Started trt in January - test was 279, prescribed 100 mg a week of test cyp, my level went up to 329 so the dr. Bumped me up to 300mg a week - 150x a week. Strength is up, a little water retention , libido is good.
I have gone from a 205 bench to 315, 205 squat to 365, 315 deadlift to 505. I lift 5 days a week, eat 3000-4000 calories a day. 1 gallon of water, plenty of fruit/vegatables/vitamins. I also eat creatine monohydrate.
I have some dbol on the way and an AI. I’m wanting to take the dbol for 4 weeks and see how that feels and see if I can bump up my bench and hopefully keep some strength gains from the dbol. I weigh 225, 5’10, 36 years old.
Any tips or pointers ? Should I stop taking creatine when the dbol starts ?
Thats not TRT, thats a scripted cycle dose. I’m surprised your doc is ok with it and personally I wouldn’t run that long term if it were me.
Dbol will most certainly increase your strength and size while taking it. Its not super great at achieving keepable gains in size and strength though. At least not from my experience.
I will say some slight acne has appeared on my shoulders and upper back Skin is oilier, Sleep like a baby though. I almost seem a little more spacey attention wise. 100mg a week had me more focused it seemed, the last 2 months at 300mg a week seemed to change my motivation slightly as far as doing side jobs . I do construction for a living
7 months is hardly enough to really know how your body is doing at that Test level, plus you said your Doc upped it so you’re still trying to find homeostasis. Dbol can have a lot of unwanted sides. Its pretty well known for adding water, and causing gyno.
If I were you, I’d wait at least 6 months at your current dose of 300/week before adding anything. Anavar is a better choice to cutting while increasing strength.
225 is pretty heavy for your height if you are not jacked AF. If this is not the case, you need to reduce your calories and get very regimented in your training. To aid in fat loss, reduce your rest time between sets, keep your HR elevated and look for ways to combine lifts that stimulate your large muscle groups, moving from one lift to another with little to no time between sets. Keeping your reps high and your weights moderate will help. You should be drenched in sweat by the end of your workout.
Why would you add Dbol if you have made these gains in 7 months. The bench especially is impressive. Your rate of progress is over 15 lbs a month on bench. Why add if you are gaining so easy?
Is 300mg way too much ? My test was 329 after 3 months at 100mg. I could lose a few pounds . I was 251 in October and fasted for a while and then did raw foods. Dropped to 217 but was weak. Started eating more in December, weighed my meats and chick peas, kept a food log for 4 months . Average caloric intake for a day was 3300, protien 200 grams- 230 . I’d have to look a the log for the carbs. Seems like the more I ate the week before my lifts would go up the following week.
For most yes. Your Free T is double the top of the lab range. Good TRT will optimize you but keep you within medicinal standards. The reason your TT was not that high on 100mg is that your SHBG is low. I’m willing to bet your Free T was plenty acceptable. That being said the normal range of dosing is 100-200mg. You may need more like 200mg depending on labs combined with how you feel.
Of course you are going to gain more muscle and strength the higher your T dose is. Long term you are more likely to suffer heart disease among other things and you need to keep an eye on other health markers. If you stay the course make sure you are getting a full CBC w./lipids and CMP on top of your hormone panel. If I were you I would drop down to 200mg and see how you feel in 6-8 weeks. Take labs. Don’t judge how you feel by the weight room as you are likely to lose some strength.
I never post pics of myself. This is how much body I have. I’d like to be more cut. I’ve had abs in the past but I weighed a lot less. Figured I’d keep going on the strength increases for awhile and then try cutting. It’s been really nice getting a little more balanced strength wise. Swinging sledgehammers at work, pouring concrete etc along with bad body mechanics. The year has been slower (only 40 hour weeks) so it has allowed me to get into the gym.
That’s a big jump. I never noticed the full effect of dosage changes until the three month mark. I increased from 100 to 125. To 150 a week in 6 month blood work intervals
This… so much this… People develop CAD from just living, and genetics largely factor into how prevalent this will be. For some (people with FH) they’ll develop heart disease regardless of gear use (unless they take statins, fibrates, PCSK-9 inhibitors etc). Anabolic steroids sharply skyrocket the overall risk one has for developing coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, stroke, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia (many of these are interlined) and more. 300mg probably won’t kill you anytime soon, but think thirty years down the line.
People with homozygous FH generally don’t make it to 30-40 even with treatment #genetics. Having a completely defective LDL receptor makes one relatively unresponsive to certain pharmacological treatments… it’s rather difficult to treat homozygous FH.
Thanks again everyone. My ldl was a little higher than perfect and my hdl was a little lower than perfect. No history of heart does ease in my fam that I know of. My blood pressure and liver values were all text book before I started trt. Blood pressure is perfect every time I go in. I have not had my liver values checked since starting trt. Next visit in a couple months I’ll have him do a whole panel and talk to him about possibly decreasing the dosage of I don’t do it first. My balls did Shrink a little, my voice got a little deeper, more body hair. All things I can deal with. My wife doesn’t seem to mind either. I had a vasectomy a few years ago so fertility isn’t a concern.
Beautiful summary man. In spite of all the silliness seen on here, it really offers a glimmer of hope when folks like you dish out honest, caring advice. Thank you.
Adding D-bol to this protocol would be insane, please don’t do it unless the only goal is to increase short term strength to the exclusion of long term health, compression of morbidity, quality of life, etc.
You mention that you work construction. I have a friend who is a framer and you would think both you would be ripped AF since you’re busting ass all day.
This is purely a guess, but I think that the stimulus you need to see changes are much higher than me for example who sits at a desk for a living. Your body is adapted to your current workload and when you lift to stimulate growth and burn fat, your cells are like “give me something I haven’t done ALL DAY LONG” LOL
Not sure what the answer is. Maybe somebody else has some insight.
You nailed it up above. Another 1 year consistent recomp, slow slight suffering calorie adjustment with high intensity training and some cardio. He lands at 180-190 lb with 10% bf.
Why not ? I had my ups and downs fat/thin/fit. Mostly overweight the last couple years. I started running equipment more than being in the ditch or pouring the slabs. Some projects I’m on are 7 days a week all summer. The last 7 months I’ve had a 40 hour a week job that’s allowed me more rest than usual so I’ve been taking advantage and lifting in the morning. My body has gotten pretty out of balance also - shoulders were the worst. Swinging a smaller sledge one handed often , running a smaller jack hammer. I hurt my back 2 years ago and that took about 6 months - 3rd bulged disk I found out after my first mri ever. I pretty much gave up worrying about being in shape and excepted that I was getting older and was probably going to be getting weaker and fatter. After a month or 2 of not being able to tie my work boots without getting red in the face because of my gut I started fasting and eating raw fruits and vegetables and water if I was still hungry . That worked to drop weight but I was not feeling much energy. Started going to the gym last October after 10 years of not going. Made some friends there and they asked if I wanted to be skinny or stronger . I said stronger, they said eat more , still not much strength gain after 2-3 months -
Stamina increased quite a bit but my lifts weren’t going up. The owner mentioned getting my test level checked and I did.
Fast forward a couple months and my lifts are going up and I’m getting a little bigger. Judging by some of the other members of the gym 36 isn’t too old to pack on some muscle for the next year or 2 or more. I’m not trying to get huge but maybe bulk up some since it’s happening pretty easy and then tone it down and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. Not just getting off a 10 or 12 hours shift , pounding a 6 pack or more and eating 4 servings at dinner and passing out - that’s how you can be a busy construction worker and be chubby.
