around 405. My lower body is not good because of my knee injury which I've been experiencing since November 2020. I'm 29 and have worked out off an on since high school but really got back into it in March 2021 because my knee doc said i need to strengthen my quads, which will help my knee. I've only added about 5-15lbs to all the big lifts since beginning the cycle.


I haven't experienced much lifting aggression aside from when i was on the anavar, which helped a lot with mind muscle connection and pumps. My libido has been slightly higher in the mornings. My body does look fuller, especially in the shoulders and biceps and I've put on 5-7lbs of body weight. Diet has been good except for being a sugar fiend. I've been running Jeff Nipard's power building 5-6 day/week program and tracking everything on excel.

I've been using half inch 29g insulin needles to pin (typically in quad or delt) every other day. Also, I'm on finastride.

I'm leaning towards ending my cycle and doing pct because i'm not achieving the return for the risk. My cholesterol is not good (not horrible) and my nuts have shrunk a noticeable amount lol... Everything i bought was from bioteq labs, if anyone is familiar with them? I have pain and tightness for a couple days after each injection in a 2x2 square inch spot around each injection site.


Thank you!
~dummy

what anti inflammatory are you taking? if its strong it enough it can hinder hypertrophic adaptations completely, especially if taken around workout time

High doses of anti-inflammatory drugs compromise muscle strength and hypertrophic adaptations to resistance training in young adults - PubMed

Maximal over-the-counter doses of ibuprofen attenuate strength and muscle hypertrophic adaptations to 8 weeks of resistance training in young adults. Thus, young individuals using resistance training to maximize muscle growth or strength should avoid excessive intake of anti-inflammatory drugs.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[MisterSuperGod]

True but come on, 2500 calories is maintenance for many guys. I guess I expected most to know the basics of eating when cycling, especially your first cycle. Apparently not all do.

That should be a given, but i think there's a lot of misconceptions for new guys thinking that the addition of steroids to a fucked up diet and/or training routine will be the difference maker.

 

[dummy]

Thank you for all the replies guys. I'm ending this cycle early and counting it as a learning experience. I'd rather end this early, pct and do a proper cycle later this year with more focus on diet.

 

[VenomYo]

Thank you for all the replies guys. I'm ending this cycle early and counting it as a learning experience. I'd rather end this early, pct and do a proper cycle later this year with more focus on diet.

do NOT take tongkat ali with finasteride. tongkat ali literally makes it 3x times harder to cum, and finasteride is already hammering you in that department as it is. Don't double whammy yourself like that

if you want real gains, run test again with an actual anabolic injectable alongside it, such as Tren, deca, primo, masteron, and an actual oral ontop of those if you are so inclined, not anavar(which hammers your libido aswell) dogshit oral

I saw you talking about your training. it doesnt matter what numbers you put up, it matters if youre growing or not, strength comes and goes. I can take a 1 week hiatus and come back to the gym fully rested and strong as fuck, but doesnt mean i've grown bigger. Go by the mirror not by the numbers on a bar, besides if you want to get big youre not gonna do low reps high weight sets anyways, youre gonna do pump training and then let the protein and anabolics handle the rest. Time under tension makes you grow not 5x5 sets with 95% of max effort

 

[dummy]

do NOT take tongkat ali with finasteride. tongkat ali literally makes it 3x times harder to cum, and finasteride is already hammering you in that department as it is. Don't double whammy yourself like that

if you want real gains, run test again with an actual anabolic injectable alongside it, such as Tren, deca, primo, masteron, and an actual oral ontop of those if you are so inclined, not anavar(which hammers your libido aswell) dogshit oral

I saw you talking about your training. it doesnt matter what numbers you put up, it matters if youre growing or not, strength comes and goes. I can take a 1 week hiatus and come back to the gym fully rested and strong as fuck, but doesnt mean i've grown bigger. Go by the mirror not by the numbers on a bar, besides if you want to get big youre not gonna do low reps high weight sets anyways, youre gonna do pump training and then let the protein and anabolics handle the rest. Time under tension makes you grow not 5x5 sets with 95% of max effort

Woah really? Is that tongkat ali thing anecdotal? I haven't noticed any difference in the 3 months ive been taking tongkat.

 

[Rido]

Thank you for all the replies guys. I'm ending this cycle early and counting it as a learning experience. I'd rather end this early, pct and do a proper cycle later this year with more focus on diet.

Why? Your shit is already shutdown. Might as well adjust and extend the cycle imo. Then you can turn it into a real learning experience