Longest Cycle You've Done?

I am currently running into 24 weeks on this cycle and I intend to continue for at least another 6 weeks, which makes me wonder,

whats the longest cycle any of you guys have ever done?

My longest cycle was 12 weeks not counting the test taper period. I am curious as to what compounds you are running and at what dosage? Also what have your gains been like for the duration of the cycle and what is your plan for PCT? I usually see my gains start to taper off at 8 weeks so I wonder if you are able to make good gains for half a year straight.

I was about to say, you’re on the downward spiral at that length.

My longest was 15 weeks.

I am currently on 500mg a week, I was thinking of continuing the cycle as a low dosage TRT cycle, I have noticed the downward spiral of effect start, maybe a continued cycle of low doasge is not really worth it then

13 weeks has been my longest so far.

I’m on week 11 of another one right now, but I’m still making crazy gains, mainly in strength.

I was going to make it 12 weeks originally, but I may run it for an extra week or two, since I’m still making strength gains and haven’t reached my target weight yet.

The longest cycle InTheZone ever did was about 3 miles. But then his pedal broke and his tire went flat. :wink:

[quote]InTheZone wrote:
JohnnyBlaze wrote:
13 weeks has been my longest so far.

I’m on week 11 of another one right now, but I’m still making crazy gains, mainly in strength.

I was going to make it 12 weeks originally, but I may run it for an extra week or two, since I’m still making strength gains and haven’t reached my target weight yet.

        Wow, you're pluggin right along now aren't you Johnny?! What does yours consist of bro?

                ToneBone[/quote]

It’s test prop, 500mg/week, injected EOD. Good old mule kick. Every day I have either a sore butt cheek or a sore leg, lol. But it’s good pain!

I’m way past the dbol kickstart stage now. The middle phase of the cycle kind of sagged a bit, but things really started picking up during the last third of this cycle! It’s weird, but yeah. Maybe the Adrafinil had something to do with it.

Every week, I keep piling on more weight or picking up heavier dumbbells and STILL lifting it like it’s easy. I do a set on a weight I pushed the previous week, think “hmmm that was easy”, so stack a little bit more on, then that wasn’t too hard, so I stack MORE on…and then it hits the sweet spot. With some of the cable machines I use, I’ve outgrown them because I can lift the whole stack now.

I could go even harder, I think, but I’m taking it a little bit easy on the intensity because of a hernia. It’s sagged down a bit more from the weight training, but I just push the fucker back in and keep lifting.

about 15 years

I did a cycle for around 8 months. was it a waste of time? yes. I could have probably done without the last four months.

would hiatus hernia be okay?

[quote]InTheZone wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
JohnnyBlaze wrote:
I could go even harder, I think, but I’m taking it a little bit easy on the intensity because of a hernia. It’s sagged down a bit more from the weight training, but I just push the fucker back in and keep lifting.

Meh, I’m not sure this is a good idea JB.

This is how permanent ‘disabilities’ result; from ignoring the warning signs.

I’m assuming you mean some sort of umbilical, inguinal or abdominal hernia, not a hiatus hernia.

I would be very leery of just ‘machoing’ through this, in case I rupture some important structural musculature that relegates me to a bench for the rest of my gym life.

Bushy

         Yeah for christ's sake Johnny, give it a rest already before you fuck up bro. Intense lifting on AAS and hernia sounds like a recipe for disaster no?

                   TBN

[/quote]

Thanks for the wake up call, guys. I guess I was stuck in a machoism mindset of trying to tough it out, but I do not want to do permanent damage as I highly respect and value my body. We only get one in this lifetime.

I have been working out very carefully, however, and with full awareness and constant monitoring of the herniated area. It is inguinal, by the way. I try to do most of my work on a bench or sitting down, and I focus very intently on isolating the effort on the muscle being worked, and not straining the lower abdominal area, or doing anything that increases internal abdominal pressure. I basically ‘feel’ my way through every workout. Usually, I’d just charge like a steam train through my gym sessions at full intensity. I do wear a belt as well.

The only thing I am wary of is heavy squats, and I’ve already had to cut out deadlifts because they are the biggest straining exercise. I don’t want to cut out squats though.

I spoke to a doctor at the beginning of cycle and they said it was okay to keep training in the gym, but I don’t know if they realize how heavy we lift.

After Bushy’s and your warning, TBN, I didn’t do any squats tonight and only did leg press. A week without squats feels like a LAME week for me! I am also going to get a second opinion from a doctor asap and will also buy a hernia support jock strap to keep it in place if the doc says it’s ok to continue training.

Not looking forward to the surgery or recovery period of no lifting (waaaaaaaa!!!), but it is something that has to be done, and hopefully I will be as good as new afterwards. Thanks again.

JB

True Tone, what I say is that it is better to have gained and lost than to never have gained at all. lol :slight_smile:

Get the surgery JB. It sucks for a few months but you’ll be stronger than ever after all is said and done. I had mine performed about 15 years ago and not a problem since. They discovered that I actually had two in me once they looked inside; a little mesh, a few staples and viola.

You might even ask for a few more staples to fit your training desires. If you don’t get it fixed and continue lifting you are risking strangulation of the intestine and that is where the REAL trouble begins. I was actually relieved when my doc told me that it was a hernia because I knew that bulge had to be one of two things, a hernia or a tumor! Good luck.

Is a long cycle couter productive < so to speak > after a certain period because of the receptor sites becomming clogged? Dont some people stay on something all the time ? just change it up ?

I also noticed the term “muscle memory” the size of a previous state being attained much easier than in the past. I guess that would seem to happen but only if you start on another cycle.

I seem to have read on here that benadryl can be used to help clean receptor sites. I am on my first cycle 8th week . Iy will only go to 12 then taper. Not intending to stay on longer just some questions.

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Johnny, glad you’re gonna take it easy.

I would make one other strong recommendation for your future abdominal health:

DO NOT WEAR A BELT WHILE LIFTING.

It will increase pressure below and above the belt area, and will support the ab muscles, meaning that they will have no stimulus to become stronger.

In fact, the belt may be the main reason why you have the hernia in the first place.

Bushy[/quote]

I realize the recommendation. I’ve never used belts throughout my training, and only started wearing a belt a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t use it like a normal belt, though. I wear it loose so it doesn’t increase my intra-abdominal pressure. I think it’s more of a psychological thing than anything else. Instead of using it to support the abs, I just use it to increase my awareness of the abdominal area so I can ‘hold’ my abs better, control them with their own muscular effort, and gauge the feeling of internal pressure. While the belt is sitting loosely against the abs, I can ‘feel’ what is going on. If I feel the pressure increasing, I back off - so it’s kind of like a pressure gauge.

I’ve tested the level of hernia descent while doing squats, and I found that the hernia descended more without the belt than with the belt if I use it as a pressure gauge. If I used it tight, to squeeze/support the abs and push my stomach into it in the regular way, I’m sure it wouldn’t be good.

A funny thing is, I only got this hernia after I started wearing boxer shorts, this year. My friend’s dad recently said that lifting heavy while wearing boxers does not provide much support to the groin and can cause hernias. He said to wear normal superman type ‘undies’ while training, lol. I’m sure it’s a myth but it seems pretty coincidental that I did get a hernia after I switched to boxers.