What an interesting read! I am doing something similar but at lower dose. Took over my TRT management because doc wanted me at 350 total T and I still felt like shit at that level. Previously at a now defunct clinic that kept me at 800 and I felt great. After much experimentation, I'm on 100/wk test and 60mg EQ. The EQ keeps my E2 near perfect at that ratio and very dry. Added 35mg/wk tren ace and reta 1mg/wk for 6 weeks. Also 2iu hgh for the past 6 months. Moving reta up to 2mg this week. It's been slow and steady, but also recomp magic. Went from 20% bf to 10% and gained 5lbs of muscle over 6 months based on dexa scan. No sides whatsoever and bloodwork good. Probably not gonna push any further at 54 years old, but I'm happy at 6'1" 220lbs and 10%.
Thanks and glad you enjoyed it so far. The takeaway is always that everyone is so different in how they react to compounds.
One thing to watch, which could be fact or just my opinion is that the magic window for tren seems to close some time after 6 weeks. What I mean is that while tren is a harsh compound it still shares some universal truths about AAS and how they’re used, at least my philosophy of use, which I think applies especially well to tren.
My opinion is that all cycles are most effective when you are healthy, rested, fresh, and not accustomed to them in your system. You’ll go through a soaking phase first where the cycle builds up and your body starts operating in the elevated environment. Then you’ll start to ‘feel it’ if the dose is high enough, and physical changes will start happening, especially if you take advantage of increased energy, power, and the big one is recoverable stimulus. This phase is where the magic happens- weights get lighter, hopefully tissue is added, your body looks and feels different, better.
Then the cycle begins to stagnate. Gains flatten, inflammation and stress accumulate, and especially with cosmetic compounds like tren the look is maxed. You aren’t going to keep adding significant gains, sides and fatigue sets in, and the elevated look and performance start to be the new normal.
In my opinion (flame away!) this is a trap that people fall into. The look will stay as long as you keep or escalate the dose. Some more performance and enthusiasm can be eeked out with end of cycle orals like dbol or anadrol, but you also start to risk tendon health and injury as cns and pain guardrails are moved by the drugs and contractile tissue growth outpaces tendons and joints. Bloodwork slowly or quickly continues to decline, or looks ok but we know this shit ain’t good for you- limited exposure to maximum effect is always better.
So staying on past the point of productivity you just moved the baseline of performance, with much smaller gains than going back to cruise and blasting again when you’re fresh. And especially with tren in a cut what the drug does is allows muscle building and recovery while in a defecit, plus adds granite hardness and an awesome look by adding glycogen & water while promoting fat loss. I got heavier and looked leaner.
I’m suspicious of the tren cruise idea. The sides for me including body weight gain were not a lot different from 20mg/day to 55mg/day and the effects were definitely more noticable on the higher but still very tolerable doses.
Because the effect was so cosmetic and fat loss was not astronomically more than I can achieve with a controlled diet (that is less uncomfortable than being sweaty having heartburn and interrupted sleep even though these were mild at my doses), and because in a cut that doesn’t lead to a show or a photo shoot tren doesn’t align with my goals, the compound was not really a win for me. It was fun, it had minimal sides that I managed well, I looked better & better, and had great aggression in the gym and good recovery, but the win was gaining understanding of the compound, not that it did anything amazing for me.
Now that I’m off and the water weight is gone I’m finally seeing the results of the fat loss that would have happened without tren- on the scale and in my physique. The scale tells the truth again, and I’m not feeling softer or wishing I had god focus in the gym- I always have good training and enjoy aggression. (Ok the tren feeling is awesome that part is true!)
The interesting part from your post is 10% fat. I’m about 16% on the dexa and I’d imagine that at or below 10% tren would bring a dramatic transformation, especially run a little higher like 2-300mg/week minimum. It could probably also be successfully leveraged at low bf to help cut and harden when there is not much left to cut and you’re already lean and looking for maximum vascularity and striation.
I’m being a little long winded here but I’m super interested in hearing about your opinion and experience, especially because my takeaway was that tren was fun but probably not very useful unless already almost stage lean.