Recovery of cardio after cycle - how long?
Mid 40s, TRT, but have done 2 cycles now. Third cycle has been my most aggressive, running test / primo / npp at 600/400/350, on my 14th week now. Also running 3 IU HGH nightly.
Strength and hypertrophy gains have been fantastic. But, my cardio, which was otherwise really quite good prior to this cycle, has completely tanked. Was an avid tennis player, now just 15 min on court has me worried I’m going to pass out, I just can’t catch my breath.
HR also jumped up 8-10 extra bpm on average, but that also has been normal for me on prior cycles and recovered within 1-2 weeks, and I think is also normal for many others. But I never had the drop in cardio before. I'm guessing its the NPP.
BP is fine, 125/75 or better. No significant increase in body fat %. Bloods show no serious liver or lipid issues.
I know this happens to some, to varying degrees. I guess there is some literature out there that tren/19nors cause prostaglandin increases and bronchial constriction, so that would explain why it happens.
For those of you who also had this, how long after your blast did it take before you stopped feeling out of breath if trying to do any decent effort cardio? I was going to run this for 20 weeks, but it's getting annoying, I may pull the plug at 16 weeks.
- Bookmark
- 0
- 0
Everything here so far is great. I just want to add that for me, fluid retention is usually the culprit if I see a big drop in cardio all of the sudden. It’s not just about the weight, the increase in fluid also restricts breathing and can force the heart to have to work harder to move the same amount of blood. Another thing to remember is that most PEDs are going to increase metabolic demand to some extent, either by adding weight that takes more energy to maintain and move around or by actually stimulating your metabolic pathways directly.
I’ve had a similar experience and I just look at it as an opportunity to get some good training in with added resistance. The great thing about cardio is that as you shed the water/glycogen weight from your cycle your weight to power ratio will skyrocket. I always go from feeling like I’m barely going to make it up a hill to feeling like Lance Armstrong hammering to the top. It takes a few weeks but as long as you’ve been training you’ll see the results when you cycle off.
Thanks - what you're saying fits with smurfdude as well - I hadn't considered it, but maybe the HGH is actually my bigger culprit here. Definitely have some water retention - which I liked, muscles looked fuller! - and I started the HGH just a few weeks prior to the cycle itself. I'm using an UGL generic that is highly rated on these boards, but I always assumed UGL HGH must be weaker than pharma, so I push 3, sometimes 4 IU nightly. I'm going to drop it down to 1-2 IU, before stopping the cycle.
You added muscle. So ya, cardio will need to be boosted. Think about it. Put on a backpack with 15lbs and go run. You cant. So boost yourself up.
anvilThis definitely can happen, if you have gained weight even if its muscle it can slow you down. It will go away as soon as you return to baseline health markers. But, if you are looking to counter it, cardarine, methylene blue, Slu PP 332 will increase cardio capacity and then some.
Thanks! I have MB, but I started running caber around week 10, just to offset some NPP-related mental sides (instant relief).
I think caber and MB can't be combined, serotonin syndrome. But I can add MB back to my routine once the cycle is over
anvilYeah if the feedback loop is the same you can't combine them but I have never used caber so I can't say.
My cardio was never lost.
How were your hemoglobin & hematocrit levels? When I’m flushing easily and noticing endurance changes it’s normally a sign I need to go donate.
Could be a bunch of other things, but even on the high end of “normal” ranges I begin to notice drastic changes.
Sorry should have added that, good question!
All in range. I donate regularly, and at last donation I was in the normal range (they reject you if too high in my state).
Regardless, I'm guessing by your question, you have not experienced a hit to your cardio ability. To clarify, I'm fine day-to-day, and even in the gym. But on a tennis court, I used to be able to sprint. Fast. For 2 hrs. Now on this cycle? NOPE. Was just curious if others who experienced it, how long it took for that to recover.
No worries ever man! Just speculation as I said it can be a number of things without being in your body or knowing everything that’s been going on.
Not personally from those specific compounds, but on things like tren and/or high doses of GH I get a similar cardio hit. I counter that with cardarine as it also has a great effect of lipids, and with other substances such as winstrol or TBOL I get quite the opposite effect (increase). Even when running the compounds that decrease depending on the ester I see a complete resurgence around the 4-8wk mark of dropping back down to a trt/cruise dose.
I have always linked these things to red blood cell/cholesterol/heart differences, but again could be a myriad of things.
How’s your diet?
Diet is good but like all of us, could be better. I'm generally low carb/keto, high protein
GH can do this? It's also new for me - I hadn't even considered it, I figured it was the nandrolone for sure.
Drop the GH, or just dial it back? Appreciate any and all advice, thank you