Hello

[Amazonjames]

Hello everyone

I'm a 39 year old man from England who has been training on and off for 23 years.

To be honest it has been for more off than on.

When I started at 16 years old I was tall and very skinny. I was 6 foot 2 and weighed 10 stone (140 lbs)

Over the years I have trained for a year then stopped for 2 years or more, more times than I can count.

I have made gaines over that period, but I have never been really big .

The best shape I have been in was 2 years ago when I was 96 kg (211 lbs) at about 12% bodyfat.

I have been training again for 4 weeks now while taking tri test, and have gone from 95 kg (209 lbs) to 101kg (222 lbs) and my body fat has dropped from around 24% to around 20%. (Yes I know I am in terrible shape). But I am progressing and that is all I can do at the moment.

Over the years I have taken various steroids. Mostly short 6 - 8 week courses of orals such as 1 X 50 mg Dianabol per day, or 1 X 50 mg anapalon per day.

The last time I used was 2 years ago when I was 96 kg and I was using something called mass 400 from Cambridge research. I used one millilitre per week and nothing else.

As I'm sure it's obvious to anyone reading this, I am neither sophisticated nor knowledgeable in regards to courses.

I am currently training 5 days per week and my split is shoulders, back, chest, arms, and legs.

My diet really isn't great to be honest as I have a 1 month old baby and have recently launched a new business, so I am really busy, and diet wise I am really just concentrating on making sure that I get enough protein in.

I use whey protein after training, and drink casein protein regularly during the day, as well as making sure to have at least three times 30 gram protein meals per day, totalling 200 grams or more of protein per day.

My partner bulk cooks beef stew or tuna rice and vegetables so I always have something to throw in the microwave.

I'm really just a normal guy who wants to train and eat as well as I can, and is realistic enough to know that at 39 years old, that I'm not going to get anywhere near the shape that I want to be in without juice.

I'm not sure if maintaining a low dose of testosterone is enough for my training and goals, or whether I should do something more sophisticated.

My priorities are family and health first, and I'm never going to be a competitive bodybuilder or strength athlete, so I really only want to do enough to be around 100 kg (220lbs) at around 10% body fat. Nothing too extreme.

This is the only bodybuilding forum that I am a member of, so hopefully I can get to know a few people on here .

 

 

[Dexter]

welcome!

 

[siegmund]

+3

and not true your very young ,your 39 years old and can get anywhere you want WITHOUT JUICE , its disciple ,committment , and finding the time for 1 hour a day  ...  im heading to work james  but i will talk to you after work ty for the introduction  

 

[jasonking92]

welcome to MG from a fellow uk lifter and 39 is still young i am 46 in less than a month and in better shape than I was in my 20's

just make the time to hit gym at least 3 times a week 4 if possible you could split between push and pull heavy and light mix if your diet is on point your 80% there i would try to get some training plan in place and mix it up every 5-6 weeks and you should be well on your way as you probably all ready know there is no quick way to build muscles even on steds if the effort is not there you simply will not get very big  so commitment is key to success.

 

[siegmund]

++3

 

[BobbyO190]

WELCOME! 

Man, that's a lot of great information. Thanks for sharing and for doing it so honestly.   My first advice is dive into this site! You will learn a LOT that you need to know, you are going to find out you had some bad advice in the past and will wish you had found MG a long time ago.

Better late than never!  If you want to use you are going to do so, so keep learning and get a better cycle in place.  BUT honestly, you have too much going on in your life right now....I have been there (4 kids and have started multiple businesses - still run 8 of them) its very difficult to find the time for the gym and eating right (I mean crap, I just ate a twix bar for lunch because it's all I could get my hands on and I was lucky my secretary had that).  So as hypocritical as this may sound, get your timeline balanced. Make sure you can commit to a good workout routine and diet before you burden your body with steroids. If not the bad will outweigh the good and it won't be worth it at this stage of life.

But, once you find the time to be low enough stress that you can commit to a diet and a good hour a day or more of exercise. Then start a cycle and welcome back to the fun. 

Just my two cents worth. Welcome again bro, glad to have you.

 

[Amazonjames]

Thanks for your comments everyone.

Jason and Bobby. I do find time to train and i am training 5 days per week.

My body has always responded better to Mike Mentzer / Dorian Yates style high intensity/low volume training, so that is what I am still doing.

I tend to work up to whatever weight I can get 8 or 9 reps with, and aim for 10 reps. Once I can get 10 reps with a weight I add 5% at the next workout, so progress in strength at a reasonable pace.

Once I have done one heavy set to failure I believe that any further sets don't help my muscles to grow anymore, but rather just tax my energy and recovery system unnecessarily.

I know this has been a matter of debate for decades within bodybuilding, but I have tried both ways and it is what seems to work for me.

Also my diet isn't terrible although it could definitely be better.

I always get enough protein in but sometimes have a shake instead of a meal so maybe don't consume enough carbs some days, which I guess isn't really the worst thing when my body fat percentage is so high.

I'm not saying that I couldn't use advice in regards to training and diet, but I don't feel like that is where my knowledge is severely lacking at the moment.

My knowledge is just extremely primitive when it comes to steroids.

In the past I have always just taken what was available without really questioning it.

I have tried to bulk up with Anavar, and I have used dianabol to diet lol.

To be honest the Dianabol did actually help me diet, or at least to maintain muscle mass while I ate pretty much zero carbs.

But I feel like I want to do things properly this time.

Not only in regards to taking the right steroids, but also in taking the correct inhibitors and post course etc.

I'm very open to any advice that anyone has on improving or replacing my current cycle of 1 ml of tri test per week.

Either way I will probably order some oestrogen inhibitors first thing in the morning.

 

[BobbyO190]

There are some good older 'threads' you will find on the site that give excellent advice in this area from different perspectives but the main thing you need to learn immediately is that ALL cycles should have a common base of Testosterone. Taking others without Test is kinda like eating butter without the bread. 

So start with 500-700mg of Test per week. Two to three injections per week based on how you like to handle hormone balance. Then other compounds do different things pending your goal.  Also plan for PCT. 

My advice, do a straight Test C or Test E three month cycle. Study and learn and plan the next cycle from there. You will want to take 3-4 months off of either TRT or preferably PCT before the next cycle. This will provide you a good gap for research.

Stay involved on MG at least once or twice a week and you will learn a ton in that time. 

Good luck