i have read in other forums and occasionally here about hcg blasts for pct. IMO, i feel it really comes down to the individual circumstances. personally, i'm not a fan of exogenous hormones during pct. the goal is to reboot HPTA function. hcg - human choronic gonadatropins - are exogenous gonadotropins (LH & FSH). what we will see here is the basic homeostatic response of negative feedback. as the brain detects the levels of hormones, it sends the signal "there is enough, or too much". thru negative feedback, synthesis of the respective hormones will cease.

clomid's role in this is to stimulate gonadatropin synthesis, not introduce exogenous forms. It does this by inhibiting negative feedback. nolva plays a role in this as well, but is mostly active at the receptors in the breast tissue. aromasin will go a bit further than other AI's by binding to SHBG, thereby freeing up circulating test. it acts in synergy with clomid in terms of gonadatropin synthesis (LH & FSH).

i feel that the role of hcg for most should be to prevent or retard testicular atrophy - keep the doods from shrinking up. this would be an on-cycle protocol. when to start, would really depend on the person. as experience with running compounds accumulates, one becomes more in tuned with their body. as such, they begin to identify when the shutdown may occur due to the grapes turning to prunes. haha.

first time cycle and the body has no idea how to react, so the shutdown make take a bit longer to completely shut down HPTA function. personally, i don't think hcg is even necessary on a first cycle. as cycle length is extended, i would say it's definitely a feasible option. once again tho, it depends on the individual and the compounds being ran.

hcg does convert to estrogen, so the AI aspects become more pronounced to prevent sides. once again, i am talking about on-cycle administration.

pct, should be 3 days after last hcg pin. your pct can look like this:

clomid 100/100/50/50
nolva 20/20/10/10
aromasin 12.5/12.5/6.25/6.25

the decreased nolva dose is due to the AI being part of this protocol. Without the AI, nolva should be double this amount.
I’m a TRT guy, so I blast and cruise year ‘round. So, atrophy is an issue for me regardless of what I’m running. The HRT specialist that I was seeing prior to starting my ventures with AAS prescribed the following protocol:

Test cyp
AI
Hcg (to prevent testicular atrophy)

Most TRT guys here do not concern themselves with the testicular atrophy aspects, so they do not incorporate hcg. That’s perfectly fine. For me, on the other hand, I do concern myself with this aspect. Therefore, I incorporate it into both my blasts and cruises.