[CuChulainn]

Here we go, just got all my supps in today.

Plan goes something like this
10, 10, 10
20, 20, 20
20, 20, 20
20, 20, 10

Though it may get modified depending how I feel into
(same first 3 weeks)
1 week off
Repeat first three weeks

I will be taking 40mg TD formestane on off days and pyramiding it for PCT with:
40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 140, 120, 100, 80, 60, 40

If at 3 weeks i decide to take a week off and do another three week i will probably order some nolva or torem at the three week point and use that for PCT.

My current stats:
6'3"
203.2 lbs
14.8% BF (as measured by my impedance scale, which fluctuates by about 3% in either direction) I would guesstimate it at closer to 17-19%
Been hitting the gym hard for about 3 years, but lost a LOT of mass after an injury and have gained a lot of it back, but got stuck at this point. (I was as low as 170@10% at one point )

Total eventual goals 210-215@ 7-9% body fat, which means I need to gain: (depending on where my current stats actually lie, and whether I decide to end up at 210@9% or 215@7%)
18-36lbs LBM
and lose
11-24lbs body fat

Big ranges I know, though I would like to think I would be happy at the lower end of the scale (210@9%, I will probably keep pushing it until i am 215@7% ) I hope to hit these goals in about 6-9 months with about 3 cycles, this one being the bulk, the next one i will stack pulsed m-drol and h-drol for a recomp, and the last one will be a solid H-drol cycle for cutting.


I will be eating about 3400-3700 calories a day, in which I will make sure i get at least 250g protien and 350g carbs.

[EasyEJL]

the formestane makes this an interesting one

[CuChulainn]

Originally Posted by EasyEJL

the formestane makes this an interesting one

I guess I will be a guinea pig, though my "risky" seems like sheer wussiness compared to voodoo from ******** = P

oh as a note, I know there is no possible way that the dose i took an hour before working out could have had a significant effect, but hell the placebo effect was great. had a stellar workout!

Oh as a note, I am doing a MWF workout routine to go along with the dosage (though this week it will be a tues, wed, friday workout, since i missed my workout on presidents day)

Workout goes like this:
M: Chest, Triceps, Calves, Abs
W: Back, Biceps, Abs
F: Legs, Shoulders, Abs

That way i get calves 2x a week, and I will also occasionally add an extra shoulder workout on Monday, as that is one of my weak spots.

[CuChulainn]

diet has been spot on for the past two days, but i am having a hell of a time force feeding myself. I feel stuffed all day but am only putting away ~3200kcal with my percentages as:

Total: 3192
Grams----Calories----%
Fat: 108----972----31%
Sat: 27----242----8%
Poly: 19----167----5%
Mono: 53----478----15%
Carbs: 346----1257----40%
Fiber: 32----0----0%
Protein: 219----876----28%

Tomorrow i will try and have higher protien % and lower fat (though all my fats are healthy, composed entirely of peanut butter, olive oil, almonds, and smart choice omega 3/6/9 butter substitute) by substituting my eggs + toast + smart choice + peanut butter breakfast with a protein shake with oats added in.

In every other way i feel right as rain though.

[EasyEJL]

nothing wrong with those %. macro breakdowns really are individual. I do miserably when my carbs go over 150g a day. just my personal body chem

[CuChulainn]

Day 7
Well, my training has been spot on, as has my diet (though i "cheated" with some dirty calories this weekend) and my scale said 207.2 @14.9% today
I think it must be a combination of glycogen and h2o stores, because there is no way i have gained 5lbs of lean mass yet. (i wish) I do feel that I have gained noticeable mass, but it would be unrealistic to assume all the weight gain was muscle.

Anyway, good progress so far!

[DBinMD]

Originally Posted by CuChulainn

Been hitting the gym hard for about 3 years, but lost a LOT of mass after an injury and have gained a lot of it back, but got stuck at this point. (I was as low as 170@10% at one point )

CuChulainn,

Just out of curiosity, what were your stats before the injury? Back in 2001 I busted both my quad tendons, by the time I was able to workout again I had lost almost 40 lbs. My upper body came back fast enough, legs took forever; but perseverance and intelligence pay off. I assume you’re pretty much over the injury, by now.


Good luck.

[Schism]

Cuchulainn, Nice brother. I'm subbed, I'll be running the exact same cycle as soon as my nolva gets here (hopefully any day now) so I'm definitely in. Only different thing is, I will probably go up to 30mgs for the last 2 weeks. Looks solid though, good luck!!!

[CuChulainn]

Originally Posted by DBinMD

CuChulainn,

Just out of curiosity, what were your stats before the injury? Back in 2001 I busted both my quad tendons, by the time I was able to workout again I had lost almost 40 lbs. My upper body came back fast enough, legs took forever; but perseverance and intelligence pay off. I assume you’re pretty much over the injury, by now.


Good luck.

I dont recall my exact stats, but it was something around 190-198@10-12% or so, which puts me pretty close to my peak already, muscle mass wise. Mine was a lower back injury (spent 4-5 months on vacation, in the car and on a cruise (took a cruise then a hella road trip)) after which I went at it too hard and jacked up my back. My legs and back went to hell, right now my recent max for deadlift is 255, though i am confident that i could put on at least another 20-30lbs. I also have jacked up my left ankle more times than i care to count, so I have a big problem with squats (my ankle doesnt flex as far forward as it should) which puts a LOT of extra strain on my back and knees. So i never really do less than 6 reps with that, I am still kind of afraid to 1rm it. I rep with 155-175 which is actually about the same that I power clean . To make it that much more difficult, i usually work without a spotter. I am new to the area, and most of the people at my gym are idiots (high school guys strutting for the ladies) :frusturate: This is terribly annoying because when I was younger (like 15) and played basketball, raced BMX and mountain biked all the time i had FAR stronger legs than i do now at 27.

I am over the back injury, but not sure what to do about the ankle. It is very strong, just not able to flex as far forward as is necessary for olympic lifts, I may just have to stick to powerlifting squats.

[CuChulainn]

Originally Posted by Schism

Cuchulainn, Nice brother. I'm subbed, I'll be running the exact same cycle as soon as my nolva gets here (hopefully any day now) so I'm definitely in. Only different thing is, I will probably go up to 30mgs for the last 2 weeks. Looks solid though, good luck!!!

I may go up to 30, depending on how i feel. If i keep the gains up at this rate with 20, i will stick with that.

Oh yeah, no side effect so far either, feeling on top of the world.

[DBinMD]

Originally Posted by CuChulainn

I dont recall my exact stats, but it was something around 190-198@10-12% or so, which puts me pretty close to my peak already, muscle mass wise. Mine was a lower back injury (spent 4-5 months on vacation, in the car and on a cruise (took a cruise then a hella road trip)) after which I went at it too hard and jacked up my back. My legs and back went to hell, right now my recent max for deadlift is 255, though i am confident that i could put on at least another 20-30lbs. I also have jacked up my left ankle more times than i care to count, so I have a big problem with squats (my ankle doesnt flex as far forward as it should) which puts a LOT of extra strain on my back and knees. So i never really do less than 6 reps with that, I am still kind of afraid to 1rm it. I rep with 155-175 which is actually about the same that I power clean . To make it that much more difficult, i usually work without a spotter. I am new to the area, and most of the people at my gym are idiots (high school guys strutting for the ladies) :frusturate: This is terribly annoying because when I was younger (like 15) and played basketball, raced BMX and mountain biked all the time i had FAR stronger legs than i do now at 27.

I am over the back injury, but not sure what to do about the ankle. It is very strong, just not able to flex as far forward as is necessary for olympic lifts, I may just have to stick to powerlifting squats.

I wouldn’t worry about going lower than 6 reps. I’m not sure how beneficial low reps really are unless you plan on entering a power lifting contest. After I busted both my quad tendons doing leg presses, it was a long time before I could do anything more than 100 lbs for legs, and only until recently would I do less than 8 reps. I did some of my best praying in the gym. Finding a good spotter is hard for me, too, that’s one of the reasons I keep my reps high. Unless you’ve already done so, you might need to see a specialist about your ankle.

I really miss doing barbell squats, but sometimes you can find something similar that can be good enough. My gym has a V-Squat machine that is OK. Something like that might put less stress on your ankle or lower back. My biggest beef is, since I’m short, the machine barely reaches parallel, but it works well enough (most people don’t even try to go that low, anyway). I think that’s why I put so much into my dead lift.

Try not to get frustrated. As long as you’re making progress, I wouldn’t worry about the weight, it’ll come with hard work and proper nutrition. Back in 2001, old people were asking me if I needed help; now I can usually dead lift 505 for 3-6 reps and full leg press 700 for 6-8 reps.


DB

[CuChulainn]

Originally Posted by DBinMD

I wouldn’t worry about going lower than 6 reps. I’m not sure how beneficial low reps really are unless you plan on entering a power lifting contest. After I busted both my quad tendons doing leg presses, it was a long time before I could do anything more than 100 lbs for legs, and only until recently would I do less than 8 reps. I did some of my best praying in the gym. Finding a good spotter is hard for me, too, that’s one of the reasons I keep my reps high. Unless you’ve already done so, you might need to see a specialist about your ankle.

I really miss doing barbell squats, but sometimes you can find something similar that can be good enough. My gym has a V-Squat machine that is OK. Something like that might put less stress on your ankle or lower back. My biggest beef is, since I’m short, the machine barely reaches parallel, but it works well enough (most people don’t even try to go that low, anyway). I think that’s why I put so much into my dead lift.

Try not to get frustrated. As long as you’re making progress, I wouldn’t worry about the weight, it’ll come with hard work and proper nutrition. Back in 2001, old people were asking me if I needed help; now I can usually dead lift 505 for 3-6 reps and full leg press 700 for 6-8 reps.


DB

Yeah, I do need to go to an specialist about my ankle, also glad to hear that you have apparently made a full recovery. Luckily my ankle is flexible enough that I can do a full powerlifting squat (i can even do box squats with my legs at "powerlifting" angles, though i do need to work on hip flexibility), I just cant do olympic squats or front squats. I cant really stand most of the machines, they just dont "feel right" with my knees.

Thanks for the encouragement! Its more helpful than you know.

[Schism]

Originally Posted by CuChulainn

Yeah, I do need to go to an specialist about my ankle, also glad to hear that you have apparently made a full recovery. Luckily my ankle is flexible enough that I can do a full powerlifting squat (i can even do box squats with my legs at "powerlifting" angles, though i do need to work on hip flexibility), I just cant do olympic squats or front squats. I cant really stand most of the machines, they just dont "feel right" with my knees.

Thanks for the encouragement! Its more helpful than you know.

I feel you guys on that. About 3 years ago I was doing some dumbsh!t (back flipped off my buddy's front porch) when I was, lets say "not feeling well" and tore all the tendons in my right ankle. Dude that was fcuking terrible I had bruises from my side of my knee to the bottom of my foot, my foot was totally black for like a month ( wish I had pic's of it).
Anyways needless to say I wasn't walking without crutches for 6 months, and it's never felt the same since. I have to work around it and I mainly use machines to do that because the squat just aint happenin! One thing I like to do is just use lighter weight for really high reps. I've found my legs actually respond better to this anyways. So I usually go pretty light and go for the 25-50rep range. I don't know if this will help you but it's worked well for me to prevent my stupid@ss from further damage!

I'm really stoked about your log bro, hope you see some great gains from this cycle!!

[DBinMD]

Cu:

I don't consider my recovery full, my left quad feels like it's missing a tendon, so I guess it's a "tri" but I've learned to deal with it, grudgeonly. But, I'm glad I was of some help. I look around me and there's so many people half my age with real health issues I just need to be thankful.

----

Schism:

6 months is a long time, did you ever have them repaired or where they supposed to heal naturally?

Tendon and ligament injuries are the worst, I think I’d rather break a bone. Tendons just don’t seem to get a much attention from docs. I spiral fractured my ankle, I think it took about a year or so to get full mobility, but afterwards no problem.

[Schism]

DBinMD, Ya six months was along time! The worst part of it was I lost more than an inch on my right calf and more than that on my quad! I actually voted not to have surgery because the Dr. I had said it was pretty much a 50% chance whether it would heal any better with the surgery than on it's own and the recovery could be longer (though I can't imagine that).
I later regretted that because like I mentioned it has never been the same since, and it was more than a year before I could even perform body weight squats!! I would have much rather broken it, funny because even the Dr. said that would have been a drastic improvement from the situation I was in!! I haven't attempted a back flip since lol...


I wonder if I can still do them??

[CuChulainn]

Originally Posted by Schism

I wonder if I can still do them??

I dunno, you gotta have a pretty good vertical as well as having everything else workin right, might be pretty hard with only one good leg = P

BTW 180.0 today