P-Plex/Epi Bridge + Formex

[JeffD]

I'll be starting in a couple weeks. I've been doing a ton of reading for the last 2 months and finally have my cycle laid out. I have one hdrol cycle under my belt. I'm 36, 228lbs, 18% (and dropping) and have been training seriously for 10+ years with the last 5 years focussing on powerlifting. I have a couple meets under my belt with my best competition lifts so far of:
Squat - 454 (belt only)
Bench - 325 (wrist wraps only)
Dead - 545 (belt only)

I'll be testing my 1RM on bench next week and I'm hoping for somewhere around 335-345. Anyway, here's the cycle:

(Cycle/PCT)
PPlex - 30/30/30/20/0/0
Epi - 0/0/20/30/40/40
Formex - 0/0/0/0/25/25/50/50/25/25
Nolva - 0/0/0/0/0/0/40(2 or 3 days)/20/20/10
Cycle Assist - 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/8/0/0
PCT Assist - 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/6/6/6
Cort Control - 3 weeks into PCT x 4 weeks.

Diet will be a clean bulk type diet about 500 over maintenance with 1-2 cheats per week PPWO after heaviest sessions (heavy bench/ME sq/dl). Cals will be based on actual weight and adjusted weekly. Any comments are welcome, I'm willing to tweak if needed, but I have everything ready to go and I'm not looking to buy anything else.

I've gotten a ton of help on this site just searching and reading, so I figured I'd post it up and log it.

 

[Ju1cedUp]

get ready for get big my man. i saw good strength in the beginning and its pickin up now again in the 5th week

 

[Ju1cedUp]

o and 40 for two weeks with nolva seems a bit too much, maybe the first 3 days, first week TOPS. heard 20mg of nolva is really all u need.

 

[JeffD]

o and 40 for two weeks with nolva seems a bit too much, maybe the first 3 days, first week TOPS. heard 20mg of nolva is really all u need.

Yeah, I started to rethink that also. 40 for 2 weeks is DEFINATELY too much. I'll probably do more like you said, 40 for 2 or 3 days, then 20 for a couple weeks, 10 for a week and done.

Edited OP.

 

[Ju1cedUp]

o and p-plex 4th week. i know when i started i was like, o i guess i'll taper down, keep the total orals mg lower, but i kept it up at 40 and all was good, no further sides, only some better gains

 

[JeffD]

o and p-plex 4th week. i know when i started i was like, o i guess i'll taper down, keep the total orals mg lower, but i kept it up at 40 and all was good, no further sides, only some better gains

Yeah, that should say 20-30. It will depend on sides and how I'm reacting to it I guess.

 

[JeffD]

The more I look at it and think about it, I think I'll run the Formex @ 25mg ED during PCT (no bump to 50mg the 1st 2 weeks) as was suggested by M16 in the IBE section.

 

[nickrut]

The more I look at it and think about it, I think I'll run the Formex @ 25mg ED during PCT (no bump to 50mg the 1st 2 weeks) as was suggested by M16 in the IBE section.

Should work out well. Though 25 mg may be quite low. I generally like 50 mg/day or 100

 

[JeffD]

Should work out well. Though 25 mg may be quite low. I generally like 50 mg/day or 100

I guess I'm thinking along the lines of too much estrogen supression, then worrying about rebound after PCT. Especially if I used a higher dose formex along with the anti-E properties of epi at the end of the cycle. If anything I would taper it up at the end of PCT as test levels are coming back up.

Any thoughts on running the PP for 5 weeks rather than 4? Seems like 5 is the sweet spot for PP, or is that a bit too much?

 

[Ju1cedUp]

I guess I'm thinking along the lines of too much estrogen supression, then worrying about rebound after PCT. Especially if I used a higher dose formex along with the anti-E properties of epi at the end of the cycle. If anything I would taper it up at the end of PCT as test levels are coming back up.

Any thoughts on running the PP for 5 weeks rather than 4? Seems like 5 is the sweet spot for PP, or is that a bit too much?

I dont think if i ran the PP one more week it would've done much, the effects were kinda winding down as i ended the 4th week. and i agree with u on the formex, except i wouldnt start running it on cycle because of epi's anti-e properties, save it for later to prevent flooding and keep estrogen minimal.

 

[UnrealMachine]

The weight gains were winding down, or the strength gains, or both?

And considering you gained like what, 13 pounds, have you increased your calories by 8% too? That makes a big difference.

 

[Ju1cedUp]

everyday i eat til i'm sick to my stomach, i havent counted calories. i eat every 2-3 hours with as much food as possible. but i meant the strength mostly. i dont think 3 pounds in a week is TOO bad for the 4th week

 

[UnrealMachine]

Alright, interesting, good to know your results. That's a lot of food, glad you can do that without packing on fat.

For me on Phera, i gained about 10 pounds in oh about the first 12 days, and very little strength. Over the next 12 days i gained like, 2 pounds, and my strength increased a lot. It was pretty weird, like it swoled me up quick with water-weight, glycogen etc. and then used that environment to get me stronger.

 

[Logo]

Alright, interesting, good to know your results. That's a lot of food, glad you can do that without packing on fat.

For me on Phera, i gained about 10 pounds in oh about the first 12 days, and very little strength. Over the next 12 days i gained like, 2 pounds, and my strength increased a lot. It was pretty weird, like it swoled me up quick with water-weight, glycogen etc. and then used that environment to get me stronger.

Did any of that weight drop off during PCT?

 

[UnrealMachine]

yeah, most of it, but I was just slightly leaner and just slightly stronger after everything.

 

[Ju1cedUp]

Alright, interesting, good to know your results. That's a lot of food, glad you can do that without packing on fat.

For me on Phera, i gained about 10 pounds in oh about the first 12 days, and very little strength. Over the next 12 days i gained like, 2 pounds, and my strength increased a lot. It was pretty weird, like it swoled me up quick with water-weight, glycogen etc. and then used that environment to get me stronger.

yea i'll second that the weight came on reallll quick, then the strength. and i have a ridiculous metabolism so i can still kind of see my abs with all that food.

 

[Logo]

yeah, most of it, but I was just slightly leaner and just slightly stronger after everything.

Were you using it to bulk or cut? Thanks.

 

[UnrealMachine]

bulk

That doesn't sound like it worked too well for you.

no, not really. Should have run it longer, like 5 weeks, and upped the dose. Then should have increased calories in PCT and ignore the fat and focus on keeping muscle.

Worked better than a lot of other PH/DS i tried though.

 

[Logo]

That doesn't sound like it worked too well for you.

 

[JeffD]

no, not really. Should have run it longer, like 5 weeks, and upped the dose. Then should have increased calories in PCT and ignore the fat and focus on keeping muscle.

Worked better than a lot of other PH/DS i tried though.

I think that is a MAJOR reason people loose gains during PCT. I think you should be pushing harder as far as diet and training go as you go into PCT. Good post.

Just got back from vacation. Preloading Cycle Assist now, starting my cycle on Monday, FINALLY!!

 

[JeffD]

Finished my first week @ 30mg/day on Sunday. Weight is up about 6-7lbs, no real strength gains yet which is normal I think for PP. I have been eating more (almost force feeding with the cold I had for a few days last week). Haven't been terribly clean either and I haven't seen the fat spillover that I normally would after eating all the junk for the last couple days. Looking A LITTLE leaner, not much. Probably would have been more noticable if I ate cleaner last week. I was just trying to get the calories in with the reduced appetite from the virus. Feeling better now though, training wasn't affected.

Diet will be cleaner this week, except for PWO/PPWO. I'll be bridging to epi after this week also with a 2 week overlap.

 

[Ju1cedUp]

Finished my first week @ 30mg/day on Sunday. Weight is up about 6-7lbs, no real strength gains yet which is normal I think for PP. I have been eating more (almost force feeding with the cold I had for a few days last week). Haven't been terribly clean either and I haven't seen the fat spillover that I normally would after eating all the junk for the last couple days. Looking A LITTLE leaner, not much. Probably would have been more noticable if I ate cleaner last week. I was just trying to get the calories in with the reduced appetite from the virus. Feeling better now though, training wasn't affected.

Diet will be cleaner this week, except for PWO/PPWO. I'll be bridging to epi after this week also with a 2 week overlap.

yea the strength gains took alittle longer. i got a virus now.. ugh

 

[JeffD]

Noticing some water weight gain the last couple days. Eyes and face feel "puffy". Nothing too bad I guess. Strength gains kicked in the end of this week, next week should be fun.

 

[JeffD]

End of my third week today, and I CAN'T WAIT to be done with the pplex! I'm retaining so much water, i can feel it when I bend my fingers. I'm (obviously) looking bigger, but I think I look like crap. My face is bloated as hell and eyes are puffy all the time like I've been crying or something. Granted my diet hasn't been terribly clean, but this is ridiculous. I also feel like i've been having a 3 week allergy attack, I'm blowing my nose all the time.

I'm noticing some strength gains, nothing to write home about though. The pplex and epi were both at 30/day last week. This week pplex goes down to 20/day (last week of pplex - thank God!) with epi to 40/day for 3 more weeks.

I'm hoping the epi will dry things out a bit with some strength gains over the next few weeks. I don't see myself running pplex again.