Criticism On My First Planned Cycle


Hello all. I apologize in advance, as I know these type of posts are not usually welcome.

However, I have been following T-Nation for quite awhile now and wanted to get the opinion of those who have experience using anabolic agents.

As the title of this post reads, I am considering my first cycle Mid-July

It will consist of Test-E @ 500mg/wk for 12 weeks. I will run Arimidex from week 3-12, HCG the day after my last shot of Test for 10 days, and then follow up with Nolvadex after the 10th day of HCG.

A bit about me. I am 23 years old and have been lifting since age 17. I am planning to compete in Physique comps in 2013.

I am 6’2, 205 lbs, and 7% body fat (at the end of my cut). My nutrition, training, and supplementation is nearly flawless.

I pre-cook/pack all my meals and eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. I always begin my bulk in August, however I have a problem of hitting an upper limit of 215 lbs (7 month bulk) while staying under or right around 10% bf.

Diet/Supplementation (Current, cutting/maintaining):

7:00 AM: 1 scoop ON Gold Standard Whey or 1 Scoop Xtend
Supps: Lean Xtreme

8:00 AM (Pre-Workout Meal): 1 whole egg, 5 egg whites w/ 1 cup Kale mixed in with 1/2 cup cooked oats
Supps: 3 Tabs Orange Triad Multi, CLA, Liver Care, Milk Thistle Extract, Omega 3 Fish Oil w/CoQ10

9:30 AM (Pre-workout Supp): 2 Scoops DS Craze, 2 Scoops Hemavol, 2g of ALCAR

Post workout: 1 Scoop ON Gold Standard whey, 1 scoop Myofusion, 3g of Creatine Mono, 10g of Glutamine with 40g of fast digesting carbs
Supps: Lean Xtreme, 1 Scoop Green Vibrance

12:00 PM: 6 oz of 96/4 Ground Beef, 6 oz of sweet potato, 1 cup of broccoli, and 1 tblspn of almond butter
Supps: CLA, Fish Oil

2:30 PM: 6 oz of chicken breast, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 tblspn almond butter

5:00 PM: 1 -2 Quest bars

7:30 PM: 6 oz Turkey Breast, 1 cup broccoli
Supps: 3 Tabs Orange Triad Multi, CLA, Liver Care, Omega 3 Fish Oil w/CoQ10

10:00 PM: 2 scoops Casein powder, 2 tblspn almond butter
Supps: Melatonin

I will upping my calorie intake to about 5000 cals a day during my cycle.

I tried to upload more pictures but it would only allow one.

I’m basically looking for some healthy criticism in regards to my planned cycle as well as my diet/supplementation set up.

Thanks in advance!

I’m too lazy to read about your diet, but you look good in that picture you posted so I’ll assume it’s ok :).

As for your cycle, it looks pretty good. The only thing I would change is that I’d run the hCG actually during the cycle to prevent testicular atrophy (as opposed to reversing it once it’s happened). 250iu two or three times a week is the standard, stopping 3 days or so before you start your PCT.

Thanks RDS. What week would you reccommend I start taking the HCG? Also, something I forgot to list in my initial post: I do have a tiny bit of gyno left over from puberty that never went away. Should I start my AI earlier/at a higher dose because of this? Should I run it throughout my PCT as well?

Take hcg from the start. You will probably be ok starting it at Week 3, but there is no real sense in doing so.

How much AI are you taking? Start this from the beginning as well. You may or may not exacerbate the preexisting gyno–this is highly variable amongst individuals, but starting the AI earlier will certainly help in that regard. I would also have a SERM on hand for emergency to start taking if you get gyno sides. This will help immediately while you increase your AI dose in the meantime.

I was gonna run Arimidex starting Week 3 at .25mg E3D (up it to EOD or even ED if my gyno got bad. If it still doesn’t work, then I was gonna up it to .5). I have Nolva for PCT and I currently have 2000 iu of HCG (I was planning on running it 500 iu ED starting the day after my last pin for 10 days. Then I was I was gonna start taking my Nolva). How much do I need (HCG) to run it throughout my cycle?

start the AI from the start like Balla said, dosed at .5mg eod, and refer to my above post for hCG dosing.

Ok, thanks RDS and Balla. One last question. Should I run Clomid with Nolva during my PCT too or is that overkill? Also, should I stop taking my AI the same time I stop taking HCG?

I keep hearing about Aromasin. Are there any benefits from using this over Adex given my simple cycle? I also still don’t know if I should run my AI through my PCT and whether I should also use Clomid during PCT as well. Thanks in advance guys.

Some people run clomd & nolva, others just choose one and go for it. I have never run a PCT, so I wouldn’t know which is better. Try it out and see.

Take the AI up until you start PCT.

Aromasin and Adex are pretty much the same for your purposes. Some people like one over the other. I was using adex for my TRT and it killed my libido. once I switched over to Aromasin, things were better in that regard even though E2 was unchanged.

You’re the man VT, sincerely appreciated brother. I’m excited!

Hey guys, so I just did my first pin on Tuesday (My Test turned out to be 300mg/ml so I’m going to pin it twice a week on Tuesday and Friday for a total of 600mg/wk). I have my Adex, however I’m kind of worried about where I got it from due to some of the posts I’ve found online about them. Do you guys usually use legit Adex pills or Liquidex from online “research labs”? I went with the latter and am now kind of regretting it. Any insight/experience would be greatly relieving lol.

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Some people run clomd & nolva, others just choose one and go for it. I have never run a PCT, so I wouldn’t know which is better. Try it out and see.

Take the AI up until you start PCT.

Aromasin and Adex are pretty much the same for your purposes. Some people like one over the other. I was using adex for my TRT and it killed my libido. once I switched over to Aromasin, things were better in that regard even though E2 was unchanged.[/quote]

VT, how have you never run a PCT? What did you do/do not do?

[quote]prock wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Some people run clomd & nolva, others just choose one and go for it. I have never run a PCT, so I wouldn’t know which is better. Try it out and see.

Take the AI up until you start PCT.

Aromasin and Adex are pretty much the same for your purposes. Some people like one over the other. I was using adex for my TRT and it killed my libido. once I switched over to Aromasin, things were better in that regard even though E2 was unchanged.[/quote]

VT, how have you never run a PCT? What did you do/do not do?[/quote]

LOL Its easy to manage to avoid it when you don’t use steroids…

Sorry to disappoint you

I have just managed to collect a fairly decent base of knowledge from being on TRT due to testicular cancer…Notice how I rarely reply on threads that don’t deal directly with Test? That’s cause I know fuck all about various AAS lol…if it doesn’t involve the HPTA, I don’t know much about it.

No kidding. Very impressive that you know what you know then.