first cycle : H-Drol by CEL. Critique!

[hoop]

hey guys... first post, but been researching alot about hdrol.
basically want to get gigantic so trying out a solid hdrol cycle to help me get there.

stats:

age 21
height : 5'8
weight : 176lbs

been lifting for nearly 1 and a half years..

so after deliberating with my friend (he's doing the cycle with me) we came up with this..

Hdrol will be 50/50/75/75/75/75 (got 2 bottles, suggest something better?)

Pre-Load: weeks 1-2
Hawthorne Berry (1000mg) - 1 in am, 1 in pm

during cycle: weeks 3-4
H-drol by CEL - 25mg 7am, 25mg 5pm
Cycle Assist by CEL - 4 caps 12pm, 4 caps 10pm
Taurine - 3g 7am, 3g 5pm

during cycle: weeks 5-8
hdrol by cel - 25mg 7am, 50mg 5pm
cycle assist by cel - 4 caps 12pm, 4 caps 10pm
taurine - 3g 7am, 3g 5pm

post cycle: weeks 9-12
P.C.T. Assist by cel - 2 caps 7am, 2 caps 5pm
inhibit-e by sns - 1 cap 7am, 2 caps 5pm
liver xt by sns - 3 caps 12pm, 3 caps 10pm

post cycle: weeks 13-16
reduce xt by sns - 1 cap 7am, 1 cap 12pm, 1 cap 10pm
(should i stil be taking inhibit/pct assist/liverxt here?)

Also, hdrol on empty or with food?

cheers guys for any help!

 

[bboyflash]

wats ur goal? and hows ur diet? u need a cort blocker in pct...keep researching theres a ton of hdrol/halovar logs that explain everything...

 

[hoop]

diets something like 3500 cals a day, the usual:
eggs oats 8am
beef wrap 11am
tuna rice 1pm
chicken rice 4pm
steak rice 9pm

im 176lbs now, about 19% body fat, end goal i want something like 195lbs at around 10-12%.. i know that wont happen straight away, but im aiming for that over a the next several years.

what cort blocker do you recommend?

 

[hoop]

I thought reduce xt was a cort blocker

 

[corsaking]

Mmmmmmm 21 in my book the age is questionable as to whether you should be going down this route.
What youre going to do is shut down the most powerful hormone in your body at a time when it is never going to be in greater amounts again.My view is you should be taking advantage of this time in life .Steroids wont get you gigantic. They may put on a small amount of muscle but only if your training , diet is in good shape and you get plenty of rest/sleep.Something which you could acheive without hdrol at your age.

As for your diet , you havent told us how many grams of protein /carbs youre taking-theres no mention of veggies, no mention of good fats, or anything about your training.

 

[hoop]

well im taking in somewhere between 250-300g of protein, I take 6g of fish oil a day, cook all meals with extra virgin olive oil, and I mix in a tablespoon of natty peanut butter with my morning and pwo shake, and 300g~ of carbs a day.

i do a 4 day split

monday - chest/triceps
tuesday - back
wednesday - legs
thursday - shoulders/biceps
friday - cardio
saturday - cardio
sunday - off

right now my lifts are at this:

barbell bench press - 220lbs x 8
Deadlift - 320lbs x 6
leg press - 660lbs x 12
squat - 260lbs x 10
military - 198lbs x 12

what would be the next best supplement to take next to h-drol? i feel like ive plateaued atm, cant get over 80kgs without it being water weight or fat.. my strength hardly goes up now, just some days i can do more depending on how well rested i am. thanks for any help guys appreciate it!

 

[corsaking]

well im taking in somewhere between 250-300g of protein, I take 6g of fish oil a day, cook all meals with extra virgin olive oil, and I mix in a tablespoon of natty peanut butter with my morning and pwo shake, and 300g~ of carbs a day.

i do a 4 day split

monday - chest/triceps
tuesday - back
wednesday - legs
thursday - shoulders/biceps
friday - cardio
saturday - cardio
sunday - off

right now my lifts are at this:

barbell bench press - 220lbs x 8
Deadlift - 320lbs x 6
leg press - 660lbs x 12
squat - 260lbs x 10
military - 198lbs x 12

what would be the next best supplement to take next to h-drol? i feel like ive plateaued atm, cant get over 80kgs without it being water weight or fat.. my strength hardly goes up now, just some days i can do more depending on how well rested i am. thanks for any help guys appreciate it!

If you want to increase strength then i suggest you see if theyre are any powerlifters in your gym and ask for some tips.
From what i know your reps are too high and should be around the 5 mark on your first set to failure, then increase the weight do no more than 4 reps again last rep should be a real struggle and so on until you can only do one rep on your final set . Follow that with a lighter weight and do at least 10 reps but more if you can ..This can be applied to bench press, deadlifts and squat but correct form is essential -injury is the last thing you want.

as for a supplement you after something thats not a steroid?

 

[TripDog]

A first cycle shouldn't go past 4 weeks, and don't go above 50mg. This isn't a game where you can take back problems once they occur. Unless you have experience with expectations, and the many factors that come with cycling, start off small. Halodrol is a good first cycle compound, but this is dose dependant however. Going above 50mg you risk a whole new ballgame, and shutdown issues. Four weeks at 50mg wont shut you down bad at all, and pct will be rather easy. Once you hit 75-100, and extending the duration, you will have a much less enjoyable experience once shutdown occurs, delayed recovery, libido loss, and the lethargy that makes you want to sleep all day. Your life.....

 

[corsaking]

A first cycle shouldn't go past 4 weeks, and don't go above 50mg. This isn't a game where you can take back problems once they occur. Unless you have experience with expectations, and the many factors that come with cycling, start off small. Halodrol is a good first cycle compound, but this is dose dependant however. Going above 50mg you risk a whole new ballgame, and shutdown issues. Four weeks at 50mg wont shut you down bad at all, and pct will be rather easy. Once you hit 75-100, and extending the duration, you will have a much less enjoyable experience once shutdown occurs, delayed recovery, libido loss, and the lethargy that makes you want to sleep all day. Your life.....

Having read the above my next question would be , how much can i expect to gain in terms of muscle mass doing a 4 week cycle at a low dose,
If it doesnt meet up to what you were hoping for , then i would leave it alone. Youre also relieving yourself of the anxiety of wondering what if so and so happens , will the supplements i take be enough to get things back to normal etc etc.
Think long and hard before going down this route. As i said before at 21 , youve really no need to.

 

[hoop]

well ive been at 80kgs~ for over 4 months now.. going down to 78kgs then up to 82kgs then back down to 80kgs etc.. everything is in check, but i dont seem to be gaining muscle.. i lift hard, i always walk out of the gym half dead, i always eat well, cheats here and there but not enough to completely hinder me.. maybe i should start using other supps besides protein and multi's.. any suggestions if you dont suggest phs?

 

[corsaking]

well ive been at 80kgs~ for over 4 months now.. going down to 78kgs then up to 82kgs then back down to 80kgs etc.. everything is in check, but i dont seem to be gaining muscle.. i lift hard, i always walk out of the gym half dead, i always eat well, cheats here and there but not enough to completely hinder me.. maybe i should start using other supps besides protein and multi's.. any suggestions if you dont suggest phs?

have you tried creatine monohydrate, BCAA ;

try upping your calorie intake ;cutting back on cardio and your only having 1 day of rest per week. id have one day less on cardio , rest on the wednesday and sunday, then pick up on thursday with legs .What cardio do you do , cos if its running , you have currently 3 demanding days , legs followed by 2 sessions of cardio,
Youre not giving your body time to recover, Its only during the rest periods ie sleep, days off that you build muscle.

 

[-2z-]

well ive been at 80kgs~ for over 4 months now.. going down to 78kgs then up to 82kgs then back down to 80kgs etc.. everything is in check, but i dont seem to be gaining muscle.. i lift hard, i always walk out of the gym half dead, i always eat well, cheats here and there but not enough to completely hinder me.. maybe i should start using other supps besides protein and multi's.. any suggestions if you dont suggest phs?

I know this is a few weeks old, but I wanted to answer anyway, because I had the same prob years and years ago when I first encountered a plateau not long after starting to lift seriously.

I think the issue could be your 'long term' schedule or progamming. If you've been pounding away as hard as you say you have with a lot of volume AND intensity, you need to deload in a big big way. You're body can only take so much and needs time and adequate rest to super compensate (or grow) after all the beating you give it.

A few things:

Since you are not gaining anyway, this would be a great time to drop some bodyfat. I know you don't wanna hear that, but IDEAL muscle gains usually take place when one is around 10-12% bf...maybe a little more. It has a lot to do with how your hormone profile changes and preferential distribution of nutrients. So drop some body fat and at least that way you will LOOK bigger.

After you at least get down to 12-13%, The time with lowered calories will have your body primed for soaking up nutrients when you DO increase calories for a bulk. In other words, your body will react like it's supposed to when you SLOWLY start increasing the calories back up. This way more of your gains are likely to be MUSCLE and less fat gain.

Look up some diet strategies or get a coach. What you learn from them you can use the rest of your life and it's more than worth the cost. Try separating your meals into protein and fat meals ....and protein and carb meals. John Berardi, Shelby Starnes, etc. all recommend and use this strategy with some great results.

If you dig around and are still struggling, message me or something.

Secondly, do this:
Get find a five rep max, for Bench, Squats, Deadlift, and if you want to train 4 days, add overhead press.

After you get your numbers, knock about 30-40lbs or so off those numbers.
Use THAT weight in a 5x5 rep scheme for your first movement of the day.
(bench on chest day...squat on legs, etc.) It will seem easy at first, but that's part of the plan. Then after you get that done, pick 2-3 other movements for the same bodypart, and do those for 2-3 sets of 10reps for each movement.

NOW...each week on the 5x5 part...increase the weight by 5lbs. IF YOU COMPLETE ALL 5 SETS WITH 5 REPS. You'll increase every week to begin with, but it gets difficult after a while. On the other movements, just try to keep the reps around 10 reps per set, with maybe 1 rep left in the tank.

example:

Leg Day:
Squats- 5 sets of 5reps @ 225 or whatever.
then....
Romanian Deadlifts (for hamstrings) 2x10
Leg press 2x12-15 or calfs for 2x something.

Chest day would be
Flat bench 5x5 at whatever weight,
incline db presses 2x10
dips/weighted dips 2x10-12

etc.

I know that's a lot, but I just remember being in your shoes years ago.
Hope that helps. If you need some of that info clarified, shoot me a pm.

Blessings Bro

 

[hoop]

I know this is a few weeks old, but I wanted to answer anyway, because I had the same prob years and years ago when I first encountered a plateau not long after starting to lift seriously.

I think the issue could be your 'long term' schedule or progamming. If you've been pounding away as hard as you say you have with a lot of volume AND intensity, you need to deload in a big big way. You're body can only take so much and needs time and adequate rest to super compensate (or grow) after all the beating you give it.

A few things:

Since you are not gaining anyway, this would be a great time to drop some bodyfat. I know you don't wanna hear that, but IDEAL muscle gains usually take place when one is around 10-12% bf...maybe a little more. It has a lot to do with how your hormone profile changes and preferential distribution of nutrients. So drop some body fat and at least that way you will LOOK bigger.

After you at least get down to 12-13%, The time with lowered calories will have your body primed for soaking up nutrients when you DO increase calories for a bulk. In other words, your body will react like it's supposed to when you SLOWLY start increasing the calories back up. This way more of your gains are likely to be MUSCLE and less fat gain.

Look up some diet strategies or get a coach. What you learn from them you can use the rest of your life and it's more than worth the cost. Try separating your meals into protein and fat meals ....and protein and carb meals. John Berardi, Shelby Starnes, etc. all recommend and use this strategy with some great results.

If you dig around and are still struggling, message me or something.

Secondly, do this:
Get find a five rep max, for Bench, Squats, Deadlift, and if you want to train 4 days, add overhead press.

After you get your numbers, knock about 30-40lbs or so off those numbers.
Use THAT weight in a 5x5 rep scheme for your first movement of the day.
(bench on chest day...squat on legs, etc.) It will seem easy at first, but that's part of the plan. Then after you get that done, pick 2-3 other movements for the same bodypart, and do those for 2-3 sets of 10reps for each movement.

NOW...each week on the 5x5 part...increase the weight by 5lbs. IF YOU COMPLETE ALL 5 SETS WITH 5 REPS. You'll increase every week to begin with, but it gets difficult after a while. On the other movements, just try to keep the reps around 10 reps per set, with maybe 1 rep left in the tank.

example:

Leg Day:
Squats- 5 sets of 5reps @ 225 or whatever.
then....
Romanian Deadlifts (for hamstrings) 2x10
Leg press 2x12-15 or calfs for 2x something.

Chest day would be
Flat bench 5x5 at whatever weight,
incline db presses 2x10
dips/weighted dips 2x10-12

etc.

I know that's a lot, but I just remember being in your shoes years ago.
Hope that helps. If you need some of that info clarified, shoot me a pm.

Blessings Bro

Thankyou so much for the answer, you actually listened to me and answered with thought. I have started to cut.. I was at around 20% I'm down to around 17 so I want to push for 11.. I realize now how much muscle I have actually gained since i started.. I used to be 90kgs not lifted a weight in my life.. So I think I was like 30% lol. After I cut down.. Grow a little bit I'll try a mild ph cycle next year. Maybe 50/50/50/50?