Cycle Advice After Making Rookie Mistakes

[ggilemonona]

Unfortunately like many the way I started was advice from a friend. I was sent to Defy Medical literally just to get my bloodwork and because I was told it was an athletics minded clinic.



They prescribed me Ibutamoren (MK-677) costing $500 a month in pill form from their pharmacy. Literally came in an orange bottle like any other prescription. Also had me take 100mg DHEA everyday. My test was 800 but free test was 13 so this was to hopefully raise test and thus free test.



I noticed a giant difference. It was very helpful for a few months and then I seemed to outgrow its offerings. I was advised to go to Chemyo for an affordable liquid version. Also advised to take cardarine, Ostarine, rad 140, and something else I forget. I dropped most of these after 7 months or so but kept the mk-677.



I had no clue what PCT was and since Ibutamoren/mk-677 was literally prescribed to me I never had any idea this could negatively impact my health.



I took these for a year or more before stopping once I decided to graduate to test in October if 2022. I did this because I was no where near my physique/body image goals and I was 34 and always dealing with odd injuries- sore neck, minimal joint pain, a couple back injuries I fixed with a reverse hyper. My concern was not only was I a long ways away from a Steve Reeves physique but that with my aging I could potentially rack up some real injuries along the way.



Test didn’t seem to do anything at 250mg a week but once I added 200 Primo in January 1st 2023 bam my physique was finally on point. I might not be the size or the ab definition ect, ect, that I want but it’s definitely the jr. “physique of my dreams”



When starting this cycle not only did I know nothing of PCT but I’m not even sure I knew what a cycle was. I’ve since watched a couple hundred hours of MPMD and VigorousSteve as well as many hours reading on this forum.



I found good sources here and have stocked up and all the supplies, compounds, PCT, anything and everything I found suggested even antibiotics just incase (not that I wouldn’t seek professional medical assistance).



I met with MarekHealth and scheduled bloods for tomorrow. I paid for their full evaluation. $1100 in total. They actually advised me to stay on this cycle (300 Test/300 Primo) until they get my bloods from LabCorps. It seems absolutely worth the money to me to be able to do this as safely as possible.



I’m looking for as many suggestions on what to do next as I can get. I want to bulk and add lean mass that I can keep after the cycle (my understanding is no matter what I’ll need a test dose atleast equal to my weight in grams to maintain)



I’d like to get to this physique with AAS but maybe once I achieve it or am in that ball park I’d consider slowing things down and moving to bioidenticals

6’ 192lbs

Bench 280
Sumo 405
1000x8 leg press

Have only done front squats in higher reps because my back occasionally acts up. Also why I usually focus on Sumo deadlifts which rarely will cause me very minimal back irritation. Better safe than sorry is my philosophy since I’m going for physique imagine and nothing else

Photos are Nov. 24 2022 to Feb. 2023

Thanks for everything guys

 

[Vanargandar]

Unfortunately like many the way I started was advice from a friend. I was sent to Defy Medical literally just to get my bloodwork and because I was told it was an athletics minded clinic.

For starters, you already have a really good base along with a fairly athletic looking physique. That being said...are you trying to go the blast and cruise route or just do a cycle? Just trying to understand what your plans are.

 

[ggilemonona]

For starters, you already have a really good base along with a fairly athletic looking physique. That being said...are you trying to go the blast and cruise route or just do a cycle? Just trying to understand what your plans are.

Thanks brother. Appreciate the response.

A couple of my friends destroyed their health doing this shit with zero education.

My understanding is this can be done infinitely safer than what I had thought based on their experience after being exposed to this forum, MPMD, and VigorousSteve.

I have a multivitamin, vitamin d,c,k,e, NAC, dim, GLA, glutathione, magnesium, calcium, TUDCA, the list goes on and on.

I plan to get my bloods consistently, probably monthly, with analysis from marek and help from this forum

THAT BEING SAID

I’d like to cruise and bridge if I can maintain good bloodwork and definitely would like to blast as well.

 

[Vanargandar]

I’d like to cruise and bridge if I can maintain good bloodwork and definitely would like to blast as well.

So for the time being, you're going to run a cycle, then PCT? Or cruise on a low dose of test afterwards?

 

[ggilemonona]

So for the time being, you're going to run a cycle, then PCT? Or cruise on a low dose of test afterwards?

Marek advised me to stay on cycle until they get my bloods in probably a couple weeks. I plan to use their expertise to PCT and get my bloodwork perfect. Then I would like to do another cycle, ideally with more lean mass results

 

[ggilemonona]

@Vanargandar so any cycle suggestions/advice my friend?

 

[Vanargandar]

@Vanargandar so any cycle suggestions/advice my friend?

I know Marek are top notch when it comes to that stuff, so I'd definitely follow what they tell you to do, which is seems like I don't even need to tell you that...mainly because you don't seem like some of these idiots on the board. Honestly if you're looking to get bigger, the first thing would be diet/a calorie surplus. Add roughly ~500 calories to your maintenance and try not to eat like shit, like myself and many others are guilty of during a bulk. Add or subtract calories based off body composition. Keep an eye on BP and potentially add in a BP medication if you notice any adverse reaction from the gear or weight gain.

As far as gear, I'm a big proponent of doing larger Test cycles to gain size as I respond really well to it. That being said, some people don't respond super well to high Test. You'll have to play around with dosages, but seeing as you mentioned 250mg p/w of Test didn't do much, I would bump that up to 500mg or even 750mg if you're feeling spicy (this latter part is 1/2 sarcasm 1/2 not lol). 500mg seems to be a good dosage for most people though, personally I responded really well...like night and day difference at 500mg vs 200mg at my TRT dosage. You already know you respond well to Primo, but I'm assuming you don't have any bloods to show how your E2 looks? If your E2 isn't crushed after your current 300/300 dosage, a simple bump of 500/500 seems reasonable. I think somewhere between 12-14 weeks would also not be too crazy, but that's just my opinion. GH added on to this at 4-6iu p/d also seems like a safe bet, but I would also recommend something like Metformin (500-1000 XR p/d) to keep your glucose under control.

I'm not an expert by any means, so if anyone wants to correct me and give @ggilemonona some other advice or call me retarded, feel free.

 

[ggilemonona]

@Vanargandar thank you brother. Made my day.

Luckily for me it seems the immediate next cycles are pretty no brainer- higher test cycle flaking with bloodwork, maybe next cycle adjust the Primo. It’s really after that where I start to wonder

So I definitely appreciate the GH suggestion and will look into it more. I’ve already wanted to do the low dose route just to benefit skin and hair

 

[Vanargandar]

@Vanargandar thank you brother. Made my day.

Luckily for me it seems the immediate next cycles are pretty no brainer- higher test cycle flaking with bloodwork, maybe next cycle adjust the Primo. It’s really after that where I start to wonder

So I definitely appreciate the GH suggestion and will look into it more. I’ve already wanted to do the low dose route just to benefit skin and hair

Best of luck brother. I would recommend starting a thread to keep people updated with your bloods and cycle experience.

 

[ggilemonona]

@Vanargandar thanks brother. I am tempted to try something a little more serious since I plan to do consistent bloods and consult with marek during cycle. Maybe Deca-Durabolin?

I will absolutely do that. What section do I post that in and is there a title you suggest I use?

Thanks again brother

 

[Vanargandar]

@Vanargandar thanks brother. I am tempted to try something a little more serious since I plan to do consistent bloods and consult with marek during cycle. Maybe Deca-Durabolin?

I will absolutely do that. What section do I post that in and is there a title you suggest I use?

Thanks again brother

If you do want to experiment with 19-Nor stuff like Deca, I'd personally recommend NPP due to it being a shorter ester (same compound/still Nandrolone). That way if you don't respond well, you're not waiting a fuckton of time for it to clear your system. I don't respond well to 19-Nor's and have little experience with them, but it's highly individual, as most things AAS related are.

Just post a thread in Steroid Cycle Log and call it whatever you want; e.g. "ggilemonona's cycle log *insert date here* X weeks".

 

[ggilemonona]

@Vanargandar ok awesome I will take you up on that advice I just have one question- if NPP sides aren’t tolerable, what would you suggest I try instead/next?

 

[Vanargandar]

@Vanargandar ok awesome I will take you up on that advice I just have one question- if NPP sides aren’t tolerable, what would you suggest I try instead/next?

Just stick to high Test or Test/Primo if NPP doesn't work out for you, honestly, and obviously adding in GH will help regardless of what you're taking. No reason to make it super complicated. Like I said, you already have a great base to work off of. Your diet and training will be a big contributing factor to how much you grow. Most people think adding in a bunch of compounds are what's going to make them grow, or just want to experiment and "try stuff out" (I'm guilty of that lol). Just worry about putting on size and achieving your current goals, then fuck around with different stuff in the future.

 

[ggilemonona]

@Vanargandar Ok thanks man it’s such a huge help. These first few steps beyond test and primo are a little bit more challenging to decide on. There’s so many options and routes, NPP definitely does seem like the safest next step in the lean mass AAS progression. Thanks again ✌