posted Thu, 09/18/2025 - 15:30
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How do you know what test dose to start at?
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I'm still a bit a ways from starting a cycle, but I'm curious. I've been reading example cycles and guides and just wondering how do you know what dose to start at? Is there a blood level you're aiming for and a correlation between how many mgs of test you're taking and what you're blood level will be?
The stickied guide here recommends 500mg Test Enth twice a week, so what is the outcome of that? Another thread I read said that 500 is too much for a first cycle and 250mg is plenty, etc, and of course theres different esthers which affect timing and stability.
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The first thing is get your test levels before you start. I for one only take 350mg of test a week max when I am on cycle and my test levels were almost 3000. I will post my lab result to prove it. I would run 100mg of deca and 200mg of primo and that cycle worked super well for me and made life changing physique.
nice numbers
Also before I started my test levels were low at 372
For the longest time the standard first cycle was 500mg a week, no titrating up. And it worked pretty well for the vast majority of people. Now some folks are recommending people start lower, like 250-300mg, which I don’t think is a bad thing. However, I do wonder if it’s actually the best approach. The little bit of scientific data we have on running supraphysiological doses of test show gains increase linearly until atleast 600mg. I’ve seen some people say there’s studies up past that that shows the same to 1000 but I haven’t seen them. But if you’re going to gain double the muscle on 500 vs 250, and in my experience and many others the side effects aren’t really any worse on 500 vs 250, is it really worth running a first cycle at less than 500? The 2nd cycle never seems to be quite as good as the first. Maybe that’s because we all started at 500 and many of us ran 500 again. And if you did 250-300 first and 500 the 2nd you’d see dramatic again gains like the first idk. I’d just hate for anyone to leave gains on the table for no reason.
People smarter than me are recommending titrating up now. So if you do decide to run 500 it’s probably worth starting at 250 and staying there for a month before increasing. But you may find the results from 250 are good enough and stay there.
Have you gotten your blood tested by a Dr? Probably a good 1st step. Ur a touch older than me and trt might be an option. In that event you start at somewhere in the range of 125-150 a week or so. And that alone will make a big difference for you. But the blood work is an important first step to that regardless of your intentions (trt, cycle, blast/cruise etc).
To answer part of your question tho, 200mg/wk of pharma grade test will usually net you somewhere in the range of 1700-2000 or so test levels in my experience.
My last scores were 635 test and 89 free test so I don’t think TRT would help from what I’ve read.