First Time User, PL Meet Coming Up

I plan on competing in my first powerlifting meet come late January, and feel that I am ready to begin supplementing with either a pro hormone or steroid. I understand adequate research is required for on cycle and post cycle needs, but I would like to pick the minds of more experienced users to help me achieve my goal. I currently weight around 180 and plan on competing in the 83 kg weight class, hoping to come into the meet as close to 83kg’s as possible to optimize performance.

I am currently in a slight deficit and am shooting to weigh around 175-177 come December so that I can slightly increase weight into the meet and enjoy the christmas gains via apple pie and ham. My question is, what would be a good first cycle to increase strength and practically maintain weight, and if my meet is January 25 when should I begin so that I can peak into the meet? My maintenance cals are around 3100 at the moment, so how would I need to alter calories so that weight gain is minimal if any? Appreciate any feedback and I am excited to take my powerlifting to the next level.

How lean are you right now? The difficulty of this process is determined by your current bodyfat level. If you have a reasonable amount of fat to shed, it will be no problem to maintain your weight. You can basically just recomp. If you’re already very very lean, then getting significantly stronger in a short period of time without any weight gain (or at a temporary deficit as you suggested) will be tougher, and require a different approach.

My bodyfat is approximately 13% at the moment.

Hey flipcollar, we got a guy that actually cares about performance! :wink:

ha! yes we do :slight_smile:

hotyoga, I think a very basic cycle would be sufficient for you to meet your goals. If 13% is accurate, that means you’ve at least got a little bit of fat to spare. I would maintain your current caloric intake, and adjust depending on what you see on the scale. Be willing to be flexible if things aren’t turning out the way you want them to.

I would do a 12-16 week cycle of Test E or C, with a DBol kickstarter. Basically a standard beginner cycle. 12 weeks will take you right up to the competition, so you won’t have to worry about being ‘off’ when you get to the competition. The DBol will add water weight initially, but you’ll be off of it for 2 months by the time you get to the competition, so that water bloat will be long gone by the time you have to weigh in, and it will help tremendously with short-term strength gains. In other words, don’t worry if you don’t like what you see on the scale in the first month.

Weeks 1-12: Test E 500mg/week. You coud inject once a week, or split the dose. Doesn’t matter much, some prefer to split doses.
Weeks 1-4: DBol 25mg/day. You could use a higher dose if you want to, but I think 25 is a good place to start.

Arimidex .25mg EOD throughout cycle, adjusting dose if gyno appears or bloodwork shows high E.

Nolvadex for PCT, 20mg daily for 6 weeks, starting 2 weeks after your last pin.

Also, keep in mind that you can easily do a water cut prior to the meet to make weight. Anything under about 6 lbs is very easy/comfortable to do. So if you weigh 188 or less a week before the meet, you’re in a perfect place. If you find yourself in the situation of needing to cut weight, definitely ask for advice on here. It’s easy to do, but also easy to fuck up if done incorrectly. For my first strongman comp I dropped over 10 lbs in a week, and it really wasn’t very hard.