What is the proper PCT workout regiment?

[BALLERIFIC]

I've seen conflicting views on this topic. Some say lift heavy to keep your gains, others say lift light or at 50%. I've read ManBeast's PCT thread sticky, but it doesn't go into this part very much. What's the best way to lift to keep your gains in PCT?

 

[mattrag]

Some say to drop volume a lot and take a deload. I tend to drop volume but keep weight steady. I don't aim for PRs but I don't back off the weights.
Another theory is to take week 2 or 3 completely off so that cortisol stays lower (this is when cortisol will most likely spike)
Depends on your goals. Pretty much why we kept it out of the sticky.

 

[bigdavid]

Some say to drop volume a lot and take a deload. I tend to drop volume but keep weight steady. I don't aim for PRs but I don't back off the weights.
Another theory is to take week 2 or 3 completely off so that cortisol stays lower (this is when cortisol will most likely spike)
Depends on your goals. Pretty much why we kept it out of the sticky.

I am going to keep weight and reps the same and drop volume as well for my pct coming up. A few friends of mine have had great success in this method. For example, first week of pct would be around 50-60% on cycle volume, week 2 would be about 75-80%, then try to hit the same numbers as on cycle for week 3, and increase in week 4 and beyond. So I am going to keep weight and reps the same and only drop number of sets. So I do about 20 sets for back going to drop it to 10 the first week, 15 second week, back to 20 third week. Seems to be pretty effective.

 

[BALLERIFIC]

Some say to drop volume a lot and take a deload. I tend to drop volume but keep weight steady. I don't aim for PRs but I don't back off the weights.
Another theory is to take week 2 or 3 completely off so that cortisol stays lower (this is when cortisol will most likely spike)
Depends on your goals. Pretty much why we kept it out of the sticky.

Drop volume as in less sets/reps I assume? Could you explain why? I'm planning to either take Lean Xtreme or Erase Pro around week 2-3 to control the cortisol, I have both, but haven't decided which one yet. I'm only running a Helladrol/Stano stack so I feel like Erase may not be necessary.

 

[BALLERIFIC]

I am going to keep weight and reps the same and drop volume as well for my pct coming up. A few friends of mine have had great success in this method. For example, first week of pct would be around 50-60% on cycle volume, week 2 would be about 75-80%, then try to hit the same numbers as on cycle for week 3, and increase in week 4 and beyond. So I am going to keep weight and reps the same and only drop number of sets. So I do about 20 sets for back going to drop it to 10 the first week, 15 second week, back to 20 third week. Seems to be pretty effective.

Interesting, so essentially you would cut down on the number of exercises by cutting down total sets for each body part? But keep the weight the same? I usually do sets of 12/10/8/6.

 

[mattrag]

Drop volume as in less sets/reps I assume? Could you explain why? I'm planning to either take Lean Xtreme or Erase Pro around week 2-3 to control the cortisol, I have both, but haven't decided which one yet. I'm only running a Helladrol/Stano stack so I feel like Erase may not be necessary.

Recovery coming off cycle will be crushed. You do more volume and break down more tissue you'll cause more stress and more muscle to repair. Your body won't be on any assistance so you will basically be beating yourself into the ground.

 

[bigdavid]

Drop volume as in less sets/reps I assume? Could you explain why? I'm planning to either take Lean Xtreme or Erase Pro around week 2-3 to control the cortisol, I have both, but haven't decided which one yet. I'm only running a Helladrol/Stano stack so I feel like Erase may not be necessary.

Interesting, so essentially you would cut down on the number of exercises by cutting down total sets for each body part? But keep the weight the same? I usually do sets of 12/10/8/6.

During the first few weeks of pct your cortisol is going to start increasing and your androgens are very low. You need to deload for the first few weeks because you want to preserve the muscle. Essentially I do about 21 sets for back (this is an example of how I am going to deload). 7 diff exercises 3 sets each. I am going to drop that number to 11 sets the first week, keeping reps and weight the same. Essentially I will drop 1 set from each of the 7 exercises and from 3 exercises I will drop two sets. Week 2 I will be doing about 16 sets so from 5 of my exercises I am going to be removing a set. Then in week 3 I am going to try to go back to the same volume I had my last week of pct. There are other ways to do it though, you could keep total volume the same and drop the weight in each set if you like.

 

[SlyCamaro]

My last PH cycle I did 3 months ago and it was the only time I kept most of my gains. I toped out at 201lbs on and right now a steady 198 started cycle at 190!, lost the full pumped look but most of my size is still here. The only thing I did was take a break the first week in PCT, I droped weight and did higher reps without burning myself up... but the next week I went full blown again and actaully got stronger durring PCT then I did on!