Weighted Chinups First Cycle - Test Cyp 12 Weeks

I finally decided to make a log, this will be my first cycle so I think it should make for a pretty interesting log. Much of this log will just be about improvements in strength , size, changes to workouts, improvements in workouts etc...sorry, no vicarious living here, unless your idea of a good time is getting strong as fuck and lots of volume!

Pre cycle stats - 5'7 200lbs, 15% ish bf.

I am currently in the 3rd week of my cycle. My stats as of now are -

3rd week stats - 5'7 206lbs

I am running 600mg of test cyp for 12 weeks, the standard test beginner cycle with aromasin and hcg being used on cycle with a nolva and clomid pct.

I am pinning 600mg of cyp a week, 300mg 2x weekly, first injection on monday close to when I wake up, and the second injection is done on thursday night, close to when I'm about to turn in.

I was having some issues with managing e2 but I feel like I'm comfortable managing it at this point. I will be switching to pharma a-sin fairly soon however, for ease of mind and guaranteed quality. This is something I don't really want to risk messing up.

Training -

This cycle log will be highly revolved around my training. My goal strength wise is to get as strong as I possibly can for an 8-10 rep max in all of my major lifts. My training is bodybuilding oriented.

I train with lots of volume and fairly high frequency, my routine is dual factor, it is a push / pull / legs split. My week looks like - p/p/l/p/p/l/r

My lifts and weights pre cycle are as follows - major lifts are all 8-10 rep maxes, some isolation I use a higher rep range in.

Push - Weighted dips 100lb @ 200lb bw x 10 , Incline barbell bench 175lb x 10, Pec Deck Fly 180lb x 15, Dumbell lateral raises, rope pressdown, single arm rope pressdown.

Pull - Weighted Chinup 70lb @ 200lb bw x 10, Weighted Pullup 25lb @ 200lb bw x 10, Bw Widegrip Pull Up x 10, Chest supported dumbbell rows 135lb dumbbells x 10, Seated row neutral grip elbows tucked 180lb x 10, Lying cable curl 70lb x 10

Legs - Romanian Deadlifts 350lb x 10, Front Squat narrow stance atg 185lb x 10, single leg leg ext, single leg leg curl, seated calf raise

Strength Goals for this cycle

Weighted dips - 140-180lb x 10
pre cycle weight - 100lb @ 200lb bw x 10

Weighted Chinup - 115lb x 10
pre cycle weight - 70lb @ 200lb bw x 10

Romanian Deadlift - 405lb x 10
pre cycle weight - 350lb x 10

Chest supported dumbell row - i'd like to max out on these, I only have up to 150lb dumbbells, so that is my goal, 150lb x 10
pre cycle weight - 130lb x 10

Front squat - 275lb x 10
pre cycle weight - 185lb x 10

Ambitious goals, so I hope I can come close to them. Maybe my expectations for one cycle are too high, but here's hoping I come close to some of the strength goals I have laid out.

Diet - about 3800-4000 calories / day

I am currently wrapping up the 3rd week of my cycle as I just did my second pin of 300mg in the 3rd week.
 
Week 3 9/26/2014

Weight 206lbs

I am currently in the middle of the 3rd week of my cycle, having just done my second pin of the week, so I feel I am at a good point to start logging my experiences, as I should start experiencing some decent increases in strength and size in the coming weeks.

In so far, I have only noticed increased bp and libido. Physique wise I am noticeably fuller, legs especially, forearms appear to be getting slightly more details / density, chest is a little bit fuller, arms are looker a little bit fuller / bigger.

I will attribute these physique improvements primarily to glycogen super-compensation, as I haven't actually increased the weight on any of my lifts being pushed yet. My weight pre cycle was 200lbs and I am currently sitting at 206lbs, most likely increased water, im water, glycogen etc..

Workout - push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs

push - chest side-delt front-delt tricep

Tonight I did my second push session of the week -

Weighted Dips 100lbs x 10 , at 206lb
60 or so total reps

10, 6 , 6 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 4

I use short rest periods for the majority of my sets and exercises, so getting less than 10 reps in the subsequent sets is not uncommon for me. Some lifts I will do with strict rest pause, whereas some I might do straight sets.

Weighted dips are done with a combination of short rest periods, around 30 seconds and rest pause.

- nothing major to report here. getting even more depth on these on a rep per rep basis, and they are definitely starting to feel easier. I should be able to up the weight on these fairly soon, as they are starting to feel easier.

Incline barbell bench wide grip reduced incline 175lb x 10
50 total reps

10, 8 , 7 , 6 , 6 , 5 , 5 , 5

Short rest periods

I do incline with a wide grip, index finger about 1-2 inches outside of the power ring, with a reduced incline. I don't have access to adjustable incline benches for barbell bench so I just arch my back on the pad so the incline is closer to 15 degrees rather than the front delt heavy 45 degree stock angle.

- these felt much easier. I will be upping the weight soon on these I feel.

Peck deck fly 180lb x 10
50 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

- nothing to report here, I do these mainly for the extra chest work and variety, since i don't have any other flies in my routine. straight sets.

Side delt work - Dumbbell side lateral raise 85lb x 20, Dumbbell side lateral raise reduced weight 45lb x 20, machine Seated lateral raise single arm 120lb x 10. This is the only kind of shoulder work I do aside from reverse peck deck flies for rear delts.

Front delt gets hit plenty during pressing and dips, so all that is left to hit is side delt. I have been using really high volume to train side delts for a while now and I have responded amazingly well to it, easily one of my best muscles. I do dumbbell lateral raises with a fairly heavy weight and slightly reduced range of motion, I actually find progressive overloading the weight and slightly reducing rom to allow for the increased weight to be really effective. I also do them with a lighter weight and increased r.o.m for variety and increased motor unit recruitment.

Tricep work - Rope press-down 115lb x 15, about 5-6 sets of these. Followed up by Single arm rope press down 30lb x 20, alternating between left and right arm with no rest, about 5 sets per arm.
 
In for the ride! Looks like you have been around here for long enough to soak in all the information you need to run your first cycle. Good to hear you went about this the right way.

You got a nice solid base being 5'7" and 200 pounds. Can't wait to see how test cyp transforms your body.
 
Nice log, definitely subbed.

Have you considered tempo work in your rep scheme. Basically slow eccentrics with a pause at transition then explosive concentric. For example on front squat it would be 32x1: 3 seconds down, 2 seconds pause in the hole, explosive concentric, and 1 sec between reps.

So you are increasing time on tension in the eccentric movement which leads to greater hypertrophy. Give it a try. It should lead to DOMS and then GAINZ.
 
Thank you all for stopping by, I'm glad to see so many are interested in what this log has to offer. Hopefully it will be plenty entertaining and worth reading through.

@Boilermech Thanks boiler, good to see you here. I am running Bioniche test cyp from astro.

@Rjs725 I appreciate that man. I am looking forward to seeing what the cyp does for me as well!

@dnml Glad to see you here man, thanks for following along, hoping for all kinds of strength and size gains, so it should be an interesting ride.

@BIGMESC Hows it goin man! Glad to see you are here for the show, things should start getting interesting soon!

@strongsafety41 Thanks man, and good to have you here. Looking forward to all the strength that will hopefully come from this run, hoping to push some impressive poundage's, so hopefully this will be an entertaining enough log.

@romaleos Always good to hear your input my friend, thank you for showing up! I have thought about actually doing pause front squats, going down and waiting 2-3 seconds in the hole / bottom position, then exploding up. But I haven't considered slowing down the eccentric, thats actually a really interesting idea and its the first time I've heard of it. Sounds like you are increasing the effort / tension even more doing it this way than with normal pause squats. I will definitely try this at one point in my log, sounds like it would work best when the strength gains for front squat slow down or stop, some increased effort and tension should bring things back up and get the train running. I appreciate the input bro, and thank you again for following.
 
I don't want to make you disappointed, but TEST only cycle will not give you that much of a strength boost. Honesty, for me the supplement 'CRAZE'(which is banned now) gave me much more strength boost than TEST 500mg/w.
However, for you the first cycle doing TEST only is the right thing to know how your body handles AAS. You should have done pre-bloodwork. Now is time for mid-blood work. If you are not doing these you are only getting half the info from your first cycle. Which will never happen again...

Whenever I see a new guy tries to do their first cycle. I always try to tell him to do pre-blood work, but most of them never listens (which is the way most of guys does...they never listens but only asks until they got the answer they want) and after they are done with the cycle they always regret why they hadn't done the pure pre-blood, so that they can compare with post-bloodwork. (and most of them interestingly does post-blood work.haha)
 
I don't want to make you disappointed, but TEST only cycle will not give you that much of a strength boost. Honesty, for me the supplement 'CRAZE'(which is banned now) gave me much more strength boost than TEST 500mg/w.
However, for you the first cycle doing TEST only is the right thing to know how your body handles AAS. You should have done pre-bloodwork. Now is time for mid-blood work. If you are not doing these you are only getting half the info from your first cycle. Which will never happen again...

Whenever I see a new guy tries to do their first cycle. I always try to tell him to do pre-blood work, but most of them never listens (which is the way most of guys does...they never listens but only asks until they got the answer they want) and after they are done with the cycle they always regret why they hadn't done the pure pre-blood, so that they can compare with post-bloodwork. (and most of them interestingly does post-blood work.haha)

I appreciate your input brother. I also have had a few buddies I know tell me test only didn't give them insane strength, but I'm expecting my training to be taking the lead here and during this cycle, the AAS will be there to boost my normal training progress and make the process faster, hopefully.

As for bloodwork, I do intend on getting mid cycle bloodwork, but please understand that there is not really a private option for bloodwork in Canada like there is in the US. Basically all that stuff is covered by your provincial health care provider so in order to get labs you need to ask your doctor and they need to write a script, so you obviously need a reason to request labs. There are naturopaths but financially I would say there services are out of reach for guys looking to get cycle labs, and I doubt you can just walk into those places and order labs like a private blood testing facility, you probably have to make an appointment with a doc etc.

That being said I do plan on getting mid cycle bloodwork, and hopefully I am able to without issue. I definitely wanna know how well dosed the product is and where my e2 is at.

I appreciate your input here though, bloodwork is an incredibly useful tool and something I do plan on utilizing mid cycle to keep an eye on e2 and other health markers. Thanks again for stopping by.
 
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I agree with Mus4 on the pre-bloods, you can never know your true baseline without a virgin sample. Wish I had.

I had great strength gains with my first cycle (test only), but i honestly was not ready for a cycle, I could of had good natural gains without it but I was in a hurry and I thought age was catching up with me

I don't want to make you disappointed, but TEST only cycle will not give you that much of a strength boost. Honesty, for me the supplement 'CRAZE'(which is banned now) gave me much more strength boost than TEST 500mg/w.
However, for you the first cycle doing TEST only is the right thing to know how your body handles AAS. You should have done pre-bloodwork. Now is time for mid-blood work. If you are not doing these you are only getting half the info from your first cycle. Which will never happen again...

Whenever I see a new guy tries to do their first cycle. I always try to tell him to do pre-blood work, but most of them never listens (which is the way most of guys does...they never listens but only asks until they got the answer they want) and after they are done with the cycle they always regret why they hadn't done the pure pre-blood, so that they can compare with post-bloodwork. (and most of them interestingly does post-blood work.haha)
 
WC, no problemo. I'll take guinea pigs wherever I can find them.

I like that you are gonna save the scheme for when you've adapted to regular reps. Very smart. When you've adapted to pause and tempo, make sure to remind me about Clustered Sets. In a nut shell it is utilizing intra-repetition-rest to allow for higher repetition per set at maximal loads without adverse effect on bar speed/explosiveness.

Do work and know that I am watching.
 
Week 3 9/26/2014

Weight 206lbs

I have to say I am noticing some nice improvements in chest thickness...must be all of that incline work I've been doing. Another thing I noticed today was fuller / rounder looking biceps and minor improvements in shape and overall muscle roundness. This is most likely the beginning of the physique changes that are about to take place, I am looking forward to it.

Today was my second PULL session of the week. Ideally I would like around 2 hours to do a pull session comfortably and safely but today I was limited to around 1 hour and 30 minutes. This happens on rare occasion, thankfully I can actually manage to get all of my volume done in that amount of time if I work fast. And, I managed no problem, got all of my volume in.

I noticed some definite improvements in bicep appearance as I had mentioned earlier, it become readily apparent as I was doing weighted chin ups.

Performance wise, this workout wasn't nearly as legendary as my previous pull session of the week. I have still been progressing however. When you train with high volume and high frequency long enough you can tell when you are making progress even though fatigue might be masking those gains. I think most experienced guys who use a high frequency or dual factor style of training can tell when things are moving along positively, and even though I didn't feel as good this workout as my last one, I am still moving forward, despite the heavy fatigue I built up from my previous session.

That being said I wasn't any weaker- I was still getting the same amount of reps in the subsequent sets, just overall I felt more fatigued this time around. I didn't get much sleep the night before either, so that could play a role.


Workout - push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs

pull - upper back rear delt bicep

Second pull session of the week

Weighted Chinups 70lbs x 10 , at 206lb
60 Total reps

10, 6 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 4

Strict rest pause baby, high effort sets bringing each as close to failure as I can for dem strength gainz...

- Rep for rep I was just as strong as my last workout, although overall I felt more fatigued this time around. Not surprising, the last time I did these I went insane, almost no rest, high effort, etc...getting a couple extra reps in on certain sets and getting increased range, so progress is being made here none the less...too early for anything drastic anyway.

Weighted Wide Grip Pull Up 25lb x 10, at 206lb
50 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

Short rest periods

I do these primarily to hit my lats in a different way than chin ups, these are shoulder adduction vs shoulder extension. The variety is really useful for hypertrophy I feel.

- Feeling good. Nothing major to report.

Bodyweight Wide grip Pull Up at 206lb x 10
50 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

- Strict form, nice and controlled...

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row 130lb x 10
60 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 6 , 5

Straight sets

I love these, these are my primary middle back exercise / horizontal row. I do these with a 130lb dumbbell in each hand lying down on bench at in incline. Feels good man.

-Nothing to report here really, noticing improved forearm density when I am doing these, but strength wise no changes. I've always been pretty strong in these, so I'm not excepting any ungodly increases in raw weight being lifted.

Seated Row 180lb x 10
50 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

Excellent overall back exercise, I added these a few months ago for extra volume and variety, its the seated row machine, the one right next to the cables and rope press down machines..you know the one.

Short rest periods
Neutral Grip attachment
Elbows Tucked
Full squeeze

- I believe my weight prior to this week was 160lb on these, 180lb is the setting I am currently rocking without issue. I will attribute this strength gain to the effort and work I put in on these prior to starting my cycle though...

Lying Cable Curl 70lb x10
70 total reps

10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 9 , 7 , 6

I do these with a straight bar attachment hooked up to the seated row machine, I pull the bar back and lie down on the pad and do the set.

These are the only bicep isolation I do...you really don't need a whole lot when you blast high volume chin ups and heavy rowing frequently haha, and this is hands down the most effective bicep curl variant I have ever used...try it out sometime.

- Holy shit these are starting to get painful, the last few workouts the burning from what I can only assume is lactic acid buildup has been legendary..really painful pumps...Biceps are looking fuller and much rounder through my shirt, became readily apparent half way through my set. Getting a couple extra reps in some of the sets I do on these as well.
 
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