Flipcollar 2019

Pharma / TRT
1

Don’t know if I’ll keep this thread up all year, but I figured I’d start something to bounce around some ideas for what I’m planning this year.

First off, I intend to plan more regular time-off this year. I had things come up last year that basically kept me ‘on’ far longer than I wanted to be, and at high doses. I was running high doses going into Nationals last year, thinking that was going to be my biggest event of the year, and I had to keep going with those doses for almost 3 additional months upon qualifying for World’s.

This year, I’m not going to really be planning my cycles around comps so specifically. I have my first comp of the year 2 weeks from now, I have another in April, Nationals for USS in June, and Nationals for NAS in October-ish (hasn’t been announced yet). So basically there is no true off season.

My plan is to use my orals around comps, and just run my injectables at 3-4 months on, 4-6 weeks off, for the whole year. I’m also planning on keeping my orals very basic, less toxic, and lower dosed. I don’t want to go over 50mg of any particular oral, and I don’t plan to run halo or superdrol at all this year. The goal is to get to the Arnold in 2020. So if THAT happens, I want to be healthy/prepared to up the gear for that event.

So right now, I’ve been on 750 test for almost 4 weeks, and I added in 50 anadrol and 50 dbol at the beginning of this month. I’ll run those orals until Jan 26, and come off them. I also added in deca last night, at 450/week. So I’ll keep running the test and deca until early to mid March. If I need to, I’ll throw in some orals for my comp April 6, but I may not even need to do that. It’ll depend on how training is going, but that’s a really good show for me. I might not need any assistance to win it.

I plan to get back on at the beginning of May. That will be sufficient time to be ready to compete at the beginning/middle of June.

I haven’t run deca much before. I think just once, and I liked it. How I respond to this 3 month run will help inform my next cycle for the summer. My thought is perhaps something like 750 test, 300-450 deca, and 300-600 eq. IDK, something along those lines. Those are the compounds I have on hand. Open to other things as well. If I hate the deca, I’ll just go back to EQ without it.

Last year, I got my test up to 1500/week at it’s highest. I’d like to stay at a gram or lower all year this year, and really dial in training and diet to see how well I can respond to a little less gear and a little better everything else.

1 Like
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Proper cycle on/off periods and timing with your important contests is very tough. Seems like you have a solid plan, albeit you’re used to some fairly high does (everyone has a different opinion on this of course).

I dabbled with Deca for the first time recently, and it did seem to provide some joint relief (but not the miracle cure as some suggest). 200mg/wk for about 16wks (due to recurring contests like you had)… perhaps too light a dose. EQ is something I don’t do well with, so I can’t comment.

Pulsing your orals seems smart, but I don’t use those either (though Anadrol is very common among my friends).

You’ve put MUCH more thought into the process than most people I know, good luck figuring things out.

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Good to have you posting here again my friend. Hope its regular and good luck on the meets.

SB

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So… Would you be competing in the 2020 Arnold classic in Aus?

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The goal is the 2020 Arnold AMATEUR… lol I should have clarified. I’m not sniffing a pro comp. As far as I’m aware, the Arnold AUS does not have an amateur level attached to it.

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How much better would you have to be to do so? Do you think it’s ever on the cards? I know absolutely nothing about Strongman.

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Well, the Arnold AUS, for instance, is a pro show without weight classes. Meaning, you’re not likely to see anyone under 300 lbs competing. I do not believe Heavyweight pro is in the cards. It’s not even something I want.

There is no such thing as a LW pro card right now. If one becomes available, I would consider moving back down to LW to try to earn one. But as of now, you have to be MW.

MW pros are 230 lbs and under. And none of the pros are coming in under weight. Plenty walk around at 250+, a few are closer to 230. And they’re pretty much all a lean 230+. I weigh just over 200 right now. So at 35 years old, I’d have to invest the time and effort to add 30 lean lbs to my frame, and hopefully still be young enough to not fall apart in competition.

A middleweight pro will likely either have a few events that they absolutely dominate, or be excellent at everything. So the baseline lifts I’d probably need would be a 750 deadlift, a 350 overhead press, a 400 lbs atlas stone, and I’d have to be good at every event. I’d have to be fast with an 800 lbs yoke on my back. That combination of things could make me a borderline pro.

There are 2 things I believe I can do. 1. Compete in the 198/200 amateur weight classes, and maybe find myself in the top 5 or so at a national level. Not this year, but eventually. 2. The masters 220 class. In 5 years, I’ll be eligible for the masters class. At that point, I’d no longer be at an age disadvantage. Right now, I’m old for the sport. Most of the guys that are good at this at the amateur level are in their 20’s or even very early 30’s.

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Fuck me. When you see it written out like that you realise just how freaky these dudes really are.

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There are just soooooo many incredible competitors out there now.

So for reference, last year at nationals, I lifted Atlas stones that were heavier than the ones that were done at the first WSM competitions. And this was in the 181 weight class.

If you look at the WSM’s from the 90’s up until the early 2000’s, there were guys coming into the WSM finals at under 250 lbs. I think it was like… the 2002 WSM maybe, I was watching about a month ago… There was a log press event for max reps. I would have beaten 3 or 4 of the competitors.

A few days ago, a guy who JUST became a middleweight pro (Terry Rady) posted a 400 lbs log press. That would have beaten the world record in early 2002. The record is more than 25% higher now.

Standardization of events, and the availability of training implements is the reason why the sport has changed so much. Everyone has access to logs, axles, atlas stones, yokes, etc. And amateur competitions are easy to find.