Guidance for my plan, please

[Dgz36]

Im getting ready to start my 1st cycle andIwant to be sure Im on the right track.

I have in my toolbox: 

3X 250mg/10ml Test E

Tamoxifen 20mg 90 tabs

Clomid 50mg 60 tabs

Anastrozol 1mg 60 tabs

30X 23g 1.25” syringes 

I am 36 years old, Ive been lifting regularly (3-5 days/week) for 8 years with only a handful of breaks, the longest one being 3 months last January after I became frustrated with not making any gains. My diet is pretty good, Im on a keto diet which I like a lot and find to be very convenient... I don’t count calories but Im in reasonable good shape, Im 6’ 225 lbs. and the only fat I have on me is around my waist and hips...

Im onTRT through a Dr. but I dont do injections, Im doing pellets that get put under my skin in my butt cheek every 5 months. My T was at 320 before I went on TRT and my bloodwork last year said it was at 1250... I just got my blood taken last Wednesday so Im waiting to get those numbers back. I want to cruise with the pellets and blast with injections.

my plan is to do 250 mg/week, I know everyone says do 500mg/week but I’ve seen some interesting videos where guys are saying that 1st timers can get great results with low doses. And besides that, I still have an ass cheek full of T pellets...

I don’t think I need to do any PCT because of my TRT but Im not really sure and Im also unsure how to use the anastrozol. 

 In other words, I need to know exactly what I should do. I feel like I only know enough to get myself in trouble. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[SemperFi]

Read here-

https://musclegurus.to/forum/training-nutrition-and-diet/diet-and-nutrition/116861-my-current-cycle-clean-bulk-diet

here-

https://musclegurus.to/forum/training-nutrition-and-diet/diet-and-nutrition/125674-building-a-diet-plan-from-scratch

here-

https://musclegurus.to/forum/anabolic-steroids/new-to-steroids-start-here/85635-newbies-dictionary

here -

And everything else you can find time for in the forums.

Visit-

https://www.freedieting.com/calorie-calculator

 

SEMPER FI

 

[SemperFi]

You do know just enough to get yourself in trouble but the really cool thing we all started at the beginning just like you and we are here to help. I am only going to spoon feed you this one time and in the future get off your lazy ass and read more in the forum. ))) Just teasing ya... well not completely true. It is great to learn the hard way and on your own sometimes.Then you can comeback and ask some really specific questions.

Alright lets get this lined out for you and anyone else can add their two cents.

1. TRT patients do not have to PCT. We have no need to recover our natural test production because were are on an exogenous replacement dose already. So you can put the clomid and tamoxifen in storage. Just make sure you stay on TRT post cycle.

2. Test injected 2x per week 3.5 days apart. i.e.. Sunday AM, Wednesday PM

3. Anastrozol (arimidex) is an aromatase inhibitor (estrogen control). You are going to want to start at .5mg 2x/wk. Take .5mg 24 hours after each testosterone injection. Split your 1mg tablets in half.

4. If you are going to remain on pellets on cycle then 250mg/wk might be an excellent starting point. Everyone is different and you will just have to learn through experience what works for you.

5. I live the keto lifestyle. Do not expect to gain much of anything on cycle while on a keto diet unless you are more advanced in the lifestyle. If the goal of your cycle is lean mass consider another diet option. It can work and the gains are solid but it is really tough. I can almost guarantee the ketogenic diet wont work if you are not counting calories. If you were frustrated with the lack of gains before you might be placing yourself in the same situation again if you are going to remain committed to keto. You can always return to it post cycle. Since this is your first actual cycle I advise you against a ketogenic diet. Diet is the key to your gains and we can help if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone. You will NEED to count your macros (protein, carbs, fats) daily. You will have to know your daily total energy expenditure and you will have to know how many calories you need a day to be in a slight surplus for lean gains. If you are serious about this cycle you cannot just wing it and think your are the exception to the rule. You are just setting yourself up for disappointment and almost guaranteed failure.I sent you a friend request. Once you accept it we can PM each other. So feel free to PM me and we can discuss how to best make this work for your goals.

6. At your next office visit ask your doctor to explain your male hormone panel, how to read it and what does it mean. You will want to have that knowledge in the future.... trust me.

7. If you don't dig small balls (testicular atrophy) consider using HCG on TRT and on cycle.

I guesstimated your body fat % at 15. Based on your stats and 15%BF I calculated your Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI) score. Your adjusted score is 25.82. This puts you in the Superior range and gives you 190+ lbs of lean body mass. Nice work for a TRT guy. You have a great base to work with and your options are almost unlimited. If I were you I would have one all important purpose for this cycle and I would make every decision to support that purpose. i.e. lean mass gains, mass, fat loss, strength gains, recomp, etc. Choose just one and focus on that single minded purpose.

SEMPER FI

 

[Dgz36]

Thank you SemperFi, I really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

i will stay on TRT inde-initly as my natural T production sucks and I don’t see any advantage in going off of it.

I would be stoked if I could gain 10lbs of muscle and lose the 20lbs of fat I carry around my waist and hips. My biggest problem area is my waistline so if I could knock that out with this cycle then I would consider it a success. 

I dont mind counting my macros, I just did it for so long before that I got to the point where I had a pretty good idea of what I was eating and stopped tracking everything. 

I would like to stick with keto because I don’t want to get huge like a bodybuilder and I hate eating 6x a day. Im naturally built with a wide frame and am an endo/meso body type. I’m going for a ftness model physique more than anything.

 

[SemperFi]

I like sharing and learning with other individuals who are living the keto lifestyle.

 

SEMPER FI

 

[SemperFi]

To be honest you are setting your expectation too high expecting to gain 10lbs of real muscle on this cycle. 5-10lbs per YEAR is a more realistic goal. Based on what you are saying I would consider doing a cutting body fat cycle. Use a slight calorie deficit in a ketogenic state. This will allow you to retain your existing muscle mass as much as possible and you might even gain a little bit. Perfect your physique first then add muscle to it.... long term approach. 

Here is a good keto calculator to estimate your macro needs on keto based on your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). I have been able to up my protein intake to 35-45% and still remain in a strict ketogenic state. You will need that extra protein to retain as much muscle as possible. Make small adjustments to your diet and/or training every 2 weeks based on your results.

https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com

Make sure you remain 100% hydrated at all times and don't hesitate to take in plenty of electrolytes. Put salt on everything! You may already know that in ketosis we do not retain water. Carb'ers retain 2-4g of water for every 1g of carbs they eat. If you experience any headaches it is most likely electrolyte depletion. I use these -

https://www.amazon.com/Ultima-Hydrating-Electrolyte-Raspberry-Gluten-Free/dp/B01IIGVUQA/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1535830922&sr=8-3&keywords=sugar+free+electrolyte+powder

https://www.amazon.com/Sqwincher-ZERO-Qwik-Stik-Electrolyte/dp/B011OU3C04/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1535830922&sr=8-5&keywords=sugar+free+electrolyte+powder

If you are looking for a specific pre workout for keto dieters I highly recommend researching exogenous ketone salts. They are pure rocket fuel while in ketosis and also help you dump yourself back in to ketosis after a meal containing carbs. I use these - The taste like diesel so I mix them with my electrolyte powder or lemon juice. Lemon juice work best and guzzle it down. I use 1/2 serving size.

https://www.amazon.com/Nutricost-Exogenous-Ketone-Beta-Hydroxybutyrate-Lemon-Lime/dp/B072N3LNSD/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1535831148&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=ketone+salts&psc=1

Also grab yourself a copy of The Ketogenic Bible. You will be happy you did.

https://www.amazon.com/Ketogenic-Bible-Authoritative-Guide-Ketosis/dp/1628601043/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1535831218&sr=8-3&keywords=the+ketogenic+bible

I have found the best timing for my carbs is post workout. I consume all of my allowed carbs immediately after workout. Because of exercise I can get in as many as 50-75g of carbs per day. It will pop me out of ketosis for a few hours but the ketone salts help push me back in. My typical carb intake is 35g.

Good luck and do not hesitate to reach out. Let me know if your want a recommend training routine based on your level of experience. I can make you beg for mercy or have you begging for more.

Oh.... get some extra needles. You want to draw with one needle. Replace it with a fresh one and inject. This will mitigate post injection pain (PIP). When you draw it dulls the needle. Plus it is an extra safety measure for sterility.

 

SEMPER FI

 

[Dgz36]

Right on, I just updated my prime membership and ordered the book, the salts, and the electrolytes... 

I didn’t even consider the needles but, Im going yo get the 18g ones to draw with and use the 23g one I already have on myself. 

I was planning on doing my quads but I’ve seen a few videos where guys are saying to stay away from there and go for delts or glutes... is any one place better than another?

 

[SemperFi]

Your concentration is 250mg/ml. If you are splitting your dose Sun and Wed that means 125mg or .5ml. Go with the delts and glutes. That is very little volume and delts are easy and painless. Glutes take a bit of dexterity but painless. You might get a little PIP the first couple of injections but I doubt it. By all means experiment with the quads. In no time you will find your favorite injection sites. Make sure you rotate where you inject to allow the area to fully recover and limit scar tissue build up. FYI- scar tissue build up takes a long time so don't let the term scare you.

Heat the vial in a heating pad before drawing. Draw, switch needles and inject. Massage the injection site for 1-3 minutes after injection to disperse the carrier oil. I use 25g needle for injecting. Use alcohol swabs on vial top before drawing and at the injection site before injecting. Let it evaporate or you are going to get a bit of sting on injection.

 

 

[blastthru23]

Quad injections can be tricky (my left is weird, the right is butter). I have three spots I can jab on each. 2 in the VL and one smack dab in the middle. I have a hard time hitting my delts, so I stick with quads and a variety of spots in the glutes. Pecs on a need to basis. Never really had to stray from the above locations. At the end of the day it boils down to technique and knowing where nerves and blood vessels are in quads, motor nerves, not nociceptors in the skin. You hit motor nerve and the legs starts jumping all over, it's a very weird feeling.

 

[BobbyO190]

I think SF gave you perfect advice. Especially as relates to someone doing Keto. I can't add too much more except to remind you, belly fat is the hardest and last place we lose our fat.   Feeding the muscle and not feeding fat is HARD. As a rule you have to lose some muscle to lose the fat.  

The largest value I think you will get from your cycle is healing. You will heal faster and better and that will enable you to work out harder and to build more muscle. For what its worth try to remember that and keep pushing your workouts harder and harder and for the belly don't forget your cardio (I know because I HATE cardio).  

Good luck and welcome to it all!

 

[Dgz36]

Im a little disheartened to think I wont gain any muscle especially while running the test but, in all honesty losing the fat would do a lot for me. 

 

 

[Dgz36]

Hello guys,
I know it’s been awhile but Im back. So I started my cycle on march first and have been following the protocol laid out by Semper Fi above (250 mg per week split between two shots Monday am and Thursday pm. This last Monday I decided to move myself up to 500 mg per week as I feel like Im handling 250 well and I just wanted to do it. So my question is, now that I’ve doubled my dosage should I also double the dosage of arimidex? Currently taking .5 mg a day after my shot. i haven’t noticed any side effects except a slightly elevated amount of acne on my back and chest but really nothing out of the ordinary.

thanks guys.

 

[Dgz36]

Sorry I should’ve said Im taking .5 mg of arimidex the day after my shot. Also another side effect is that ive gained about 12 lbs and im still doing a keto diet. I’ve assumed it’s water weight but I don’t look or feel bloated and I don’t look like I’ve gained fat... this has me a bit puzzled bc I know it’s not muscle... idk kind of weird.

 

[blastthru23]

Long time no see! Nice to see you back. I looked over the thread to get an idea of what your cycle looks like, and I've gathered that it's basically a cruise/trt dose given you're injecting a total of 250mg/week, at least up until recently, where you began running 500mg/week. To answer your question regarding the increase of arimidex, the answer is "no." At least for the time being. Increase the dosage if needed. Personally, I take .5 adex on Tuesday and 12.5 aro on Friday. For me, this works great for e2 control when running test doses up to 500mg/week. Over that amount, I adjust on an as needed basis. I may increase the dose on the usual day that take the AI, or I will take an extra during the week.

As for the 12lb gain, it is likely water weight held within the muscle tissue since you are not feeling bloated, which for me means water held subcutaneously, and/or, If you are eating more food, it may very well be the food moving thru your digestive tract on its way to the toilet.

If you get a chance, and since the cycle section is not yet up and running, consider posting your cycle including your diet plan and training approach in a new thread. On a selfish level, I'd love to follow a cycle, as I'm certain others would as well. And, maybe it will inspire others to follow suit.

Nice to see you back in the forum

 

[Zewi]

Just my Thoughts, i read through everything great information from Blast, and FI. So this is kinda a piggyback of them with some extra thoughts.


First off IMO i don't care if your doing 250mg a week or 1000mg a week. If your diet and workout is not in check its all a waste.
My first question is why you moved to 500mg a week besides "You just wanted to do so"? Are you thinking you will get better results?
If anything IMO i would have stayed at 250mg or moved to 375mg, and took .5ml M/W/F. (Which i think is really the sweet spot of TEST E for people on TRT or first time users because your blood levels stay way more consistent).

Like Blast said just cause you increase your dosage, does not mean you increase your AI. You only need to increase if certain things start to happen (nipples start to itch is good sign of increased estro )again this doesn't mean you need to increase the dosage of Adex, you can change it from every 3day to every day or every 2 days, Adex has about a 3day half life.

You need to also understand the difference between Adex and Aro. In Blast comment he does .5 adex on Tuesday and 12.5 aro on Friday. This makes sense using Adex to keep you dry and attack estro, and than coming behind it with Aro to kill estor. Reminder: Adex attaches to estro than lets go it doesn't 100% get ride of the the excess estor in the body hence why your estor will spike when you get off it. Aro attaches to estro and doesn't let go-- in short kills it. Adex is a Type 1 inhibitor, Aro Type 2 Inhibitor understand the difference and what each do so you can use it in your cycle correctly to fight estor in your body.

As for your 12lbs---Its both if your working hard my guess its 6lbs of water and 6lbs of lean muscle. 6lbs of lean muscle spread out across your body your not going to see, you look at yourself everyday you will not see 6lbs, in fact its very rare you would see 12lbs others might but you will not.
Understanding how muscle fibers work, you would get a better understanding--one way to measure this, are reps getting easier, are you doing more weight? If you are your gaining muscle.

Muscle fiber and how it grows is different for everyone, Best example is take you hand and put all your fingers together. Lets say that is your muscle.Now separate one of those finger from another and replace that open space with a finger from your other hand. (separating is you training the muscle, the other finger represents new muscle.) Think how many-times that will have to happen before you will see bigger muscles.---
Now take the same example but this time start with your fingers spread. You now have a space in-between those muscle fibers (aka fat, water, loose muscle etc inside there) well before your muscle can grow(big) your body needs to get ride of that shit. (slowly move your fingers together to become one) This now has become lean muscle there is nothing between the fibers. (except some water, always will be but very little). From lean muscle your muscles can now grow bigger and bigger to a point depending on if you want that.

So all in all IMO you should have just went to 375mg a week .5/M/W/F.. But since your already on 500mg guess just stay on your 250mg M/TH. But if you only done one week or Two i would drop down to 375mg IMO.

 

[blastthru23]

I'd like to make a small addition, and perhaps clarification, to Zewis analogy, which is a very good one. (Zewi is showing himself to be very good at this, which it turn shows his true understanding of how things work in our strange and obscure lifestyle). At any rate, when we talk of muscle growth, we are talking about muscle cell expansion insofar as the muscle cell expands, gets larger, the addition of a piece of finger as it were. What we are not talking about, so much, is muscle cell proliferation. We are not making new muscle cells when we gain muscle, perhaps some, but there is a muscle proliferation regulator called myostatin, which blocks any further muscle cells [myoblasts] from being created. There is another protein called follistatin, which blocks myostatin from blocking the myoblasts. From what I have read, growth hormone (and perhaps in conjunction with insulin) is the only way that we can create new muscle cells.

his is just something to keep in mind, maybe it makes no difference, but it my belief that the more we understand the complexities of any interest, here it is bodybuilding to use a blanket term, the better we can improve our approach to reach our goals, whatever that goal may be.

 

[Zewi]

Well put sir. Going all science

 

[Dgz36]

Wow, thanks for the replies fellas.
So, to acknowledge my first mistake (of many I’m sure) I am not taking .5 mg Arimidex 24 hrs post shot... I am taking .5 mg Anastrozol 24 hrs post shot... I mistakenly thought the two terms where interchangeable. Thank you for correcting me on that.

I upped the dosage of Test E to 500mg/week mainly because Im moving out of country in a couple months and didn’t want to throw away unused juice and also because I figured I was handling 250mg well and from what I’ve read a lot of people recommend nothing less than 500/week. I was nervous about how I’d handle 250mg/week at first but I’ve quickly become more comfortable with the whole concept. I’ve only done one shot (my last one on Monday) at 250mg.

My workouts are always fasted and on Monday (chest tris) Wednesday (back bis) Friday (shoulders core) consisting of around 2 hours of weightlifting as heavy as I can go for 4-6 reps and I lower weight and up reps until Im a wet rag on everything. All workouts end with 15 minutes hiit cardio where I sprint for a minute and walk for 2 minutes (I hate Cardio) but I also minimize my rest between sets when lifting to around 30-45 seconds after my first few heavy sets.
I know three days a week doesn’t sound like much but my body seems to respond better with 3 days as opposed to 5-6 which I’ve done consistently before.

My diet is keto, I don’t count calories but I eat almost the same thing everyday. No carbs, no sugar... stay away from processed stuff, only drink water. Im 6’ tall and had gotten down to 217lb on this same diet and TRT... until I started my cycle, now Im up around 230-235 lbs.

 

[BobbyO190]

Zewi I love your analogies! I always learn a ton.

Question for DGZ...are you running a 500mg cycle or are you jumping that high on TRT? If TRT then I agree with Z - that's a pretty big jump and your looking to spend the rest of your life at the high end of the TRT range. If a cycle then it's a nice easy safe cycle and you may want to jump it a little more and even consider some additional stack

Just my opinion.

 

[blastthru23]

Arimidex and anastrozole are the same thing. I believe you're thinking arimidex and aromasin are different, which they are, well to a certain degree.