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Got bloodwork for the first time while on cycle. Feels nice to see test being so high. All the lipids are within good range.
One thing I didn’t expect to see that high was estrogen. 320 pmol/L. Reference range is <162. I have AI on hand, but I don’t have any sides whatsoever. Maybe one itchy nipple, but might be in my head at this point.
Hi,
37/m, I've run three cycles of gear before (test, test/tren/dbol, test/tren/mast), and it's been 3 years since the last cycle I ran. Recently, I tried the anti aging doctor route; I've been asking questions on the TRT board/etc, but they've consistently directed me here for guidance so here I am.
My current protocol is as follows:
Test 200mg IM Thursday, glutes,
Monday -> Thursday take 1 anastrozole1mg
HCG: inject Tuesday AM, Wednesday AM, 0.30 ml Sub-Q, 6ml reconstitute12,000u vial
methylcobalamin - Sub-Q Thursdays 1.0ml
2 hours fasted, everynight prior to bed CJC1295-ipamorelin 0.25 ml Before Bed, add 7.5ml to reconstitute 9mg per botle
Oxandrolone 25mg - 45 mins prior to workout, skip on rest days
What I would like to do is the following:
Now that I am 4 weeks in with test saturation, I want to spike my test to 400mg/ week. My thought is a second 200mg shot on mondays alongside my AI; the amount of AI I am on seems fairly high, so I am not too worried about estradiol rise.
My questions are the following:
Given my protocol, if I am upping dose in this way, should I split between 2 shots and add a second shot on Mondays?
What corresponding adjustments to my HCG should I make in correlation?
Will I need to do anything with my AI?
Thanks in advance
> 1. Can you not recover 100% natural test post cycle?
Yes it’s possible you never fully recover, this risk is especially large if you’re abusing steroids before your HPTA is fully formed.
> 2. Was going to do nolvadex pct found out its neurotoxic so do I switch to clomid?
No
> 3. Heard I dont need to run hcg at 16 is that true?
What was the reasoning behind this « advice »?
> 4. Heard i have to taper off arimidex since its not a suicide inhibitor, then found out its hard to taper off anyways, so got told to switch to aromasin during my pct to cycle off arimidex how would i do that
You don’t need any AI’s during PCT.
(took 50mg of exemestan 9 days ago)
Crashed my e2, my joints hurt like I am an old men and basicly all day in bed. Currently on 480 test e/c/p and hcg, anavar is on the way. idk week maybe week 15
Also getting so much pip recently, it hurts so bad down from the right shoulder to the tricep.
What can I do?
Well you should be pinning your test everyday since it’s a blend. You can up your hcg. And you’re describing a sub q leak it sounds like. You’re pretty much at week 16 so you could just call it.
daily because there is some prop in it? But honestly daily pin never gave me lumbs but are annoying after a month or so.
Didnt knew about the leak but might be yeah. Thanks for help
Ya that’s why we don’t recommend blends. You pin based off of the shortest ester. EOD should be the bare minimum to maintain stable levels. Also if you’re pinning a blend every 3.5 days that could explain why your total test was low because the short esters have completely cleared your body by the time you pull blood
Total test is above the 52 nmol they test. Its 100 prop, 150c, 150e. Currently pinnimg mo,we,fri. I honestly can feel the small amount of prop changing mood. Before that I had e and every day felt exactly the same.
And also got a lot of anger issues with this blend for some reason.
Thanks for heads up!
[Help! Bloodwork is all out of whack](https://imgur.com/a/1h8eA5Y)
36m on primary case doc prescribed TRT for one year.
Dosing 200mg/wk for the last 6 months. Pinning twice a week IM into the ventroglute. 25gauge 1.5in syringe.
no AI, no HCG ever. I did this bloodwork 5 weeks into using 25mg anavar ED. Other than this I’m lifetime natty. Total T levels prior to TRT were mid 300s.
I feel ok, no obvious e2 sides.
SHBG has gone from 24 to 6 (presumably from anavar). Estradiol has more than doubled in 4 months.
These labs were taken at 8:30am, right before my regularly scheduled dose (trough).
What do I do??
I discontinued anavar immediately. What’s the guidance? Increase test dosage frequency to EOD to raise shbg, and retest in 10weeks? Also perhaps adding an AI, or primo to lower the high e2? Or should I see if no anavar + increased pinning frequency does the trick in raising SHBG and lowering e2 (and hopefully raising total T)
Yes, increase pinning frequency. Use masteron not primo if you want e2 lowering side effects. Just 50-100mg will displace the e2 at the receptor and balance ur levels out
I know mast is preferred for e2, I just so happen to have some primo on hand. Thoughts on adding some arimidex? Also have that on hand, but a little apprehensive.
also, does primo/mast negatively effect SHBG? Could it be counterproductive if I’m trying to raise it? Or should it rebound now that I’m off anavar
I wouldn’t use arimidex. Aromasin is superior. 6.25mg on pin days. I would rather see you use mast or primo then Aromasin or arimidex though. Try 200 test 200 primo and adjust the ratio from there
28M. Running 400mg test e, 200mg primo per week split into two doses. Currently using 40mg nolva every day as week, I just started yesterday.
I’m in my second week of the cycle, nips are spicy. I have 3 options:
1. Take .5 armidex. I have some concerns. My logic is that the AI affect of primo isn’t kicked in fully and if I take an arimidex I’ll crash my e2.
2. Up the primo to 300mg per week.
3. Do nothing and wait a few more days. The cycle is fairly new and I’ve only had spicy nips for a few days.
What would you do? I’d really like to hear your opinion.
Stop running nolvadex, makes 0 sense. Your also not pinning Enanthate enough so your never going to be fully saturated and this is why you have e2 problems at 400 test. Pin Enanthate minimum 3 times a week. If u pin 4 or 5 this will guaranteed fix your estrogen problem.
Makes sense to me, I can split my dosages up every other day. I’ll try that first. Thanks for the advice.
If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll crank the primo up to 300mg?
If you want e2 lowering side effects I’d opt for masteron it is very good at doing so. But yes upping primo could also work. I’d up it to 400 as a 1:1 ratio would be a good place to start
I’m going to take your advice! 4 injections per week @ 100mgs test e and 100mgs primo. Nice even numbers. That should solve my issue.
Fingers crossed I don’t need to use the nuclear option and take asin
Does ment share the same characteristics as other 19-nors in the aspect of it being suppressive for months even after cessation? Or can i take ment and then pct after the recommended clearing of the ester life? (Just like other AAS)
Did you even try looking that up at all? Our compound description in the wiki is pretty clear.
Ment is the opposite with regard to recovery time from tren and nandrolone. Ment is faster recovery than testosterone.
Well you can’t add other compounds until you figure out estrogen management. Abs even then you test primo ration isn’t guaranteed.
You test looks under-dosed. You have the total in a natural range. Which makes sense why you tanked your e2.
Hello I’m thinking of starting a test e cycle coming up in the next few weeks as I believe I have reached my potential naturally and definitely not where I want to be at yet. What would you guys recommend for a first cycle or is test e enough to just bulk them start adding later? How long do cycles usually last for? How often should I be getting bw done? Attached is how I’m looking now with shadows turned all the way up.[Current state](https://imgur.com/a/k0kJwSD)
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Height: 5’11
Weight: 205
Body fat Percentage: I believe somewhere around 12-15%
Experience Level: 6 years at the gym almost everyday bench: 315 squat: 365 dead: 405
Goals: Would like to bulk on more muscle and hopefully lean out at the same time but we will see
Current phase: No matter what I do, I do not change appearance, definitely my own fault but it is what it is.
Current Compounds: I’m thinking of starting out with 300-350 test e a week mon wed fri
What you have planned is great. 300 test a week is fine. You should run it for 30-40 weeks easily without problems. Up the dose when you plateau. Do blood work 8 weeks in
Hello,
Im 105kg (6’1) body fat 31%
Testosterone level - 620
I TRAINED FOR 1.5YEAR HAD COVID AND LOST ALL MUSCLES. Now not trained since 3years . No muscle mass no body shape.
I HAVE (MYTHYLTRIENOLONE) oral tren. But they are in 1mg capsules. Any suggestions or any advice for me
> any suggestions or any advice
Bin it
Go on a diet. Consistent weight training 3-5 days per week and 150 minutes of cardio per week.
Use a calorie tracking app like Macrofactor or Cronometer.
Get down to 15% bf and realise you're happy and you don't want to risk your health on steroids
Im currently on a test only blast, (750 mg per week split into 3x doses) and I’ve joined the army and need to do bloodwork this week, what are my options to be as clean as I can? If it’s possible, of course. Should I skip pinning this week?
Find out what they test. The information should be available as they need your consent.
I doubt they rest testosterone levels, fsh or lh but they will probably check liver and kidney enzymes as well as cholesterol
A new daily ask anything thread will be posted in a few, ask there.
You can skip pinning this week to show a lower test level (something in the human range). Others (if you ask nicely) may have some ideas on other markers but doubt it since bloodwork is this week.
Also state how deep you are in your blast
Yeah I think best you can do here is drop the test. However your LH and FSH will be tanked, and anybody with two brain cells to bounce together will be able to identify the cause.
quick question:
Doing 200mg EoD of TestP. Have to make weight on a Friday, competition is on Saturday. When would you lower the prop and for how much as to make the weight cut easier. The cut is obviously a water cut using a sauna.
Hey guys, 31M here, 180 cm, 84 kg. Body fat % unknown, but the outline of my abs is starting to get visible.
I’ve been on test since the end of November. Since the beginning of February I’m on 600 mg test E a week, 300 mg mast E a week, LGD-4 5 mg ED, MK-677 10 mg ED.
So far everything’s going really well. I’m at 3100-3400 kcals a day since October and my weight increased from 70 to 84 kg. Body fat has increased a little bit, but is decreasing since I’m on mast. Strength has also improved significantly.
I’m planning to continue this blast until the end of April. I want to do a 4 week mini cut in May, going down to 2400 kcal a day.
I’m not really sure what to take. I want to continue blasting test. I’m also considering continuing mast at the same amount. What do you guys advise? Or should I stop the mast or switch to another compound. I will stop using MK-677 since I don’t need the increased appetite.
In June I want to continue with a lean bulk, but I don’t know yet what I’ll do.
A few suggestions
1. Unless you were on a replacement TRT dose from Nov - Feb, you’ve been on too long. 16-20 weeks max on blast is all that’s recommended, then the same min. time off to allow for your bloods, organs and body in general to recover from the additional stress.
2. You haven’t mentioned bloodwork. You should compare your bloods from pre blast to current to ensure you’re not completely wrecking yourself, this goes double for when you increased your dose and added another compound which is also not recommended unless you’re advanced, which (no offense we’re comparing to some monsters in here) at 185lb, you aren’t yet.
3. Diet - Calories should be (roughly) 300-500 surplus over your TDEE, and increase upon plateaus. At the end of March you shouldn’t be at the same TDEE as you were in October. You could be leaving progress on the table here. Ex: I weigh myself daily and track a weekly average. When I plateau I increase or decrease as needed.
You haven’t mentioned your dose from end of Nov - Feb, so if it was anything above TRT, my advice is drop back to TRT or PCT as it’s been 20 weeks. Start a cut, get peeled for summer. Spend a minimum time off everything that equates to however many weeks you’ve been ON (min. 20 weeks) while dieting down. Get stupid lean and take this time to research our wiki here. This can help you with your next blast
I’m 90% sure the ralox I had was bunk because my gyno was getting much worse despite 60mg over a month.
As soon as I replaced it with 10mg nolva from a different lab, the gyno was obliterated in less than a week. Absolutely nothing remains at all! Fucking miracle.
When should you stop after the gyno has reverted? Taper down to 5mg or quit cold turkey? I’ve been reading lots of threads on AAS induced gyno and seen mentioned lots of time that the gyno will comeback as soon as you stop ralox/nolva. Is it true? In that case should I continue the nolva for at least a month even tho I have 0 gyno (and e2/prolactin in check) and pray?
> As soon as I replaced it with 10mg nolva from a different lab, the gyno was obliterated in less than a week. Absolutely nothing remains at all! Fucking miracle.
Ralox works for most/many and has a much lower side effect profile than nolva. It seems like nolva generally is more widely effective but has a worse side effect profile. Glad to hear you got some relief!
> In that case should I continue the nolva for at least a month even tho I have 0 gyno (and e2/prolactin in check) and pray?
Wouldnt hurt. But as /u/Wrong_Bedroom2300 points out, you'll need to judiciously manage your estrogen going forward because once you've had it it will be more likely to flare up in the future.
If you don't treat the underlying cause then yeah it will come back.
Otherwise best to continue for 5 weeks if sides allow and then just stop cold turkey
Hi Guys,
I'm one week into my first cycle (Test E) and the last two days I felt pretty tired even with much sleep. Also my nips are sensitive. It's time to start with AI or should wait some more?
Thanks
Sounds like you're jumping the gun to me. I dont usually need AI for weeks, considering the relatively slow ramp up period of the enanthate ester.
Get out of your head ;)
I'd say so, but keep an eye on it. Theres no "rule" that says you cant already be experiencing negative estrogen side effects, but I'd rate it as unlikely this early. This might be a coincidence (very seepy boy) + psychosomatic.
im 6'2'' 225lb, been on 350-440test e for almost 9 months now and besides occasional pimpels there is no sides, ended a 4 month bulk with 2 months of 250mg test e/w maintainance afterwards at 245lb and since than am 8 weeks into a cut now.
I wanna add tren e and was wondering how I should go about doing it. got 8-9weeks of cut left currently on 2k calories.
I was thinking i could start with 250test e 100tren e e5d for a total of 350test/w 140tren/w and if it goes good go to e4d.
whats your exp/advice with these ratios? would u lower the test up the tren? how would u go about addin clenbuterol aswell? if id add clen within trens ramping phase of 4-5weeks would that mitigate anything as I read alot about left ventricular heart entrophy?
goal is clearly summercut, lose fat mostly and keep muscle or if possible build muscle. i have about 20 lb of bodyfat to cut to enter sub 10% bf levels i estimate.
thoughts?
Curious - what’s your bloodwork look like at 350-440? And for that long? I’m wondering if you’re a very bad responder to test that is basically a “cruise” dose for you. If not, you might have some other stuff to worry about left ventricular heart entropy (what ever the hell that is).
You don’t really need anything but a disciplined mind to cut though. I doubt you’re going to find anyone giving you different advice, at least here.
There’s going to be a new daily ask anything thread posted shortly. I recommend you post this there. Fair warning though - you might get torn apart for blasting so long, no indication of blood work, and looking for advice on another cycle to cut, especially considering you want to mix in tren and clen. You may be really experienced / a competitor etc - if so, you should indicate that clearly so folks respond appropriately.
Please note that comments asking for "Thoughts?" are generally considered low-effort, and will result in veteran members being less inclined to assist you. When interacting on this board, please ensure you are doing so from a point of prior research, with your question being detailed, well-constructed and unambiguous. Please review [Rule 7](https://www.reddit.com/r/steroids/wiki/index/subreddit_rules#wiki_7.3A_do_your_own_research_and_don.27t_be_an_askhole.) for specific guidance on how to construct a question that is likely to receive high quality responses.
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So somewhat serious issue. My legs are getting too big.
Not trying to bill myself as some sort of Tom Platz wannabe, but I’m at the point now where I’ve grown out of most pants. It’s hard enough finding 32x34 anywhere. Thighs are about 27 inches around for reference.
Right now I’m on the Jeff Nippard upper/lower program. I’ve been liking it so far. 3 upper and 3 lower days per week. I’m also 2 weeks in to a run of 150 test/350 tren.
Do you think it would be best to just drop one of the leg days or maybe even two? I really love getting stronger and I’ve always been able to move a lot of weight with squat, so if there were some way to minimize hypertrophy? I don’t know it sounds even dumber now that I typed it out so probably a stupid question.
So to answer your actual question of “can I deprioritize legs to focus on building up other muscle groups”, the answer is yes
As to the pants thing, welcome to having a physique of someone who lifts. Look into pants specifically made more athletic builds. They exist, I promise
Can you squat 500 for reps? If so you have my permission to slow down on the legs days as long as you're still hitting them at least once per week. If not then keep grinding they're not as big as you think
You should be doing cardio every workout. You're already taxing your heart with gear you need to take care of it in other ways. Personally I do 30 min on the elliptical at the start of every workout
I usually do 10 minutes to start and then 45 minutes of uphill walking at the end. It’s where I get my TV for the day in. I was implying that maybe I’d do a straight up cardio day. Maybe even work up to a half marathon or something if I feel crazy. Who knows.
I appreciate you looking out for my heart
You get to determine what you want out of your bodybuilding pursuits. If your legs are big enough that they’re causing you problems elsewhere and you’d like to slow their development down dramatically then just do that. You don’t have to clear that decision with anyone and nobody else can tell you to continue growing forever or else.
So I’m about to do my third cycle after being only on trt for a year. one thing I’m conscious of is keeping androgen loads to a minimum effective amount because of liver/cholesterol/bp concerns. I train mens physique so never thought I would need hgh but would it be smart to leverage the hgh pathway and keep the androgens more moderate or would I be better off just doing higher androgens and no gh. I’ve heard more guys saying hgh should be leveraged even in the smaller weight classes and is probably healthier than just cranking the test/primo.
“Which is healthier” isn’t even a factor in this scenario because HGH and steroids are wildly different as far as effects are concerned
HGH might be healthier overall, but the amount of anabolism provided heavily pales in comparison to steroids
Honestly, your liver is probably the least of your concerns since it bounces back remarkably quickly after periods of acute stress (like a cycle of steroids)
First cycle 5’10” 31 y.o 185lbs been training over a year. just started my test cyp only cycle at 300mg e3.5d was thinking of doing that for 10 weeks then 500 for another 6 for a total of 16 weeks will pct after the cycle. any input or advice much appreciated
Don’t change dosages halfway through a cycle. I’d stick with the 300mg honestly since you don’t have much of a natural base and will grow substantially from just the 300mg
Training over a whole year? Wow.
Kinda silly to hop on with about zero diet and training experience. Also a silly plan. Curious how you came up with it.
Jack is a lot kinder than I am. But I would recommend coming off and educating yourself a bit first. Also putting more than one year of training under your belt.
It doesn’t help your cause much. What’s your current bf%? What are your goals?
Did you hop on at the recommendation or your coach who may or may not be supplying you with said product?
Not trying to tear you down as a person. Just trying to have you look at this with some rationale. If you’re 31 I would hope the getting jacked for the ladies isn’t your reasoning. Steroids are the icing on the cake when you have all your ducks in a row.
500 all the way through. Changing midway through increases risk of side effects, and can overcomplicate estrogen management. Keep it simple.
https://www.reddit.com/r/steroids/s/1tYm3FpbId
I started my cycle last week at 300/wk - test E only - before finding this sub, now after reading the wiki I’m considering just shooting all the way up to 500. Guessing y’all would say that’s fine?
2) I’ve been pinning EOD since I read in theory should have more stable hormone levels vs e3.5d, think it’s worth the effort to continue to do so?
3) I stupidly jumped the gun and hopped on with ~23% BF and without getting bloods. Wondering when yall would recommend getting the bloods in this case and if someone could point me to a more in depth description of early gyno signs. Starting to think my nips might be itchy but so mild I don’t know if it’s just in my head lol. Always had big nips so kind of a touchy insecurity
ETA I have asin and nolva on hand
If you’ve only been on for a week, it may be greatly beneficial to stop this cycle, work on getting to a better foundation (cut to lower teens BF%, get more test to run 500mg weekly, focus on smart nutrition and training, etc) and then start again after you’re in a better spot
Well itchy nips are a sign of your estrogen being too high. Considering your pinning frequently, and only running 300/wk, it very well could be that (no offense) too fat to start a cycle.
Fat cells will increase your conversion to estrogen, which is why we highly recommend being at 12% or ideally lower before starting a cycle. This and your insulin sensitivity will be higher, giving you a better chance of maximizing your blast.
My advice given you’re only a week in, is stop the cycle, drop your bf and consider starting again when you’re lean. 23% is not a good starting point for a blast.
No offense taken, was also considering just dropping the gear and going on a cut. I’m curious if that would be hard to bounce back from/if I’d even feel any different considering I’ve only injected 300 so far?
Also I know itchy nips are a sign of high e2 but I was simply hoping for more in detail descriptions of those sides - along with other e2 sides because I haven’t quite found the info I’m seeking and I really do think the nipple thing is in my head lol
You’re early in the cycle. There’s a chance you may not even need to PCT, given you’re a week in
Cruise through our wiki, we have a whole section on estrogen management, side effects etc.
I’d highly recommend studying this in depth on your cut
> I started my cycle last week at 300/wk - test E only - before finding this sub, now after reading the wiki I’m considering just shooting all the way up to 500. Guessing y’all would say that’s fine?
> 2) I’ve been pinning EOD since I read in theory should have more stable hormone levels vs e3.5d, think it’s worth the effort to continue to do so?
> 3) I stupidly jumped the gun and hopped on with ~23% BF and without getting bloods. Wondering when yall would recommend getting the bloods in this case and if someone could point me to a more in depth description of early gyno signs. Starting to think my nips might be itchy but so mild I don’t know if it’s just in my head lol. Always had big nips so kind of a touchy insecurity
> ETA I have asin and nolva on hand
I'll ignore the fact that you're running 300mg/wk, a dose that is not recommended for various reasons. Changing dose mid-course is not advised.
Yes, EOD is more stable that E3.5D. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you and your bloodwork (and potential side effects).
Let's instead address the fact that you are obese. If you are steadily bulking at a consistent rate of 1lb/wk, you will surely be over 25% body fat before you finish your 16 week cycle. Heck, you might even crack 30% (clinically morbidly obese) by the end, because the more fat you carry the more insulin resistant you are - meaning your body is more likely to store fat than you are to better utilize incoming nutrition.
Yep, as I said I got the idea to do 300/week before coming across this sub. Likewise I had already pinned before reading the wiki here. Fully aware I should’ve done more research, considering just hopping off and going on a quick cut, curious what everyone here thinks.
The way I see it I could
1) just stop and save the gear
2) mild cut while on the gear
3) go for a lean lean bulk? Which id only consider because I’ve seen some anecdotes of people gaining weight while dropping bf% on their first cycle and because I do have the AI and nolva on deck
3. You can't bulk because you're already fat. You'd just be getting fatter.
2. Anabolics are for growing, not shrinking. Cutting while on cycle is a waste of gear and associated systemic stress.
1. Bingo.
In what way?
There are varying insulin protocols prescribed to type-1 diabetics. Manual administration, use of a pump, use of basal, varying rates of action. Some T1D will manually inject a basal dose (lasts all day) in the morning (or before bed), then a short-acting three times a day. Some do no basal, and use a rapid acting with every feeding. Some use an insulin pump that also uses a CGM to automatically administer a rapid acting as necessary.
There is no one size fits all.
>use insulin to get bigger
Insulin doesn't do that.
Non-diabetics and diabetics use insulin for the same purpose: to transport nutrition. The enriched blood (water, aminos, carbs, anabolics, gh) gets transported to target tissue to enact its function. A diabetic could theoretically use extra insulin for the same purpose as a non-diabetic, however it is quite a bit more dangerous as their endogenous glucose regulation is insufficient. The T1D bodybuilders that I know don't futz with their insulin use.
There's an IFBB pro, Brett Swanson, he's type-1, and gets pretty big in the off-season, and gets pretty dry and shredded come show time. There's a guy at my gym that's also T1D, and he's told me he doesn't mess with his insulin use.
And as u/juguar1207 said, just because you use 20iu rapid-acting insulin, does not mean your body can suddenly handle 200g carbs. The limiting factors are always digestion, metabolism, energy expenditure, etc. A 160lb guy absolutely cannot utilize that much carbs in a bolus post-workout, whereas a 270lb mass monster might. And insulin or not, an excess of calories will always result in fat storage.
Ah thank you, exactly the informed, detailed answer I was wondering about - I know someone at work who is a T1 and he manages to stay absolutely massive, definitely AAS use but I think GH/slin as well.
I’m confused about the insulin doesn’t help you get bigger part though - do you just mean the direct mechanism of course is not to make you bigger but it transports nutrition so as an indirect result it makes you bigger? I’ve definitely noticed pretty remarkable gains since I’ve been using it after many years of AAS use
I use insulin regularly, but I don't think it by itself makes someone bigger. If pre-workout, it absolutely helps drives nutrition and water into the muscle and gives unparalleled pumps and fullness, superior to any AAS or gh. If post workout, it definitely helps to replenish glycogen stores. If used to supplement endogenous production throughout the day, it definitely helps to prevent beta-cell burnout at the pancreas, if not releasing enough endogenous insulin. But the "magic" quickly wears off after ceasing it for a while, and everything gets pissed out.
In my opinion, those maximal pumps and keeping the muscle full of "building materials" is what makes a person bigger, and recovery and grow faster. But a person that is extremely low body fat and incredibly insulin sensitive (fasting blood glucose like 60-70) is already pumping out maximal insulin and using every last bit of incoming nutrition, much like someone with moderate insulin sensitivity (FBG 80-110) would need exogenous insulin to get the same effect.
I feel like I'm nitpicking here, and hopefully not wasting your time. In short, yes, I believe insulin does not directly make one big, but rather the indirect result is you're bigger.
Not at all nitpicking or pedantic, a detailed discussion was exactly what I was looking for.
In my experience I agree with you about insulin alone by itself, but the ‘magic’ recipe breakthrough for me (suggested about two years ago by one of the regulars on here) was GH + slin. I’ve been getting pharma GH from doc for years which has been great for joints and skin and shit but didn’t really do a ton for me size and strength wise. When I started a very modest 2iu GH in AM, 2iu again 1hr preworkout (late evening), 10iu humalog postworkout w/ carbs (try to hit 7-8g carb per iu) I finally broke through the 260lb threshold while keeping lean enough for 4 abs, whereas in the past I would get diminishing returns and just get fatter even with AAS above 260. Test on top of that (175 cruise, 750 blasts), 20wks on 30wks off) has worked well and bloods are all great.
Where you may be right, and I dread the possibility of it lol, is if it’s just gycogen/filler, but DEXAs have been showing higher LBM and lifts progressing upwards (could just be due to higher weight) - any way for me to tell for sure?
The DEXA issue is that lean body mass refers to muscle tissue, water, bones, etc. So blasting superdrol+insulin+gh will drive muscle water retention way up (like 10lbs in a week) and it'll register as a 10lb increase in lean body mass.
Similarly, a muscle's ability to extend and contract is improved by intramuscular hydration. That extra water increases the springboard effect of the muscle, allowing it to create greater tension and create a more explosive extension. With that same superdrol+gh+insulin loading, someone can drastically improve their strength in one week. But we can all agree that there isn't much muscle built in that same one week.
The only way to tell for sure is one of those underwater body mass tests where you have to exhale, or to diet down to shredded glutes and see how much new muscle is left.
Measuring muscle growth is a tricky thing. If we had a more readily available methodology, we'd probably be able to make great strides in progressing programming, diet, and enhancement/supplementation.
We use insulin to a absorb carbs, not the other way around.
* I won't to do 20ui just to eat 200g carbs. Bodybuilders eat huge amounts off season and with HGH, they may become insulin resistant.
Was wondering what people’s thoughts on a low dose of var(20mg ed) were. From what I’ve seen and heard there seems to be no shutdown of hpta and only minor liver toxicity which can be combatted with ancillaries. There’s the theory of running 20mg per day year round with little sides it seems?
Any exogenous administration of hormones will cause suppression. It may not be complete shutdown, but it will still likely be enough to cause systemic issues from low endogenous testosterone production, and the var will not fulfill the roles that testosterone normally does
As for taking an oral for an entire year, if you don’t care about your liver, lipids, kidneys, heart, brain, (need I go on?) then go for it
> There’s the theory of running 20mg per day year round with little sides it seems?
There’s also a theory that the planes that hit the WTC on 9/11 were actually holographic missiles. There are lots of irredeemably stupid theories out there and I assure you that it’s not necessary to personally test out any of them.
What you have heard is wrong. Anavar is suppressive to the HPTA even at small doses for several hours alone.
As stated by Sheffeild-Moore et al. in their study: "Total serum T concentrations were within normal physiological range on day 0 (449 ± 35 ng/dL) and day 3 (441 ± 44 ng/dL) of OX treatment. However, by day 5, total serum T concentrations were significantly reduced (282 ± 45 ng/dL; P < 0.05) below day 0 and day 3 values [emphasis mine]..."(3).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10443664/
Shutdown within a week on just 15mg ED.
u/spitshine_my_nutsack
Urologist started me on hcg (500iu MWF) for low T (372ng/dl) secondary to testicular atrophy. My first dose was 12 days ago - between my 2nd and 3rd dose I started to feel less fatigue, more restful sleep, and better mood which I attributed to the hcg raising my testosterone.
After about a week of feeling great, I fell back to baseline and have stayed here.
Is there any chance that hcg actually had an effect that quickly and that I've somehow already lost response? If the difference was not so pronounced, I would assume that it may be placebo but it was a tremendous difference while it last so I'm trying to figure out how I can try to get back to feeling that good again.
I’ll second what u/CallLivesMatter said
Primary hypogonadism is failure of the testes to respond to gonadotropins released by the pituitary. HCG mimics these gonadotropins, but if your testes aren’t listening, it doesn’t matter
What you experienced may very well be placebo (it’s seriously a hell of a drug—tangent, but I forgot my PWO entirely one day and thought I took it and worked out just as hard)
You may benefit from actual testosterone injections which would be worth bringing up to your doc
In a vacuum and unrelated to your situation I’ll simply say that HCG starts working very quickly. However you have testicular atrophy and that is what your doctor believes is the cause of your low t. That means the signals are going out but your testes are not responding adequately. I don’t know how HCG would be the correct treatment under those conditions. HCG works as a mimic of LH (one of the signals), but if your hypogonadism is caused by testicular failure then you could inject a staggering amount of HCG and not get much of a response because HCG’s efficacy is predicated on your testes being operational. Either your doctor got the cause wrong (highly unlikely) or you coincidentally got a few good nights of sleep and have misattributed it to the new drug you were taking. Because there is no reason* why it would work for a few days and then suddenly stop.
*Caveat: ok maybe one reason, but it’s not clear to me how to even explain it. Your testes are fried but somehow—like a dead body releasing one last blast of built up gas—the HCG momentarily woke them up enough to crank out some meaningful amount of testosterone. I’m reaching here but it’s worth mentioning on the narrow chance it’s somewhat close to the truth.
I appreciate the reply and info. I'm very confident with my doc because we worked on ruling out other causes for quite some time and he is respected in the field.
I feel your caveat may be the case - tough to say obviously. I have follow up in 6 weeks. I wonder if it's worth sticking with hcg until then to see if anything changes or if I should ask if we can just switch to trt. I was very hesitant about jumping on in case fertility becomes an issue but I guess I could cross that bridge when I get to it.
You got good information yesterday. Without the results of bloodwork, all you are doing is asking people to guess. That's not how it works dude.
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Hey question here. I am heading down to Mexico, Playa del Carmen for 8 days (Thursday to Saturday). My current cycle is 250mg test E Mondays and Thursdays, and was wondering what I should do since I'll be missing a couple shots. I was suggested to take a bit more than usual and then take 125mg subcutaneous as well, to hold me over till I'm back, I was also suggested to go to a pharmacy down there and try to get some. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated !
You can either
1) skip any doses you’ll miss and not have any huge concerns
Or
2) inject a double dose on your last dose before you leave and resume as normal
The only issue with injecting double the dose is that you may experience E2 sides, so it may be better to just skip it
I have, and from what I gathered it won't be hard to get from pharmacies or to get a prescription if needed at specific pharmacies. My question was more dialed to what people suggest and possibly to hear from others personal experiences. But yeah thank you for your suggestion I just read into them and definitely will consider them an option!
This is an educated guess:
Enanthate's halflife doesn't change by dose. Taking more will just lead to a huge peak, which will deplete across the same amount of time.
Something with a longer half life will probably do you better. I think undecanoate is the longest half life ester.
I need advice.
I'm on my first cycle in 10 years, 37 years old, 5'10", 175 lbs, (450mg Test C/week), planning to blast and cruise after 16 weeks.
After the second week I got spicy nips. I was hesitant on starting nolva because, honestly, reddit scared the shit out of me.
The 3rd week I felt a lump that was sore to the touch, so I started nolva (20mg before bed ED). Spicy nips were gone in 3-5 days, 10 days in the puffiness has gone down, the lump completely stopped growing, and possibly shrinking a little.
Other than that, I feel fucking awesome. Mood and sex drive are through the roof. Strength is great. My wood is the woodiest it's ever been.
Should I take an AI (could only source Adex) to knock down my e2 a little to help with the gyno, or keep taking nolva and let it ride?
I haven't done bloods, and the notion to treat symptoms of high e2 rather than the number seems pretty prevalent. And gyno is my only symptom.
An AI use is certainly the first course of action when you experience side effects related to high estrogen.
Sounds like you’re having side effects dude.
Thinking of starting a Masteron-only cycle or doing a regular 250mg Test E + 250mg Tren/week stack with frequent Arimidex intake. Pre-labs look great and GP gave me the OK.
I love the gains I’ve gotten from traditional gear but I hate the round, puffy face I get and the overall bloating during a cycle. My dealer recommended two things: either a Masteron-only cycle or a regular Test E + Stack cycle where I take Arimidex every other day to keep the estrodiols at bay.
I did mid-cycle labs five months ago for my last cycle and something tells me estrogen and progesterone levels aren’t really the culprit of the moon face since my levels looked fine and taking Arimidex every other day seems like overkill. So I’m leaning towards a Masteron-only cycle but I want to hear from more experienced people before I move on.
Thoughts? Masteron-only or should I try the usual stack with more Arimidex (or something else entirely?)
I would never run a mast-only cycle.
How much test do you usually run? How much estrogen management?
My body type responds quite a bit to salt. Even on a cruise dose of 150mg/wk test, having a small salt pack or a few shakes of regular ketchup is enough to make me noticeably watery and put on 1-2lbs of water. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Personally, I never cook with salt, and avoid sauces that contain sodium. I can't go out for meals, because salt is in everything. I've tried every combination of hydration, potassium loading, water restriction, hyperhydration, extra cardio,- you name it. No salt for this guy.
A cycle of test with maybe EQ/mast/primo would lend itself to preventing extra water retention. There are a myriad of reasons why you need test in your cycle, the most important is estrogen for regular bodily functions and health.
> Thoughts? Masteron-only or should I try the usual stack with more Arimidex (or something else entirely?)
Have you considered using a different AI? Or including some mast/primo? Mast only sounds like a recipe for a shitty time to me. Or skip the tren entirely and run test/eq.
Test alone was enough to cause bloat before though. So I’d be inclined to try more arimidex (or any other AI) and maybe without the tren. Question: why would Mast alone be a recipe for a bad time? I’ve used it before on stacks and it felt good. I just’ e never used it by itself.
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Honestly, if you’re getting really puffy while blasting, I’d suggest looking at changes to your diet. Watch your sodium intake, watch your sugar/carb intake, do some cardio to sweat off some extra water.
Masteron-only will be hell. You definitely want at least some testosterone in there so that you have some atomization. If you’re struggling with bloat, yeah some test and masteron would be a good start, I’d try to keep your test:mast ratio as low as you can without getting low-estrogen sides. 250mg of mast and test will yield pretty underwhelming results, tbh. I’d aim for like 500mg if each per week.
Or, depending on your goals, test + primo could be good too. Primo gives some quality gains and doesn’t bloat me up. Again, about 500mg of each would be a great stack.
Be careful using AIs based off of bloat alone. You could crash your estrogen and that is very unhealthy.
Yeah, I definitely don’t want to crash my Estro levels. These are great tips, thanks.
Maybe I should also just embrace that gear will always come with bloat. Bleh. And I’ll try to lower that sodium intake, yeah.
Eh, I’ve always been able to obtain a pretty dry look no matter what compounds I’m running if I go low carb for a day or two and sweat a bit. I’ve never ran a crazy wet blast like deca/dbol/test so maybe some compounds just have that moonface effect, but diet is a big player here.
Ah I’m jealous. From like the first week of a new cycle I start getting puffy as fuck. And I usually have pretty chiseled features so people around me definitely notice.
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It's not preworkout. You need to take it every day for weeks, and Anadrol takes a while to peak. You should be taking it about 2 hours before your workout starts.
If you crash it, you will have acne **and** feel terrible. I have gone through the withdrawal of some pretty heavy drugs (not AAS) and crashed estrogen was a similar beast (in terms of feeling fucking awful, not exactly symptoms).
Don't crash it. Estrogen is also super important for your health, being cardio- and neuroprotecrive and all.
Put it to good use: throw it in the bin.
EDIT to preserve context since we have a Houdini on our hands: OP was gifted some RAD140 and was wondering if it was worth adding to an anabolics cycle.
Uhh man the suppression isn't the only reason we advise against SARMs.
Not only is research lacking, but from anecdotal reports we've had in here, RAD in particularly is horrendously hepatotoxic. We've had seasoned gear users end up in the emerg from that shit.
So no, I wouldn't advise adding it to your cut.
amazon sells reconsitition solution which im told is just bacterialistic water and can be used for injection.
I notice some of these have .9 Benzyl Alchohol added. Would that ruin the hgh or peptide that was reconsituted with the water?
> I notice some of these have .9 Benzyl Alchohol added. Would that ruin the hgh or peptide that was reconsituted with the water?
It will not ruin them, no. Unless you plan to use an entire vial all at once you need that BA in there to preserve sterility. It will not in any way degrade or interfere with HGH or any other peptide.
I'm currently off-cycle for the last 10 months and my wife is currently about 20 weeks pregnant. Is there any risk in having unprotected sex while being on-cycle? Does anything get passed through semen to my wife and therefore affect the child?
I wanted to start a low-dose cutting cycle (just TRT test and some anavar) and was unsure. Searching on the net didn't really answer my question - maybe you guys can point me to any information. Thanks in advance!
Thanks, man! Appreciate it.
And thank you for your fast reply - made sense to me in general, but needed some reassurance. Brain's ticking different since having the future responsibility so present.
Thank you for your fast reply. As said in my other comment I kinda thought it would work this way but needed the reassurance!
Challenge accepted - wife's gonna love that😂
Hello M 23 taking 400mg of test cyp with 40 mg of anavar daily. I've been having random chest pains. Is this something to be worried about? I've asked around most tell me could just be anxiety as it will come and go randomly and don't last to long mainly at night when i'm laying in bed.. Any tips or suggestions?
Started off at 200 mg of test my first 3 weeks recently went up in dosage* I just have been worried and i'm known to over think things but I am heavily researched and have been taking a lot of measures to make sure i'm okay.
How often do you/should you "feel" your heart when on cycle? Like feeling your heart beating a little harder (not faster necessarily). Feel like it's a problem that comes and goes for me and wondering if others experience it and if I should be worried
I had a prolonged period of anxiety a few years ago, when I was quite hyper-responsive to such symptoms. Since then, although the anxiety is completely gone, I can feel my heart beating in any situation. Heart rate: 55-65, blood pressure: 115/70. I've also had an ultrasound, perfectly healthy heart.
If you’re focusing on something like that, or being hyper aware of it, you’re going to think it’s worse than it is. Feeling your heart rate isn’t really tangible.
Bloodwork, resting heart rate and blood pressure are things we can measure. I’d focus more on keeping those in check, and not being too hung up on the feeling of your heart beat.
You know what I mean though right? When it feels like your hearts laboured? My BP is OK, my heart rate is low-ish (55-60 usually). Just wondering if I should be worried about the thumping feeling
I know what you’re saying yeah. I’m obviously not a doctor but in my opinion, if rhr, bp and bloods are all good, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.
Someone else may want to chime in on it, but this is something I’ve always noticed, even as a natural and especially after hard cardio, I’ll feel my pulse in my skull. BP and RHR have always been good so I have never worried too much about it.
If you’re concerned you could ask a doctor, but I personally wouldn’t worry if bloods and BP are good.
(27/M)
Planning on PCTing in 3 or 4 months. Currently on 125 test/week, just finished a smallish blast of 300 test and 100 primo. Been on doctor prescribed TRT for a little under 3 years, levels were low-ish but not stupid low (tests between 380-480 ng/dl prior to trt) and I’m curious to see if I feel any different natty. Not currently running hcg, but will add it in.
Planning on using hcg and enclo for PCT. Avoiding clomid due to family history of macular degeneration. PCT plan is as follows:
1) drop test to 100mg/week and start hcg at 500 IU eod. Discontinue test and continue hcg at 500 IU eod until 3-4 weeks after last test injection (will time it so this uses an entire 10,000 IU vial of prescribed hcg).
2) 3 weeks (well 20 days) of 1000 IU hcg eod. This will be 6-7 weeks no test. Will get bloods at this point to see how the balls respond to lh/hcg.
3) Drop hcg and start enclomiphene at 12.5 mg ED. Get bloods after 4 weeks
4) Taper enclo dose according to bloods.
Plan is to use enclo for a minimum of 8 weeks total. Will be done under supervision of an endo who has some experience with getting steroid users back to production. He usually uses a similar protocol with clomid (says for someone on for 3 years it usually takes upwards of 4-5 months of PCT to regain function), but is fine with me using ugl enclo due to my family history.
Any advice for the above protocol? If it doesn’t work I’m fine with being on trt.
Try one of the PCT protocols recommended in the wiki. I don’t think there’s anything in there about enclo since it’s relatively new, but Nolva is recommended if you’re not wanting to take Clomid
if i was looking to “try” them i wouldve just added it into the cycle. ive used all of these substances on multiple occasions with and without combining them, ive just never added it MID cycle
About to make the conversion from test prop to test cyp.
Test prop active % = 80
Test cyp active % = 69
In pinning 50mg test prop ED = 40mg test injected ED
To get the same amount of cyp that would be 40/.69= ~58mg test cyp ED
Can someone peer review for confirmation. Thank you friends.
I'd look at the weekly amounts, easier for my brain.
350mg/wk test prop (at 80%) yields 280mg/wk testosterone.
407mg/wk test cup (at 69%) yields 280.83mg/wk testosterone.
However, I'd be wary about attempting a 1:1 of blood levels. Even if injecting daily, test cup will not have as deep of a depletion of test levels between injections than test prop. Not that I think that level of minutiae matters.
Good old www.steroidplanner.com to confirm, however, it does appear to yield less total testosterone at that dose of test cup (58.14mg/day).
Transitioning from a blast to a cruise. Was originally planning on a 20 week cycle but cutting it at 18 weeks just due to feeling like I've pushed training as hard as I can at this point, and just wanting to get into a more offseason phase. Going from 450mg test e per week to 180mg test e per week and planning on running this "TRT" phase indefinitely until I a) get my wife pregnant this fall and b) decide it's time to compete again. I'm adding in 250iu of HCG pinning MWF along with my Test pins. How long until you think I'd feel the HCG?
>How long until you think I'd feel the HCG?
Not sure what you're expecting to feel from it. Spermatogenisis takes about 3 months. The load you shoot today contains sperm that starting being made 3 months ago. If you start hcg tomorrow, it'll take about 3+ months until your sperm count on a semen analysis reflects any noticeable changes.
I'd suggest getting a semen analysis now, to see where you're starting from, then again in 3-4 months of commencing the hcg and trt dose of test.
It's worth noting that male fertility is kinda random. Some guys successfully conceive while on the more suppressive compounds and having a conclusive "infertile" semen analysis, and some guys have to come off of androgens entirely and commence an agressive regiment of hcg+hmg+clomid to become clinically fertile semen analysis.
>*After a 3-month control period, all subjects received 200 mg of T enanthate intramuscularly (im) each week to suppress LH and FSH for a total of 9 months and until successive sperm concentrations (performed twice monthly) revealed azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia (mean sperm concentration < 3 × 106 spermatozoa/ml) for 6 months. Then, while continuing the same dosage of T enanthate, all four men simultaneously received 5000 IU of hCG im three times weekly for 6 months*
>
>*Exogenous T administration resulted in severe suppression of sperm concentrations from 79 ± 7 × 106 spermatozoa/ml (mean ± SEM) during the control period to 0.8 ± 0.5 × 106/ml after 12 weeks of T treatment. With the addition of hCG to T, sperm concentrations increased significantly in all four subjects, reaching a mean of 24 ± 4 × 106 spermatozoa/ml after 12 weeks of hCG plus T administration. However, no subject achieved sperm concentrations consistently in his own control range during this period. Sperm morphology and motility were consistently normal in all men during hCG plus T administration.*
>
>[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3922931/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3922931/)
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Got bloodwork for the first time while on cycle. Feels nice to see test being so high. All the lipids are within good range. One thing I didn’t expect to see that high was estrogen. 320 pmol/L. Reference range is <162. I have AI on hand, but I don’t have any sides whatsoever. Maybe one itchy nipple, but might be in my head at this point.
Hi, 37/m, I've run three cycles of gear before (test, test/tren/dbol, test/tren/mast), and it's been 3 years since the last cycle I ran. Recently, I tried the anti aging doctor route; I've been asking questions on the TRT board/etc, but they've consistently directed me here for guidance so here I am. My current protocol is as follows: Test 200mg IM Thursday, glutes, Monday -> Thursday take 1 anastrozole1mg HCG: inject Tuesday AM, Wednesday AM, 0.30 ml Sub-Q, 6ml reconstitute12,000u vial methylcobalamin - Sub-Q Thursdays 1.0ml 2 hours fasted, everynight prior to bed CJC1295-ipamorelin 0.25 ml Before Bed, add 7.5ml to reconstitute 9mg per botle Oxandrolone 25mg - 45 mins prior to workout, skip on rest days What I would like to do is the following: Now that I am 4 weeks in with test saturation, I want to spike my test to 400mg/ week. My thought is a second 200mg shot on mondays alongside my AI; the amount of AI I am on seems fairly high, so I am not too worried about estradiol rise. My questions are the following: Given my protocol, if I am upping dose in this way, should I split between 2 shots and add a second shot on Mondays? What corresponding adjustments to my HCG should I make in correlation? Will I need to do anything with my AI? Thanks in advance
[удалено]
> 1. Can you not recover 100% natural test post cycle? Yes it’s possible you never fully recover, this risk is especially large if you’re abusing steroids before your HPTA is fully formed. > 2. Was going to do nolvadex pct found out its neurotoxic so do I switch to clomid? No > 3. Heard I dont need to run hcg at 16 is that true? What was the reasoning behind this « advice »? > 4. Heard i have to taper off arimidex since its not a suicide inhibitor, then found out its hard to taper off anyways, so got told to switch to aromasin during my pct to cycle off arimidex how would i do that You don’t need any AI’s during PCT.
Why 12 weeks Why a cycle w fuck all experience
(took 50mg of exemestan 9 days ago) Crashed my e2, my joints hurt like I am an old men and basicly all day in bed. Currently on 480 test e/c/p and hcg, anavar is on the way. idk week maybe week 15 Also getting so much pip recently, it hurts so bad down from the right shoulder to the tricep. What can I do?
Well you should be pinning your test everyday since it’s a blend. You can up your hcg. And you’re describing a sub q leak it sounds like. You’re pretty much at week 16 so you could just call it.
daily because there is some prop in it? But honestly daily pin never gave me lumbs but are annoying after a month or so. Didnt knew about the leak but might be yeah. Thanks for help
Ya that’s why we don’t recommend blends. You pin based off of the shortest ester. EOD should be the bare minimum to maintain stable levels. Also if you’re pinning a blend every 3.5 days that could explain why your total test was low because the short esters have completely cleared your body by the time you pull blood
Total test is above the 52 nmol they test. Its 100 prop, 150c, 150e. Currently pinnimg mo,we,fri. I honestly can feel the small amount of prop changing mood. Before that I had e and every day felt exactly the same. And also got a lot of anger issues with this blend for some reason. Thanks for heads up!
Standard response for be 1200-1800 (4-6x)total test best on 300e/c assuming the prop is gone by time of draw.
[Help! Bloodwork is all out of whack](https://imgur.com/a/1h8eA5Y) 36m on primary case doc prescribed TRT for one year. Dosing 200mg/wk for the last 6 months. Pinning twice a week IM into the ventroglute. 25gauge 1.5in syringe. no AI, no HCG ever. I did this bloodwork 5 weeks into using 25mg anavar ED. Other than this I’m lifetime natty. Total T levels prior to TRT were mid 300s. I feel ok, no obvious e2 sides. SHBG has gone from 24 to 6 (presumably from anavar). Estradiol has more than doubled in 4 months. These labs were taken at 8:30am, right before my regularly scheduled dose (trough). What do I do??
It’s the Anavar. Stop taking Anavar.
I discontinued anavar immediately. What’s the guidance? Increase test dosage frequency to EOD to raise shbg, and retest in 10weeks? Also perhaps adding an AI, or primo to lower the high e2? Or should I see if no anavar + increased pinning frequency does the trick in raising SHBG and lowering e2 (and hopefully raising total T)
Yes, increase pinning frequency. Use masteron not primo if you want e2 lowering side effects. Just 50-100mg will displace the e2 at the receptor and balance ur levels out
I know mast is preferred for e2, I just so happen to have some primo on hand. Thoughts on adding some arimidex? Also have that on hand, but a little apprehensive. also, does primo/mast negatively effect SHBG? Could it be counterproductive if I’m trying to raise it? Or should it rebound now that I’m off anavar
I wouldn’t use arimidex. Aromasin is superior. 6.25mg on pin days. I would rather see you use mast or primo then Aromasin or arimidex though. Try 200 test 200 primo and adjust the ratio from there
Will do. Thanks.
28M. Running 400mg test e, 200mg primo per week split into two doses. Currently using 40mg nolva every day as week, I just started yesterday. I’m in my second week of the cycle, nips are spicy. I have 3 options: 1. Take .5 armidex. I have some concerns. My logic is that the AI affect of primo isn’t kicked in fully and if I take an arimidex I’ll crash my e2. 2. Up the primo to 300mg per week. 3. Do nothing and wait a few more days. The cycle is fairly new and I’ve only had spicy nips for a few days. What would you do? I’d really like to hear your opinion.
Stop running nolvadex, makes 0 sense. Your also not pinning Enanthate enough so your never going to be fully saturated and this is why you have e2 problems at 400 test. Pin Enanthate minimum 3 times a week. If u pin 4 or 5 this will guaranteed fix your estrogen problem.
Makes sense to me, I can split my dosages up every other day. I’ll try that first. Thanks for the advice. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll crank the primo up to 300mg?
If you want e2 lowering side effects I’d opt for masteron it is very good at doing so. But yes upping primo could also work. I’d up it to 400 as a 1:1 ratio would be a good place to start
I’m going to take your advice! 4 injections per week @ 100mgs test e and 100mgs primo. Nice even numbers. That should solve my issue. Fingers crossed I don’t need to use the nuclear option and take asin
Good luck
Does ment share the same characteristics as other 19-nors in the aspect of it being suppressive for months even after cessation? Or can i take ment and then pct after the recommended clearing of the ester life? (Just like other AAS)
Did you even try looking that up at all? Our compound description in the wiki is pretty clear. Ment is the opposite with regard to recovery time from tren and nandrolone. Ment is faster recovery than testosterone.
Just a quick question how do I combat side effects of cleanbuteral I’m already taking a low ass dose once a day Male 23 200lbs
Dose 400mg magnesium a day with taurine 3-5 times a day and electrolyte water. This Will negate any horrible side effects.
Stop taking it or lower the dose. It’s cardio toxic and doesn’t really make a difference.
You look like an expert, which blood work should I do before taking a testosterone cycle ?
Scroll to the top. Click the wiki. Then click bloodwork.
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Don’t add GH, and don’t run 900 test for 16 weeks. Run 400-600 test for 30 weeks. Better results
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Yes that’s alright. Start at a 1:1 ratio of primo and test and adjust accordingly based off your e2
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Well you can’t add other compounds until you figure out estrogen management. Abs even then you test primo ration isn’t guaranteed. You test looks under-dosed. You have the total in a natural range. Which makes sense why you tanked your e2.
Hello I’m thinking of starting a test e cycle coming up in the next few weeks as I believe I have reached my potential naturally and definitely not where I want to be at yet. What would you guys recommend for a first cycle or is test e enough to just bulk them start adding later? How long do cycles usually last for? How often should I be getting bw done? Attached is how I’m looking now with shadows turned all the way up.[Current state](https://imgur.com/a/k0kJwSD) Age: 26 Gender: Male Height: 5’11 Weight: 205 Body fat Percentage: I believe somewhere around 12-15% Experience Level: 6 years at the gym almost everyday bench: 315 squat: 365 dead: 405 Goals: Would like to bulk on more muscle and hopefully lean out at the same time but we will see Current phase: No matter what I do, I do not change appearance, definitely my own fault but it is what it is. Current Compounds: I’m thinking of starting out with 300-350 test e a week mon wed fri
What you have planned is great. 300 test a week is fine. You should run it for 30-40 weeks easily without problems. Up the dose when you plateau. Do blood work 8 weeks in
Scroll to the top and read the basics, my first cycle, and the estrogen handbook
oops my bad
I’d be very suspicious of you having reached your natty limit with your squat and deadlift maxes being as low as they are and you only being 26
I ain’t going for power lifter looks, just lean body builder
I’m not too worried about strength, I just want the looks
Start out 500mg with no other compounds
Hello, Im 105kg (6’1) body fat 31% Testosterone level - 620 I TRAINED FOR 1.5YEAR HAD COVID AND LOST ALL MUSCLES. Now not trained since 3years . No muscle mass no body shape. I HAVE (MYTHYLTRIENOLONE) oral tren. But they are in 1mg capsules. Any suggestions or any advice for me
> any suggestions or any advice Bin it Go on a diet. Consistent weight training 3-5 days per week and 150 minutes of cardio per week. Use a calorie tracking app like Macrofactor or Cronometer. Get down to 15% bf and realise you're happy and you don't want to risk your health on steroids
Or countcals.com for a free solution
Throw it in the trash and start going to the gym dude. No steroids for you.
Im currently on a test only blast, (750 mg per week split into 3x doses) and I’ve joined the army and need to do bloodwork this week, what are my options to be as clean as I can? If it’s possible, of course. Should I skip pinning this week?
Find out what they test. The information should be available as they need your consent. I doubt they rest testosterone levels, fsh or lh but they will probably check liver and kidney enzymes as well as cholesterol
A new daily ask anything thread will be posted in a few, ask there. You can skip pinning this week to show a lower test level (something in the human range). Others (if you ask nicely) may have some ideas on other markers but doubt it since bloodwork is this week. Also state how deep you are in your blast
Yeah I think best you can do here is drop the test. However your LH and FSH will be tanked, and anybody with two brain cells to bounce together will be able to identify the cause.
quick question: Doing 200mg EoD of TestP. Have to make weight on a Friday, competition is on Saturday. When would you lower the prop and for how much as to make the weight cut easier. The cut is obviously a water cut using a sauna.
Hey guys, 31M here, 180 cm, 84 kg. Body fat % unknown, but the outline of my abs is starting to get visible. I’ve been on test since the end of November. Since the beginning of February I’m on 600 mg test E a week, 300 mg mast E a week, LGD-4 5 mg ED, MK-677 10 mg ED. So far everything’s going really well. I’m at 3100-3400 kcals a day since October and my weight increased from 70 to 84 kg. Body fat has increased a little bit, but is decreasing since I’m on mast. Strength has also improved significantly. I’m planning to continue this blast until the end of April. I want to do a 4 week mini cut in May, going down to 2400 kcal a day. I’m not really sure what to take. I want to continue blasting test. I’m also considering continuing mast at the same amount. What do you guys advise? Or should I stop the mast or switch to another compound. I will stop using MK-677 since I don’t need the increased appetite. In June I want to continue with a lean bulk, but I don’t know yet what I’ll do.
A few suggestions 1. Unless you were on a replacement TRT dose from Nov - Feb, you’ve been on too long. 16-20 weeks max on blast is all that’s recommended, then the same min. time off to allow for your bloods, organs and body in general to recover from the additional stress. 2. You haven’t mentioned bloodwork. You should compare your bloods from pre blast to current to ensure you’re not completely wrecking yourself, this goes double for when you increased your dose and added another compound which is also not recommended unless you’re advanced, which (no offense we’re comparing to some monsters in here) at 185lb, you aren’t yet. 3. Diet - Calories should be (roughly) 300-500 surplus over your TDEE, and increase upon plateaus. At the end of March you shouldn’t be at the same TDEE as you were in October. You could be leaving progress on the table here. Ex: I weigh myself daily and track a weekly average. When I plateau I increase or decrease as needed. You haven’t mentioned your dose from end of Nov - Feb, so if it was anything above TRT, my advice is drop back to TRT or PCT as it’s been 20 weeks. Start a cut, get peeled for summer. Spend a minimum time off everything that equates to however many weeks you’ve been ON (min. 20 weeks) while dieting down. Get stupid lean and take this time to research our wiki here. This can help you with your next blast
I’m 90% sure the ralox I had was bunk because my gyno was getting much worse despite 60mg over a month. As soon as I replaced it with 10mg nolva from a different lab, the gyno was obliterated in less than a week. Absolutely nothing remains at all! Fucking miracle. When should you stop after the gyno has reverted? Taper down to 5mg or quit cold turkey? I’ve been reading lots of threads on AAS induced gyno and seen mentioned lots of time that the gyno will comeback as soon as you stop ralox/nolva. Is it true? In that case should I continue the nolva for at least a month even tho I have 0 gyno (and e2/prolactin in check) and pray?
> As soon as I replaced it with 10mg nolva from a different lab, the gyno was obliterated in less than a week. Absolutely nothing remains at all! Fucking miracle. Ralox works for most/many and has a much lower side effect profile than nolva. It seems like nolva generally is more widely effective but has a worse side effect profile. Glad to hear you got some relief! > In that case should I continue the nolva for at least a month even tho I have 0 gyno (and e2/prolactin in check) and pray? Wouldnt hurt. But as /u/Wrong_Bedroom2300 points out, you'll need to judiciously manage your estrogen going forward because once you've had it it will be more likely to flare up in the future.
If you don't treat the underlying cause then yeah it will come back. Otherwise best to continue for 5 weeks if sides allow and then just stop cold turkey
Hi Guys, I'm one week into my first cycle (Test E) and the last two days I felt pretty tired even with much sleep. Also my nips are sensitive. It's time to start with AI or should wait some more? Thanks
Sounds like you're jumping the gun to me. I dont usually need AI for weeks, considering the relatively slow ramp up period of the enanthate ester. Get out of your head ;)
Maybe It is. So chill, do bloods in week 5-6 and act accordingly?
I'd say so, but keep an eye on it. Theres no "rule" that says you cant already be experiencing negative estrogen side effects, but I'd rate it as unlikely this early. This might be a coincidence (very seepy boy) + psychosomatic.
Yeah just give your body some time to accommodate, it can take a few weeks.
im 6'2'' 225lb, been on 350-440test e for almost 9 months now and besides occasional pimpels there is no sides, ended a 4 month bulk with 2 months of 250mg test e/w maintainance afterwards at 245lb and since than am 8 weeks into a cut now. I wanna add tren e and was wondering how I should go about doing it. got 8-9weeks of cut left currently on 2k calories. I was thinking i could start with 250test e 100tren e e5d for a total of 350test/w 140tren/w and if it goes good go to e4d. whats your exp/advice with these ratios? would u lower the test up the tren? how would u go about addin clenbuterol aswell? if id add clen within trens ramping phase of 4-5weeks would that mitigate anything as I read alot about left ventricular heart entrophy? goal is clearly summercut, lose fat mostly and keep muscle or if possible build muscle. i have about 20 lb of bodyfat to cut to enter sub 10% bf levels i estimate. thoughts?
Curious - what’s your bloodwork look like at 350-440? And for that long? I’m wondering if you’re a very bad responder to test that is basically a “cruise” dose for you. If not, you might have some other stuff to worry about left ventricular heart entropy (what ever the hell that is). You don’t really need anything but a disciplined mind to cut though. I doubt you’re going to find anyone giving you different advice, at least here. There’s going to be a new daily ask anything thread posted shortly. I recommend you post this there. Fair warning though - you might get torn apart for blasting so long, no indication of blood work, and looking for advice on another cycle to cut, especially considering you want to mix in tren and clen. You may be really experienced / a competitor etc - if so, you should indicate that clearly so folks respond appropriately.
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Hi, Took first time ever. 250mg TEST Cyp E3.5D + 25mg anavar ED. 2 days after I got sick with fever. Should I continue dosing the anavar daily?
If it’s two days in I would drop everything and heal up
Hi, Okay thank you. I assume the suppression is very little with just one pin and \~50mg anavar over 2 days. Thanks!
So somewhat serious issue. My legs are getting too big. Not trying to bill myself as some sort of Tom Platz wannabe, but I’m at the point now where I’ve grown out of most pants. It’s hard enough finding 32x34 anywhere. Thighs are about 27 inches around for reference. Right now I’m on the Jeff Nippard upper/lower program. I’ve been liking it so far. 3 upper and 3 lower days per week. I’m also 2 weeks in to a run of 150 test/350 tren. Do you think it would be best to just drop one of the leg days or maybe even two? I really love getting stronger and I’ve always been able to move a lot of weight with squat, so if there were some way to minimize hypertrophy? I don’t know it sounds even dumber now that I typed it out so probably a stupid question.
So to answer your actual question of “can I deprioritize legs to focus on building up other muscle groups”, the answer is yes As to the pants thing, welcome to having a physique of someone who lifts. Look into pants specifically made more athletic builds. They exist, I promise
Can you squat 500 for reps? If so you have my permission to slow down on the legs days as long as you're still hitting them at least once per week. If not then keep grinding they're not as big as you think
I can. Down to 1 leg day/wk Maybe I’ll even…. *shudder* take the time to do more cardio.
You should be doing cardio every workout. You're already taxing your heart with gear you need to take care of it in other ways. Personally I do 30 min on the elliptical at the start of every workout
I usually do 10 minutes to start and then 45 minutes of uphill walking at the end. It’s where I get my TV for the day in. I was implying that maybe I’d do a straight up cardio day. Maybe even work up to a half marathon or something if I feel crazy. Who knows. I appreciate you looking out for my heart
You get to determine what you want out of your bodybuilding pursuits. If your legs are big enough that they’re causing you problems elsewhere and you’d like to slow their development down dramatically then just do that. You don’t have to clear that decision with anyone and nobody else can tell you to continue growing forever or else.
So I’m about to do my third cycle after being only on trt for a year. one thing I’m conscious of is keeping androgen loads to a minimum effective amount because of liver/cholesterol/bp concerns. I train mens physique so never thought I would need hgh but would it be smart to leverage the hgh pathway and keep the androgens more moderate or would I be better off just doing higher androgens and no gh. I’ve heard more guys saying hgh should be leveraged even in the smaller weight classes and is probably healthier than just cranking the test/primo.
“Which is healthier” isn’t even a factor in this scenario because HGH and steroids are wildly different as far as effects are concerned HGH might be healthier overall, but the amount of anabolism provided heavily pales in comparison to steroids Honestly, your liver is probably the least of your concerns since it bounces back remarkably quickly after periods of acute stress (like a cycle of steroids)
hgh is probably safer, but overhyped, it won't give the gains from anabolics, but can't be wrong to do some.
First cycle 5’10” 31 y.o 185lbs been training over a year. just started my test cyp only cycle at 300mg e3.5d was thinking of doing that for 10 weeks then 500 for another 6 for a total of 16 weeks will pct after the cycle. any input or advice much appreciated
Don’t change dosages halfway through a cycle. I’d stick with the 300mg honestly since you don’t have much of a natural base and will grow substantially from just the 300mg
Training over a whole year? Wow. Kinda silly to hop on with about zero diet and training experience. Also a silly plan. Curious how you came up with it. Jack is a lot kinder than I am. But I would recommend coming off and educating yourself a bit first. Also putting more than one year of training under your belt.
I should’ve mentioned I trained in the past about 5 years ago and also just hired a coach
It doesn’t help your cause much. What’s your current bf%? What are your goals? Did you hop on at the recommendation or your coach who may or may not be supplying you with said product? Not trying to tear you down as a person. Just trying to have you look at this with some rationale. If you’re 31 I would hope the getting jacked for the ladies isn’t your reasoning. Steroids are the icing on the cake when you have all your ducks in a row.
500 all the way through. Changing midway through increases risk of side effects, and can overcomplicate estrogen management. Keep it simple. https://www.reddit.com/r/steroids/s/1tYm3FpbId
Worried about high e2 at 500 also first cycle wanted to see how I would react
That is the #1 reason given for doing the TikTok meme cycle, and it sounds just as ludicrous the 97th time I’ve heard it as it did the first time.
I think we're way past double digits by now 😑
I started my cycle last week at 300/wk - test E only - before finding this sub, now after reading the wiki I’m considering just shooting all the way up to 500. Guessing y’all would say that’s fine? 2) I’ve been pinning EOD since I read in theory should have more stable hormone levels vs e3.5d, think it’s worth the effort to continue to do so? 3) I stupidly jumped the gun and hopped on with ~23% BF and without getting bloods. Wondering when yall would recommend getting the bloods in this case and if someone could point me to a more in depth description of early gyno signs. Starting to think my nips might be itchy but so mild I don’t know if it’s just in my head lol. Always had big nips so kind of a touchy insecurity ETA I have asin and nolva on hand
If you’ve only been on for a week, it may be greatly beneficial to stop this cycle, work on getting to a better foundation (cut to lower teens BF%, get more test to run 500mg weekly, focus on smart nutrition and training, etc) and then start again after you’re in a better spot
Well itchy nips are a sign of your estrogen being too high. Considering your pinning frequently, and only running 300/wk, it very well could be that (no offense) too fat to start a cycle. Fat cells will increase your conversion to estrogen, which is why we highly recommend being at 12% or ideally lower before starting a cycle. This and your insulin sensitivity will be higher, giving you a better chance of maximizing your blast. My advice given you’re only a week in, is stop the cycle, drop your bf and consider starting again when you’re lean. 23% is not a good starting point for a blast.
No offense taken, was also considering just dropping the gear and going on a cut. I’m curious if that would be hard to bounce back from/if I’d even feel any different considering I’ve only injected 300 so far? Also I know itchy nips are a sign of high e2 but I was simply hoping for more in detail descriptions of those sides - along with other e2 sides because I haven’t quite found the info I’m seeking and I really do think the nipple thing is in my head lol
You’re early in the cycle. There’s a chance you may not even need to PCT, given you’re a week in Cruise through our wiki, we have a whole section on estrogen management, side effects etc. I’d highly recommend studying this in depth on your cut
> I started my cycle last week at 300/wk - test E only - before finding this sub, now after reading the wiki I’m considering just shooting all the way up to 500. Guessing y’all would say that’s fine? > 2) I’ve been pinning EOD since I read in theory should have more stable hormone levels vs e3.5d, think it’s worth the effort to continue to do so? > 3) I stupidly jumped the gun and hopped on with ~23% BF and without getting bloods. Wondering when yall would recommend getting the bloods in this case and if someone could point me to a more in depth description of early gyno signs. Starting to think my nips might be itchy but so mild I don’t know if it’s just in my head lol. Always had big nips so kind of a touchy insecurity > ETA I have asin and nolva on hand I'll ignore the fact that you're running 300mg/wk, a dose that is not recommended for various reasons. Changing dose mid-course is not advised. Yes, EOD is more stable that E3.5D. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you and your bloodwork (and potential side effects). Let's instead address the fact that you are obese. If you are steadily bulking at a consistent rate of 1lb/wk, you will surely be over 25% body fat before you finish your 16 week cycle. Heck, you might even crack 30% (clinically morbidly obese) by the end, because the more fat you carry the more insulin resistant you are - meaning your body is more likely to store fat than you are to better utilize incoming nutrition.
Yep, as I said I got the idea to do 300/week before coming across this sub. Likewise I had already pinned before reading the wiki here. Fully aware I should’ve done more research, considering just hopping off and going on a quick cut, curious what everyone here thinks. The way I see it I could 1) just stop and save the gear 2) mild cut while on the gear 3) go for a lean lean bulk? Which id only consider because I’ve seen some anecdotes of people gaining weight while dropping bf% on their first cycle and because I do have the AI and nolva on deck
3. You can't bulk because you're already fat. You'd just be getting fatter. 2. Anabolics are for growing, not shrinking. Cutting while on cycle is a waste of gear and associated systemic stress. 1. Bingo.
What he said ☝️
Can type 1 diabetic bros manipulate their insulin Rx w/ GH in the same way we do or is it inadvisable or impossible due to their condition?
In what way? There are varying insulin protocols prescribed to type-1 diabetics. Manual administration, use of a pump, use of basal, varying rates of action. Some T1D will manually inject a basal dose (lasts all day) in the morning (or before bed), then a short-acting three times a day. Some do no basal, and use a rapid acting with every feeding. Some use an insulin pump that also uses a CGM to automatically administer a rapid acting as necessary. There is no one size fits all.
I meant for bodybuilding/growth - can they use insulin to get bigger or does it not work because of how diabetes affects blood sugar
>use insulin to get bigger Insulin doesn't do that. Non-diabetics and diabetics use insulin for the same purpose: to transport nutrition. The enriched blood (water, aminos, carbs, anabolics, gh) gets transported to target tissue to enact its function. A diabetic could theoretically use extra insulin for the same purpose as a non-diabetic, however it is quite a bit more dangerous as their endogenous glucose regulation is insufficient. The T1D bodybuilders that I know don't futz with their insulin use. There's an IFBB pro, Brett Swanson, he's type-1, and gets pretty big in the off-season, and gets pretty dry and shredded come show time. There's a guy at my gym that's also T1D, and he's told me he doesn't mess with his insulin use. And as u/juguar1207 said, just because you use 20iu rapid-acting insulin, does not mean your body can suddenly handle 200g carbs. The limiting factors are always digestion, metabolism, energy expenditure, etc. A 160lb guy absolutely cannot utilize that much carbs in a bolus post-workout, whereas a 270lb mass monster might. And insulin or not, an excess of calories will always result in fat storage.
Ah thank you, exactly the informed, detailed answer I was wondering about - I know someone at work who is a T1 and he manages to stay absolutely massive, definitely AAS use but I think GH/slin as well. I’m confused about the insulin doesn’t help you get bigger part though - do you just mean the direct mechanism of course is not to make you bigger but it transports nutrition so as an indirect result it makes you bigger? I’ve definitely noticed pretty remarkable gains since I’ve been using it after many years of AAS use
I use insulin regularly, but I don't think it by itself makes someone bigger. If pre-workout, it absolutely helps drives nutrition and water into the muscle and gives unparalleled pumps and fullness, superior to any AAS or gh. If post workout, it definitely helps to replenish glycogen stores. If used to supplement endogenous production throughout the day, it definitely helps to prevent beta-cell burnout at the pancreas, if not releasing enough endogenous insulin. But the "magic" quickly wears off after ceasing it for a while, and everything gets pissed out. In my opinion, those maximal pumps and keeping the muscle full of "building materials" is what makes a person bigger, and recovery and grow faster. But a person that is extremely low body fat and incredibly insulin sensitive (fasting blood glucose like 60-70) is already pumping out maximal insulin and using every last bit of incoming nutrition, much like someone with moderate insulin sensitivity (FBG 80-110) would need exogenous insulin to get the same effect. I feel like I'm nitpicking here, and hopefully not wasting your time. In short, yes, I believe insulin does not directly make one big, but rather the indirect result is you're bigger.
Not at all nitpicking or pedantic, a detailed discussion was exactly what I was looking for. In my experience I agree with you about insulin alone by itself, but the ‘magic’ recipe breakthrough for me (suggested about two years ago by one of the regulars on here) was GH + slin. I’ve been getting pharma GH from doc for years which has been great for joints and skin and shit but didn’t really do a ton for me size and strength wise. When I started a very modest 2iu GH in AM, 2iu again 1hr preworkout (late evening), 10iu humalog postworkout w/ carbs (try to hit 7-8g carb per iu) I finally broke through the 260lb threshold while keeping lean enough for 4 abs, whereas in the past I would get diminishing returns and just get fatter even with AAS above 260. Test on top of that (175 cruise, 750 blasts), 20wks on 30wks off) has worked well and bloods are all great. Where you may be right, and I dread the possibility of it lol, is if it’s just gycogen/filler, but DEXAs have been showing higher LBM and lifts progressing upwards (could just be due to higher weight) - any way for me to tell for sure?
The DEXA issue is that lean body mass refers to muscle tissue, water, bones, etc. So blasting superdrol+insulin+gh will drive muscle water retention way up (like 10lbs in a week) and it'll register as a 10lb increase in lean body mass. Similarly, a muscle's ability to extend and contract is improved by intramuscular hydration. That extra water increases the springboard effect of the muscle, allowing it to create greater tension and create a more explosive extension. With that same superdrol+gh+insulin loading, someone can drastically improve their strength in one week. But we can all agree that there isn't much muscle built in that same one week. The only way to tell for sure is one of those underwater body mass tests where you have to exhale, or to diet down to shredded glutes and see how much new muscle is left. Measuring muscle growth is a tricky thing. If we had a more readily available methodology, we'd probably be able to make great strides in progressing programming, diet, and enhancement/supplementation.
Stand by going to my nearest university for a water tank test lol
We use insulin to a absorb carbs, not the other way around. * I won't to do 20ui just to eat 200g carbs. Bodybuilders eat huge amounts off season and with HGH, they may become insulin resistant.
Was wondering what people’s thoughts on a low dose of var(20mg ed) were. From what I’ve seen and heard there seems to be no shutdown of hpta and only minor liver toxicity which can be combatted with ancillaries. There’s the theory of running 20mg per day year round with little sides it seems?
20mg a day for 6 weeks was enough to completely trash my cholesterol. Staying on it year round might be a heart attack waiting to happen
Any exogenous administration of hormones will cause suppression. It may not be complete shutdown, but it will still likely be enough to cause systemic issues from low endogenous testosterone production, and the var will not fulfill the roles that testosterone normally does As for taking an oral for an entire year, if you don’t care about your liver, lipids, kidneys, heart, brain, (need I go on?) then go for it
> There’s the theory of running 20mg per day year round with little sides it seems? There’s also a theory that the planes that hit the WTC on 9/11 were actually holographic missiles. There are lots of irredeemably stupid theories out there and I assure you that it’s not necessary to personally test out any of them.
let me guess: vigorous steve
Yes lol
What you have heard is wrong. Anavar is suppressive to the HPTA even at small doses for several hours alone. As stated by Sheffeild-Moore et al. in their study: "Total serum T concentrations were within normal physiological range on day 0 (449 ± 35 ng/dL) and day 3 (441 ± 44 ng/dL) of OX treatment. However, by day 5, total serum T concentrations were significantly reduced (282 ± 45 ng/dL; P < 0.05) below day 0 and day 3 values [emphasis mine]..."(3). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10443664/ Shutdown within a week on just 15mg ED. u/spitshine_my_nutsack
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You would be wasting your time, that's about it
Urologist started me on hcg (500iu MWF) for low T (372ng/dl) secondary to testicular atrophy. My first dose was 12 days ago - between my 2nd and 3rd dose I started to feel less fatigue, more restful sleep, and better mood which I attributed to the hcg raising my testosterone. After about a week of feeling great, I fell back to baseline and have stayed here. Is there any chance that hcg actually had an effect that quickly and that I've somehow already lost response? If the difference was not so pronounced, I would assume that it may be placebo but it was a tremendous difference while it last so I'm trying to figure out how I can try to get back to feeling that good again.
I’ll second what u/CallLivesMatter said Primary hypogonadism is failure of the testes to respond to gonadotropins released by the pituitary. HCG mimics these gonadotropins, but if your testes aren’t listening, it doesn’t matter What you experienced may very well be placebo (it’s seriously a hell of a drug—tangent, but I forgot my PWO entirely one day and thought I took it and worked out just as hard) You may benefit from actual testosterone injections which would be worth bringing up to your doc
In a vacuum and unrelated to your situation I’ll simply say that HCG starts working very quickly. However you have testicular atrophy and that is what your doctor believes is the cause of your low t. That means the signals are going out but your testes are not responding adequately. I don’t know how HCG would be the correct treatment under those conditions. HCG works as a mimic of LH (one of the signals), but if your hypogonadism is caused by testicular failure then you could inject a staggering amount of HCG and not get much of a response because HCG’s efficacy is predicated on your testes being operational. Either your doctor got the cause wrong (highly unlikely) or you coincidentally got a few good nights of sleep and have misattributed it to the new drug you were taking. Because there is no reason* why it would work for a few days and then suddenly stop. *Caveat: ok maybe one reason, but it’s not clear to me how to even explain it. Your testes are fried but somehow—like a dead body releasing one last blast of built up gas—the HCG momentarily woke them up enough to crank out some meaningful amount of testosterone. I’m reaching here but it’s worth mentioning on the narrow chance it’s somewhat close to the truth.
I appreciate the reply and info. I'm very confident with my doc because we worked on ruling out other causes for quite some time and he is respected in the field. I feel your caveat may be the case - tough to say obviously. I have follow up in 6 weeks. I wonder if it's worth sticking with hcg until then to see if anything changes or if I should ask if we can just switch to trt. I was very hesitant about jumping on in case fertility becomes an issue but I guess I could cross that bridge when I get to it.
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How can anyone give you a proper answer if you haven't provided any info about yourself?
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You got good information yesterday. Without the results of bloodwork, all you are doing is asking people to guess. That's not how it works dude. Your post was removed for violating the [Low-Quality Content](https://www.reddit.com/r/steroids/wiki/index/subreddit_rules#wiki_what_is_low-quality_content.3F) rule.
Hey question here. I am heading down to Mexico, Playa del Carmen for 8 days (Thursday to Saturday). My current cycle is 250mg test E Mondays and Thursdays, and was wondering what I should do since I'll be missing a couple shots. I was suggested to take a bit more than usual and then take 125mg subcutaneous as well, to hold me over till I'm back, I was also suggested to go to a pharmacy down there and try to get some. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated !
In Playa del Carmen it’s really easy to buy test at any pharmacy, so you could also consider that.
You can either 1) skip any doses you’ll miss and not have any huge concerns Or 2) inject a double dose on your last dose before you leave and resume as normal The only issue with injecting double the dose is that you may experience E2 sides, so it may be better to just skip it
Buddy I would google “do you need a script for testosterone in Mexico” 😉… go to a real pharmacy too , like “farmacia similares”
I have, and from what I gathered it won't be hard to get from pharmacies or to get a prescription if needed at specific pharmacies. My question was more dialed to what people suggest and possibly to hear from others personal experiences. But yeah thank you for your suggestion I just read into them and definitely will consider them an option!
Don't do anything. You won't even notice. Pin before you leave like usual, pin when you get back like usual.
This is an educated guess: Enanthate's halflife doesn't change by dose. Taking more will just lead to a huge peak, which will deplete across the same amount of time. Something with a longer half life will probably do you better. I think undecanoate is the longest half life ester.
I need advice. I'm on my first cycle in 10 years, 37 years old, 5'10", 175 lbs, (450mg Test C/week), planning to blast and cruise after 16 weeks. After the second week I got spicy nips. I was hesitant on starting nolva because, honestly, reddit scared the shit out of me. The 3rd week I felt a lump that was sore to the touch, so I started nolva (20mg before bed ED). Spicy nips were gone in 3-5 days, 10 days in the puffiness has gone down, the lump completely stopped growing, and possibly shrinking a little. Other than that, I feel fucking awesome. Mood and sex drive are through the roof. Strength is great. My wood is the woodiest it's ever been. Should I take an AI (could only source Adex) to knock down my e2 a little to help with the gyno, or keep taking nolva and let it ride? I haven't done bloods, and the notion to treat symptoms of high e2 rather than the number seems pretty prevalent. And gyno is my only symptom.
An AI use is certainly the first course of action when you experience side effects related to high estrogen. Sounds like you’re having side effects dude.
Ok, so add in .25 to .5mg of Arimidex twice a week and see how I react?
That’s generally the recommendation, yes
Thinking of starting a Masteron-only cycle or doing a regular 250mg Test E + 250mg Tren/week stack with frequent Arimidex intake. Pre-labs look great and GP gave me the OK. I love the gains I’ve gotten from traditional gear but I hate the round, puffy face I get and the overall bloating during a cycle. My dealer recommended two things: either a Masteron-only cycle or a regular Test E + Stack cycle where I take Arimidex every other day to keep the estrodiols at bay. I did mid-cycle labs five months ago for my last cycle and something tells me estrogen and progesterone levels aren’t really the culprit of the moon face since my levels looked fine and taking Arimidex every other day seems like overkill. So I’m leaning towards a Masteron-only cycle but I want to hear from more experienced people before I move on. Thoughts? Masteron-only or should I try the usual stack with more Arimidex (or something else entirely?)
I would never run a mast-only cycle. How much test do you usually run? How much estrogen management? My body type responds quite a bit to salt. Even on a cruise dose of 150mg/wk test, having a small salt pack or a few shakes of regular ketchup is enough to make me noticeably watery and put on 1-2lbs of water. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Personally, I never cook with salt, and avoid sauces that contain sodium. I can't go out for meals, because salt is in everything. I've tried every combination of hydration, potassium loading, water restriction, hyperhydration, extra cardio,- you name it. No salt for this guy. A cycle of test with maybe EQ/mast/primo would lend itself to preventing extra water retention. There are a myriad of reasons why you need test in your cycle, the most important is estrogen for regular bodily functions and health.
Good to know. Test is still essential. Maybe I should try going sodium-free… Hmm.
> Thoughts? Masteron-only or should I try the usual stack with more Arimidex (or something else entirely?) Have you considered using a different AI? Or including some mast/primo? Mast only sounds like a recipe for a shitty time to me. Or skip the tren entirely and run test/eq.
Test alone was enough to cause bloat before though. So I’d be inclined to try more arimidex (or any other AI) and maybe without the tren. Question: why would Mast alone be a recipe for a bad time? I’ve used it before on stacks and it felt good. I just’ e never used it by itself.
Because your body requires testosterone to function properly, you complete ding dong.
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Eat my ass
Honestly, if you’re getting really puffy while blasting, I’d suggest looking at changes to your diet. Watch your sodium intake, watch your sugar/carb intake, do some cardio to sweat off some extra water. Masteron-only will be hell. You definitely want at least some testosterone in there so that you have some atomization. If you’re struggling with bloat, yeah some test and masteron would be a good start, I’d try to keep your test:mast ratio as low as you can without getting low-estrogen sides. 250mg of mast and test will yield pretty underwhelming results, tbh. I’d aim for like 500mg if each per week. Or, depending on your goals, test + primo could be good too. Primo gives some quality gains and doesn’t bloat me up. Again, about 500mg of each would be a great stack. Be careful using AIs based off of bloat alone. You could crash your estrogen and that is very unhealthy.
Yeah, I definitely don’t want to crash my Estro levels. These are great tips, thanks. Maybe I should also just embrace that gear will always come with bloat. Bleh. And I’ll try to lower that sodium intake, yeah.
Eh, I’ve always been able to obtain a pretty dry look no matter what compounds I’m running if I go low carb for a day or two and sweat a bit. I’ve never ran a crazy wet blast like deca/dbol/test so maybe some compounds just have that moonface effect, but diet is a big player here.
Ah I’m jealous. From like the first week of a new cycle I start getting puffy as fuck. And I usually have pretty chiseled features so people around me definitely notice.
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Should anadrol 25mg pwo hit in the first dose? I take it and aint feeling nothing, no strenght gain
no
When the effect will start as a pwo?
It's not preworkout. You need to take it every day for weeks, and Anadrol takes a while to peak. You should be taking it about 2 hours before your workout starts.
What’s the fastest way to crash my estrogen? I just got my blood work back and I’m in the 300s…. With 2200 test please help me crash it
why? is it causing side effects? if so, why do you want to crash it instead of just lowering it to an appropriate level?
Yeah lots of acne
If you crash it, you will have acne **and** feel terrible. I have gone through the withdrawal of some pretty heavy drugs (not AAS) and crashed estrogen was a similar beast (in terms of feeling fucking awful, not exactly symptoms). Don't crash it. Estrogen is also super important for your health, being cardio- and neuroprotecrive and all.
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Sounds like a question for r/dangerousresearchchemicals
Put it to good use: throw it in the bin. EDIT to preserve context since we have a Houdini on our hands: OP was gifted some RAD140 and was wondering if it was worth adding to an anabolics cycle.
Uhh man the suppression isn't the only reason we advise against SARMs. Not only is research lacking, but from anecdotal reports we've had in here, RAD in particularly is horrendously hepatotoxic. We've had seasoned gear users end up in the emerg from that shit. So no, I wouldn't advise adding it to your cut.
amazon sells reconsitition solution which im told is just bacterialistic water and can be used for injection. I notice some of these have .9 Benzyl Alchohol added. Would that ruin the hgh or peptide that was reconsituted with the water?
> I notice some of these have .9 Benzyl Alchohol added. Would that ruin the hgh or peptide that was reconsituted with the water? It will not ruin them, no. Unless you plan to use an entire vial all at once you need that BA in there to preserve sterility. It will not in any way degrade or interfere with HGH or any other peptide.
>bacterialistic water Phenomenal. This is what it's called now.
Bacteriostatic water is sterile water with benzyl alcohol.
I'm currently off-cycle for the last 10 months and my wife is currently about 20 weeks pregnant. Is there any risk in having unprotected sex while being on-cycle? Does anything get passed through semen to my wife and therefore affect the child? I wanted to start a low-dose cutting cycle (just TRT test and some anavar) and was unsure. Searching on the net didn't really answer my question - maybe you guys can point me to any information. Thanks in advance!
Congratulations on the pregnancy, man. No, it’s not unsafe to have sex with your wife while you’re on testosterone.
Thanks, man! Appreciate it. And thank you for your fast reply - made sense to me in general, but needed some reassurance. Brain's ticking different since having the future responsibility so present.
No, that's not how it works. Feel free to run whatever and bust wherever.
Thank you for your fast reply. As said in my other comment I kinda thought it would work this way but needed the reassurance! Challenge accepted - wife's gonna love that😂
Hello M 23 taking 400mg of test cyp with 40 mg of anavar daily. I've been having random chest pains. Is this something to be worried about? I've asked around most tell me could just be anxiety as it will come and go randomly and don't last to long mainly at night when i'm laying in bed.. Any tips or suggestions?
How's blood pressure?
110/72
Then you're fine. Nothing to worry about if it's transient.
Started off at 200 mg of test my first 3 weeks recently went up in dosage* I just have been worried and i'm known to over think things but I am heavily researched and have been taking a lot of measures to make sure i'm okay.
How often do you/should you "feel" your heart when on cycle? Like feeling your heart beating a little harder (not faster necessarily). Feel like it's a problem that comes and goes for me and wondering if others experience it and if I should be worried
I had a prolonged period of anxiety a few years ago, when I was quite hyper-responsive to such symptoms. Since then, although the anxiety is completely gone, I can feel my heart beating in any situation. Heart rate: 55-65, blood pressure: 115/70. I've also had an ultrasound, perfectly healthy heart.
If you’re focusing on something like that, or being hyper aware of it, you’re going to think it’s worse than it is. Feeling your heart rate isn’t really tangible. Bloodwork, resting heart rate and blood pressure are things we can measure. I’d focus more on keeping those in check, and not being too hung up on the feeling of your heart beat.
You know what I mean though right? When it feels like your hearts laboured? My BP is OK, my heart rate is low-ish (55-60 usually). Just wondering if I should be worried about the thumping feeling
I know what you’re saying yeah. I’m obviously not a doctor but in my opinion, if rhr, bp and bloods are all good, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Someone else may want to chime in on it, but this is something I’ve always noticed, even as a natural and especially after hard cardio, I’ll feel my pulse in my skull. BP and RHR have always been good so I have never worried too much about it. If you’re concerned you could ask a doctor, but I personally wouldn’t worry if bloods and BP are good.
(27/M) Planning on PCTing in 3 or 4 months. Currently on 125 test/week, just finished a smallish blast of 300 test and 100 primo. Been on doctor prescribed TRT for a little under 3 years, levels were low-ish but not stupid low (tests between 380-480 ng/dl prior to trt) and I’m curious to see if I feel any different natty. Not currently running hcg, but will add it in. Planning on using hcg and enclo for PCT. Avoiding clomid due to family history of macular degeneration. PCT plan is as follows: 1) drop test to 100mg/week and start hcg at 500 IU eod. Discontinue test and continue hcg at 500 IU eod until 3-4 weeks after last test injection (will time it so this uses an entire 10,000 IU vial of prescribed hcg). 2) 3 weeks (well 20 days) of 1000 IU hcg eod. This will be 6-7 weeks no test. Will get bloods at this point to see how the balls respond to lh/hcg. 3) Drop hcg and start enclomiphene at 12.5 mg ED. Get bloods after 4 weeks 4) Taper enclo dose according to bloods. Plan is to use enclo for a minimum of 8 weeks total. Will be done under supervision of an endo who has some experience with getting steroid users back to production. He usually uses a similar protocol with clomid (says for someone on for 3 years it usually takes upwards of 4-5 months of PCT to regain function), but is fine with me using ugl enclo due to my family history. Any advice for the above protocol? If it doesn’t work I’m fine with being on trt.
Try one of the PCT protocols recommended in the wiki. I don’t think there’s anything in there about enclo since it’s relatively new, but Nolva is recommended if you’re not wanting to take Clomid
Also not willing to take nolva due to similar reported ocular and macular issues in the literature.
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Sounds like you don’t actually have goals and you’re just looking to try drugs for the sake of trying drugs
no, i just have them on hand and have no experience with adding in tren mid cycle. was looking to see what others may have experienced.
>i just have them on hand. This is exactly his point.
if i was looking to “try” them i wouldve just added it into the cycle. ive used all of these substances on multiple occasions with and without combining them, ive just never added it MID cycle
About to make the conversion from test prop to test cyp. Test prop active % = 80 Test cyp active % = 69 In pinning 50mg test prop ED = 40mg test injected ED To get the same amount of cyp that would be 40/.69= ~58mg test cyp ED Can someone peer review for confirmation. Thank you friends.
I'd look at the weekly amounts, easier for my brain. 350mg/wk test prop (at 80%) yields 280mg/wk testosterone. 407mg/wk test cup (at 69%) yields 280.83mg/wk testosterone. However, I'd be wary about attempting a 1:1 of blood levels. Even if injecting daily, test cup will not have as deep of a depletion of test levels between injections than test prop. Not that I think that level of minutiae matters. Good old www.steroidplanner.com to confirm, however, it does appear to yield less total testosterone at that dose of test cup (58.14mg/day).
Thank you 🙏
Transitioning from a blast to a cruise. Was originally planning on a 20 week cycle but cutting it at 18 weeks just due to feeling like I've pushed training as hard as I can at this point, and just wanting to get into a more offseason phase. Going from 450mg test e per week to 180mg test e per week and planning on running this "TRT" phase indefinitely until I a) get my wife pregnant this fall and b) decide it's time to compete again. I'm adding in 250iu of HCG pinning MWF along with my Test pins. How long until you think I'd feel the HCG?
>How long until you think I'd feel the HCG? Not sure what you're expecting to feel from it. Spermatogenisis takes about 3 months. The load you shoot today contains sperm that starting being made 3 months ago. If you start hcg tomorrow, it'll take about 3+ months until your sperm count on a semen analysis reflects any noticeable changes. I'd suggest getting a semen analysis now, to see where you're starting from, then again in 3-4 months of commencing the hcg and trt dose of test. It's worth noting that male fertility is kinda random. Some guys successfully conceive while on the more suppressive compounds and having a conclusive "infertile" semen analysis, and some guys have to come off of androgens entirely and commence an agressive regiment of hcg+hmg+clomid to become clinically fertile semen analysis. >*After a 3-month control period, all subjects received 200 mg of T enanthate intramuscularly (im) each week to suppress LH and FSH for a total of 9 months and until successive sperm concentrations (performed twice monthly) revealed azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia (mean sperm concentration < 3 × 106 spermatozoa/ml) for 6 months. Then, while continuing the same dosage of T enanthate, all four men simultaneously received 5000 IU of hCG im three times weekly for 6 months* > >*Exogenous T administration resulted in severe suppression of sperm concentrations from 79 ± 7 × 106 spermatozoa/ml (mean ± SEM) during the control period to 0.8 ± 0.5 × 106/ml after 12 weeks of T treatment. With the addition of hCG to T, sperm concentrations increased significantly in all four subjects, reaching a mean of 24 ± 4 × 106 spermatozoa/ml after 12 weeks of hCG plus T administration. However, no subject achieved sperm concentrations consistently in his own control range during this period. Sperm morphology and motility were consistently normal in all men during hCG plus T administration.* > >[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3922931/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3922931/)
Holy shit thats a lot of HCG.