+ 1 First Cycle, Test Only - Advice and Thoughts?
Hi all, I'm going to start my first real** cycle soon, after I finish my current cut, and wanted to go over it here to get some input. Advice, guidance, and tips, all welcome and appreciated.
Stats for me as of this writing:
35 years old
204lbs
15.5% body fat
Hoping to cut down to more like 12% before starting a bulking cycle. For a little background, I've been training off and on since I was 14, and was a personal trainer for 4 years. I've got a fairly advanced training and nutrition knowledge base, but I'm very much a newbie to gear. Which brings me to...
**I did briefly try prohormones for just about 6ish weeks when I was 23-24ish. I was young and dumb and rushed my "research," and honestly, I couldn't even tell you for sure what I got at the time (some orals). All I know is that I didn't vet the source really at all, and I didn't have a good plan in place to deal with estrogenic side effects. At around that 5-6 week mark, I started getting a small amount of gyno, freaked out and jumped ship straight into my PCT (which again, wasn't well researched or vetted).
So, all that to say, I'm taking a very cautious approach with this cycle. Mild to moderate doses, testing the waters (pun intended), and seeing how well my body handles it.
Current plan:
10 week cycle + PCT
Weeks 1-5: Test E at 200mg/week
Weeks 6-10: Bump to 350mg/week for weeks 6-10 (If no worrisome sides and 5 week bloods are good)
Weeks 1-12 Arimidex - 0.5mg eod
Want to also have my Nolva on hand already just in case of gyno.
PCT starting 2 weeks post-cycle
Weeks 12-14: 40mg Nolvadex per day
Weeks 14-16: 20mg Nolvadex per day
Pinning twice a week, likely going Sunday/Wed. I don't have my full pre-cycle bloods yet, but what I do know at the moment is that my total test is around 540ng/DL, HDL/LDL are in a good range, and blood pressure is 126/72. Planning to get full bloods so I know free test, estradiol levels, etc, before starting, then test again mid-cycle and post-PCT.
Where I'm less certain is on HCG, and just whether I have my thoughts on AIs/SERMS right here. For HCG, I've seen insistence that it's absolutely the right call to get and take some on cycle, maybe starting around week 3 or 4 through til 2 weeks post-cycle. But I've seen others say HCG is overkill for a beginner, test-only cycle. Since HCG is on the much pricier side from what I've seen, I'd like to get a stronger sense of whether I should nab that, or if I'm good to just save that for a future, bigger cycle if all goes well here.
Finally, for my training, I've found that a PPL split works really well for me, so I'll likely keep that going, with 5-6 days on and 1-2 active rest days.
Appreciate any help!
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If you take daily micro injections you probably won’t even need an aromatase inhibitor. Also run it for at least 16 weeks I would start at around 300mg and then go up to 500 if you aren’t getting any sides and bloodwork looks good. You also need to wait 4 half lives of the ester you are taking to start your PCT after stopping the cycle as you will still have all of that exogenous test in your system and it will be too early to try to restart your HPTA.
Question, HGC has been proven to keep systems up during cycle why would I wait 4 weeks to start it to wait for "half lives of the esters"???
Hello,
Do not take Adex EOD unless estro comes back astronomical. Start with none, do bloods then adjust as needed, prolly more like .5 M/F if estro is moderately high.
10 weeks is way to short, min 16 weeks.
You don't have to use HCG while on cycle, you can just use it post cycle.
Appreciate the feedback, Anvil. Good point on the Adex, I'm probably letting my gyno fear get the better of me and can reduce it to none then bump to 0.5 M/F as suggested.
For the HCG, whether it's on or post-cycle, either way, do you feel it's pretty necessary or safe enough to go without? Want to do what's best, but also optimize my costs/time.
No problem, that's what we are here for to help one and another. HGC is optional during cycle unless you very concerned about the suppression of your system. Even with HGC it will still take time to come back fully, I do it on cycle now only because I got a great deal from a source here, prior I only used it Post which I think it is critical if you coming off completely, if you are blasting and cruising its not as essential. Add and PM me if you need more help.