+ 14 From 30% BF to now, slowly but surely
Was cutting for a little over 6 months. I started right at 194lbs, around 30% body fat. I stayed consistent with my diet, lifting and cardio 5–6 days a week.
Early on I was doing two-a-days and dropped weight pretty quick. Eventually hit a stall, so I adjusted my diet and training a bit and got things moving again. Got down to 172 and felt decent and I probably could’ve pushed the cut further, and got 12-15% BF, but after close to 6 months of staying strict, I needed a mental break more than anything.
Started a small cycle and have been responding pretty good at the half way mark of my cycle. Still have a few pounds and some stubborn belly fat and love handles left to lose, but getting closer.
Currently sitting around 18% BF and feel pretty dang good with where I have landed. I have learned a lot through the process as this was my first time shedding a good amount of BF and staying consistent. Not too bad for a dude who’s over half a century old.
Grabbed a wealth of knowledge from some dudes on here and some great src’s to help me along the way, just hoping these old ass shoulders can hold up a little while longer before the rotators decide to shit the bed.
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Looking solid bro
Respect
Looking great dude! I’m in a similar situation. 3 months in and started at 246 lbs and around 40%+ bf if I had to guess. Picked up a Hume scale and my last reading this morning was 226.4 lbs and 31.4 BF%. Running 250mg of test cyp, 3mg of Reta 1x a week and 2.5IU of growth daily. About to add 400mg of primo once I get below 30% and then finish out with 50mg of var daily
I’ve ran cycles with higher BF, but I can attest that for me at least, a higher BF and I aromatize like crazy, my E2 jumps through the roof, also I cannot do real high mg of test, anything over 600mg even when a little leaner I run into same issues, so keep an eye out for signs of high e2 05raven,
I did a bodybuilder panel from goodlabs.com 2 weeks ago and am just waiting on my E2 results to come back. Everything else was pretty dialed in. 250mg of test with 12mg a week of Aromasin and I’m showing little to no sides thankfully. Once I get the E2 results back I’ll adjust my AI accordingly
Solid results whats cycle look like?
I kept it simple, started off with Test E 300mg for a couple weeks, then went 500mg Test E, 250mg Deca daily injections and that’s where I currently at. Been responding well and just didn’t want to jump in with a shit ton of gear. Been there done that, it’s so much easier to control if gear is kept simple, at least for me anyways.
Looks solid my man. got that V shape going on..
Looking massive for 172 wtf!
Na I’m no longer at 172, that was the lowest weight I got down to when I lost quite a bit of BF, I’m sitting around 190-193, depending on the time of day
Lookin good, dude. Us 50+ guys gotta work hard to keep up with these young guys. I love the look on peoples faces when I tell them how old I am. That's one of many things that motivates me to keep going
Yea man I was pretty stoked when a cat in the gym asked me my age the other day, he was pretty shocked when I told him 55, and was like damm, hope I look that good when I’m “ that old” kinda killed my buzz
There are a number of signs to watch out for with worn rotator cuffs from what I have learnt over the years (about to go in for RTC surgery in 1 week for torn supraspinatus & frayed infraspinatus).
First is that you will begin to get a deep soreness in your shoulders a lot particularly after lifting heavy in movements like flat bench, deadlifts and chins - I use to think it was normal deltoid muscle soreness but in fact its the tendons sitting beneath. It tends to last for 2 or 3 days and will affect other lifts particularly in speed and ease of the lift.
First few days after these lifts you will get a lot of clicking and popping as you move your arm around in certain positions, this will get worse the more tendons get worn.
Along the way to a Big Tear, you will get quite a few smaller partial tears and fraying that will present themselves as sharp pains often when racking bars where afterwards it will be hard to do more sets as if you have gone to failure already. These pains and soreness often take 2 or 3 weeks to go and you will think all is repaired and fine now, but it isn't. These are just small partials tears that may have recovered a tiny bit and the inflammation has gone down and in turn pain - but along the years they form part of the bigger picture resulting in a huge or complete tear.
The main tendons that tend to wear in training are the Supraspinatus (this will present as pain and stiffness on the outer edge of the shoulder and top) and the Infraspinatus (pain on the rear of the arm that runs into the shoulder blade). Any lifts that tend to stress the RTC you are always best doing a mini warm up for them before the lifts so the cuff is impacted and stressed much less.
Try to drink Collagen peptides 15 to 30g daily in alongside your protein shakes (this amount also counts towards your daily protein totals) and keep vitamin C to 500mg to 1 gram. These things provide the basics to tendon formation and regeneration when they are stressed in lifting sessions.
Try do a RTC separate training regime once per week if you feel the area getting sore and stiff to strengthen the area and get blood flow more active which in turn delivers the main 3 amino acids to the area that form tendons.
Above all if you notice little pains deep in the shoulder that are still present the next time you train then take a few weeks off to try and let the area repair and recover as much as possible, I cannot stress this enough. My problem was that I was always extremely eager to lift and never wanted to miss a session - so I would try and grind through the pain and soreness each time which only makes the tear bigger and more stiff scar tissue forming which makes the tendon less elastic in the long run and more prone to snapping. Use BPC and TB during this time - or even better as we get older try and run them both throughout your entire cycle or the whole year.
Press1, man mine are jacked up for sure. I have lost count on the cortisone injections, both have torn cartridge but not to the point I’m willing to go under the knife, I have had to change how I lift, I never do flat bar on anything, that kills me, but even with trying to go easy on them, I struggle with pain just as you described, even when I take time off. I have been considering BPC/TB just for that reason.
Have you ever had an MRI done to see the current condition of them? That's your best bet - You can see how each of the 4 tendons are and also your humeral head, AC joint etc. I paid £380 for one done in the back of these mobile trucks you get all over the UK now.
It’s been a hot minute since I had an MRI, that’s when I found out I had some torn cartilage in one shoulder, been trying to avoid certain lifts and weights just to gimp through for now. But, I know I’m on borrowed time with the issues of lately
Pure inspiration for my current journey. Looking jacked.
Arms & pecs are poppin!!
So awesome. Love seeing this. Great time to show this on Father’s Day. Super dad!