Sane cycling, and real gains keeping!
This post is aimed at all non pro bodybuilders.
I have trained bodybuilders and top amateur and pro athletes for 20 years with good success, both naturally and chemically assisted.
First of all let me state the obvious that many guys don't get. You cannot keep gains that are above your natural maximum size. OK...maybe you can keep a tad more as there MAY be some actual growth of new muscle tissue itself(not just hypertrophy) that happened with steroid use that could not also happen with natural training. However, have you taken a good look at long retired pro's ? Arny for example and even much younger men.
For "most" genetically typical guys of around average height of 5'10" that means your natural max is likely around 190-200 pounds lean..not ripped but pretty darn lean. Yeah some of you can get bigger. I am talking the typical athletic guy(most guys). A guy that is 190-200 pounds and pretty lean is a pretty impressive specimen by the way.
First of all you need to learn to train without steroids. This means training with quite low volume...much lower than most of you currently train with. With that low volume needs to come an obsession with the big basic compound movements and especially the squat to a little below parallel, the dead lift or trap bar deadlift, and deep leg press, and adding weight in small and then tiny increments as the going gets tough. If you are tall then specialize in the dead lift or trap bar dead lift and leg press because you probably cannot squat well. That goes for anyone that cannot squat half decently. Hard work is necessary but you have to limit the use if intensifiers like forced reps, rest pause etc etc. However, most natural trainees that I know of, that actually know what they are doing and are pretty big, train harder than most steroid users for sure. ie: most steroid users do not train until the last rep really is the last good rep they could possibly do.
Infrequent gym appearances are mandatory for most natural trainees. I have found an ideal split is a two way split training Monday-Wednesday and Friday ie: workout 1 on Monday, 2 on Wednesday, and 3 on Friday and then next week start with workout 2 etc etc. You can split each workout day in two if you like and train half of the workout in the morning and half in the evening, but this is not an excuse to add exercises and sets...keep the volume low, intensity high and focus on weight progression.
Squat only once a week. On the other leg day do leg presses. Dead lift only once a week. On the other lower body day do back extensions.
Alternatively a three way split working out Monday-Wednesday and Friday works well too.
Trust me...90% of you cannot tolerate 5-6 days per week in the gym matter how you split the program up and especially if you have a job, a family or do other sports.
ENTER 2 WEEK CYCLES, 4 weeks off.
I have personally had great success with 2 week cycles as have ALL my clients that have tried them. Bill Roberts has written extensively about them so do a search. They MUST be done right or they don't work well.
I give full credit where credit is deserved....I had no clue until I read Bill Roberts words on two weekers many years ago.
DO THEY WORK?
Yes....can you gain without steroids if you know how to train naturally and how to eat/rest etc etc?...YES...so the gains on a 2 weeker far surpass what you could do naturally in many many weeks. Again, they have to be done correctly!
KEYS to success with 2 weekers.
You need to use fast acting fast clearing injectables with esters no slower than prop. You have to front load them so you are not wasting time waiting for them to be at optimal blood levels. You only have 14 days!
You need to use powerful orals like dbol and anadrol. You only have 14 days!
Training while "on"......
Train every other day on a two way split. I prefer dividing each training day into 2 workouts, one in the morning and one in the evening. Keep volume pretty low but higher then when training naturally. Really train hard, a-la Dorian Yates...intensity..low volume...big basic movements...a little more isolation work than when training naturally(which should have almost none). Squat and dead lift on each leg day but only for this 14 days. This is the time to hammer...but be careful and train strictly. The every other day two way split protocol allows for each body part to be hit with maximum frequency. You cannot keep this up for more than 2 weeks even on a heavy steroid cycle but it's ideal for a 2 weeker.
These cycles will bring your good cholesterol to shit(hdl) just like any cycle with any gear, even low dose Primo(don't be fooled). However, the shitty time is only a few weeks as opposed to months wit traditional cycling.
You won't get much testicular atrophy in 14 days but yes you'll be completely shut down. The lack of any appreciable atrophy allows your testes to respond very well to LH post cycle and in 14 days LH rebounds really fast and well. So T recovery is fast! In fact Bill Roberts has pointed out that the pituitary is hyper-responsive to GnRH from the hypothalamus up to about 14 days of suppression....so the testes really get hammered with by LH and they can respond because they are not small.
You won't get much if any acne...that usually takes more than 14 days.
It's light on hair loss...it's only 14 days.
Prostate issues...nope
Heart function/ muscle tissue changes...highly highly unlikely.
Plugged up arteries....no...hdl is only shitty for a few weeks.
If you are paranoid about that then take full flush niacin 1 gram in the morning and 1 gram at night when "off" cycle. It won't do a damn thing while on cycle except to add to liver strain but it certainly will raise hdl while "off". (Your doctor should monitor level function if on niacin for more than a few months).
CLASSIC 2 WEEKER. There are more...do a search.
Again, use the most powerful gear you can find and decent doses and ONLY short esters. In my opinion dbol or anadrol are a must!
Tren acetate 150-200mg on day one and then 75-100mg per day. Stop at day 11 if doing 75/day and stop at day 10 if doing 100mg per day.
Dbol 50mg per day in 5 divided doses. Stop after day 14.
Letrozole is a good idea but not mandatory. Start it a week before the cycle at 2.5 mg on day one and then .5mg/day and continue with that dose throughout the cycle. This will take care of the bloat from the dbol. The early start will allow it to "get going" in the system(long half life) and also it will also stat jacking LH and testes size by dropping circulating estrogen.
Anadrol/Tren works great too. Drol at 100mg/day in 3-4 divided doses.
Can't do a thing about drol bloat though.
You can add test prop to the Tren/dbol stack but you have to front load. Try 150mg on day one and then 150 a day for 10 days and then stop.
Day 15 start PCT even though technically you could do without and especially since you where taking letrozole pre cycle. Letrozole also has a long half life. If will still be working well post cycle so even if you stopped the letro at day 14 it will still work for weeks. You could simply use the letro for PCT...continuing with .5mg per day for a couple weeks or you could drop it and start a SERM like clomid or Nolva or do both.
If you do clomid or nolva you might as well do it right and front load them. That is 300mg of clomid on day 15 and then 50mg/day for two weeks, or 120mg of Nolva on day 15 and then 20mg/day for 2 weeks. I am telling ya by day 14 post cycle your LH will be very high and T will be be above normal for you. You can continue with the PCT for two more weeks to get an even higher T level or you can stop after 2 weeks.
Bill Roberts said something interesting about PCT post 2 weekers. He likes the idea of having a period of time with LH levels above normal to balance out the time where LH levels were low(during the cycle). He also stated that testicular size would build up to likely above normal too, which is a good thing in prep for the next cycle if you intend to transition into another 2 weeker after 3-4 weeks off.
If you intend to do 2 weeks "on" 2 weeks "off for more than 2-3 times in a row without a longer break then it would be smart to use a little HCG during the cycles themselves at 250iu's every other day...just as insurance against accumulative testicular atrophy.
Bill has also said that in the off weeks you can focus more on getting lean with a lower caloric intake...so you build hard for 2 weeks then cut lightly for 2 weeks and do more cardio. Over the months this can produce very good results.
You will keep all or nearly all of your strength and mass gains from 2 weekers as long as you know how to train , rest, and eat properly without steroid use and you are not above your natural maximum size.
LONG CYCLES....
ok...if you insist. But limit them to 8-10 week and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take HCG every other day sub Q in the belly skin all cycle long. |Use Bills recommendation of 800 to 2000 iu's per week. I find 250iu's every other day is just fine. Also be aware that if you take decent doses of typical injectables you'll be "ON" much longer than 8 weeks if you do an 8 weeker. ie: Test cyp at 500mg per week will suppress you for at least 3 weeks post cycle. EQ and deca at the same dose will suppress you for well over 5 weeks ! You want to take a gram of test cyp a week...that'll take forever to clear enough to allow for HPTA re-start. ...so continue with your HCG until the steroids/test get close to "low enough" levels. Remember, the lucky man produces maybe 6mg of test a week....it takes VERY LITTLE androgen to keep you suppressed. Do the math...dose and half life of your roids.
Training on long cycles. I still think a three way split training Monday-Wednesday and Friday is best for the vast majority of you. I also think you need to train hard and to positive failure with fairly low volume and with a focus on the big basic compound movements and weight progression in your exercises. However, there seems more room for error in long cycle. Genetically gifted guys and good doses fo gear can train pretty much any way and gain very well. In fact most(not all) genetically gifted do not train hard at all...not by my definition of hard.
Long cycles can put the pituitary to sleep and it can sometimes take a long time for it to wake up enough to produce decent LH pulses. So even though your nuts may be a decent size from HCG use you may have LH issues. This is pretty rare if the cycle was kept to 12 weeks max and you had 10-12 weeks off before you started.
But know this....testicular atrophy is BY FAR the biggest culprit re: slow recovery of endogenous T. USE HCG WHILE 'ON"!
SERM use only, post traditional cycle...no HCG during. Not a good idea! Why...cause your nuts have shrunk. The SERM cannot work until your T level is at least approaching normal for you. If your nuts are small there is no estrogen to block because they are putting out next to no T! You're gunna loose most if not all of your gains no matter how smart you train and rest.....and you're gunna feel like crap and have zero sex drive. Can you say Androgen Induces Hypogonadism!
OK...no worries if you want to be on TRT like most pro's with raisins in your bag like most long term users. But that kinda sucks in my books and especially below age 60!
Cheers
RG
This post is aimed at all non pro bodybuilders.
I have trained bodybuilders and top amateur and pro athletes for 20 years with good success, both naturally and chemically assisted.
First of all let me state the obvious that many guys don't get. You cannot keep gains that are above your natural maximum size. OK...maybe you can keep a tad more as there MAY be some actual growth of new muscle tissue itself(not just hypertrophy) that happened with steroid use that could not also happen with natural training. However, have you taken a good look at long retired pro's ? Arny for example and even much younger men.
For "most" genetically typical guys of around average height of 5'10" that means your natural max is likely around 190-200 pounds lean..not ripped but pretty darn lean. Yeah some of you can get bigger. I am talking the typical athletic guy(most guys). A guy that is 190-200 pounds and pretty lean is a pretty impressive specimen by the way.
First of all you need to learn to train without steroids. This means training with quite low volume...much lower than most of you currently train with. With that low volume needs to come an obsession with the big basic compound movements and especially the squat to a little below parallel, the dead lift or trap bar deadlift, and deep leg press, and adding weight in small and then tiny increments as the going gets tough. If you are tall then specialize in the dead lift or trap bar dead lift and leg press because you probably cannot squat well. That goes for anyone that cannot squat half decently. Hard work is necessary but you have to limit the use if intensifiers like forced reps, rest pause etc etc. However, most natural trainees that I know of, that actually know what they are doing and are pretty big, train harder than most steroid users for sure. ie: most steroid users do not train until the last rep really is the last good rep they could possibly do.
Infrequent gym appearances are mandatory for most natural trainees. I have found an ideal split is a two way split training Monday-Wednesday and Friday ie: workout 1 on Monday, 2 on Wednesday, and 3 on Friday and then next week start with workout 2 etc etc. You can split each workout day in two if you like and train half of the workout in the morning and half in the evening, but this is not an excuse to add exercises and sets...keep the volume low, intensity high and focus on weight progression.
Squat only once a week. On the other leg day do leg presses. Dead lift only once a week. On the other lower body day do back extensions.
Alternatively a three way split working out Monday-Wednesday and Friday works well too.
Trust me...90% of you cannot tolerate 5-6 days per week in the gym matter how you split the program up and especially if you have a job, a family or do other sports.
ENTER 2 WEEK CYCLES, 4 weeks off.
I have personally had great success with 2 week cycles as have ALL my clients that have tried them. Bill Roberts has written extensively about them so do a search. They MUST be done right or they don't work well.
I give full credit where credit is deserved....I had no clue until I read Bill Roberts words on two weekers many years ago.
DO THEY WORK?
Yes....can you gain without steroids if you know how to train naturally and how to eat/rest etc etc?...YES...so the gains on a 2 weeker far surpass what you could do naturally in many many weeks. Again, they have to be done correctly!
KEYS to success with 2 weekers.
You need to use fast acting fast clearing injectables with esters no slower than prop. You have to front load them so you are not wasting time waiting for them to be at optimal blood levels. You only have 14 days!
You need to use powerful orals like dbol and anadrol. You only have 14 days!
Training while "on"......
Train every other day on a two way split. I prefer dividing each training day into 2 workouts, one in the morning and one in the evening. Keep volume pretty low but higher then when training naturally. Really train hard, a-la Dorian Yates...intensity..low volume...big basic movements...a little more isolation work than when training naturally(which should have almost none). Squat and dead lift on each leg day but only for this 14 days. This is the time to hammer...but be careful and train strictly. The every other day two way split protocol allows for each body part to be hit with maximum frequency. You cannot keep this up for more than 2 weeks even on a heavy steroid cycle but it's ideal for a 2 weeker.
These cycles will bring your good cholesterol to shit(hdl) just like any cycle with any gear, even low dose Primo(don't be fooled). However, the shitty time is only a few weeks as opposed to months wit traditional cycling.
You won't get much testicular atrophy in 14 days but yes you'll be completely shut down. The lack of any appreciable atrophy allows your testes to respond very well to LH post cycle and in 14 days LH rebounds really fast and well. So T recovery is fast! In fact Bill Roberts has pointed out that the pituitary is hyper-responsive to GnRH from the hypothalamus up to about 14 days of suppression....so the testes really get hammered with by LH and they can respond because they are not small.
You won't get much if any acne...that usually takes more than 14 days.
It's light on hair loss...it's only 14 days.
Prostate issues...nope
Heart function/ muscle tissue changes...highly highly unlikely.
Plugged up arteries....no...hdl is only shitty for a few weeks.
If you are paranoid about that then take full flush niacin 1 gram in the morning and 1 gram at night when "off" cycle. It won't do a damn thing while on cycle except to add to liver strain but it certainly will raise hdl while "off". (Your doctor should monitor level function if on niacin for more than a few months).
CLASSIC 2 WEEKER. There are more...do a search.
Again, use the most powerful gear you can find and decent doses and ONLY short esters. In my opinion dbol or anadrol are a must!
Tren acetate 150-200mg on day one and then 75-100mg per day. Stop at day 11 if doing 75/day and stop at day 10 if doing 100mg per day.
Dbol 50mg per day in 5 divided doses. Stop after day 14.
Letrozole is a good idea but not mandatory. Start it a week before the cycle at 2.5 mg on day one and then .5mg/day and continue with that dose throughout the cycle. This will take care of the bloat from the dbol. The early start will allow it to "get going" in the system(long half life) and also it will also stat jacking LH and testes size by dropping circulating estrogen.
Anadrol/Tren works great too. Drol at 100mg/day in 3-4 divided doses.
Can't do a thing about drol bloat though.
You can add test prop to the Tren/dbol stack but you have to front load. Try 150mg on day one and then 150 a day for 10 days and then stop.
Day 15 start PCT even though technically you could do without and especially since you where taking letrozole pre cycle. Letrozole also has a long half life. If will still be working well post cycle so even if you stopped the letro at day 14 it will still work for weeks. You could simply use the letro for PCT...continuing with .5mg per day for a couple weeks or you could drop it and start a SERM like clomid or Nolva or do both.
If you do clomid or nolva you might as well do it right and front load them. That is 300mg of clomid on day 15 and then 50mg/day for two weeks, or 120mg of Nolva on day 15 and then 20mg/day for 2 weeks. I am telling ya by day 14 post cycle your LH will be very high and T will be be above normal for you. You can continue with the PCT for two more weeks to get an even higher T level or you can stop after 2 weeks.
Bill Roberts said something interesting about PCT post 2 weekers. He likes the idea of having a period of time with LH levels above normal to balance out the time where LH levels were low(during the cycle). He also stated that testicular size would build up to likely above normal too, which is a good thing in prep for the next cycle if you intend to transition into another 2 weeker after 3-4 weeks off.
If you intend to do 2 weeks "on" 2 weeks "off for more than 2-3 times in a row without a longer break then it would be smart to use a little HCG during the cycles themselves at 250iu's every other day...just as insurance against accumulative testicular atrophy.
Bill has also said that in the off weeks you can focus more on getting lean with a lower caloric intake...so you build hard for 2 weeks then cut lightly for 2 weeks and do more cardio. Over the months this can produce very good results.
You will keep all or nearly all of your strength and mass gains from 2 weekers as long as you know how to train , rest, and eat properly without steroid use and you are not above your natural maximum size.
LONG CYCLES....
ok...if you insist. But limit them to 8-10 week and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take HCG every other day sub Q in the belly skin all cycle long. |Use Bills recommendation of 800 to 2000 iu's per week. I find 250iu's every other day is just fine. Also be aware that if you take decent doses of typical injectables you'll be "ON" much longer than 8 weeks if you do an 8 weeker. ie: Test cyp at 500mg per week will suppress you for at least 3 weeks post cycle. EQ and deca at the same dose will suppress you for well over 5 weeks ! You want to take a gram of test cyp a week...that'll take forever to clear enough to allow for HPTA re-start. ...so continue with your HCG until the steroids/test get close to "low enough" levels. Remember, the lucky man produces maybe 6mg of test a week....it takes VERY LITTLE androgen to keep you suppressed. Do the math...dose and half life of your roids.
Training on long cycles. I still think a three way split training Monday-Wednesday and Friday is best for the vast majority of you. I also think you need to train hard and to positive failure with fairly low volume and with a focus on the big basic compound movements and weight progression in your exercises. However, there seems more room for error in long cycle. Genetically gifted guys and good doses fo gear can train pretty much any way and gain very well. In fact most(not all) genetically gifted do not train hard at all...not by my definition of hard.
Long cycles can put the pituitary to sleep and it can sometimes take a long time for it to wake up enough to produce decent LH pulses. So even though your nuts may be a decent size from HCG use you may have LH issues. This is pretty rare if the cycle was kept to 12 weeks max and you had 10-12 weeks off before you started.
But know this....testicular atrophy is BY FAR the biggest culprit re: slow recovery of endogenous T. USE HCG WHILE 'ON"!
SERM use only, post traditional cycle...no HCG during. Not a good idea! Why...cause your nuts have shrunk. The SERM cannot work until your T level is at least approaching normal for you. If your nuts are small there is no estrogen to block because they are putting out next to no T! You're gunna loose most if not all of your gains no matter how smart you train and rest.....and you're gunna feel like crap and have zero sex drive. Can you say Androgen Induces Hypogonadism!
OK...no worries if you want to be on TRT like most pro's with raisins in your bag like most long term users. But that kinda sucks in my books and especially below age 60!
Cheers
RG
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