Gains stuck on week 5 of sustanon cycle?

TheGuapoChapo

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Hey everyone,

First time user. Was making progress natty but did a cut, lost a lot of strength, which was my goal. Then Covid hit as I was regaining strength, and i lost gym access. My lower body strength evaporated, kept some of my upper because of pushups and pull ups.

Got back to a decent level: 265 bench, 305 squat, 385 deadlift (I have t Rex arms) and decided to give a cycle a go as I wanted to really push the envelope. I'm 36, and the idea of being kinda ok did not sit well with me. Saw the clock ticking.

I weigh about 200-210ish, for some reason I'm pretty "big" but it doesn't always translate to strength. About 14 percent bodyfat.

Anyway, I got access to pharma grade susta 250, started a twice a week cycle. Got nolva on hand for pct.

Week 3 my strength shot way up. Got a triple on squat at 335 and I'd failed 315 just before cycle. Then, beginning of week 4, boom, 300 bench.

Eating a lot of protein (250 g a day) doing a carb cycle because I'm naturally fat so I dont want to push the envelope and end up chubby. Took a lot of work to get to the BF I'm at. I take 2 high carb refried days a week, otherwise keep them minimal and use fat instead. My body stays relatively lean like that. Sleeping 7-9 hours. Occasionally 5 due to work but that's rare.

Anyway, its week 5 and gains just kinda flatlined. Recovery seems to have taken a hit too, more sore and fatigued then when I was just blasting 2 a days at the beginning. Same exact weights I did last week, deadlift even fell a little. So I've done research and I've heard 3 opposing views on how to keep progress:

1. Kick up the calories. It wont store as fat dont worry about it.

2. Raise dosage. Move to either every 3 days or 750 mg a week of the susta.

3. Add another compound. I have access to var and deca...but hesitant to pull the trigger on deca because I want to save **** like that for probably my 3rd cycle. (I only plan on 3 or 4)

4. Chill. Best gains on long Esther's come in later, the plateau will break.

5. Best cycles are short. End it and re-up next time.

Thoughts?
 

beefyfan

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Strength plateau aside, how is it treating your physique? 500 sust a week is a great 1st cycle and there should be no shortage of strength and physique inhancement. At 5 weeks in, things should just be getting good. Is your sust a 10ml vial? Or individual ampules? If it's ampules, maybe you got some duds? Maybe you are just not predisposed for great strength? Curious to see what others chime in with. Don't add anything else though in my opinion. I'd wait at least 3 weeks after your last shot before starting pct. If you want to run something else short acting, do so in those final 3 weeks.
 

TheGuapoChapo

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Strength plateau aside, how is it treating your physique? 500 sust a week is a great 1st cycle and there should be no shortage of strength and physique inhancement. At 5 weeks in, things should just be getting good. Is your sust a 10ml vial? Or individual ampules? If it's ampules, maybe you got some duds? Maybe you are just not predisposed for great strength? Curious to see what others chime in with. Don't add anything else though in my opinion. I'd wait at least 3 weeks after your last shot before starting pct. If you want to run something else short acting, do so in those final 3 weeks.
Had a visible six pack and good shoulders/ tris and quads before cycle. Six pack went away quick, I'm thinking that's the water gain tho cause my face looks like an infant's right now lmao.

Physique is improved. Much improved leg size, pretty lean as well. Traps are way the hell bigger. Delts too. Biceps still suck but that's always been a tough go for me.

Yeah strength sometimes comes and goes for me because I'm very very slow twitch (unexplosive). If weightlifters were basketball players, I'd be like Paul Pierce. Great technique but slow AF.

I'm getting them in amps from the local pharmacy (I'm a gringo that moved to MX).

I was thinking of throwing var in on the back end. Maybe do every 3rd day to even out the levels with the sust instead of 2 x a week. I noticed I sometimes get bitchy when its 3 full days then the shot too 😂.

Thanks for your reply. I'll stay the course and have faith then.
 
marcink99

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Are you maxing out every week? If yes your central system may be fried and need a break from heavy lifting. Maybe do a deaload week? As someone who is on 1 / 4 andro cycle I had the same issue in week 5 and 6 gained no strength took 4 or 5 days off and hit pr on squats/deadlifts and bench the same day.
 
KvanH

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Are you maxing out every week? If yes your central system may be fried and need a break from heavy lifting. Maybe do a deaload week? As someone who is on 1 / 4 andro cycle I had the same issue in week 5 and 6 gained no strength took 4 or 5 days off and hit pr on squats/deadlifts and bench the same day.
Yeah gear changes things a bit, but when going natty I'm allways stronger and more energized after a well timed deload week. Even when running something, I usually like to take one deload week inside my runs.
 
Whisky

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Agree with the two comments above. I’ve found that when you start moving decent weight you can’t just progressively overload every week, even on gear. I once lost strength at the end of a cycle (while still on) as I pushed progressive overload on squat and deads for 10 weeks straight (pulled 473 for a set of 5 then within 4 weeks was struggling on 440 for a single). Destroyed my cns through stupidity.

good deload helps. Plus gains aren’t ever linear anyway. Neither size nor strength. Too many variables. Sleep and diet being big ones. Gear negates some of this but they still play a part.

ive always said that unless your a genetic god, gear simply means you get the rewards from training hard and eating right. It doesn’t automatically give you god like strength and a physique that makes every women bend over and offer up the rusty pin hole. Still gotta work for that **** and there’s gonna be plateaus along the way. It’s why some people suggest saving orals (MPMD guy says this) for breaking a plateau on gear etc not saying to take an oral, just saying it’s well known that even on gear plateaus occur brother.

deload, eat, rest and trust the process
 
KvanH

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Agree with the two comments above. I’ve found that when you start moving decent weight you can’t just progressively overload every week, even on gear. I once lost strength at the end of a cycle (while still on) as I pushed progressive overload on squat and deads for 10 weeks straight (pulled 473 for a set of 5 then within 4 weeks was struggling on 440 for a single). Destroyed my cns through stupidity.

good deload helps. Plus gains aren’t ever linear anyway. Neither size nor strength. Too many variables. Sleep and diet being big ones. Gear negates some of this but they still play a part.

ive always said that unless your a genetic god, gear simply means you get the rewards from training hard and eating right. It doesn’t automatically give you god like strength and a physique that makes every women bend over and offer up the rusty pin hole. Still gotta work for that **** and there’s gonna be plateaus along the way. It’s why some people suggest saving orals (MPMD guy says this) for breaking a plateau on gear etc not saying to take an oral, just saying it’s well known that even on gear plateaus occur brother.

deload, eat, rest and trust the process
One good thing about being a poor sleeper is that I get an indication of under recovering very quickly in form of not being able to sleep more than couple hours a night. It happens even before my lifts start to plateau.
 
THOR 70

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A lot of well thought out reply’s already. For me, I actually noticed this in my cycles. After 4/5 weeks the effects/feelings of a cycle plateau. They don’t stop, they just are very minimal after that point. I can’t tell you why, but a smaller and more frequent cycle might be an option. I want to talk about clearing androgen receptors also but I don’t have enough knowledge on the topic or know if it’s of value.
 

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