SemiBulimic
Member
- Awards
- 1
Ok so for anyone still reading this I have an update - albeit 2 weeks late.
I am into day 16 of PCT and am still making strength gains although i am starting to peak now,
Summary of cycle:-
Strength - primary goal - Initially strength gain was very slow. It wasn't until the 4th week that i started to realise a surge. From then i broke PR's every session. Examples;
Squat - up 30lbs from start of cycle
Deadlift - up 44lb " " " "
Bench - up 20 lbs " " " "
OHP (strict) - up 20lbs " " " "
These are all maxes at the end of the 6 weeks.
On a side note - although not particularly impressive - i was able to do a set of 10 wide grip pull-ups at a weight of 260lbs. Not impressive i know but for me a milestone.
Since finishing the cycle my strength has continued to climb; my DL is up 77lbs from the start of the cycle, squat up 66lbs, bench 44lbs. You get the idea.
Size
Although not a primary concern it obviously was a secondary effect of the cycle for me. I started at 242lbs and finished at 268 at my heaviest. I have since gone down to 264. I gained 2% bf though, although again, not too much of a concern.
Chest + 2 inches
Biceps + 1 inch
Upper thighs +2 inches.
I am not one of those people who bothers with the size of their 'guns' but out of interest i did measure them and came up a half inch short of the 'magical' 20 inches. If i didn't have this problem with my left bicep i maybe would have attempted to train them more as i pretty much don't do any bicep work other than that involved in rowing movements.
Other positives:-
'Pump' - this was ridiculous sometimes and i definitely looked 'on' after a session. Somedays i had a 24 hour pump and struggled to reach the back of my neck in the shower!
Sides:-
Initially, very few. Most notably at the start my BP went up but i took CoQ10 and extra hawthorn and it settled down again. I also kept stimulants to a minimum.
About 3 weeks in i started feeling beat up; joints hurt and the lethargy kicked in. Took cissus 50% and backed off a bit on the training and this helped somewhat.
Back pumps reared their ugly head but 10gms a day of taurine and some potassium cleared that up sharpish.
The bloat bothered me. Probably a combo of the compounds i was using and the fact i was now taking upto 500gms carbs a day having previously taken 100g pre-cycle. I have since tapered these down on PCT and the bloat is gone but the BF increase is still there.
In the last week of the cycle i felt awful - shut down, aggrevated, lethargic, sore and couldn't wait for PCT.
The boys atrophied about 15% by the end of the cycle.
Sleep suffered - very restless and had nightly sweats from about the 4th week.
The hardest thing about the cycle apart from these sides was the volume of food i took in. Some days it went upto 6000kcals, and most of the time these were clean calories. Getting 500gms of protein a day was hard without over-relying on shakes and my grocery bills were ridiculous.
PCT
Ran torem 120 for 4 days then 90 for a week then cruising on 60 for the remainder. Also running PP's TRS and other goodies. So far i feel good. Libido is still low but it was pre-cycle. Boys are back up and running and if anything slightly bigger than before. As stated earlier, strength is still way up from start of cycle and increasing still but i will plateau in the next few sessions so i will have to change things up. I carried the same style of training into PCT from the cycle, i.e. going all out for a 1 or 3 rep max on the primary lift every session and it has been working well.
Learning Points
That's what this was; a big learning experience. I wanted to see if i could be disciplined over the course of a cycle to run it properly diet and training-wise and gain from it in a positive way. This was a tester for my first 'proper' cycle which i would like to start in may or so. It will most likely be a test-e only cycle for 16 weeks. I think i achieved what i wanted to from this experience and learned a lot:-
-transdermals are a pain the arse
-next time front-load joint support
-even on cycle you can push yourself too far - 4 heavy days in a row is too much for anyone
- start buying food a month in advance and stock up the freezer
- more prehab and rehab work due to increased workloads
- take extra hawthorn and CoQ10 on top of CEL cycle assist
- taurine and potassium are lifesavers
- 40mg p-plex was the sweet spot; sides increased too much after this and gains were pretty much the same
I can't think of anything else to say about this cycle but if anyone wants to know anything else feel free to ask.
I won't be putting up pics as outlined in a previous post. This cycle was not about aesthetics but strength.
I am into day 16 of PCT and am still making strength gains although i am starting to peak now,
Summary of cycle:-
Strength - primary goal - Initially strength gain was very slow. It wasn't until the 4th week that i started to realise a surge. From then i broke PR's every session. Examples;
Squat - up 30lbs from start of cycle
Deadlift - up 44lb " " " "
Bench - up 20 lbs " " " "
OHP (strict) - up 20lbs " " " "
These are all maxes at the end of the 6 weeks.
On a side note - although not particularly impressive - i was able to do a set of 10 wide grip pull-ups at a weight of 260lbs. Not impressive i know but for me a milestone.
Since finishing the cycle my strength has continued to climb; my DL is up 77lbs from the start of the cycle, squat up 66lbs, bench 44lbs. You get the idea.
Size
Although not a primary concern it obviously was a secondary effect of the cycle for me. I started at 242lbs and finished at 268 at my heaviest. I have since gone down to 264. I gained 2% bf though, although again, not too much of a concern.
Chest + 2 inches
Biceps + 1 inch
Upper thighs +2 inches.
I am not one of those people who bothers with the size of their 'guns' but out of interest i did measure them and came up a half inch short of the 'magical' 20 inches. If i didn't have this problem with my left bicep i maybe would have attempted to train them more as i pretty much don't do any bicep work other than that involved in rowing movements.
Other positives:-
'Pump' - this was ridiculous sometimes and i definitely looked 'on' after a session. Somedays i had a 24 hour pump and struggled to reach the back of my neck in the shower!
Sides:-
Initially, very few. Most notably at the start my BP went up but i took CoQ10 and extra hawthorn and it settled down again. I also kept stimulants to a minimum.
About 3 weeks in i started feeling beat up; joints hurt and the lethargy kicked in. Took cissus 50% and backed off a bit on the training and this helped somewhat.
Back pumps reared their ugly head but 10gms a day of taurine and some potassium cleared that up sharpish.
The bloat bothered me. Probably a combo of the compounds i was using and the fact i was now taking upto 500gms carbs a day having previously taken 100g pre-cycle. I have since tapered these down on PCT and the bloat is gone but the BF increase is still there.
In the last week of the cycle i felt awful - shut down, aggrevated, lethargic, sore and couldn't wait for PCT.
The boys atrophied about 15% by the end of the cycle.
Sleep suffered - very restless and had nightly sweats from about the 4th week.
The hardest thing about the cycle apart from these sides was the volume of food i took in. Some days it went upto 6000kcals, and most of the time these were clean calories. Getting 500gms of protein a day was hard without over-relying on shakes and my grocery bills were ridiculous.
PCT
Ran torem 120 for 4 days then 90 for a week then cruising on 60 for the remainder. Also running PP's TRS and other goodies. So far i feel good. Libido is still low but it was pre-cycle. Boys are back up and running and if anything slightly bigger than before. As stated earlier, strength is still way up from start of cycle and increasing still but i will plateau in the next few sessions so i will have to change things up. I carried the same style of training into PCT from the cycle, i.e. going all out for a 1 or 3 rep max on the primary lift every session and it has been working well.
Learning Points
That's what this was; a big learning experience. I wanted to see if i could be disciplined over the course of a cycle to run it properly diet and training-wise and gain from it in a positive way. This was a tester for my first 'proper' cycle which i would like to start in may or so. It will most likely be a test-e only cycle for 16 weeks. I think i achieved what i wanted to from this experience and learned a lot:-
-transdermals are a pain the arse
-next time front-load joint support
-even on cycle you can push yourself too far - 4 heavy days in a row is too much for anyone
- start buying food a month in advance and stock up the freezer
- more prehab and rehab work due to increased workloads
- take extra hawthorn and CoQ10 on top of CEL cycle assist
- taurine and potassium are lifesavers
- 40mg p-plex was the sweet spot; sides increased too much after this and gains were pretty much the same
I can't think of anything else to say about this cycle but if anyone wants to know anything else feel free to ask.
I won't be putting up pics as outlined in a previous post. This cycle was not about aesthetics but strength.
