I've spent most of my life in the gym, never tried gear. Turned 40 this year, have small kids, a business, and coming out of lockdown had gotten fat, and wasn't getting much headway at the gym.
I tried Anavar for the first time and I've really liked it, I've lost 3 inches around my gut and my strength more or less tripled. If I was doing x weight 3 reps, I can now do x weight for 10 reps.
I taper off this week, and I am curious what I will keep moving forward and what I will do differently next time.
I created an account to do some research about what and how to do the next cycle. I've started to meet some good people at my gym, although no one really talks about their cycles, we just talk about programs and volume training.
I look forward to growing with you all.
Any cycle should have a testosterone base. Your first cycle ideally would have been just testosterone. Anavar has provided you with some gains, but it is not optimal. It does increase strength noticeably, but it is not particularly good on it's own for building muscle mass. Also, like most oral steroids it is 17-methylated to enable it to pass through the liver, which makes your liver work hard, which makes it liver toxic. It seems illogical to newbies, but generally speaking, injectable steroids are safer and less bad for health than oral. Taking Anavar will quite possibly have suppressed your natural testosterone production to some extent. All steroids will do this btw some much more than others, which is why you always need a testosterone base.
My advice would be to finish your current cycle and after a few weeks get a blood test for hormone levels and liver function. If your testosterone is very low, you have three choices:
1. Leave it and hope it recovers naturally - it probably will to a large extent over time depending on your age and genetics
2. Run a PCT - Post Cycle Therapy - protocol. Typically this would involve other drugs such as Clomid, Nolvadex and HCG, to kick start your natural production. It's not magic or guaranteed but it should be quicker than not doing it. Do this if you plan to not cycle again for at least 6 months, otherwise it is a waste of time and money.
3. Begin TRT - this is testosterone supplementation to bring you into normal range. Typically, 100-150mg per week, split into two injections across the week will put you in that range. Check the TRT forum for full information on how to properly administer TRT. It is key to remain in a normal range to enable your liver and other organs to repair. Repeat hormone blood tests are required to tweak the dose.
Before all of this begin taking a liver support product immediately. The two key ingredients you are looking for are TUDCA (Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid) and NAC (N-Acetyl-Cysteine). I would go for at least 500mg TUDCA and 1000mg NAC per day, split across the day with meals. These will protect your liver now and help it repair once off of Anavar. Best practice is to run this year round if you are using gear, whether blasting, cruising or TRT, unless it is long term TRT then it is not required.
Hold steady with whichever of the above you decide on for 12 weeks minimum and continue to train hard. You will still make gains! Assuming your bloods showed that liver markers are ok then think about stepping up and doing another cycle, but this time just Testosterone, dose 250-300mg per week, split into two doses. Run cycle for 12-20 weeks. Back to TRT, rinse and repeat. I'd advise using the TRT phases to do "mini cuts" to drop body fat, and the cycle to do your "blast", to gain lean mass.
I will counter all of this by saying that Anavar is a relatively mild oral steroid. It is liver toxic, but it is nowhere near as bad as some of the other, more potent orals, and it can be run for longer periods, so don't take my advice above as too alarmist. However, best practice is to do everything possible to protect liver, kidney, brain function and keep lipids (cholesterol) within normal range as much as is possible. The "legal" supplements that help you do this are more important from a long term perspective than the actual steroids, and will probably cost you more!!
Hope this is useful information. It is a bit of a minefield when first starting on this journey so be careful what advice you listen to and in general, ignore pretty much 99% of "advice" from youtube, instagram and google.