MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Starting 6th week of Test E 700mg/w, but not seeing size yet
EazyE
Well-known Member
How long have you been training? Previous AAS experience? What's your dosing schedule/frequency? Whats your diet look like? How many grams protein daily? Carbs? Calories? How much cardio per week? Recovery? Etc...
If you have these things dialed in first, it makes it a lot easier to give better advice. As a rule of thumb I realize noticeable size gains after 4 weeks for sure. But as I mentioned there are many factors that influence this. Most notably to me is always diet and recovery/rest.
If you have these things dialed in first, it makes it a lot easier to give better advice. As a rule of thumb I realize noticeable size gains after 4 weeks for sure. But as I mentioned there are many factors that influence this. Most notably to me is always diet and recovery/rest.
Last edited:
-Training for 4 years
-First cycle
- Test E 700mg/week
- Diet is fine, around 200g of protein with high carbs. 4000kcals a day
-No cardio
EazyE
Well-known Member
Give it a little more time. Everything seems in order. Get bloods done. That will tell the story.
rjx
New Member
Weight is up - then you're probably eating enough. Hope you're controlling estrogen. Hope a lot of that weight gain isn't bloat from 700mg of test. Try to gain 2-3 lbs per week. You'll need to up your calories frequently to keep increasing in weight.
Strength is up - a good sign. Your gear is probably good stuff. But bloods will tell you how good it is and how you respond to that dose.
Not seeing size yet - it's still a slow process, compared to what many noobs expect. You'll build muscle at a faster rate than being natty, but it still takes time. With E, it doesn't really kick in until week 4-5, so that means you will have only had a week or two to start seeing muscle gains. That's not that much time for noticeable improvements.
I'd up the protein to at least 300G. Have some protein shakes with oats and PB thrown in.
What does your training look like? Sets? Rep range? how often do you hit failure? Do you add intensifiers such as drop sets, rest pause, super sets, compound sets, forced negatives, etc?
Why did you start with such a high dose of test for a first cycle?
Strength is up - a good sign. Your gear is probably good stuff. But bloods will tell you how good it is and how you respond to that dose.
Not seeing size yet - it's still a slow process, compared to what many noobs expect. You'll build muscle at a faster rate than being natty, but it still takes time. With E, it doesn't really kick in until week 4-5, so that means you will have only had a week or two to start seeing muscle gains. That's not that much time for noticeable improvements.
I'd up the protein to at least 300G. Have some protein shakes with oats and PB thrown in.
What does your training look like? Sets? Rep range? how often do you hit failure? Do you add intensifiers such as drop sets, rest pause, super sets, compound sets, forced negatives, etc?
Why did you start with such a high dose of test for a first cycle?
SteroidsBro
Banned
How do you figure drop sets and super sets help put on mass quicker compared to just doing repetitive heavy sets?
JohnnyD
Member
How much weight have you gained? Unrealistic expectations perhaps?
There's a school of thought that says you get a better hypertrophy response with time under tension ie:longer sets, superset, drop sets, slower reps.
Technically high volume training would be the same as your muscles would be under tension for a longer period of time.
Generally, heavy, low rep sets don't generate a great hypertrophy response, which is why you have 120lb people squatting and deadlifting 400lbs...
SteroidsBro
Banned
But I do get stronger the fastest by doing low rep heavy sets and never high rep sets?
Yes, because low rep heavy is for strength specifically, not hypertrophy
SteroidsBro
Banned
How come higher rep sets get bigger muscles?
You are working different muscle fibers I believe. There are type I and type II muscle fibers. Actually Type IIa and type IIx and type I. I believe one of those is in the middle. Maybe type IIx.
SteroidsBro
Banned
Would it not be best for strength to train both muscle fibers? I purely train for strength and I rarely hit 10 reps, I usually shoot for 5.
EazyE
Well-known Member
Agreed time under tension is the way to go for max hypertrophy. Ultimately you need to cycle your training to include the following: hogh-rep, high-volume, low-rep and max weight sets. This will train the nervous system to fire properly and to build up the different muscle fibre types while allowing proper recovery.
And how do you KNOW such changes are not the result of improvements in LBM, especially in the absence of reliable pre and intra-cycle TBW to LBM ratios or values.
Look at it this way there are FOUR primary means of increasing TBW
1) Adipose tissue
2) Muscle
3) Water
4) Glycogen
Yet only ONE results in significant improvements in STRENGTH!
ironwill1951
New Member
Thx @ironwill1951, but to mirror what others have already posited, a supra-physiologic TT level sure would be nice, as it provides additional evidence about WHAT may be responsible.
JIM
yes, you can do it together same workout. Or do 6 weeks only hypertrohphy and then 6 weeks strength. Play around with what works best for you. I do 6 workouts a week. each muscle twice. But one is for strength and one is for hypertrophy.
8-12 reps are ideal for hypertrophy. You can do both in one workout, an example would be to do an exercise for 12,8,6,4 reps. Another way is to do one week of strength and one week of hypertrophy then keep alternating. My current routine is a 6 day routine where I do each muscle twice, first day of week is strength and second day is for hypertrophy. I have had good success with all three but in the end you need to find what works best for you
SteroidsBro
Banned
So doing high reps is sometimes better for strength than low reps?
