Noob 1st cycle question

Jdubbya

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I've been intrigued by steroids since I was 18 (I'm now 26) and am now more seriously considering them.

I spent many years doing retarded drugs (literally done everything and mixed most things together) and got down to 115lbs (I'm 6').

Since then I've spent the past 4 almost 5 years straightening myself out and dieting/exercising trying to be a functioning adult lol.
I'm now 6' 165lbs.

My thoughts are to do an 8 week test cycle coupled with Anavar and then nolva for pct.

My question(s) are mostly about limiting side effects and maximizing safety/results.

I see a lot of Test E at 500mg for a beginner cycle but not coupled with Anavar. Anavar seems like an obvious thing to stack with test but is it too much for a first cycle? (I say first and only right now).

Lastly, is an Anavar only cycle worth a damn? I have a homie who is interested in cycling with me but is more needle adverse than me.

Thanks.
 
Renew1

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I've been intrigued by steroids since I was 18 (I'm now 26) and am now more seriously considering them.

I spent many years doing retarded drugs (literally done everything and mixed most things together) and got down to 115lbs (I'm 6').

Since then I've spent the past 4 almost 5 years straightening myself out and dieting/exercising trying to be a functioning adult lol.
I'm now 6' 165lbs.

My thoughts are to do an 8 week test cycle coupled with Anavar and then nolva for pct.

My question(s) are mostly about limiting side effects and maximizing safety/results.

I see a lot of Test E at 500mg for a beginner cycle but not coupled with Anavar. Anavar seems like an obvious thing to stack with test but is it too much for a first cycle? (I say first and only right now).

Lastly, is an Anavar only cycle worth a damn? I have a homie who is interested in cycling with me but is more needle adverse than me.

Thanks.
What kind of lifting numbers and habits do you have?

How many calories do you consume?
 

Jdubbya

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What kind of lifting numbers and habits do you have?

How many calories do you consume?
I lift Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.
I don't do 1RM on my lifts (maybe I should?)
Bench: 155lbs 5x3
Squat: 185lbs 5x3
Deadlift 215lbs 5x3
Certainly nothing very impressive, but from where I started/coming from I am pretty happy with my progress.

I'm bad about tracking actually calories now that I'm not anorexic. When I was actively trying to not die it was 4k daily for sure.
But now it depends on work and my schedule. Certainly about 3k a day. I've recently started meal prepping with eat meal having a chicken breast with a whole sweet potato and some veggies or a whole steak and brown rice or some combination of the such.

I supplement that with 1 protein shake a day and I eat a good bit of mozzarella cheese, yogurt, and milk to maximize how many calories I can get in a day.
 
Renew1

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I lift Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.
I don't do 1RM on my lifts (maybe I should?)
Bench: 155lbs 5x3
Squat: 185lbs 5x3
Deadlift 215lbs 5x3
Certainly nothing very impressive, but from where I started/coming from I am pretty happy with my progress.

I'm bad about tracking actually calories now that I'm not anorexic. When I was actively trying to not die it was 4k daily for sure.
But now it depends on work and my schedule. Certainly about 3k a day. I've recently started meal prepping with eat meal having a chicken breast with a whole sweet potato and some veggies or a whole steak and brown rice or some combination of the such.

I supplement that with 1 protein shake a day and I eat a good bit of mozzarella cheese, yogurt, and milk to maximize how many calories I can get in a day.

Great job on improving your situation, brother!

My BEST advice for you, and it's really the same advice I give anyone...
Is to try to maximize yourself without drugs First.
You don't want to depend upon them. They should be the Final layer. The Icing on the Cake.

You've worked yourself into a fairly good starting position to build yourself up (weight, muscle mass, and strength wise) Naturally.
..And you've got a WHOLE LOT of natural gains waiting on you.

Then once you get at (or near) your natural potential, you could use Anabolics to hit another gear (if you still chose to).

... Another thing to consider, is that Anabolics (artificial hormones) can (and usually do) mess with guys' heads. Sometimes a lot.

Anyway, just giving you my best advice, brother.
I wish you well, no matter what you do.
 
Whisky

Whisky

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Hey bro,

congrats on sorting your stuff out and getting to where you are now.

in reality, based on your height, weight and lifts it’s unlikely you have neared your genetic potential (this varies massively for people but generally speaking I would expect to see you 15lbs heavier and lifts a fair bit up from those - but like I say it does vary)

have you plateaued in the gym or are you still progressing?

if your professing then keep doing what you are doing (the steroids will still be there down the line)

if you have hit a plateau for a year or so then have you changed up training styles? Used a coach, added calories etc

all these things can get you moving in the right direction.

im far from anti steroids (I use them a lot) but at 26 and potentially with more to achieve naturally I couldn’t advise someone to step down this path

if you were too you have to know it’s normally a one way street. We keep doing it until we end up on trt. Very few people do one or two cycles and stop.

test only as a first cycle is the optimal way to go, 350-400mg ish is all that’s needed to see how you respond. If you use cyp or e then 10-12 weeks really.

if adding anything then var is a sensible choice for the last 6 weeks.

get a full blood panel for hormones before you start. You get once chance to record your baseline, if you don’t you will never know if you are recovering close to your natural levels.

so in summary, you probably shouldn’t take anything but if you do the advice I’ve given is imo the most sensible way to do it
 
Whisky

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Great job on improving your situation, brother!

My BEST advice for you, and it's really the same advice I give anyone...
Is to try to maximize yourself without drugs First.
You don't want to depend upon them. They should be the Final layer. The Icing on the Cake.

You've worked yourself into a fairly good starting position to build yourself up (weight, muscle mass, and strength wise) Naturally.
..And you've got a WHOLE LOT of natural gains waiting on you.

Then once you get at (or near) your natural potential, you could use Anabolics to hit another gear (if you still chose to).

... Another thing to consider, is that Anabolics (artificial hormones) can (and usually do) mess with guys' heads. Sometimes a lot.

Anyway, just giving you my best advice, brother.
I wish you well, no matter what you do.
lol, I was writing my post as you posted this so didn’t see it till after. If I’d waited I could have saved time by just replying to this with ‘yes, this, I agree’ 🤣
 

Jdubbya

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Thank you both for the logical responses.
I truly appreciate it.

I do have concerns that all my previous drug use messed my manliness up.
For awhile I did have some problems that no 24 year old should have but those have since worked themselves out and I'm rock solid in that department if ya catch my drift.

Part of me was thinking just an external boost followed by proper PCT would make up for any issues caused by past choices.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just being an addict still and I'm just coming up with reasons to try something new. Ha.

Again, I do appreciate the genuine responses from you both.
 
Renew1

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Thank you both for the logical responses.
I truly appreciate it.

I do have concerns that all my previous drug use messed my manliness up.
For awhile I did have some problems that no 24 year old should have but those have since worked themselves out and I'm rock solid in that department if ya catch my drift.

Part of me was thinking just an external boost followed by proper PCT would make up for any issues caused by past choices.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just being an addict still and I'm just coming up with reasons to try something new. Ha.

Again, I do appreciate the genuine responses from you both.
Hey, no problem brother.

I see what you're thinking.

But here's the problem with that ....
A cycle only gives a Temporary boost While you're On It.

If PCT and everything else went perfectly (with fingers crossed and grasping your own particular Religious emblem) ... The Very Best you could possibly hope for, is for your system to return to exactly where it is now.

The possible downside is ...
Every time you mess with your hormones, you risk harming your own natural Hormonal production.
 

BBiceps

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I would recommend, like everyone else, to see what you can do naturally with OTC supps, log into one of our board sponsors sites and buy everything they have, lol, not really but you can get a long way with a good pre workout, creatine and protein powder.

Btw it’s a YouTube video of a guy with limited knowledge about training&diet that did 12 (or something like that) weeks of Test at 500mg ew and you could barely see a difference after his cycle was over.

So sure, anabolics will help but not as much as ppl think, if you do a cycle now you will most likely be disappointed of the results/or lack of.
 

Jdubbya

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Hey, no problem brother.

I see what you're thinking.

But here's the problem with that ....
A cycle only gives a Temporary boost While you're On It.

If PCT and everything else went perfectly (with fingers crossed and grasping your own particular Religious emblem) ... The Very Best you could possibly hope for, is for your system to return to exactly where it is now.

The possible downside is ...
Every time you mess with your hormones, you risk harming your own natural Hormonal production.
Ah, see I didn't know that. I thought that provided the duration wasn't ridiculous and the dosage likewise moderate, as long as proper PCT was done there was little risk of permanent shutdown/hormonal issues.
Heck, I even thought with proper PCT there was a potential for improvement and not just returning to baseline.

After hitting 150lbs I definitely slowed down and have gained some fat going from 150 to 165.
Currently <12%BF.

I've got my eyes set on 180lbs it just seems so far away and 200 seems impossible.
 
Renew1

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Ah, see I didn't know that. I thought that provided the duration wasn't ridiculous and the dosage likewise moderate, as long as proper PCT was done there was little risk of permanent shutdown/hormonal issues.
Heck, I even thought with proper PCT there was a potential for improvement and not just returning to baseline.

After hitting 150lbs I definitely slowed down and have gained some fat going from 150 to 165.
Currently <12%BF.

I've got my eyes set on 180lbs it just seems so far away and 200 seems impossible.
Wow, that's still VERY Low BF.

Much below that isn't sustainable (at least in a healthy way).

No man, our goal (Anabolics users) is always to get as close as possible to our previous Test levels as we can.
But we always know that we might not even get close to that, and sometimes guys can see their Test levels drop a significant percentage after each cycle.

... Then some guys just hit that one bad cycle (whether it be their First, or 10th etc ..) that just effectively kills their body's own natural hormone production.

Anabolics are definitely addicting, so if you've had issues there, I be Very careful.

But honestly man, everything you've shared with us so far (thank you for that, BTW), just points to not doing a cycle (at least at this point).
 

Jdubbya

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Wow, that's still VERY Low BF.

Much below that isn't sustainable (at least in a healthy way).

No man, our goal (Anabolics users) is always to get as close as possible to our previous Test levels as we can.
But we always know that we might not even get close to that, and sometimes guys can see their Test levels drop a significant percentage after each cycle.

... Then some guys just hit that one bad cycle (whether it be their First, or 10th etc ..) that just effectively kills their body's own natural hormone production.

Anabolics are definitely addicting, so if you've had issues there, I be Very careful.

But honestly man, everything you've shared with us so far (thank you for that, BTW), just points to not doing a cycle (at least at this point).
Haha, erm so being that I'm at very low BF, which you placed emphasis on the very, would you think I'm not eating enough?
Gah, eating more doesn't sound fun at all.

Well, that is certainly very good information and I again am most thankful for you taking the time to talk with me about all this.

And yeah, I'm happy to share my story with people and I am looking for good advice and couldn't get that if I wasn't honest lol.

Steroids being addictive, is that what you were referring to previously when you said that they mess with dude's heads or is there more to it?
 
Whisky

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Thank you both for the logical responses.
I truly appreciate it.

I do have concerns that all my previous drug use messed my manliness up.
For awhile I did have some problems that no 24 year old should have but those have since worked themselves out and I'm rock solid in that department if ya catch my drift.

Part of me was thinking just an external boost followed by proper PCT would make up for any issues caused by past choices.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just being an addict still and I'm just coming up with reasons to try something new. Ha.

Again, I do appreciate the genuine responses from you both.
yep it’sa fine balance doing something because it enhances your life vs because your looking for a new buzz

for what it’s worth I waited until I was sober over 5 years before I started (many of us are ex addicts brother), Its actually my 9th birthday tomorrow.

wait until the steroids bring an enhancement you can’t otherwise achieve my friend
 
Renew1

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Haha, erm so being that I'm at very low BF, which you placed emphasis on the very, would you think I'm not eating enough?
Gah, eating more doesn't sound fun at all.

Well, that is certainly very good information and I again am most thankful for you taking the time to talk with me about all this.

And yeah, I'm happy to share my story with people and I am looking for good advice and couldn't get that if I wasn't honest lol.

Steroids being addictive, is that what you were referring to previously when you said that they mess with dude's heads or is there more to it?
No, there's more to it than that.
Because your hormones will be out of whack, out of range, and fluctuating ...
Other things very often occur (USUALLY, to some degree, IMO).
Very often guys experience, depression, Anxiety, moodiness. Sometimes (rarer) things like paranoia can occur.
 
thebigt

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yep it’sa fine balance doing something because it enhances your life vs because your looking for a new buzz

for what it’s worth I waited until I was sober over 5 years before I started (many of us are ex addicts brother), Its actually my 9th birthday tomorrow.

wait until the steroids bring an enhancement you can’t otherwise achieve my friend
happy birthday in advance-congrats!!!
 

Jdubbya

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yep it’sa fine balance doing something because it enhances your life vs because your looking for a new buzz

for what it’s worth I waited until I was sober over 5 years before I started (many of us are ex addicts brother), Its actually my 9th birthday tomorrow.

wait until the steroids bring an enhancement you can’t otherwise achieve my friend
Thanks for the advice man.
Congrats on the 9 years! That is awesome!!
 
Marne40

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TONS of great advice in here, although I’m sure it is mostly surprising for you. A lot of people assume a group of AAS users would say hell ya man, do it. But that isn’t the norm on these boards, and most of us like it here because of that. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders and are receptive to the provided advice, which has all been solid. Stick around, vacuum up all the knowledge this place has to offer, and you’ll grow naturally. If the desire to run AAS is still there in the future and you’ve hit your genetic potential, you’ll get the help/advice you need to move past your genetics. On a side note, congrats for getting clean, it can be a real son of a b!tch but stick with it 🤘🤘
 
Hyde

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You are 165 at 6’. That is “small” in the lifting world. Even sub-12%, which I expected you to say because that’s a fairly normal bodytype.

The bad news is that, well, you’re not that jacked. The good news is that you are essentially primed to keep getting more jacked! You are lean enough you will obviously process nutrients like carbs favorably. Gaining some fat to grow new muscle is just part of the game (often even with anabolics in the picture btw), so don’t fear if you add a few % bf over time. You can definitely add another 15-25lbs over time slowly NATURALLY with some refined eating habits and progressive training. As long as you are mainly sticking to whole foods as the base of your intake and not gaining too rapidly, fat gain can be minimized. Swapping some meats like chicken breast for things like chicken thighs, eating more 93/7 ground meat, eating some white rice instead of brown so you can consume larger portions at a time, adding milk to shakes instead of water or just adding a big bottle of Fairlife filtered lactose-free milk on top of your normal daily diet every day. If the veggies get too filling, opt for less filling ones like wilted spinach or steamed kale - two cups wilts done to almost nothing and takes up little room in the stomach.

You have come a long way - you know you have what it takes to improve!
 
wfreiling

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I’m a little late to the party but I agree with everything that has been said. Like @Whiskey I can also relate to addict mentality. As addicts we want instant gratification, however , in weightlifting that’s just not practical. Gear is only going to lead to you wanting more and that’s for the average user. For us it’s different. It’s worse haha. Like these guys, who btw know a lot, have said you got room to grow naturally. That’s not a bad thing either. Take a look around the training forum see what guys are doing to progress utilizing different programs. What they eat, how long they sleep, etc. This is where you’ll find the info you need right now.
In 2012 I was down to 150lb, actually sounded a lot like you were. I’m currently 200lb and 90% is due to training/eating/rest.
 

Jdubbya

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Once again, thank you all for the awesome information and what I think is solid advice.
I have definitely decided that I am better off not doing AAS for now.
I also really appreciate the encouragement. I am completely blown away by how this played out haha. You guys are incredible.

Sounds like I need to eat MOAR and train MOAR.
Does anyone have any resources for diet information?
And as far as exercises I focus on Squats/Bench/Deadlift/Pull-ups (and barbell curls of course lol).
Should I swap this out for a split program?
 
Whisky

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Once again, thank you all for the awesome information and what I think is solid advice.
I have definitely decided that I am better off not doing AAS for now.
I also really appreciate the encouragement. I am completely blown away by how this played out haha. You guys are incredible.

Sounds like I need to eat MOAR and train MOAR.
Does anyone have any resources for diet information?
And as far as exercises I focus on Squats/Bench/Deadlift/Pull-ups (and barbell curls of course lol).
Should I swap this out for a split program?
as far as programming goes, based on where you are you definitely don’t need to over complicate things.

lots of programs will work but the key is that they are based around big compound lifts (which you already focus on) and contain progressive overload.

The classic 5x5 programs is probably what I would point you to at this stage.

im assuming you understand good form, have you ever had a personal trainer or coach? There’s a lot of rubbish out there but a decent one can make a huge difference.
 

Jdubbya

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as far as programming goes, based on where you are you definitely don’t need to over complicate things.

lots of programs will work but the key is that they are based around big compound lifts (which you already focus on) and contain progressive overload.

The classic 5x5 programs is probably what I would point you to at this stage.

im assuming you understand good form, have you ever had a personal trainer or coach? There’s a lot of rubbish out there but a decent one can make a huge difference.
I bounce back and forth between 5x3 and 10-12x3. With a 5x5 I would imagine doing slightly less weight than the 5x3 would be best? Or start with a with the same weight and see if I fail?

I have not had a personal trainer but I have read a lot including Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. I try to focus on form so as to avoid injury.
I've kicked around the idea of a personal trainer as I am sure that level of accountability would be nice. But, I have slowly accumulated my own home gym with a squatting cage and everything I need.
It is hard for me to justify the added expense of a trainer when I could use that money for more food/protein shakes.
 
Hyde

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Vertical Diet could be a useful tool if you have no idea where to start. You can Google the gist of it in 10 minutes. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fiber or beans if you digest it well or need more filling meals, but if you struggle to eat enough it may be helpful. Create a base of meat, veggies, fruit, eggs, dairy, potatoes that you normally eat and add more white rice as needed to ramp up additional calories with minimal digestive effort. IT IS NOT GOSPEL. Lot of ways to skin the cat with diet, but it may give you some ideas.

I would stick to the basics with training. Big compounds and some accessories to round it out. It doesn’t need to be fancy to be effective - the fundamentals work best for general size and strength.
 

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Just flicked through this so may have missed something but...
Are you saying you train 3 days a week (tues/ thurs/sat), and you do all the big compounds each time?
If you’re looking to get bigger I’d train more often, just give yourself 1 or 2 rest days a week and split the big lifts so you only hit 1 or 2 per session, but each one at least twice a week. Fill out with more accessory lifts.
For me training volume is the one thing missing from the sound advice already given.
Good luck
 
Whisky

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I bounce back and forth between 5x3 and 10-12x3. With a 5x5 I would imagine doing slightly less weight than the 5x3 would be best? Or start with a with the same weight and see if I fail?

I have not had a personal trainer but I have read a lot including Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. I try to focus on form so as to avoid injury.
I've kicked around the idea of a personal trainer as I am sure that level of accountability would be nice. But, I have slowly accumulated my own home gym with a squatting cage and everything I need.
It is hard for me to justify the added expense of a trainer when I could use that money for more food/protein shakes.
that’s sound and starting strength is a great solid program.

if you throw up a video of a squat, bench and dead that’s ‘heavy’ for you then we can get a feel for if you are broadly using solid form (form is something that sometimes people get too carried away with and it stops them progressing. Heavy sets (the last few reps especially) will normally not look pretty and perfect, as long as the key mechanics are in place that’s fine, we need to shift more weight than is comfortable to grow sometimes. As long
 
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Solid advice and great posts by the fellas as usual.

A lot could be said about training and programming, but one thing that pops to my mind with the info that you've shared, is how often do you change up something in your workouts? Our bodys are lazy bastards and don't want to change (grow muscle, loose fat, etc), so we have to challenge the body and change things up every now and then. Subtle but effective enough changes to break the homeostasis the body tries so hard to stay on.

Some general ideas on changes in workouts:

Changing the rep ranges. Just some example:

4 weeks of 12-15 reps
4 weeks of 10-12 reps
4 weeks of 8-10 reps
4 weeks of 5-8 reps
Adding weight every time from 4 week block to the next

Changing some of the exercises:

Flat bench to incline bench
Barbell bench to dumbell bench
A lot of options depending on what equipment you have for use.

Changing the order of the lifts:

4 weeks: flat bench, incline bench, flies
4 weeks: incline bench, flat bench, flies
4 weeks: flat bench, flies, incline bench

One thing to keep the workouts different enough for the body so you don't have to make bigger changes so often, is to use a so called micro cycling. Example, you're doing a 2 split program, a classic push/pull for example:

Monday, push wo, reps 5-10
Tuesday, pull wo, reps 5-10
Thursday, push wo, reps 10-15
Friday, pull wo, reps 10-15

The biggest change will be changing the split, as it forces to change the volume and intensity. If you're training only 3 times a week, it leaves a little less options, but for examples sake, could look something like:

8 weeks 3 full body wo: mon / wed / fri.

8 weeks 2+1 hybrid: half of the body on mon / other half on wed / full body on fri. Now you get to increase you volume on the half body wo's and challenge and fatigue the bodyparts more at once.

8 weeks 3 split, mon / wed / fri. Again volume per bodypart per workout will increase, but I like to allways give some stimulus for growth at least twice a week. Some of it can be done with how you do the split, exemple if chest, shoulder and triceps are in different wo's, then tris get some stimulus in every wo. But you will have to add some 'additional' exercises in most wo's to hit every bodypart twice. You could have a lower body wo, where you hit 1 bicep exercise and 1 triceps excercise in the end of it. And later week have shoulders+arms wo, where you do some leg press at the end.

Now if you are willing to at some point increase you're wourkouts in week, that opens up more possibilities.

You usually don't want to change too much at a time, just some aspect that's enought to break the homeostasis and stimulate new growth. If you are doing nice progress, don't change things just for the sake of changing things up. And don't change tjings too often either. Some time will allways go to setting in to the new program and getting comfartable with a new exercises and only ofter those periods, the real progressing can start.

Generally for me is like after 8 weeks something has to change, most of the time sooner. And I use a lot of the "micro cycling" of reps and exercises.

Just some ideas to generate thoughts. With well planned programming, all of this + the way of implementing the increasing of weights/performance are considered in advance on some level, imo.
 
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Jdubbya

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that’s sound and starting strength is a great solid program.

if you throw up a video of a squat, bench and dead that’s ‘heavy’ for you then we can get a feel for if you are broadly using solid form (form is something that sometimes people get too carried away with and it stops them progressing. Heavy sets (the last few reps especially) will normally not look pretty and perfect, as long as the key mechanics are in place that’s fine, we need to shift more weight than is comfortable to grow sometimes. As long
Thanks man!
I can get some videos of those this week and slap em up for sure.
 

Jdubbya

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Solid advice and great posts by the fellas as usual.

A lot could be said about training and programming, but one thing that pops to my mind with the info that you've shared, is how often do you change up something in your workouts? Our bodys are lazy bastards and don't want to change (grow muscle, loose fat, etc), so we have to challenge the body and change things up every now and then. Subtle but effective enough changes to break the homeostasis the body tries so hard to stay on.

Some general ideas on changes in workouts:

Changing the rep ranges. Just some example:

4 weeks of 12-15 reps
4 weeks of 10-12 reps
4 weeks of 8-10 reps
4 weeks of 5-8 reps
Adding weight every time from 4 week block to the next

Changing some of the exercises:

Flat bench to incline bench
Barbell bench to dumbell bench
A lot of options depending on what equipment you have for use.

Changing the order of the lifts:

4 weeks: flat bench, incline bench, flies
4 weeks: incline bench, flat bench, flies
4 weeks: flat bench, flies, incline bench

One thing to keep the workouts different enough for the body so you don't have make bigger changes so often, is to use a so called micro cycling. Example, you're doing a 2 split program, a classic push/pull for example:

Monday, push wo, reps 5-10
Tuesday, pull wo, reps 5-10
Thursday, push wo, reps 10-15
Friday, pull wo, reps 10-15

The biggest change will be changing the split, as it forces to change the volume and intensity. If you're training only 3 times a week, it leaves a little less options, but for examples sake, could look something like:

8 weeks 3 full body wo: mon / wed / fri.

8 weeks 2+1 hybrid: half of the body on mon / other half on wed / full body on fri. Now you get to increase you volume on the half body wo's and challenge and fatigue the bodyparts more at once.

8 weeks 3 split, mon / wed / fri. Again volume per bodypart per workout will increase, but I like to allways give some stimulus for growth at least twice a week. Some of it can be done with how you do the split, exemple if chest, shoulder and triceps are in different wo's, then tris get some stimulus in every wo. But you will have to add some 'additional' exercises in most wo's to hit every bodypart twice. You could have a lower body wo, where you hit 1 bicep exercise and 1 triceps excercise in the end of it. And later week have shoulders+arms wo, where you do some leg press at the end.

Now if you are willing to at some point increase you wourkouts in week, that opens up more possibilities.

You usually don't want to change too much at a time, just some aspect that's enought to break the homeostasis and stimulate new growth. If you are doing nice progress, don't change things just for the sake of changing things up. And don't change tjings too often either. Some time will allways go to setting in to the new program and getting comfartable with a new exercises and only ofter those periods, the real progressing can start.

Generally for me is like after 8 weeks something has to change, most ot the times sooner. And I use a lot of the "micro cycling" of reps and exercises.

Just some ideas to generate thoughts. With well planned programming, all of this + the way of implementing the increasing of weights/performance are considered in advance on some level, imo.
Man, thanks for the very detailed outline and thought provoking ideas bro!
 
MadStax

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Use that roid money to pay a trainer for a weekly one hour session. You can find decent trainers for $40-50/hr on thumbtack. At this point, that will help you more than gear. You're young and probably capable of a lot of growth yet before you need helpers.
 
Hyde

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Use that roid money to pay a trainer for a weekly one hour session. You can find decent trainers for $40-50/hr on thumbtack. At this point, that will help you more than gear. You're young and probably capable of a lot of growth yet before you need helpers.
If people would take the money they spend on natural sups or gear earlier on and instead took it to buy coaching from a professional, there would probably be a lot less injuries and a lot more progress.

I do not regret using steroids at all. I heavily regret not waiting a couple more years, because THAT was when I really had a better fundamental understanding of programming for myself. It takes time to figure out what things do and don’t work, and using PEDs will mask what really isn’t that helpful and make it hard to figure out what really was vs just being carried by the drugs.

And you also need to learn how to manipulate your diet for your goals. If you can’t eat to gain weight off steroids, you will never be able to gain on them meaningfully when your needs go up substantially.
 
Marne40

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Use that roid money to pay a trainer for a weekly one hour session. You can find decent trainers for $40-50/hr on thumbtack. At this point, that will help you more than gear. You're young and probably capable of a lot of growth yet before you need helpers.
By far my biggest regret. I waited way too long to seek guidance outside of books and the internet. Not to say those aren’t decent resources, but a good combination of the three, plus some bro-vice at the gym, can have a useful impact on training and growth. There’s a lot to be said for supplementation and AAS use, but they’re all but worthless without solid diet and training.
 
bad rad

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I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned since you're a recovering addict and anorexic. Do you have recent blood work? Those are two things known to permanently ruin a man's HPTA. Get blood work to see how your overall health is improving internally and go from there.
 

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