Is 1st Cycle Worth It? My Story, Pros/Cons, and Things to Consider

If you have found yourself on this thread it’s probably for the same reason I came to these forums years ago.

I’m going to touch on these things (to prevent you from scrolling yet)

  1. What my training background is (we’re similar in ways)
  2. What I researched and what others I knew did not (and the results that followed)
  3. Things you need to consider before getting on
  4. Basic threads anyone needs to fully understand before biting the bullet

Being a close friend of many people in the fitness industry that have used smart, people that have used without research and 2nd thought and everything in between I have not only seen all ends of the spectrum of people who have used everything from test to tren, but I am one of those people myself.

To give a bit of background

Now in my mid to late twenties, my training and nutrition have definitely had their highs and lows.

From having serious knee surgery at 17 from sport to then training with my best mate who was one everything under the sun at 18.

Then moving industries and working 70-80 hour weeks, putting my health on the back burner, to a bad breakup which led me back into prioritising my health and my mental space leading back into serious training.

As a young adult, I was working in construction and personal training.

That on top of training twice a day (squat-every-day morning/regular training in evening) my body and health took a drastic turn to the positive, I was in great shape! I was lifting heavier than most people in my gym (outside the pure animals) and i was able to eat 5000+ calories without much fat gain (due to such high level of activity) - this was over 4 years.

As my partner and I were nearing poor terms I started focussing on getting my base back again for training.

Covid hit Australia and everything I had turned on its head.
As lockdowns went crazy in Australia i prioritised 2 things

  1. My physical performance
  2. My mental performance

I had successfully reccomped my body in 6 months going from skinny fat 80kg (5’11) to completely rebuilt 83kg lean and strong (i got another shot at my newbie gains again)

My training partner at the time over months talking back and forth between us helped me realise what i had to gain and so there i was, into the thought of hoping on something basic and seeing where i take myself to! (i had already considered getting on test at 20 to compete in ifbb amateurs)

Then there i was, 2 months of serious research later (after a year of research at 20) everything laid out in front of me ready to go (test, tbol, nolva, etc)

What I researched and what others i knew did not

1 thing I knew was this. I have seen many people prior to me fuck themselves up, become different people and just skate through cycles before and seen the aftermath of putting something in your body you have no real clue about. RESEARCH TIME.

Fuck me right, maybe I’m just a little bit of a nerd, but I researched everything!

  • Hours and hours of youtube content on what makes up these compounds, the positive and negative reactions short and long term, what’s too much, what’s not enough, I could go on

  • How much different your body processes food and training stimulus while on (much more than naturally occurring) hormones

  • The mental space people need to be in and things to expect that will change

  • Every fuck up people were making on these threads and why those actions were fuck ups in the meantime

  • Basic do’s and don’ts if you want to stay healthy

  • What my bloods should look like on and off

I had it all mapped out, my food plan to grow, my training plan to grow, and everything in between.

I started 4 weeks after a close friend in a different state, who after a line of questioning from had been going off the old “but my mate told me ‘XYZ’ so that’s what I’m doing”

Funnily the way he was eating was barely enough to gain natty, let alone to make the most of elevated hormones. Safe to say my gains passed by his pretty quickly.

After a few months being off, my housemate at the time wanted to get back on telling me had been of a few times before (another case of “my bro told me” without research)

He went on for 12 weeks and holy shit did this guy not have a clue how to train or eat or even the doses he was giving himself! (which were crazy levels)… most of the gains he acquired were in his jaw.

I bring this up because 75% of threads I saw here were people that had done 1hr of research thought they knew enough and pulled the trigger, only to have experts and regular folk alike pointing out the sheer stupidity of what they were doing.

The Results from both my friends were the same. Damaged ability to create natural test afterward (to the point now 1 of them blasts and cruises at 25yo and the other has major dependency and anxiety on gear)

My results, very different.

I went from 83-84kg at about 15% bf to 95kg at I would guess 16-18% bf and all lifts exploded.

  • This is where I urge you to be careful (that shits addictive)

I thought I would be ready to come off smart and train hard from there, wrong. I was so addicted to the gains and the mental space I was in I decided to keep going for another 8 weeks, cutting away the fat and water I had put on from eating 4500 cals a day.

To be fair results were great, I got down to 89kg at around 10% bf (veins all over my legs, bottom of my abs, etc)

Then I came off (boy did I time that poorly)

With work, travel for work, and general intensity in life cranking up again, my training and nutrition slid off. Not completely by no means but definitely not up to scratch of what they were.

Even if I needed to hormonally mentally I did not keep on track, my gains faded off, I put fat back on, had lower back surgery on a pre-existing condition, and fell in a bad mental place for 4 weeks in recovery from surgery, but still in good shape. Came out at 85kg with some fat put back on. (granted the circumstances did not help, but at the end of the day it was my laziness that caused the drop off)

Took me a while to get my hormones back to normal but I was also very lucky in never fully shut down.

Things you need to consider before getting on

  1. Why are you getting on?
  • If it’s to impress girls, don’t (mostly it’s dudes who will care how great you look anyways)
  • If its because you want to “get big”, don’t
  • If its because you’re jealous of others, don’t
  • If it’s a seriously deliberated decision after months and months of research and consideration of people who know you well and a Dr, then maybe do it.
  1. Where your mental strengths and weaknesses
  • Addictive personality? (like me) beware
  • Are you in a good space or a bad one?
  • Is this to make up for a feeling of shortcoming?
  • Are you truly disciplined in your life? (food, training, socially, professionally, etc)
  • Can you handle the potential negatives?
  • Is this for vain reasons?
  1. What underlying health conditions do you have?
  • If you have any underlying conditions, stay the fuck away from this shit!
  • If you have a family history of organ issues, this will speed it up
  • Have you even checked?
  1. Are you willing to sacrifice a lot of things for this to work?
  • Matthew McConaughey stated in his biographical book recently. “I would rather get A’s in 3 things than B’s in 5.” He cut serious parts of his life, to focus on the 3 things that mattered most to him.
  • You will need to sacrifice for this to truly work - your first cycle is not a 12-week experience, it carries much longer past the time you’re on.

Basic threads anyone needs to fully understand before biting the bullet.

To be honest a good rule of thumb is, anything @iron_yuppie has commented on, is a good look.

You’ll see big negatives, you’ll see smart positives but most importantly you’ll see someone who’s continually researching to the point of holding a knowledge you will want to know one day if this is going to be long-term to your goals.

BUT, these are non-negotiable to read, but also understand deeply.

(JRE episode as an example, carole hoovens research into testosterone effects in humans is amazing)

Andrew Huberman is a must-listen for anyone, but this topic especially

More examples, watch a lot of BPAKS explanations on it

!AT THE END OF THE DAY!

None of us on here can make you do anything

BUT what there is, is A LOT of very sound advice that people need to ingest before even thinking of gear.

I’m in a great position now, where I’m not far from where I was physically (size and shape) on test, I’m in a greater mental space, I’m constantly learning about it all still, I’m saving money (no brainer) and all in all I’m very happy for having experienced the process.

(no offense, im probably more disciplined than you, not gloat but just a fact, I give up a lot. That’s the reason for continued results whether I use or not)

I have a lot on my plate now, opening and closing businesses in different countries, but the routine and lessons I gained from the lead-up to, the ride on (test) and the fuck ups coming off mentally have taught me a lot about how I’m best living my life.

I will get back on again, I will most likely do trt in my 40s too because of the benefits of good test levels in the body.

BUT PLEASE, AS THE PHILOSOPHICAL SAYING SAYS “CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF”

Unless you’re 10000000% certain, DON’T DO IT!

---------------- special shoutout to all the experts on these forums, without the info, you constantly put in effort for people to know on here I wouldn’t have been wanting to know more and been in as safe of a position as I was while on.

ps. i wrote this before my run just as a thought, hope it helps at least 1 person
2021-08-08T14:00:00Z

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Man, just every single word of this. I don’t even know what else to say but ‘thank you’ for putting together all of this for the new guys coming in.

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Me?? No thank you and all the others on here putting in the time to help us all not fuck ourselves up

Much respect, keep it up for us all

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This should be stickied. Good job.

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I lived through this phenomenon in the past too. I think it’s way more intense than newbie gains. The gains come lean and fast.

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Thanks for taking the time to create this post. Nice work shorting through all the issues in a way that works for you.

Comparing your post to something like this:

reinforces your point.

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I appreciate the feedback guys :clap:

Hopefully newbies like I was see it the same way :crossed_fingers:

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