Prospective First Cycle: Making an Informed Decision

[tomsinite]

Hello All,

New to the forum and to AAS as well. I will preface by saying that I have thoroughly conducted my own research, and am not looking to be spoon fed.

Current Compostistion:
23 years old. 6’2 in height
250 lbs
Lifting seriously on/off for 6 years.

I have an extremely solid foundation and considered anabolics to further enhance my physique.

I may have gotten ahead of myself and purchased the gear I would need for my prospective cycle.

My research has led me to believe that a moderate Test only cycle will be more than sufficient for a first time. I planned to run Test Cyp at 500mg for 12 weeks. Nolva (and clomid if necessary) at standard dosage for PCT.

I was nearly ready to pin, but can not justify the potential damage that may be done to my HTPA. I tend to be on the cautious side, and feel that any greater than minimal risk to my endogenous test production, at my age at least, can never be worth it.

SO:

1. I would like to hear from some users who began dosing at my age, or younger, and get some accounts on how they rebounded. How did you justify your own useage?

2. The various protocols for HCG is sporadic at best. Can someone give me some personal insight.

3. Waiting for BASELINE bloods to be returned to me before ANYTHING is administered.

Regardless if I go on or not, I can imagine this forum being extremely helpful to the thousands of men at my age, lurking this site, considering AAS at my age.

Cheers

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Solid post guy. Much better than the recent “first cycle, help” stuff.

500mg of T for 12 weeks is perfect, but you want some anti-estrogen on hand; aromasin or arimidex.

1. How you justify it is up to you. My reasons don’t matter to you and yours don’t matter to me. Now that I’m here, I don’t judge anyone’s reasoning. Just know you can’t go back to being natty. You may recover natural function, but you’ll be addicted to the results forever.

2. IMO 250iu 2x per week while on cycle and continued through to end of PCT (~4wks-ish after last pin). Someone else may provide further insight. I’m no pro there.

3. Yes, excellent start.

 

[Big_paul]

potential damage that may be done to my HTPA. I tend to be on the cautious side, and feel that any greater than minimal risk to my endogenous test production, at my age at least, can never be worth it.

Train natural a few more years to give yourself the opportunity to become more knowledgeable.

 

[ironwill1951]

if your unsure don't do it. you will know when your ready.
its when you cant wait to do a cycle not when your having second thoughts.

 

[RealET]

I’d wait 2 more years until you cycle. Maybe lose some weight in the meantime. 250 lbs 6’2” without gear sounds a little fat to me.

 

[tomsinite]

1. How you justify it is up to you. My reasons don’t matter to you and yours don’t matter to me. Now that I’m here, I don’t judge anyone’s reasoning. Just know you can’t go back to being natty. You may recover natural function, but you’ll be addicted to the results forever.

2. IMO 250iu 2x per week while on cycle and continued through to end of PCT (~4wks-ish after last pin). Someone else may provide further insight. I’m no pro there.

Thank you for your quality response. To clarify, what i meant by "justifying" usage was not a moral judgement, but instead a risk vs reward question. I can't emphasize you saying "You MAY recover natural function" enough. While the reward is obviously amazing for using AAS, the risk (and uncertainty of recovery) involved is what is causing me to seriously rethink my cycle plan.

I plan on posting my baseline blood results. I think getting those numbers will be a good place to continue this conversation.

By the way, from my research of HCG, i tend to agree with you're dosing suggestion (250 iu every 4-5 days) for the duration of cycle. The only thing I'm unsure of is combining it with pct. People in forums seems to conflict on that.

 

[RealET]

Don’t use HCG on pct. use it before pct or during cycle but don’t use it during pct. I used to be in the same boat until I did a ton of research.

 

[tomsinite]

I’d wait 2 more years until you cycle. Maybe lose some weight in the meantime. 250 lbs 6’2” without gear sounds a little fat to me.

I agree. I tend to have some serious cuts while maintaining size at 220. Thats a much healthier weight.

 

[BigNattyDaddy]

Thank you for your quality response. To clarify, what i meant by "justifying" usage was not a moral judgement, but instead a risk vs reward question. I can't emphasize you saying "You MAY recover natural function" enough. While the reward is obviously amazing for using AAS, the risk (and uncertainty of recovery) involved is what is causing me to seriously rethink my cycle plan.

I plan on posting my baseline blood results. I think getting those numbers will be a good place to continue this conversation.

By the way, from my research of HCG, i tend to agree with you're dosing suggestion (250 iu every 4-5 days) for the duration of cycle. The only thing I'm unsure of is combining it with pct. People in forums seems to conflict on that.

By not recovering, do you mean having to go on TRT? If so, I've never heard of anyone NOT recovering from a conservative, 10-12 week cycle. Then again, "recovering" is a subjective term.

 

[RealET]

After my first cycle of test e and eq all my levels recovered except my estrogen was lower than before and my fsh/lh were higher

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Yeah i did not mean your first cycle will wreck your HPTA. You seem to be asking the right questions and prepared. Didnt mean to scare you. I meant further down the road. For a lot of guys it becomes a life long thing.

But it sounds to me like you’re not ready, just mentally. So ride out the natty for a while. Depending on your bf% maybe get in a more favorable body comp. It’s always here. The gear isn’t going anywhere.

 

[tomsinite]

By not recovering, do you mean having to go on TRT? If so, I've never heard of anyone NOT recovering from a conservative, 10-12 week cycle. Then again, "recovering" is a subjective term.

I agree, recovery is subjective. Personally, to me it means reaching baselines again, at the very least.

I think an important question any novice should ask themselves is "Am i ready to undergo TRT my whole life if things go awry?"

I am well researched, and i doubt that would happen to me as proper precautions would be taken. BUT, man there are some less than favorable stories out there.

 

[bambam333]

I started screwing around with cycles alil younger than you and always recovered well but like mac11 said I got addicted to the results and was very uneducated at the time and ran some heavy compounds for too long and thats what took me to trt. Test only at 500 you should recover fine as long as you dont already have any issue. Also I would usually run for up to 2 weeks after cycle then stop it and then start the pct. If you dont need to start dont

 

[Monstar]

You are doing it right. Love the baseline bloods. Do not run HCG during PCT. Before PCT or during cycle is fine. Typical is 250 or 500iu 2x per week. Start PCT 2 weeks post final injections.

You should be totally fine but shit can happen so you need to own that. I started earlier than you, we didn't have pct back in the day. I'm on HRT now but likely was always low. Didn't use anything for ~15 years pre HRT. Now a blast and cruise with mild cycles because why not? I've already had my kids so it's about quality of life for me.

I don't know that you'll necessarily become addicted. You seem fairly balanced. You will however understand, first hand, how effective they can be for your goals and depending on what you are prioritizing in life that can be a powerful draw.

 

[Hawkins]

Lots of good advice here.

Bloodwork, better body composition, few more years of training and controlled eating are all solid advice.

Good to see a young buck doing the right things.

 

[Robfromga]

Solid post
But you're too young still
Have you had bloodwork? I would do that now, and save it because it will help you later .
I wouldn't cycle til you were 26-28 . You still should be growing like a weed at 23 .

You will not hit one cycle and not do it again. Superman doesn't want to be Clark Kent.

 

[tomsinite]

Interesting update:
I briefly spoke over the phone with my doctor regarding my blood results. He was quick to say everything was in range, and when I pressed him on my hormone levels he told me:

Serum testosterone was at330
Estradiol at 150 pmol/L

These are utterly shocking baseline results to me. I have the T levels of an 85 year old man. For some extra context: This blood test was taken at 7am (T levels are highest). I do take 1mg finasteride daily (which could explain the high E2 and some recent weight gain) but I can’t justify the very low T levels.
I did a mild Ostarine cycle a year ago, could that be it?

Can I get some opinions gentlemen. I feel like these bloods assist me in leaning towards AAS use. Hell, my T is already low, why not? My current protocol is to see an endocrinologist, take another blood test, and go from there.

 

[Holidaypay]

U seem to have a good head on your shoulders if u are doing this for trt than before u start understand that you are going to have to pin yourself forever an your levels may be low but if you don't feel shitty than maybe you should wait a while because once u start your never gna want to go back an there are a bunch of bad that comes with the good 2 bloods are great start but u have to decide if you are ready for a life long commitment I hope that watever you decide u get what you are looking for

 

[tomsinite]

Attempting to dial in on some specific I had questions about.

I’m seeing that some people take a SERM, like clomid, EOD while on cycle. Is their efficacy in this. On paper, to me already this seems like a solid idea; upregulate LH and FSH while they will drop with exogenous test introduced. Anyone here do that?

Also, it seems like the classic “wait 2 weeks” after last injection to start PCT is not entirely ideal for long esters. Some are saying 18, or even 25 is better. Is waiting longer a better protocol?

 

[tomsinite]

Also, here are baseline bloods. Look, no HIV!