First Cycle: Test E/HCG
31 years old
5'7" 175lbs/79Kilo
10-12% BF
Bench-325
Squat-335 (Injury related, I know it's weak)
Dead-415
After much research and hesitation I went with the top rated source for my first cycle. Wanted to keep it basic and see how my body responds to test-e alone. Plan on getting blood-work done 5 weeks in to adjust the aromasin dose accordingly. Purchased plenty of Nolva and Clomid and hoping PCT will be a smooth transition with the implementation of hcg during cycle.
I have been training since my freshmen year of high school, so off and on for 15 years now.My training has gone through many phases and revisions focusing on different things throughout its history. Although 16 months ago I was involved in an auto accident and was in the hospital for a month where I managed to lose 25 pounds, almost all of which was muscle mass. Before the accident I was quite the drinker and that affected my overall diet/health and ultimately my gains .I still walked around at 165-170 lbs and was quite lean. Since then I have all but cut out the booze and have been hyper focused on the gym and my diet. During the accident I sustained many injuries but the lingering one has been a compound fractured femur and torn quad. They placed a rod inside my entire femur and had to remove an approx. a roll of quarters portion of my outer quad muscle.
That being said, my goal for this cycle is to focus on getting my leg strength back safely and hitting the parts of my body that are lacking. Training arms has always been an afterthought as I typically do Chest/Tris, Back/Bi's, Shoulders/Traps, Legs. The tr's/bi's were never the primary concern of my workouts so my core build is thick and developed in comparison to moderate arms. I would like to gain and keep 10 solid pounds when it is all said and done. Taking an AI on a test only cycle with 500mg a week I hope water retention/weight will not be that much of the overall growth.
Diet is approximately 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat as of right now at about 3000 calories. During cycle I plan on adjusting that to 50/30/20 and force feed myself to between 3500-4000 calories a day. I have always been more of a grazer when eating so I am going to try to consume a lot of nutrient dense food such as beef jerky, peanut butter, greek yogurt etc.
Questions;
Should I front load the test as I have 3 vials? Pros/Cons, Dosages?
Should I run my AI up until PCT? Have found many different opinions on this
I Have 6500iu of HCG should I ramp up the last 4 injections?
With test-e's half life should I wait a month to start PCT so it is completely out of my system compared to many people saying 10-14 days? Once again many opinions but I am leaning toward waiting a full month.
Supplements;
BCAA 5 grams pre and post workout
Glutamine 10 grams p/p wrkt
Creatine 5 gram post
Carnitine p/p wrkt
Orange triad or similar multi, fish oil, beef liver pills, milk thistle, vitamin D, ZMA, cranberry extract
If you have made it this far thanks for reading all the bullshit. I am excited and also a little nervous with this process. It has been a long time coming and think I am pretty close to my genetic potential and am ready for the next step. I am open to any and all feedback.
Week | Testosterone Enanthate | Pregnyl | Aromasin | Nolvadex | Clomid |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 500mg | 500IU | |||
2 | 500mg | 500IU | |||
3 | 500mg | 500IU | |||
4 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
5 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
6 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
7 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
8 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
9 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
10 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
11 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
12 | 500mg | 500IU | 25mg EOD | ||
13 | 500IU | ||||
14 | |||||
15 | |||||
16 | |||||
17 | 40 | 100 | |||
18 | 40 | 100 | |||
19 | 20 | 50 | |||
20 | 20 | 50 |
- Bookmark
- 0
- 0
AnonIs store the hcg and not worry about it right now... Just see how you do with the test and you can introduce the AI later in cycle week 4-5
edit Makwa said basically the same below so yea I agree with that
4 weeks is to long to wait before starting pct. Start pct two weeks after the last test shot and go with clomid at 100 for both weeks 1 and 2.
Thanks WT. All the goodies are en route and pct was shipped in a different package and last of course. Regardless I will wait for everything to get here and run the Clomid @100 for two weeks. Was a little concerned with sides on it but after digging a little deeper have found that it is very rare.
Re: How long to wait before PCT (last question)
I waited 21 days after 12 weeks of test E. I think it was too long. On my second cycle I will try 14 days.
The reason I think this is that - despite half life - I felt "below natural" around 18 days after the last shot. Once I started the SERMs, my emotions got really blunted. My guess is that test and estrogen were both crashed.
I was thinking the same as you when planning that 21 days: let the suppressive stuff clear out before starting to restart. Next time I want to catch it on the way down - not wait for the bottom.
It's good to hear real world experience from someone who already tried what I was considering. Thanks man!
rocketballzDon't overdo it with the hcg. They say the leydig cells in your testicles can become de-sensitized to the hcg molecule. They leydig cells normally receive the LH signal and produce test. Wait a month or two before even introducing it and use it sparingly...like if your girl asks why your balls are so small lol. Makwa is a bodybuilder and does things a little differently. I don't know about you but I'm just an average Joe trying to look and feel my best. Good luck.
A couple things.
IMO I wouldnt front load on your first cycle. It can make it a little harder to get your AI dose dialed in. That being said aromasin is better dosed ed as opposed to eod. Also, Inwouldnt start off at 25mg eod (12.5 if you go ed) as you could crash your estro right away and feel like trash as well as have lots of sides.
Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback. i will just split the pills and take it everyday in attempts to keep my E2 levels more stabilized. From my research many suggest starting AI with first injections as others say don't take it unless needed. My thoughts are with the implementation of hcg as well I'm leaning towards taking it from the start and then see what my blood work says around week 5. Is this a sound strategy for minimal sides and least harmful cycle?
I wouldn't bother with the HCG, once again can make dialing in your AI a real chore and you really shouldn't need it for the cycle you are running. Just another complexity you don't need to to worry about right now. Run your cycle with just test e and start AI week 4 get bloods week 6 and adjust ai from there.
Thank you for the advice sir. Veterans like you is why this site is such a valuable tool. I would really like to run the hcg though as a preemptive strike to the reduced natural test production that the test will induce. If I get my blood work done early in the cycle and adjust AI accordingly will this be the best path for a solid clean run or do you still believe I should drop it all together?
First cycle I would drop it. Once you get into using 19nors or run extended cycles then I might consider it, but for a 12 wk test e cycle, I wouldn't bother with it.
I agree. Running hcg throughout is unnecessary. I would use hcg in the two weeks before pct starts though at 1500iu once per week. That works well for me.
rocketballzFor the OP - While I agree about not overdoing it with hcg, I do believe it serves a couple purposes on even a 12 weeker of test e/c only, which are well known; testicular shrinkage and blasting it eod or e3d between last pin of enth or cyp and start of PCT. I can only speak for myself but I definitely had testicular shrinkage on a 12 week test e only cycle at 500 mgs/wk, and my wife noticed it at about week 6 into cycle. I of course had already realized it. The point is, if you dont like having noticeably smaller testicles or have a gf or wife who isn't okay with gear or doesn't know about it (not really recommended, but to each his own), or doesn't like the small balled guy then moderate hcg use on cycle starting around week 6-7 at 500 to 1,000 ius/wk (or less) should help plump them back up some, but that does introduce potentially more aromatization (some guys barely aromatize while others aromatize heavily) which could impact your AI dose. You really don't want to crash your estro on cycle, in your case. It hinders gains and basically you may not even feel like you're on cycle if your estro is continually low. Also..with too much hcg use there is the possibility of de-sensitization of the leydig cells in your testicles; the cells which receive the LH signal from the pituitary to produce testosterone naturally. Constant mimicking of the LH signal from hcg (which also stimulates testosterone production via the leydig cells) could make the leydig cells de-sensitized to the natural LH pulse. HCG is a controversial drug....some guys advocate for the use of it no matter what and others, like Makwa, believe its not needed at all. Trial and error will get you to where you want to be as will blood testing pre cycle, mid cycle and several months post PCT to check for recovery. Good luck.