Training Log First Test Cycle Log

All about ruducing drug use when possible. Never seen any studies or blood work to support that though, have any links by chance?

Personally I tell all the athletes I advise to just plan on TRT when they start gear. I'm of the opinion that once you cycle, there is some permanent endocrine damage in males and, although it may not manifest immediately, your natural hormone levels will drop off much earlier in life. Never known a guy to ever touch gear and not need TRT by mid 30's and definitely by 40.

That's interesting though for people who come off. Will have to read up on that
 
Swim, so you don't know of any high-level pros who genuinely cycle? I don't mean like people who come off TRT once per year for whatever reason. But started with the cycling approach and took that all the way? I can imagine that looking at dudes cycling as someone who blasts/cruises may be like someone enhanced looking at natural bodybuilding.

But I spent my twenties being reckless and stupid with street drugs and even if I do end up on TRT in five years, it's five years to further figure myself out.

And ya, well I keep saying that I am nervous doing it this way. I don't want that to come across insulting to GF or CFC, just that culture has programmed me to think certain ways and I don't understand the science at a deep enough level to really feel comfortable going against the grain. I do have PCT drugs on hand, but I still plan to go without. This log can be anecdotal for this approach.

Missed the gym yesterday because I got home from work and slept for FIFTEEN HOURS. Man, it takes a full hour at least to feel normal and awake again after such a stunt. But ya, here I am rested and it's still the morning. And I don't work today. So I will be lifting and prepping and such.
 
No worries man, I've heard and seen all the approaches in the book. The old timers always get me because they never did any type of PCT but also have generally the most interesting approaches to things. Think my favorite was an older guy, power lifter, who would just inject a full 2 vials of test and a vial of Deca at the beginning of each month haha.

As far as pros and other athletes I've worked with, I know very very few who cycle. It's pretty much 100% blast and cruise with a few exceptions. Ultimately though cruising should put you (theoretically) in the replacement dose range of test so, in terms of health "benefits," it's the same as coming off more or less. Personally, I feel that the hormonal roller coasts of PCT is much worse for the body if you're someone who plans on going back on again. No reason to balance things out just to fuck them up again, IMO. Realistically though, most guys who aren't just recreational end up "cruising" on 500 or more which likely negates any health benefit.

The ones I've primarily worked with that 'cycle' are collegiate/Olympic athletes to get around drug tests.

The real pros are in an entirely different level. Had the privilege of spending a lot of time with a physician at the Mr Olympia last year who has either worked with or personally knew high level pros at one point or another (Ronnie, Flex Lewis, Phil Heath, Dexter Jackson, etc). He wouldn't link names directly to doses/cycles but talked about a lot of them non-specifically. One thing that shows you the level some of those guys are on is that he said he believed an average person would likely die if they attempted the doses that the pros use around show time. Along with genetic response he believed a lot just had a genetic tolerance to be able to handle the drugs as well.


Sorry, get rambling and just go sometimes haha. That's a hell of a crash! What do you do for work?
 
RedLeader said:
I don't want that to come across insulting to GF or CFC, just that culture has programmed me to think certain ways and I don't understand the science at a deep enough level to really feel comfortable going against the grain
Click to expand...

Mate, if you don't feel comfortable going against the grain, you probably shouldn't. I've never followed the herd in anything but that's because I've always been an outsider and looked at things from that perspective. It comes naturally to me, I didn't have to convince myself to do it.

At the end of the day, I don't really care what other people end up doing as I'm not the one living their life. There are lots of reasons people may do things that to me seem illogical. I just post up studies, reflect on various practices, and make suggestions and inferences based on that. But I'm not going to spend much time or energy convincing folks to see things my way - they either get it or they don't.

Regarding PCT, I've written repeatedly on here about how most bodybuilders don't have an issue with secondary hypogonadism - ie LH/FSH levels recover very rapidly, usually within 2 weeks of the end of a cycle, even with guys using grams/wk. Unfortunately PCT drugs do not treat primary hypogonadism, which is where the testes fail to respond. Therefore the arguments for using them are pretty redundant.

Given how ubiquitous their use is post-cycle, if PCT drugs were actually working and not just another money-spinner, we wouldn't be in a situation where most men fail to recover, as has recently been shown here and here.
 
^Just to piggy back on that, I personally don't think PCT drugs work long term. From what I've seen, most guys never fully recover and the ones that "do" have hormone issues later in life.

PCT drugs are a baindaid IMO for the short term. On that note, I had low natural test levels at age 18 and ended up going on TRT just before 19. One option which I used for a while that worked was running a low dose of clomid which approximately tripled my endogenous levels while it was in my system. Didn't take me long to decide just to stay on though
 
Ya, I think I'm starting to turn the corner. The past few weeks I had been progressing by 1-2 reps or 2.5lbs on all of my hypertrophy work. Today I'm getting 3-4 reps more easily, moving 10lbs more on stuff. The 95s on decline dumbbell as my third chest exercise felt easy. I've never used the 100s for any db bench in my life. Soon.

Again, because I am still training up to previous levels on a lot of things, I still am plagued by knowing I have hit numbers naturally. Once I get into uncharted waters, then I will he truly be convinced. Again...soon.
 
Was so tempted to go back to the gym tonight just to squat, but I used my better judgement and will save it for tomorrow. It's not so much that I'd worry about overtraining as it encroaching on my sleep tonight. Cooking swordfish and rice for dinner. Have not had swordfish in a long time. It's one of my favorites.

I did stop in my old work tonight and one of my coworkers told me that it looked like I added a bit of muscle. A FEMALE giving me a complement on my body...that never happens. But ya, in my own eyes I haven't grown yet on this cycle. In fact I look worse than times when I was better conditioned. But if strength keeps going up like this, as long as I eat right I am sure some size will follow.
 
Meal 1: protein bar, Kashi-brand cereal into soymilk, Bolthouse Farms-brand greens drink, black coffee

Meal 2: Greek yogurt, beef jerky, Bolthouse Farms-brand berries/veggies drink

Meal 3: ham/cheese sandwich, banana, veggie chips

Pre-workout drink

Workout

Meal 4: protein burrito with quinoa and some other healthy things, rice cakes

Meal 5: swordfish steak, rice with garbanzo beans and mixed veggies

Meal 6: banana, mixed nuts, peanut butter

Multivitamin, cod liver oil, royal jelly, taurine, test e, LGD, creatine, 3x16floz water across the day

This is just an example day of "mostly clean IIFYM." What am I missing? I know I drink a lot of my fruits/veggies, which is probably not as good as eating them. Other common things are tuna, salmon, tilapia, eggs, quinoa, hemp, black beans, macaroni, string cheese, apples, avocado, other types of green drinks.

Should I bother with a BCAA supplement? Additional omegas?
 
What are your macros?

That really wouldn't be enough food for me, but it all depends on how much you increased it from the equilibrium you were at when you started.

Rather than BCAA/EAAs it would be cheaper to add whey which rapidly becomes BCAAs, or else more real food protein (my preference).

I'd spread some O3 fish oil caps throughout the day too. But wrt supps, it's a case of where your budget goes - the list can grow exponentially.
 
^ Probably right around 3500 with 80g fat, 160g protein and the rest carbs. I don't have my notebook near me. I started week 1 at 3000. But I really do need to take it higher because I can feel my equilibrium rapidly climbing. Have felt leaner the past couple days and my abs are more defined, so ya...more carbs.

Week 4 Day 4

It's definitely kicking in now. I'm noticing that I'm very hot, flushed, veiny and sweating in there (I ordinarily don't sweat in the gym unless the facility is ridiculously warm). Strength and stamina are both up still. Libido is at a ten. Appetite also there. Constantly feeling full and pumped up. Got two complements this week from strangers in public. No estro sides as of yet, no AI.
 
Protein is in the low side for me, I like to hit about 2g/pound, ~330-360g for me, personally when on gear to take full advantage of the increased protein synthesis. That's probably a little high though unless your running T3 and 1.5g/pound is a little more reasonable.

Personally I'm a huge fan of BCAAs and is really the only supp I use besides maybe 1 scoop of whey per day and vitamins/minerals. I've found keeping them in my water along with 20-30g intra workout has helped me maintain/grow LBM a lot more easily as well as maintain lower body fat gear around. Started doing that a year ago or so and it's helped a lot. With whey, the primary issue is going to be increased oxidation of protein from the blood level spike in amino acids whereas casein or a blend will likely help prevent this to an extent.

If you're working on a budget, the My Protein BCAAs arent incredible as far as taste goes but they aren't bad and they regularly have 2.2lb/200 serving bags on sale for $26-28 a pop so a hundred bucks of those will buy you aminos for several months easily.
 
I never really noticed a difference between .8 and 1.5g/lb as a natural, and I did get sold on the 1:1 upper bound (perhaps 1.2 for cutting) that a lot of the science-based names out there state and cite a couple papers on. Though I also confess to not really reading any papers on how the bound changes with the introduction of AAS. And I trust the anecdotal experiences of others, so I will try and run protein up to 1.5 via the introduction of some whey into my diet.

I will reply more after work, addressing BCAAs and a few other things I have noticed about the test.
 
Yeah honestly I'm not sure if there is much literature in regards to bumping protein with gear use. I'll have to look into that.

Worst case I guess is try it for a few months and if you don't see much in the way of positive changes then drop back down.
 
I'd say bump protein. The worst that happens is the excess gets converted to carbs via gluconeogenesis.
 
Ya, so I noticed after getting home from work today and taking my shirt off that my nipples are feeling a little sensitive, seem to be a bit more erect than usual, and the best way I can describe it is like I am sore from going hard on decline (did incline only yesterday). I'm also just starting to feel a bit more bloated. I may sleep on this and start the AI tomorrow if I still feel weird. I would rather limit my gains than flirt with gyno.

Note that I also have Nolva and mast on hand, but I assume I should just start the AI if I choose to add anything.
 
^Depends on what you want. If you're going for strength and are okay with a little water weight, you could just add a little nolva. Otherwise low dose adex will take care of it.
 
Week 4 Day 6

Slept a long time and honestly I am not feeling said symptoms yet today. So haven't taken anything additional yet. My last injection was the first one this cycle to give me pip, so that's annoying. I shot into the quad and resting the dumbbells right there for incline pressing was not fun.

At the gym now and the pumps and strength are just insane. I actually felt a pump in my lat for the first time ever. Freaked me out a bit at first. Nonstop tingling in my hands, but it does not really concern me.
 
Squat 235x7, 245x5, 265x3

Not positive I hit depth on the third rep, but tripling my top single from two days ago is absurd. Full speed ahead.

Going to start using lower reps ranges for calves and build strength in them to try and overcome the shin splints.

It's also becoming very clear to me that I need to just start eating as much food as I can. Before, if I ate 4000 for even a couple days I'd lose my abs, but I woke up today looking lean. Like add in a cheat meal of pizza or wings each day. I do feel sluggish, though, if I go above 3400 or so.
 
Man, as soon as I broke the skin today I could just tell I was in trouble. The shot hurt, pushing the oil in hurt, the area is burning now five minutes later. Feel like I got stabbed. I dunno if I hit a nerve or what. No swelling or anything like that. Trying to walk it off. Going to take some gabapentin.

In other news, had a solid workout. Gains on everything.
 
Bad pins happen. I got some issues with my left delt I did today. Keep the muscle moving and heating pad til the depot dissolves. Otherwise it'll stiffen up
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top