Any advice appreciated

[Apprentice]

I have been training forever, but only with the required dedication for about four years or so now. Want to make sure everything is in order before I try my first cycle in a few months. Have read the advice here in the sticky and and will be trying to get a bit leaner as I have been sitting around 12-14% bf fairly steadily. I weigh around 108-110kg but I am 193cm tall, which makes me bigger than the average guy, but definitely not what anyone here would consider big. I have no aspirations to be a bodybuilder, or to be lean and vascular - just to get to a fair size and happy to remain at around 12-14% bf.

I read the diet advice in the sticky, which is one of the most workable approaches I have read anywhere. I eat all the recommended foods - steak, chicken breast, rice, fruit, salads, sweet potatoes, crackers with cottage cheese or avocado for snacks etc. I have a very high metabolic rate so I take three servings of a bulking supplement a day, which provides a lot of carbs, protein and energy (3000kj per serve). Work gets in the way of eating the ideal diet, so the bulking powder has helped me a lot in my weight gains to date. Calculating my requirements for bulking from a spreadsheet I downloaded from a forum elsewhere I am meeting them. The question is whether having a diet where a reasonable percentage of my dietary protein and carbohydrate needs are sourced from a supplement is bad if I were to be considering a cycle? I have been advised that the supplement is "full of sugar" but the extra kjs from that does not seem to be a problem for me

I am mature, but still get some acne on my back etc if I don't see sunshine regularly enough. I expect a cycle will make this worse at some stage. The sticky says there are supplements that can address acne amongst other things. I was wondering what they were so I could have them on hand if it does become a problem.

Thanks for any help

 

[Neoprimitive]

First welcome to Bluelight. I am glad yoou have been reading, but continue to, you have a lot to learn before you charge into a cycle.

1- The Diet Issue:
This is perhaps the most critical part of any cycle, hell it is the most critical part of any training program. What you need to do is work out your given needs for Protein/ Carbs and Fat the template I use is as follows: Your Goal weight, with 1g of Protein for every pound of weight ( your goal weight), 1g of Carbohydrates per1.5-2lbs of body weight, and finally 1g fat for every 5-6 pounds of weight. Now you work that out and set your diet accordingly. So With that said say you are me 225lbs wanting to go to 235lbs that mean 235g Protein, 156g Carbs, and 47g Fats. Now the protein becomes an issue as to eat that much in food is pretty rough, so supplementation is necessary. That being said you should shift your diet so that you get at least 60% of your nutrient needs from real food, then you use the supplements to do just that supplement the diet, and get the most out of your cycle and/or training. I under stand the work getting in the way but thats if you are like "I need to eat 8-12 meals a day" now that works if you can do it but I cant and I know a lot of people that can not as well: my advice count on 3 solid meals, and 3 shakes. Now as for the sugar, you want to eat as clean as possible, so yeah take a look and find the one that fits your needs for sugar and sodium ect ect. It is like any other processed food. The fact of the mater is you need the real food for the laundry list of other nutrients in it, not just the calories.

2- The Acne:
Yeah if you are prone to it it will become an issue. Start showering when you wake, after work and after working out, that will help a good deal. Get a few otc items for your skin, Witch Hazel works great fro acne, if you add it to Tea Tree oil, and a vitamin E oil you will have super clean skin that is soft and well taken care off ( and limit the stretch marks from growth). There are scrubs, that are pre-made formulas at the store. Being mature is great but the fact you mentioned tells me you have some room for growth there you dont have to convince us, you are at least mature enough to know you need advice and that is 90% of learning, knowing that you need to.

3- The cycle here are the questions we need. What is your diet like give us a sample day, what is your training like? again give us a week in your training. You need to lay out the cycle you are thinking of. With this info we can help you a bit more mate.

So yeah I hope this helps if you have more specific questions please ask. I gave you the broad strokes because well frankly I want you to ask specifics so you start to learn more about the compounds. Anabolics 10th edition,William LLewellyn, find it read it. it will give you a great background set of information. again I hope this helps.
~Cheers
~Neoprimitive

 

[Apprentice]

Hi

Thanks a lot for the great advice. I have a copy of Anabolics 10th edition by William Llewellyn. I will read it as suggested. With over 700 pages, I think it will be at least a few weeks though. I'll put together a new diet, and possibly a new training routine when I have finished then maybe post it up then to see what you think. Still have some burning questions, but I think I would be being lazy if I put them up right now. I guess most people say this, but I only plan to do this once. If I could put on ten pounds of muscle and keep it, I would be happy, but I remember there was a time that I used to think if I got to the weight I am at now I would be happy. Cheers, and will post again in a few weeks or so.

 

[Neoprimitive]

lol no worries mate, It is a heavy book narrow your reading to the compounds your interested in and the PCT. As fro training you won't get much advice from the anabolic book but yeah post your questions, and training and diet and we will give advice. one of our other Mods Genetic Freak is a wiz with Diets and our Senior mod Guido really knows his shit, so do a fair number of our regular posters so you will be in good hands. Glad to see that you want to read and learn about the whole process. Good luck mate and, we look forward to hearing from you mate.