+ 1 Finished my first cycle and wasn’t impressed - advice on 2nd cycle
Hi all,
I’m 35, and I’ve been lifting on and off for 20 years, with the past 2 years taking it more seriously. I decided to hop on a cycle after reaching multiple plateaus. I was weighing in at 204lbs and had 11% BF (DEXA Scan), and just couldn’t get the results I was wanting.
With that said, I decided to do Test E and Anavar as a first cycle, and didn’t really notice much in terms of growth and strength gains.
My cycle consisted of:
Week 1: Test E 300mg split into two doses; Anavar 20mg daily
2 Test E 300mg split into two doses; Anavar 25mg daily
Week 3: Test E 350mg split into two doses; Anavar 25mg
Week 4: Test E 350mg split into two doses; Anavar 25mg
Week 5: Test E 400mg split into two doses; Anavar 30mg
Test E 400mg split into two doses; Anavar 30
Week 6: 400mg split into two doses; Anavar 40
Week 7: Test E 500mg split into two doses; Anavar 40
Week 8: Test E 500mg split into two doses; Anavar 40
Weeks 9-16: test E 500mg split into two doses.
I was eating pretty clean, but Because I wasn’t seeing any big gains during my first six weeks, I started doing a dirty bulk, and finished off the cycle weighing 235lbs.
After I started doing a dirty bulk that’s when I noticed all my major lifts go up about 10-15% on their maxes.
Regardless, I’m not sure if the increase in my maxes came from my dirty dieting or from the steroids.
At any rate, I’m looking to do another cycle and maybe add more to hopefully see better results.
My goal is mainly strength, and the cycle I’m looking into is:
UBold: 250 every other day (up to 800 mg/week)
Turinabol: 50 mg / day
Mix: (test Deca/Iso/phyenl/prop) 150 mg every other day
Anastro: 1 mg every other day
PCT: Nolba and Clen-Salbuto
I’d like to run this cycle for 12-16 weeks and possibly throw Primo on during the last 8 weeks at 200mg qod.
My goal is to grow and then lean out in time for the summer.
Any feedback or advice about this?
EDIT: I should mention that I had my Total Teatoaterone checked at about week 8 and it was only 1259ng/dl, which makes me think that the Test E I received was severely underdosed… prior to start my cycle my baseline was 800s.
- Bookmark
- 1
- 0
You need to eat to grow. Not a fan of tapering up your dose, If you start low it takes longer for your blood levels to stabilize. Maybe preload in the first week, Repeat the same compounds till you see diminishing results from your cycle, only then add an additional compound to your cycle.
It is a marathon,................not a sprint.
Hi all,
Appreciate the input. I think I’ll run the cycle again and get it from a different supplier.
Here is the before and after photos.
First two are before starting the cycle, and the second two are at the end of the cycle. I was hoping that the cycle would add mass and size to my arms and chest but it feels like most of it just went to my legs.
Thats a good base and be patient. Its really trial and error. Post your lifting routine.
Nothing crazy
Monday: Legs
Hamstring Curls 4 x 8
Squat 5 x 5
Hack Squat 3 x 12
Leg Press 4 x 12
Seated Hamstring Curls: 3 x Failure
Leg Extensions: 3 x Failure
Tuesday Chest
BB Incline Press 5 x 5
DB Flat Press 3 x 8
Cable Flys 2 x 12
Incline Machine 3 x 10
Pec Deck 2 x 12-15
Wednesday:
BB Row (Close Grip) 5 x 5
BB Row (Wide Grip) 3 x 8
Lat Pulldowns (Close grip) 3 x 8
Lat Pulldowns (wide grip) 3 x 8
Seated Row 2 x 10
Seated Pullovers 2 x 15
Thursday Shoulders/Tris
Seated BB shoulder press 4 x 8
DB Lateral Raises 4 x 8
Face Pulls 3 x 15
Weighted Dips 5 x 5
Close Grip BB (Smith Machine) 3 x 8
Straight bar Cable Machine Press Down 3 x 10
Overhead Tricep Press 3 x 10
Friday:
Deadlift 5 x 5
BB Bicep Curl 3 x 8
Spider Curl 3 x 8
Preacher Curl 3 x 8
Bicep Hammer Curl (with rope and cables) 3 x 8
Sat/Sun Rest
Note: I lift with high intensity and don’t really focus on the numbers rather than I do focusing on getting as close to the numbers as possible in order to achieve failure (except on the 5x5 lifts).
5x5 and the heavy push is great for strength. Volume will be the size booster. I switch back and forth every 2 months. Volume i like pyramids. Warm up then 6 sets and add weight as you go. Aim for 12 reps....add...aim for 12...add...etc til you cant get 8 then drop and aim for 12...drop again aim for 12.
6set does fine for me. 30-45 seconds between sets. Awesome pumps! Stretch after to squeeze out lactic acid. Not before. Warmup before to get bloodflow to ligaments.
Repeat the first testosterone cycle with proviron week4 to 14 as pct starts. If you didnt 'feel' anything then food is a major culprit. Blood test and estrogen as well. You could of had both culprits in macros and estrogen. Guessing game with no science. Going bigger or different wastes time and health guessing. Play lotto and youll do better than this guessing game
You started your dirty bulk and started seeing good gains? Let me tell ya why. Test E doesn’t really start to kick in hard until about six weeks, so if you would have stuck to eating clean, you probably would have started seeing even better gains. You really didn’t give it a fair shot. If you wanted to see quicke gains, you need to stick to short esters Test Prop or Sustonon. Patience is critical with long esters, so get Equipose and Deca out of your head or you're going to be disappointed again in a big way.
You basically gave up about a week too early.
Next time try
Sustonon and NPP, and it’ll be a whole different ballgame
So first of all it looks from your Blood test that you had some shitty testosterone, that's easy to sort out for next time as there are loads of great sources on here for that. Anavar could of been bad too if its from the same place. But if all the gains were made from weeks 7 to 16 being 30lbs and lifts went up too then just think what you could gain if those were good quality products?! If I were you on the next cycle just continue to eat well and lots of it and run Test E 500mg/wk and run the Anavar at 50mg/ed for the first 6 weeks or last 6 weeks.
In regards to the next cycle leave the EQ alone as it doesn't do much compared to the damage it causes you such as BP and Hematocrit problems, TBol is weak sauce compared to Anavar anyway, and the Test & Deca Mix I feel isn't necessary yet.
Just do what the tren twins do and you will be massive.
Keep doing that for another 10yrs or so and you will have the results you're looking for.
For some reason people think steroids will turn you into something straight out of a comic book over night. That'd not the case. It still takes years of drug abuse , dieting and training.
I think reading your original post and sone of your comments your expectations weren’t realistic. Sounds successful to me, but you’ve not figured out the diet aspect until later in the cycle. If you’re bulking, then eat big and lift big. If you’re trying to cut, (that “tight skin look” as you put it), then control your carbs and eat appropriately. You won’t be adding numbers to your lifts cutting. You’re doing one or the other.
NWA mentioned below, your lift numbers need work. A 235lb guy should be deadlifting and squatting significantly higher than you currently are naturally. Are you really pushing yourself? Get to basics. Big compound lifts, forget the isolation stuff. Bench, squat, deadlift.
For second cycle, above is way overboard. Sort your good and training and just run test. Get the former right and there’s no need for anything more. The steroids are just the icing on the cake, not the cake.
Like you said, you really noticed your strength /gains going up when you started dirty bulking...
Although it's possible to just put on lean muscle tissue, in my experience, it's easier to bulk then cut. Gotta eat to grow and then cut. Maybe you were too worried about gaining fat that you lost out on a lot of gains early on in the cycle?
You said your goals for your second cycle are mainly strength but then you said you want to grow and then lean out in time for summer?
Yeah I agree with above comments about too many new compounds. I would incorporate one new compound in at a time. Have a chance to see how you react to each compound individually before adding another.
The primo at 200mg a week for a weeks is really unnecessary imo. A waste of money if ya ask me.
Personally EQ gives me anxiety. One of the only aas I don't like. I'd pick one or the other. Deca or EQ, and var since you've tried it already and know you at least tolerate it well. Up the dosage thought.
Test, Var starting the second half of the cycle, and 12+ weeks of deca or EQ. If you don't wanna wait to see gains, start with some test prop. I wouldn't run the var less than 50mg a day for the last 4-6 weeks.
FOOD. It's all about the food. Give details on your diet. How many calories, how many meals, grams of protein, carbs etc.
I honestly think the Test was underdosed, which was probably the main factor. I’ll try the second cycle with another Test E from a different manufacturer and maybe throw in a dbol kicker.
Were you expecting to be competing on the olympia stage after your first cycle? Run 500mg of test that isn't underdosed and you will be fine for second cycle. it is your diet that determines results not how big of a stack you run.
This is the result of the AAS critics out there. They always see someone pushing big numbers in the powerlifting world or chiseled physique in the BBing world and just say “only possibly with steroids.” So people with mediocre training and diet take gear and think it’s does 99% of the work and really they just end up being mediocre AND on gear. Steroids do 1/10th of what the critics claim they do.
Sounds pretty good to me, however the next cycle seems like a lot jmo of course
Well, I guess I just didn’t know what to expect. I thought I’d turn into the hulk on a cycle.
Overall, I didn’t “feel” stronger. I was expecting my muscles to feel fuller and bigger, but I just look and feel fatter.
I’ll schedule another DEXA scan and see how much lean mass I gained. If I were to guess, I’m probably sitting at 14% BF at 235.
I guess what I really want is that tight skin look with the vascularity, but I’d also like to see my maxes go up as well.
I’m sitting at
Bench : 285 (from 250)
Squat: 385 (from 330)
DL: 420 (from 360)
This is the general stereotype of steroids just transform you. Simply not true. And your not pushing yourself hard enough. I can tell from your numbers you just posted. Throw 100# on top of that bench, squat and deadlift and tell me what the result is
+1 Damn this is a problem that's occurring all over the world if we really think about it. These guys think that taking steroids is the magical pill or oil and that's not the case as you're trying to point out. No substitute for working hard and genetics period. And I agree....throw 100s across all 3 of his lifts.
Or you can be like me and have that exact bench while having the 100# (or more) on top of those squat and DL numbers :(…. Long arm life.
Unless you are called John Haack - if you prioritise your trunk exercises more than your bench and give them presidence, then your bench will easily lag behind them. Deads and Squats destroy your delts, RC's and lower back which all contribute heavily towards a big bench. If any one of those 3 is sore on bench day then you will not be able to train it to its maximum. Same the other way round especially with Bench and Deads, if you have gone big with bench then it will smash your lower back and glutes for deadlift day.
I’ve always been compared to the werewolves in the movie “Dog Soldiers”
Long arms don’t equate to solid bench. Plus yea I spent years and years doing squats, pulls, cleans, snatches, jerks only. But it’s ok. I don’t mind benching only benching 300 while squatting 500+. Would sell my left testicle to look and lift like Dmitry Klokov though… what a goddamn specimen
Not sure if that's 100% true. I know some long arm powerlifters who have good bench presses. I've competed with alot of them. It's just not your strong point on lifts more than likely.
Just let me have my excuse
I’m working on it but yea it’s absolutely not my strong point
My weakness is deads and strong points are bench and squat. But fair enough
Yes of course - I forgot about all of your olympic lifting years!
What are you unhappy with? 235 pounds at what maybe 15% bf? That’s impressive. Maybe lean out a bit but you can’t expect to put on 20 pounds AND get leaner. To be over 200 pounds and still gain 30 pounds in a cycle is crazy
4 mg of arimidex is extreme. You won't need that much. Reading your post you put on 30# and your lifts increased by 10-15% and your not happy with it?
What's the salbuto for if your trying to get gains. Cutting or bulking?
Edit. That's alot of substance and alot if pining for only second cycle.