Do you think I would feel much of a difference going from 87.5mg to 100mg (15% increase) or 125mg (40% increase)? What could I expect?
My doctor is very happy with my current protocol but if I would see improved results on and off the mat with a 20% to 40% increase I am game to try it for a while.
What would be a safe amount of time to run this? 5 months?
the real question is would you feel much different going from 850ng TT (where you are now) to 1000ng TT (where that 15% would get you). I’m gonna guess no. But some guys respond very well to small doses.
The only way to know these things is to try them on yourself and keep track. We can’t tell you how 15mg extra will make you feel
Agreed here that you would need to try it. Point being is I think it WILL help stave some muscle loss as previously stated. I don’t think you need to go full on blast. Save that for bulking.
Any idea how much additional water wight this would cause me to hold?
It is individual. I probably wouldn’t be able to tell on my body. Yours may be different though. I didn’t get any bloating on cruise levels. I don’t get much even with blast levels, although this time around I think I got 5-10 lbs of water, but that is with 875 mg/wk.
Thanks @blshaw bumping up from tomorrow by 20% to 105mg a week.
Should I hopefully feel the difference in a couple weeks?
no idea. I have little no water retention on 160mg test weekly
I know the day after my exemestane I drop around 1kg (2.2 lbs) of water weight. I will monitor this in the coming day or two to see if this changes. Increasing my T by 20% from today.
I will also take new bloods. Is 2 weeks from today about right for new blood work?
you’re using enanthate, right? I forget. It’ll be 5 HL to reach your new peak stable concentration. I’d get labs around then
5 HL? Can you pls clarify when I should get Bloods done?
Sorry for requiring the clarification @swoops39 .
HL is short for Half Life. Test E, has a half life of 4-5 days (although, there is an individual aspect, the carrier oil matters, etc…). I would wait 20 days to test, You might not be exactly steady state, but you would be very close to where it does not matter.
Ok, got updated bloods and checking back in.
As previously discussed, I increased my test cyp dosage by 20%. So I went from 87.5mg per week to 105mg.
6.25mg Exemestane every 4 days (quarter tablet, take on empty stomach)
With the 20% increase I went from:
Total Test 850ng/dL to 1159ng/dL
Free Test 19ng/dL to 26.3ng/dL
I had to diet hard to make 94.9kg for my competition and am now at 96kg. I definetly lost some strength as a result.
I am also surprised the weight hasnt come off easier considering I am eating 2200 calaloriss and training alot (weights 2 to 3 times a week + bjj 4 to 5 times a week). 2200 calories per day with one day a week at around 3,000 almost feels like maintenance.
Here are my bloodwork results. I cant say I have noticed much difference as far as performance or body comp.
It may be. I’m always surprised when guys try to guess at this stuff, esp on a cycle. Or I’m just OCD and had to know my TDEE and every calorie I ate lol
Thanks for chiming in @swoops39.
I count my calories and weigh my food.
Here is my TDEE based on a calculator and assuming moderate exercise of 3 to 5 times a week.
This is conservative as I lift 2 to 3 times a week and do BJJ a minimum of 4 times. BJJ intensity can vary but no sessions are easy.
This is why I am not sure why my weight hasnt come down far easier. 2200 and 1 day at 3000 is only 2300 calories per day on average. Based on my TDEE That should mean 2lbs a week in weight loss.
Any thoughts @blshaw, @unreal24278, @mnben87 and @hankthetank89?
Could it be a 20% increase in test wasnt enough? Could I be under eating to the point my body is holding onto bodyfat?
I must say I feel very overtrained even after taming 4 days off. I think a 1hr bjj session is approx 500 calories burned (I sweat at least a couple pounds in a session).
Advice much appreciated guys. Thanks!
I dont think I have noticed much with the 20% bump. Unless its because I am massively under eating, but I would think that would translate to much more weight loss.
There’re handful of grapplers on the Forums. Welcome!
Out of curiousity, are you comfortable talking about which event you’re competing in? One of the Forum’s Apex Members @kleinhound is getting ready for his first competition (Apex Sports Festival) next month.
This is why I say measure it, don’t use an estimator online. And I say that because you and I are almost identical, 42, 197lbs, 6ft, and my BMR is 1900 and NEAT is around 300-400 of that. When I workout I add in a couple hundred on those days. But that’s 1000 cal below what that calculator would tell me. And, you have the evidence: you are not losing weight, nor gaining it.
No, I really think this is a diet issue. Adding more test isn’T gonna burn off fat if you are just eating more than you need
The problem is that you think that increasing test does anything to your weightloss. It doesnt.
You lose weight exactly the same on or off steroids, and on all the doses.
Weightloss is about calories in vs calories out and steroids in no way can speed the process up.
If a person doesnt lose weight natural or trt, he wont lose any by upping the dose.
Id say you are over-eating.
You are aiming for pretty low deficit, which is not a bad tactic, but think about this :
So you want around 1k deficit a day. If an online calculator is off by some 10% which is completely normal and your maintenance is a bit lower, you are stuck with 700kcal deficit.
If the way you eat and calculate is also off by 10% which ALSO is completely normal, you are now in a 500kcal deficit. Which leads to around 1 pound of weight loss a week. But since you increased test, there is a possible little water retention, maybe extra muscle glycogen - maybe you gained a few drops of muscle even and voila - weight stays the same.
Also there is a possibility that cortisol retains water or even fat due to fact you are training alot.
Grappling is very hard on CNS.
I am in martial arts myself, striking tho, but i know how much a good sparring takes out of you. Since grappling always uses 100% of strenght, id say 4 times is much too much.
Lift 2 times a week - good. Dont do 3.
Also cut down the BJJ. Either do technique work only with no resistance, or just cut it down to 1-2 sessions.
When i was doing MMA instead of kickboxing like now, i always felt destroyed after grappling. It was hurting in places i didnt even know there was such places. Given your age, i believe it comes down to a mix of all these things…
1)Online calculator and ANY ways we can calculate our daily kcal can be off by 10-15%. Thats a standard margin of error.
2)The way you calculate food can also be off by the same margin. Sometimes the apple is more sweet, sometimes the chicken is a bit more dry. Sometimes the bread is a bit more moist because it was in a bag, or a bit more dry because the air got to it.
3)Training raises cortisol. Cortisol creates bloat for some people.
4)You are not 20, so shit is harder. I used to do 2 MMA sessions a day + gym every day when i was 27. As soon a i hit 30, i also hit a point where i can only do EITHER a gym session OR a sparring session, but never both combined, and i still need a week off like every 6-7 weeks.
So basically you could be on much lower kcals by miscalculation + overtraining a bit and the buildup of inflamation fluids mask whatever little weightloss is going on.
I would suggest you keep the diet as it is. Take 1 week off and ONLY do steady state cardio like stationary bike or elyptical. Not running. Something that moves smooth.
After that 1 week, start doing EOD training. BJJ - OFF - GYM - OFF - BJJ - OFF etc. If that doesnt fix the problem, add steady state cardio on training days - starting with 10mins after each session.
I already know how you will feel about this. As a fellow overtrainer i do understand how hard it is to cut back but you have to ask yourself - are you doing this to get results or just to feed your training addiction. Like every addiction it comes with side effects and you are experiencing them right now.
No one in the world needs 4 BJJ sessions unless they are making money with it. If you cant learn enough in 2…4 wont make you into a monster anyways. If you are competing, you can up the BJJ 1-2 months out from competition but then just drop the gym as gym probably does nothing for your grappling at that point.
