Keeping muscle gains
Sorry in advance if this gets wordy, but how hard is it to keep muscle gains? I’m a 52 yo male. Spent most of my life in “decent” shape. Finally tried anabolics for the first time a couple years ago. Been on TRT for years. Was very happy and surprised with the results. Been getting my mind right around consistent nutritional changes and planning to start another cycle soon. I’m 6’2” and about 230 right now.
I do not wish to compete or get huge, but I’d like to see what I’d look like around 250. Super ripped is not my goal. If by some chance I get to 250 and I like what I see, seriously, how hard is it to stay at that weight? If that’s not a “natural” weight for me? I’ve been able to maintain my current weight for 2 years now so would 20 more pounds be sustainable?
The reason I ask is because I know very few people who don’t bounce back and forth in their appearance. And though I don’t wish to compete, that’s the best example I can think of. How competitors seem to go from one extreme to the other. How do I know when I get to a natural maintenance stage?
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Def make sure you take your advice from someone who actually HAS MUSCLE gains. So they can at least tell you from their personal experience how to keep em. That's my bit.
It’s definitely easier to hold size beyond your genetic potential on TRT compared to coming off after, doing PCT and going through a period of low test levels while they recover. Even if your TRT dose doesn’t exceed normal physiological test levels. What’s your current dose? The biggest challenge i can see is the amount of food it’ll take to support 250lbs, not to Mention gaining up to 250. Idk how your metabolism is but for me it would take upwards of 5000 calories a day and it’s miserable eating that much relatively clean food.
You want to be real careful with dramatic swings in weight at your age. And 250lbs definitely isn’t healthy either at 50+ years old. Your stats say you’re 17% body fat which is not ideal for running gear. But your heart would be happier and you would look alot bigger and better at 220 at 10-12% bf than 250lbs at 17-20% bf. So if I were you I’d first cut to to 10-12%bf and see where that leaves you. I’d guess around 200lbs. Then reevaluate your goals based on how you look then. If you want to get bigger do a slow lean bulk up to 220 or so. I don’t think you need much gear to do either of those things. But the GLP-1s seem to make people really healthy in addition to burning fat so that’s something to consider during the cut. With glp-1s it seems to be a lot more reward than risk. But do your own research on that.
This is good info. Thank you. Right now I’m running 200 mg of test a week. I believe that’s a normal maintenance dose. I do split it up and take half every few days to keep the peaks and valleys at bay.
I will probably take your advice and cut some fat off before I try to add more muscle. I doubt I’ll ever see 250. My main question was getting as much feedback as possible on how to keep the muscle you have or may get. Even if it’s only a few pounds. Some people talk about gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time and some say it’s impossible to do both. It’s been a couple years now but I have managed to successfully maintain my weight and watching my body comp change slowly also.
200mg is essentially a TRT+ dose. That will have most peoples test levels well beyond the normal range and into the supraphysiological range. where have your test levels been on your blood tests?
It’s not really hard to hold onto gains when you’re cruising between cycles. Just need to eat enough and keep training. The only thing you tend to lose is water and glycogen. The lean tissue stays.
Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is tough. It never maximizes either aspect, muscle gain or fat loss. And it takes an impeccable diet. Certain drugs make this more possible than others. Nothing you’d want to run in a first cycle though, or at 50+ years old in general.
The older you get the harder is it's to maintain size in terms of organ health. So if you do decide to go this route just make sure to get blood work on the reg. Check your D- dimer. Get vascular ultrasounds, duplex ultrasounds, everything.
Look at the Rock and his new physique