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Hyde’s Strength Odyssey

Did not do any lifting last night. I was wiped after taking my son to gymnastics (which he kicked ass in), and decided rest was more important than playing with piddly weights practicing lifts I’ve done thousands of times. As my wife put it, I know what to do. I am feeling extremely confident in my technique. I also did not want to distort my eGFR readings on my bloodwork drawn this morning.

Exhausted from work today, but back at home tomorrow and Friday and I plan to push anything possible to next week from here on.
 
Get some rest, you got this!
 
Bloodwork results came back…I can’t believe how good they are. I mean if you saw this you wouldn’t possibly think of someone 265lbs with 28% bodyfat eating 5,000 calories of fast food & sugar every day on 1.5 grams of steroids/wk (currently 2 orals), who has been on blast for over 4 months now, and using Mk677.

EGFR is 81, liver enzymes all good, total billirubin actually dropped in half down to 0.5mg/dl with using 500mg CEL TUDCA, fasted glucose is 91, phlebotic values all just a hair out of range (51 hematocrit, 17.6 hemoglobin, 413 platelet count), TSH is a nice moderate 2.43 with T4 & T3 at top of normal (thyroid is healthy and metabolism is roaring properly all on its own), Trigs are 91.

The worst thing on the whole panel is that my LDL is up to 124 and HDL dropped to 25. For this trash diet, that is just totally insane. 5mg Ezetimibe nightly has kept my LDL from barely climbing. And I have been on Anavar for almost 6 weeks!

Just goes to show how important ancillary support and compound choice are. The drug use, good and bad, matters a lot more than the diet, unfortunately.
 
Hyde said:
Bloodwork results came back…I can’t believe how good they are. I mean if you saw this you wouldn’t possibly think of someone 265lbs with 28% bodyfat eating 5,000 calories of fast food & sugar every day on 1.5 grams of steroids/wk (currently 2 orals), who has been on blast for over 4 months now, and using Mk677.

EGFR is 81, liver enzymes all good, total billirubin actually dropped in half down to 0.5mg/dl with using 500mg CEL TUDCA, fasted glucose is 91, phlebotic values all just a hair out of range (51 hematocrit, 17.6 hemoglobin, 413 platelet count), TSH is a nice moderate 2.43 with T4 & T3 at top of normal (thyroid is healthy and metabolism is roaring properly all on its own), Trigs are 91.

The worst thing on the whole panel is that my LDL is up to 124 and HDL dropped to 25. For this trash diet, that is just totally insane. 5mg Ezetimibe nightly has kept my LDL from barely climbing. And I have been on Anavar for almost 6 weeks!

Just goes to show how important ancillary support and compound choice are. The drug use, good and bad, matters a lot more than the diet, unfortunately.
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That’s actually great results all things considered. I’m gonna include Ezetimibe in my supports next cycle. I’ve heard a lot of good reports, but this is the proof.
 
Great To See Hyde - Strong and Healthy !!
 
So many rules… but good! It shouldn’t be a standard gym sesh!
 
gphagan1 said:
That’s actually great results all things considered. I’m gonna include Ezetimibe in my supports next cycle. I’ve heard a lot of good reports, but this is the proof.
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I couldn’t believe how much it helped Zoo when he wrote about it in his log. He had been cruising on a very very low dose of Tren (like 125mg or something) and following a ketogenic diet with lots of whole eggs. He went to the doctor and his total cholesterol was genuinely like 600 (mine was 170s I believe today). He stopped the Tren, stopped the keto, added Ezetimibe and went on blast. His LDL in a few months dropped to like 180. Nearly a 400 point reduction in total, while still incorporating several whole eggs a day (despite my nitpicking).

Also, I read a paper where the VA realized veterans who had been using 5mg saw virtually the same % reduction in LDL as taking the standardly prescribed 10mg, so now the VA only prescribes 5mg/day and saves 50% of the money while patients get 50% less unnecessary drug exposure. That is the dosage I have always used, 5mg nightly.
 
Hyde said:
I couldn’t believe how much it helped Zoo when he wrote about it in his log. He had been cruising on a very very low dose of Tren (like 125mg or something) and following a ketogenic diet with lots of whole eggs. He went to the doctor and his total cholesterol was genuinely like 600 (mine was 170s I believe today). He stopped the Tren, stopped the keto, added Ezetimibe and went on blast. His LDL in a few months dropped to like 180. Nearly a 400 point reduction in total, while still incorporating several whole eggs a day (despite my nitpicking).

Also, I read a paper where the VA realized veterans who had been using 5mg saw virtually the same % reduction in LDL as taking the standardly prescribed 10mg, so now the VA only prescribes 5mg/day and saves 50% of the money while patients get 50% less unnecessary drug exposure. That is the dosage I have always used, 5mg nightly.
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Good to know!
 
Hyde said:
I couldn’t believe how much it helped Zoo when he wrote about it in his log. He had been cruising on a very very low dose of Tren (like 125mg or something) and following a ketogenic diet with lots of whole eggs. He went to the doctor and his total cholesterol was genuinely like 600 (mine was 170s I believe today). He stopped the Tren, stopped the keto, added Ezetimibe and went on blast. His LDL in a few months dropped to like 180. Nearly a 400 point reduction in total, while still incorporating several whole eggs a day (despite my nitpicking).

Also, I read a paper where the VA realized veterans who had been using 5mg saw virtually the same % reduction in LDL as taking the standardly prescribed 10mg, so now the VA only prescribes 5mg/day and saves 50% of the money while patients get 50% less unnecessary drug exposure. That is the dosage I have always used, 5mg nightly.
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That’s pretty amazing…Zoo is the first guy that had recommended it to me, and I just never got it, but it’s something I’ll be adding from now on.
 
Ok ok. Getting ezetimibe.

I didn’t see the post from Zoo.

My triglycerides were 600+ this time last year. LDL similarly increased. They dropped to around 450 right before my diet in May. My next bloods for them are November. Doc swears I’ll never come off these new statins, but this sounds very promising.
 
RegisterJr said:
Ok ok. Getting ezetimibe.

I didn’t see the post from Zoo.

My triglycerides were 600+ this time last year. LDL similarly increased. They dropped to around 450 right before my diet in May. My next bloods for them are November. Doc swears I’ll never come off these new statins, but this sounds very promising.
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With your diet tighter, and losing weight, you probably won’t need Ezetimibe if you are doing well with the statin therapy. BUT it is safely stacked with statins for most, and guys have reported needing less statins to control lipids when incorporating Ezetimibe. I would see what your bloodwork shows and if LDL cholesterol is still elevated in November then you could have that conversation with your doctor. I’m not sure it does anything for trigs.
 
Well boys, weighed in at 268.4/122.0kg officially this afternoon around 4:30pm. Feeling good and mentally in a great place. I know what I am capable of; I just have to execute now. Competition begins at 9am tomorrow on the 11th. I was told there’s nearly 40 lifters and there should be 3 flights. The drug-tested meet today was over by 3:30pm, so should be about perfect tomorrow - nice big flights with lots of rest between attempts, but not a crazy long day either.

I’ve had 5,000 calories so far. Time for a bit more pizza and a couple little slices of cheese cake to tuck in for bed, then it’s up at 6:30am to prepare.

Wish me luck - whatever comes next, I’m all in!
 
Hyde said:
Well boys, weighed in at 268.4/122.0kg officially this afternoon around 4:30pm. Feeling good and mentally in a great place. I know what I am capable of; I just have to execute now. Competition begins at 9am tomorrow on the 11th. I was told there’s nearly 40 lifters and there should be 3 flights. The drug-tested meet today was over by 3:30pm, so should be about perfect tomorrow - nice big flights with lots of rest between attempts, but not a crazy long day either.

I’ve had 5,000 calories so far. Time for a bit more pizza and a couple little slices of cheese cake to tuck in for bed, then it’s up at 6:30am to prepare.

Wish me luck - whatever comes next, I’m all in!
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Go Hyde! Can't wait to hear all about it! Sleep well champ :)
 
With your skill, luck is just a bonus. I know you will be Great !!
 
Get after it big man.
 
1st place in the Open 275lb Raw class, by a wide margin over the 2nd place lifter. Went 9/9 on my attempts, earning 3 white lights every single lift (27/27 possible) - what is known as a perfect meet, exceedingly rare, & my first time I’ve ever accomplished this in 9 years of competing. One of the judges today was a World level judge I knew from a competition some years ago, in his late 50s, who told me he still has never managed a perfect meet.

Pulled off a 5.5lb lifetime PR total of 1,609lbs/730kg, a 22lb meet PR on bench, but most importantly with it my first ever Masters level total (top 10% of all totals in the nation for this class) & invite to the IPL World Championship. The USPA is the #1 federation for untested lifters, by far. This is where the highest standards are, and this is where the highest level of competition generally takes place, besides a couple random big money meets. Earning an invite to compete at the world level here is as serious as it gets, & my ultimate goal for the meet. I made a realistic plan, stuck to it, & executed.

Squat:
1st - 240 (529.1)
2nd - 257.5 (567.7)
3rd - 275 (606.3)

Bench:
1st - 157.5 (347.2)
2nd - 170 (374.8)
3rd - 177.5 (391.3)

Deadlift:
1st - 242.5 (534.6)
2nd - 262.5 (578.7)
3rd - 277.5 (611.8)

Total:
730kg (1,609.4lbs)

Respect the depth - 275kg/606lbs
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3 whites after a 177.5lg/391lb bench
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Smoked 277.5kg/611lbs to finish strong
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1st Place hardware🥇
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Truly, the finest performance of my lifting career!
 
So proud of you man! Way to go! I hope you are really enjoying the moment.

Hard work pays off guys, if this doesn't motivate you to get after your goals/dreams, what could??
 
Man that is absolutely Awesome……I knew it looked like everything was aligned for you to go big, but a perfect meet on top of first, and a 1609 total, wow. You absolutely deserve it after all the hard work and dedication you’ve put in. The one more rep, one more meal, pushing past the pain all culminated to becoming a CHAMPION.
Congratulations 🏆🏆🏆💪💪💪
 
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Wow wow wow!! I am so thrilled for you. And the medal looks world class!

Congratulations not just for the win, but for the perfect meet score as well. I honestly had no idea how good you were.
 
Congratulation this is fantastic !!!
 
Incredible job and congratulations on all of those major accomplishments!

Also, pretty awesome that someone like you with this much knowledge and ability is willing to help out guys on this forum so often. Don't know why you bother slumming it with us knuckleheads, but I'll take it!
 
Segansational said:
Incredible job and congratulations on all of those major accomplishments!

Also, pretty awesome that someone like you with this much knowledge and ability is willing to help out guys on this forum so often. Don't know why you bother slumming it with us knuckleheads, but I'll take it!
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I for one am very thankful that he does !! Thank you Hyde!!
 
Thank you everyone, both for the congratulations now and your support & fellowship along the way! Lifting is an individual pursuit, but it’s also a brotherhood. I appreciate you all.

gphagan1 said:
Man that is absolutely Awesome……I knew it looked like everything was aligned for you to go big, but a perfect meet on top of first, and a 1609 total, wow. You absolutely deserve it after all the hard work and dedication you’ve put in. The one more rep, one more meal, pushing past the pain all culminated to becoming a CHAMPION.
Congratulations
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That’s a really good, honest way to say it. The way this is done, not just lifting for fun, but all the work of TRAINING that must be done at some point, and everything it takes to support the recovery from that continued effort - it is not easy. It is not about fun; it takes real work & dedication to do whatever is required to reach the end goal.

Every cursed moment on the reverse hyper, every ache & pain & strain, the thousands of reps of accessory while your heart is pounding away, every miserable moment after choking down another meal I didn’t want to eat, all the times I had to go to bed early, or get up so early, the gallons of sweat. If it was easy, it wouldn’t have be worth anything to me. This took so much, and it meant even more.

It was all worth it, in the end.

Segansational said:
Also, pretty awesome that someone like you with this much knowledge and ability is willing to help out guys on this forum so often. Don't know why you bother slumming it with us knuckleheads, but I'll take it!
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We’re all just trying to learn and get a little better as we can - knowledge/experiences have the most positive impact when we share! Everything I know about lifting, at some point was probably based on information someone else shared with me, and my experiences when I tried it. Never stop learning!
 
Congrats @Hyde Well done!!! Always impressed with your work ethic and discipline! Very happy for you that you get to realize the fruits of your labor! Definitely a well deserved win for you!!!
 
Congrats Hyde! Nice job!
 
Congrats on a perfect meet and PRing!!! I know your last meet was not the best but this definitely makes up for it.
 
Worlds is in just over 5 weeks. After lots of reflecting and discussion with the wife, I am not going to attend. We will be driving back from Strongman Corp Nationals for my wife the Sunday prior, so there’s no way we want to drive the family 14 hours one way just 4 days later down to the gulf coast. Flying is cost prohibitive to take the family at this point (especially because then we need a rental car), and I don’t really want to go to our favorite area of beach in the country solo, just to compete & bounce. That’s where we got married l, and I would want to take my family if I went.

Most importantly though, it’s probably just not that safe. My bloodwork is good to keep the PEDs up, but I am more susceptible to injury right now than ever. To lift the weights I’d need to try to sustain a peak and compete again so soon is playing with fire. And I absolutely have no interest in eating so many calories for another 5+ weeks.

So I am going to stick to the plan - this 4 weeks will be no barbell work or spinal compression. Dbs, bodyweight movements, unilateral work, non-compressive machine work, paired with a dietary focus on dropping a little bodyfat and getting on a semblance of a sane diet. Get my GPP up, help prevent some imbalances, give some neglected beach muscles a bit of volume.
 
Hyde said:
Worlds is in just over 5 weeks. After lots of reflecting and discussion with the wife, I am not going to attend. We will be driving back from Strongman Corp Nationals for my wife the Sunday prior, so there’s no way we want to drive the family 14 hours one way just 4 days later down to the gulf coast. Flying is cost prohibitive to take the family at this point (especially because then we need a rental car), and I don’t really want to go to our favorite area of beach in the country solo, just to compete & bounce. That’s where we got married l, and I would want to take my family if I went.

Most importantly though, it’s probably just not that safe. My bloodwork is good to keep the PEDs up, but I am more susceptible to injury right now than ever. To lift the weights I’d need to try to sustain a peak and compete again so soon is playing with fire. And I absolutely have no interest in eating so many calories for another 5+ weeks.

So I am going to stick to the plan - this 4 weeks will be no barbell work or spinal compression. Dbs, bodyweight movements, unilateral work, non-compressive machine work, paired with a dietary focus on dropping a little bodyfat and getting on a semblance of a sane diet. Get my GPP up, help prevent some imbalances, give some neglected beach muscles a bit of volume.
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Sounds like a safer and healthier plan, especially considering your long term goals. Better to be smart and not have any setbacks. Besides this win has put you in position to probably be able to choose any competition you want to get you closer to your goals.
 
Sounds like a great plan, I wouldn't want to try to maintain all of that for another 5 weeks. I also understand not wanting to travel to special places without the family! Do you have a bodyweight target for your fat loss or just going to do whatever it takes to get back into a comfortable area?

Does winning this last meet give you the option to qualify for other national comps or does sitting this one out cost you that benefit?
 
MrKleen73 said:
Sounds like a great plan, I wouldn't want to try to maintain all of that for another 5 weeks. I also understand not wanting to travel to special places without the family! Do you have a bodyweight target for your fat loss or just going to do whatever it takes to get back into a comfortable area?

Does winning this last meet give you the option to qualify for other national comps or does sitting this one out cost you that benefit?
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No specific target; there has been a definite part of me that wanted to take a long time to really go down to 220 and lean out, but the truth is that’s totally in contrast to my powerlifting goals, so I’ll not be doing anything so rash. I have no set number in my head, other than there is no good reason to allow myself to drop under around ~238. I recall being quite comfortable around 250 with a hot cruise dose previously, able to run around with my family without being winded thanks to the conditioning/pace built into the conjugate training I was doing at the time.

Winning doesn’t get you anything, because that is just based on who shows up - it’s the total that qualified me. I also qualified for the North American championship in November in Oklahoma, and Nationals next year in July (also being held in Orange Beach, AL). So we can always go to the beach this summer if we want.

Actually, I qualified for Nationals just from the total of any of my second attempts and first attempts in the other lifts! I nearly qualified at the previous meet when I was sick, only missed it by like 11lbs then.
 
That is awesome and another reason not to rush in. Definitely the smart choice but you already know that!!!
 
Playing it smart, Good Idea !!
 
9/14/22

7 min walk

Cable Facepulls
49 2x25

alt w/ Cable Tri Ext
38 2x25

DB Bench
55,75,95x15
105x14

Lat Pulldown
110,121,143x15
165 2x10

Dips
2x15

Cable Low Row
143x20
187x15

Back in the gym this morning after a couple days off. Yesterday did a couple short walks and reverse hypers for bloodflow. Endurance is crap, but no surprises there. Definitely have some DOMS in my hams & erectors today from the meet.

On a fun note, a good friend sent me this as a gift!

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80 caps of X-Tren, Dienedione, the original “tren” prohormone. This compound is my white whale; it was the very first PED I ever bought, but after taking it for 2 days it started making my chest itch/burn and I traded in for some Epistane that became my first cycle. Xtren had been banned recently, and basically became totally unavailable not long after as stocks disappeared. Since, I have never been able to get ahold of any domestically.

So, with bloodwork so good, plan is to run this the next 3 weeks or so on top of my cruise as a fun experiment while calories are now reduced. It will probably greatly inhibit weight loss, but should facilitate better fat loss overall (and nitrogen retention). Since my blood levels from long esters should still be similar tomorrow as if I had pinned ~285mg total of test, some deca and a pinch of DHB, I will continue to forego injections for another week before implementing any cruise oil (last pin was on 9/1).
 
Interested to see what you think about Trenadrol. I’ve never tried it, but a buddy of mine used to love it on a cut actually. Said it really helped to maintain his size and strength on a cut, and he felt it was good for nutrition partitioning. He also loved Epistane, but said it dried out his joints but the Trenedrol didn’t. He got the Fusion brand also.
To be fair though he always ran it with Test and Mast, so I always wondered how much it did. But like anything some people seem to love it and some are like “meh” nothing special.
 
gphagan1 said:
Interested to see what you think about Trenadrol. I’ve never tried it, but a buddy of mine used to love it on a cut actually. Said it really helped to maintain his size and strength on a cut, and he felt it was good for nutrition partitioning. He also loved Epistane, but said it dried out his joints but the Trenedrol didn’t. He got the Fusion brand also.
To be fair though he always ran it with Test and Mast, so I always wondered how much it did. But like anything some people seem to love it and some are like “meh” nothing special.
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I will eventually be doing 150 test & 100 mast as my cruise I believe.

When I was getting into DS, everyone knew multiple people who had gained 10-15lbs on Xtren, or got leaner while getting stronger. That was my experience with injecting Dienelone enanthate, which I really loved, so it will be cool to see how the oral PH changes things.

I’m down for the ride!
 
9/15/22
BW 261.6

5 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Glute Bridges
BW Reverse Hyper
Wall Sits

GHR
15,15,20

Standing Calves
80,70,60,50x10

Leg Extensions
50x20
100 2x20
120x20

Single Leg Deadlift
15x15-20/leg

Balance Work

Still sore in my legs from the meet and tired from work travel but went in anyway - left feeling immensely better. Felt like I really had my body moving better by the end, and I got some volume to start waking my legs back up. Happy I could do 20 reps on the gym’s GHR without it being a ball-buster.
 
Hams and calves were roasted when I got out of bed this morning! Strange & awful to have muscle DOMS like that, but it’s spot on for the training phase I’m moving into.
 
With the weight you put up in the meet, it’s no wonder your still battling some soreness and your body still trying to recover. It was much smarter to take it easy during this repair phase.
 
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Congratulations, @Hyde !!!
And I'm looking forward to your continued progression, and the upcoming Big meet!
 
gphagan1 said:
With the weight you put up in the meet, it’s no wonder your still battling some soreness and your body still trying to recovery. It was much smarter to take it easy during this repair phase.
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Yeah I mean by the last week I think I was tapered down to like 12 total reps, a single non-failure set of GHR, so 4x the volume is definitely gonna wake those hammies back up.

I agree; just keeping up the calories alone would have been impossible now - that kind of commitment can only be sustained for periods when my drive is unbreakable. And Worlds right now wasn’t the goal, just to qualify.

Renew1 said:
Congratulations, @Hyde !!!
And I'm looking forward to your continued progression, and the upcoming Big meet!
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Thanks Renew! No big comps on the immediate horizon, just re-setting the periodization blocks and moving into an “off-season” to get back to work. Very excited for training to come!
 
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