I am 27 years old and about to start my first cycle of T cyp and Dbol.
I plan on keeping the T on the lower side compared to a lot of guys I see using 200-250 mg 2x weekly. I am not in a rush, and this is really to gage my body’s reaction to AS. If it goes well I will adjust higher or lower for the next cycle. I am planning on dosing about 250 mg weekly but would rather do it in one shot per week instead of 2.
Does anyone have experience with this type of cycle have insight to the pros and cons of 1/week at 200 or 250 vs 2x/ week at 100 or 125? Obviously the peak and trough will be alleviated a little at 2x/ week but is it really necessary since the half life of cyp is pretty long? Thanks ahead of time for the help.
There’s a lower limit of how much testosterone is useful to take, if you have a healthy natural T level. If you were, for example, to take 100-150mg/week (a standard TRT dose), it would stop your natural production completely and result in no more testosterone in your blood than you had naturally. If you take just slightly more than that, you will have a small benefit, and still be completely shut down. That’s why so many people recommend 500mg/week for a first cycle. It’s a significant boost over what your body produces naturally, which many feel outweighs the downside and risk of stopping your natural production. Whether you take 200 or 500mg/week, you still need to PCT, and there’s still a risk you won’t recover your previous T level. IMO I wouldn’t risk screwing up natural production just to have slightly more testosterone than you produce naturally. Either take enough to acheive significant progress towards your strength/physique goal, or don’t take any at all.
Aside from shutting down natural production, the other major side effects to look out for (high hematocrit, blood pressure, worse cholesterol) won’t get out of control on 500mg/week, for a normal duration cycle. You’re likely to have to take more AI to manage E2, but many people need an AI for TRT anyway, so it’s something you need to consider regardless of your dose.
My body does not naturally produce testosterone so I am not worried about that. I am trans (ftm) and have been on HRT for 9 years now. So I have the ‘test only’ cycle down a few times over. My typical dose is 160mg T cyp once/week.
Because of this I will not have to worry about PCT or interfering with natural production of testosterone, as I will be taking T cyp for the rest of my life.
Taking test has suppressed my body’s production of estrogen so my body not far off from running a cycle the same as a cis male. Because of this, and not having to worry about interrupting natural production I think I can get away with keeping T at a lower dose.
That being said I am sure there will be a few who don’t have anything helpful to say.
To simplify it I will sum it up this way: If an individual does not have to worry about natural production of testosterone, does it make a serious difference if they use 250 mg in a once/week dose or is it imperative that dose is split to 2x/week at 125?
I’m on TRT (low T from pituitary tumor) and my normal dose is 150mg/week, but I’ve tried 200 and 300 for several months, and I had definite strength and muscle gains, along with fat loss. At 300mg/wk my hematocrit eventually got a little high so I dropped back to 150mg/wk, but at 200 there were no negative side effects.
For a dose of either 150 or 200mg/week of test cyp, I’ve done stretches of 1 shot per week and 2 shots per week, and never felt a significant difference. I never did 300/week in one shot, because the largest syringe I use is a 29g 1cc insulin syringe.
Originally I only pinned quads, and I rarely could relax my muscle enough that the needle would slip in easily. I preferred delts to quads, but was leery of doing 1cc in delts. I’ve recently tried subQ in the stomach, and IM in the pec, and both work great for 0.5cc. I’d rather do 0.5cc twice a week in belly fat or pec muscle, than to do 1cc once a week in my quad.
I have no problem pinning my quad, I use a 21 g 1.5 in cannon it’s big but I’m used to it. At 200 mg/ml it is easy and quick enough with a larger needle. I switch between that and the glutes. Thank you for your help I figured 200 1×/week wouldn’t be an issue but ithe doesn’t hurt to ask and be cautious.
Usually it’s advised that you pin twice a week with long esters (every 3.5 days), to keep test levels more stable. If you only pin once a week, your levels will have dropped by the next time you pin. However, 2x weekly injections will keep the test levels higher.
People sometimes debate this. I’ve heard of guys running TRT protocols where they only pin once a month. I work with a guy who gets bi-weekly injections at the doctors office. Pinning is easy though, and if you’re running a higher dose of gear I really recommend injections every 3.5 days.
Also, I’d really recommend you get your hands on an aromatize inhibitor. I know you stated you don’t think you can produce estrogen at the rate you did before, and honestly I have no idea since youre trans, but given that you’ve been on test for more than 9 years, I’m sure a sudden spike in estrogen will fuck your day up.
Thanks for the input Black Label. I have Nolvadren xt on hand and plan to use that. Do you think that would be sufficient?
My endo used to have me at 300mg T bi weekly but it was an emotional roller coaster, I’d be painfully horny about 3 days after injection and pretty tired and depressed about 4 days before my next. We switched to once a week and I feel much more stable. Judging from that I think I will stick to once a week and see how the cycle goes for about 12 weeks. I have read on here that some think cyp half life is much longer than 3.5 days, it’s been a little confusing trying to pin that down. Worst comes to worst I will adjust partway through or on the next one.
Cyp half life is more like 8 days… But think about half life:
Say you took only one injection of 100mg. One week later there’s 50mg left. Another week there’s 25mg left. ANOTHER week later there’s 12.5mg left… then 6.25mg… then 3.125…
Now let’s look at weekly injections:
You inject 200mg on Sunday. A week later there’s ~100mg still left/available.
You inject another 200mg on that day. Now there’s a total of 300mg in your system.
One week later 100mg of the last injection is still available and ~50mg of the injection before that one… so there’s a total of 150mg left/available.
One week later 100mg of the last injection is available, ~50mg of the one before that, ~25mg of that first injection. Now there’s 175mg left/available. Inject another 200mg, for a total of 375mg in your system.
One week later… there’s a pattern here. 1/2 of last week’s injection amount, 1/2 of what was left from the injection before that, 1/2 of what was left from the one before that, etc… so you’ve got, ahhh… fucking math… a total of 100+50+25+12.5. See how that’s adding up?
Eventually there’s a point to where it evens out and you stay at a peak of ~X amount, and a valley of ~Y amount. The longer duration of time between injections, the greater difference between the peaks and valleys.
The idea behind injecting every 3.5 days is to minimize the peaks and valleys of Test levels.
I’m on TRT & my natural production is totally shutdown. I’m taking 200mg/wk, divided into two doses 3.5 days apart. It’s kept the peaks/valleys pretty decent, but I can feel the valley. I’m a little more irritable and aggressive then. During the peak I’m happier and hornier.
I’ve also had blood tests during the peaks and valleys. Even at 3.5 days between injections, my Test levels fluctuate ~350ng/dl up/down.
I haven’t had my coffee yet… hope any of that makes sense 
you will not feel anything on 250mg if you want to do it on low end do 350mg…also 7 days is perfectly fine, many pin twice to keep blood stable