Shadow Pro Q&A 3.0

Pharma / TRT
21

[quote]blooddrunk.n wrote:
Hey shadow

So im looking for a new protocol with tren hex and test c
I also have some winstrol in hand
I have-
30ml of parabolan 200
10ml test 400
20ml test 250
Winny, nolva, hcg

Past cycles included low dosed test, deca, dbol, winny
But now I realized that bulking requires higher doses of everything.
Then again I was planning on running low test high tren to combat progesterone sides though I’ve never really been prone to estrogen or progesterone sides.

But I do want to finish all the gear I have right now in this cycle, which subsequently would require test ran at a high dose from the start, if I were to finish the cycle in 14-16 weeks.

So im kinda torn as to what dosage should I choose.
What i was thinking was
Wk 1-9… tren h 400mg, test 300mg
Wk 10-13… tren 600mg, test 300mg
Wk 13-18… test 750-1000mg

Should I add the winny as a kick starter or a taper? And is it absolutely necessary to add dbol or adrol?

And I just needed some clarification as to why running 20 mg if nolva on cycle is required.

Thanks.
[/quote]

Ok… First of all it’s a horrible way to base your cycle on what you have on hand and not what you actually need. Don’t do 14-16 weeks just because you want to finish what you have, it’s not the end of the world if you have some left over… Just save it for the next one.

Where did you get the idea that bulking requires higher doses of everything? This is very inaccurate. In fact you can do a great gaining phase with very minimal dosages and based on your avatar picture you do not need high dosages.

I wouldn’t do high tren and low test, lowest I’d go is a 1:1 ratio. This will not help you counteract progesterone issues and if you do have these issues you will want to use caber.

Try this…
Week 1-12
Tren-h @ 500mg/week
Test-c@ 500mg/week
*i wouldn’t go higher than 500, you can make excellent progress with this
Nolva @ 10-20mg everyday (if you need clarification on why I suggest this you can read it a hundred times over in threads 1 & 2)
HCG @ 250iu 2x/week

  • caber only if needed
    Week 1-6
    Winstrol @50mg/day

Do a proper pct after this.

22

[quote] Tazzx:

Well it just seems more efficient to up my calories around 3-400 and possibly get a stronger/leaner physique over the next year as opposed to cutting the next 6 months and bulk 6 months after that

[/quote]

I am trying to be nice but I’ll be a little more blunt so you can understand better.

In any kind of fitness/physique standards you are considered fat and by no means should you be trying to do any gaining by increasing food. Your body is very inefficient in building muscle when you are at such a high bodyfat. In your case, my number one priority would be to get down to 12% bodyfat or less and then you can start thinking about gaining quality muscle. No recomposition will happen happen because of such a high level of bodyfat, if you were at 15-17% the MAYBE but at 30%+ it’s not even something to think about. Your body is hormonally inefficient and physically not trained to build muscle and top of all of this you have a very slow metabolism(otherwise your bodyfat wouldn’t have been so high to begin with) that needs to be addressed. For these reasons alone you should not be increasing your calorie intake.

In order for your body to recognize being at a low bodyfat as a normal state (homeostasis) is actually needs to get to this point and stay there for a while. Right now, your body recognizes 30% bodyfat or higher as normal and if you continue to keep your calories at maintenance or above maintenance your body will continue to try to keep it’s “normal” state. You need to train your body to recognize to identify low bodyfat as normal.

Obviously what you’re doing is not working and this is why you’ve posted here in the first place. You don’t have to believe what I’m telling you, but if you want to do further research into the subject there’s many places to find evidence of these exact facts if you feel more comfortable hearing it from other sources.

23

[quote]Pinkylifting wrote:

[quote]tazzx wrote:

[quote]Shadow Pro wrote:

[quote]tazzx wrote:

[quote]Shadow Pro wrote:

[quote]tazzx wrote:

[quote]Shadow Pro wrote:

[quote]tazzx wrote:
Hi Shadow again!
Responding to:
Here’s my suggestion to you… I’ll be more specific when I see your current diet but here are a few points.

-protein intake 1-1.2g/lb
-carbs 1g/lb in heavy training days(in off days and light days, possibly .5g/lb or less)
-fat intake minimal for body function (most people are around 40-70g/day)
-choose quality foods, no junk food, try and stay away from processed food

Protein sources: chicken, egg white, turkey, white fish, lean red meat etc.
Carb sources: oats, rice, ekeziel bread, potatos, yams etc.
Fat sources: avocado, natural peanut butter, mct oil, olive oil etc…

Make sure you count EVERYTHING you are eating.

Supplement recommendations: these are a must
-indigo3G (I would recommend this to ANYONE who is dieting and anyone who wants to be lean)
-Plazma
-HOT-ROX
-MAG-10

Training recommendations:
-high frequency training… Squat and deadlift at least twice a week and press and pull 3 times a week in different variations.
-try to stay away from a “classic” bodybuilding program
-the big compound exercises are very important in your program and the more you do them the faster you’ll advance in all areas.

  • do cardio 4-5 days a week (30-60min) it will help with daily calorie expenditure and help boost your metabolism.

Stay away from drugs until you reach 10-12% bodyfat. It won’t take you as long as you think… As long as you stay on track!

Hope this helps and good luck with your goals.

The macros I’m filling are:
protein, anything 150-200g im content with
carbs i like getting 150-200
fats i usually get 40-60 from eggs and possibly olive oil
talking anywhere from 2k-2200 calories. I havent found the sweetspot yet, I was doing 2k and I was definitely losing but I felt that was just too low for someone my size.

foods that are in my diet every day: grilled chicken/eggs/wheat bread/brown rice/milk/greek yogurt/whey protein/tuna cans (in water)

foods that are in my diet somedays: subway sub (it is 4 chicken breasts with cucumbers on wheat bread). , bananas, apples, green beans, instant oat meal, beef

as far as lifting routine goes, for the first year and a half i did brosplit, but because of a lot of stress from my relationship and eventually my engagement failing i was basically plateau’d and didn’t even realize it for about 8 months of that. i actually put quite a few lbs because of it. i got pretty sick of that and switched to PPL afterwards and stay pretty sore all around since. I’ve been doing this for about three months now. keep in mind this is just beginning my second year of lifting;

I don’t do squats and deads however, but i bench. Squats seem to ALWAYS make my back hurt, no matter how low the weight is and no matter how perfect my form is. I’ve recorded my form dozens of times for very experienced friends to look at and they all say it’s okay. That and I can never have enough breath to go until i actually feel anything in my legs, my lungs give out well before my legs do.

It is to be noted that I am EC stacking currently but I’ve had this issue for a year now. I’ve always never really squatted.

Typically my leg day consists of (in no specific order) stairmaster warm up, leg press, hack squats, leg extensions, leg curls, two calf exercises (more likely standing and seated raises), and if i can lift my leg up after that I’ll go hop back on leg press for burn sets. then ill try for seated ab crunches and oblique twists. After that I’ll try to do incline treadmill for 15 minutes.

I don’t do deads because they’re not something I feel. Like squats ive been form checked by a good number of people both over the phone and in person, but the only place i really feel any strain are my arms. I’ve basically replaced this workout completely from my routine with bent over rows on the smith and have found this great. Although it’s hard for me to actually see any progress in my back since there is a good amount of fat there, the feeling i get working it like that is unmatched.

For both of those compounds it is to be noted that since I used to be obese, I do have a somewhat bad back. It’s fine through out most of the day but some things can make it hurt pretty bad. The first hour I’m awake each day is usually where all of the pain is, and it proceeds to stop after that.

MY PP days are pretty standard,
Push= chest/tris/delts (a lot of smith work, i quit for a long time but I remmebered that i did see my best chest gains when I was doubling up each week on the smith while I was on bro split). I’ve always started doing a lot of behind the neck presses on smith as I saw kevin levrone saw it activates all three heads of your delt which I find pretty great. I have been able to do military press without the smith but I’d be lying if I said the positioning is something I’m comfortable in. After that it’s a lot of isolation work.

Push: bis/back/rear delts/traps pretty standard. a few sets of bis, a few sets of back, a set of rear delts, and a few sets of traps.

I don’t really hit my biceps too hard anymore, maybe once a month I’ll really devote a push day onto them but (i’ve attached a picture that was taken right before I started cutting) I feel they completely overpower the rest of my body and especially my delts which make them not needed to really be hit much. I never really over trained them so I guess my genetics are just better than average there.

I do cardio 7 days a week, usually for 20 minutes minimum up to around 45 minutes.
I rotate my cardios between, elliptical HIIT, steady elliptical, and incline treadmill.
At the very minimum I’ll be burning 200 calories, and I usually don’t go too far above 350 at max.

I’m eating at this very moment 2100 calories(but like i said i haven’t decided between 2k and 2200) and cheat once a week, usually with pizza or five guys and an oreo flurry from sonic or something similar.

sorry for the length of this

[/quote]

Here is the food that you currently you don’t want to consume when you are trying to get down to your desired body fat
Milk
Greek yogurt
Wheat bread
Bananas
Apples
Fatty beef

Learn how to squat and deadlift! These are two of the most important exercises for ANY goal. There are so many variations of them that you can do. Hire a coach to teach you how to do them correctly. If you can’t squat because of your lungs it’s because you are out of shape and it’s something you need to work on. One of the reasons you are advancing slowly is due to the fact you aren’t squatting or deadlifting.

There is NO WAY you wouldn’t “feel” deadlifts if you’re doing them correctly. The deadlifting will also improve your bad back, stronger erectors=less stress on the spine. Stay away from the smith machine, it’s not comparable to deadlifts or any of the pressing exercises.

You don’t need to do a lot of isolation work at all. You need exercises that are metabolically demanding (ex: squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, dips) all of these should be done with barbells or a bar. No machine can replace this

Cardio looks fine. Do at least 45min a day, not 20. Alternate between HIIT cardio and slow and steady cardio.

Honestly,what I think you need to do is hire a coach to design a personalized training program and diet for you. I think it’s your training that’s holding you back more than anything and it’s a shame because you are very passionate and working hard to reach you goals but have been mislead.

[/quote]

I don’t think I’m advancing too slowly. I just have never actually been at a decent caloric surplus since I’ve started lifting for any time longer than a month or two.
I think that would have more to do with it than anything. I do see what you’re saying but I think my lifting is working for me. Maybe I’m wrong though. I wouldn’t know until I tried the other things.

I just do the smith for bent rows/military behind the neck/front presses/ and flat benching

I see what you’re saying with these exercises. How do you figure some are more than others? Not to make it sound like i’m disagreeing or anything. I’ve just never really considered or thought of that. It’s interesting.

I’ll up the cardio to 45. That won’t really big deal, just a bit more boring every morning.

As far as a coach goes, I’m fairly tight on money right now. I have been considering it but between budgeting one and actually finding someone that knows what the hell they’re doing it’s a lot on my plate.

If I were to recomp (eat at maintenance) into a good/better physique would you still recommend I stay away from those foods? Also would I just be increasing my calories about 100 a week until 24-2600 area I imagine?
[/quote]

Big compound movements (with free weights)are more metabolically demanding (you’re burning a lot more energy while doing them). They demand a lot more stability and core work, there are a lot more muscles working to assist the main movers which makes it more efficient in building muscle.

This is not an insult so don’t take it the wrong way… You are a beginner so you don’t KNOW what works and what doesn’t work for you yet, you’d need a lot more years of experience to narrow it down. There’s no substitute for for the main exercises (specifically squats and deadlifts) there’s no other way around it so you should be doing these at least two times a week to help build a base and learn how to do them correctly. You’re lacking a good training foundation and this is exactly the tool you need.

Yes, I would take the food out no matter what. These items are not suitable for any of your goals.

I would actually lower your calories, not increase them. You aren’t supposed to feel great while dieting and this is why dieting is hard and not fun.
[/quote]

I’ll start to throw them in my routine then if you insist on them being that important.

As far as the foods go, I’m not doubting you, but my knowledge of nutrition isn’t nearly as developed as yours so I’m curious on this. Why is something like greek yogurt or wheat bread which both look pretty good as far as macros bad to eat when you’re cutting. I’ve heard Dairy makes you retain water weight but that’s not really that big of a deal to me personally since it’s not like I have a show to prepare for.

I eat Kroger store brand greek yogurt which is 90 calories, 16g protein, 8g sugar/5 carbs. I genuinely don’t understand why that could be a bad thing. Is there something beyond the surface that I’m just not grasping?

How do you feel about peanut butter throughout the day, about 1-2 tbs daily.

With the calories I meant to the topic that was at the end of the last thread, where I mentioned eating at maintenance into burning fat and putting on muscle into a good physique. You replied to someone else who replied to my post and said he was pretty spot on with his reply.

[/quote]

A lot of people don’t react well to dairy in general. I know you’re not preparing for a show but your overall goal is to look better so if you are searching for the ideal protein sources this isn’t exactly at the top of the list for physique goals. The bloating it causes doesn’t do your body any favors when trying to digest other nutrients either. If you have it once and a while it won’t kill you but I’m just giving you my opinion for the optimal way to achieve you goal. Same goes for the whole wheat bread… It’s not a bad choice per say, but it’s definitely not the best one.

You will reach your goals much faster if you make better food choices.

I wouldn’t eat peanut butter more than 1-2 times/day and you have to make sure it’s be calculated into your total fat count for the day. Make sure it’s a natural peanut butter.

As far as calories goes, what I said is that he’s on the right track with his comment but it’s also very individual. In your specific case your calorie intake is just too high for fat loss purposes, you will not gain anything from being in a calorie surplus.

I get the feeling you are looking for an easier way instead of the most efficient way. Give my suggestions a try and you’ll see some great progress.[/quote]

Well it just seems more efficient to up my calories around 3-400 and possibly get a stronger/leaner physique over the next year as opposed to cutting the next 6 months and bulk 6 months after that

[/quote]

Dude look at how much effort he has put into tailored responses to you and every time he says do x you respond ‘but y seems better’.

He said lower your calories, it will be more efficient, amd you say ‘i think it would be more efficient to increase them 3-400’? If you have the answer, dont ask the question. But if you want to know why yours wont work its because, and shadow correct me if i’m wrong, at your current bodyfat your testosterone levels are significantly suppressed and estrogen significantly raised. It will be very difficult to actually ‘recomp’ at that bodyfat. You will get a visual recomp lowering your calories, as he kindly reccomended, re-reccomended then insisted despite your contradiction. This is because as you loose fat your underlying muscle will become more pronounced and defined.

It may not be your intention to come accross deliberately contrarian, but i assure you that is how it is sounding to him and the readers of this thread. Learn to take good advice, and not be dismissive of it.

“Ill chuck them in then if you insisnt on them being so important”

He does, so do we, he also explained why, as do about 2534 articles on this site re: the big lifts

Much love

[/quote]

Thanks for this post, you’re right on.

You’d think when you post in a public/free forum and get quality answers that will help then you’d take these answers and run with it instead of arguing.

I like to think I have a lot of patience but when someone tells me that deadlifts are felt their arms and their lungs give out from squats it just tells me this person isn’t very experienced and hasn’t done a lot of research. I helped as much as I can so I’ve done my part!

AND moving on now… How is your program going?

24

[quote]tazzx wrote:

It’s not my intention to come off arrogant or ungrateful for any of the advice, some stuff is just harder to grasp than others. It’s not good to blindly follow the advice of anyone, even a pro, if you don’t fully understand it.

In addition to that a lot of what I’m reading is really new information to me, a lot of it that goes completely against the grain of what I’ve known and done the last two years.

The squat statement wasn’t to sound like an ‘oh fine i’ll put them in’ statement, it was more of, if you think they’re this good, then i’ll give them a go. As far as articles go, a lot of them aren’t even worth reading. In fact most of them aren’t. They’re usually copy/pasted information written by people with pretty undesirable physiques. Just because it’s the bro thing to love to squat and do deads doesn’t mean it’s always what everyone is eager and dying to do.

I can see how the calories sentence comes off obnoxious though. I understand what he said but I’m just kind of in a tough place, as I don’t feel like I’m completely getting through sometimes whether it be through my lack of fitness vocabulary or poor wording.

with recomping, say you’d be gaining muscle at 70% of your normal rate, and you’d be losing fat at 30% of your normal rate (as opposed to if you were cutting or bulking), doesn’t it seem more logical to do the 70/30 for an extended period as opposed to cutting down and losing a lot of muscle and then bouncing into a bulk where I’m liable to put on a lot of fat since my body is easily gained.

Another reason I asked was because if I was to continue cutting at 2000-2100 calories with the foods he suggested and the lifting change up that’s fine, but I’m thinking a bit further down the road. I’m probably around 30% body fat, if I have to cut at 2000 calories, do 45 minutes of cardio, and incorporate these kinds of lifts into my routine while eating as clean as I am, what the hell am I going to do when I get down to 20%? 15%? It just seems like I would have to eat damn near nothing further down the road. That’s why I was trying to ask other methods, not make it seem like I was going to try to take the easy way out.

I don’t claim to know more than him, and I apologize if that’s what it came off as.
[/quote]

You are wondering if you’ll have to keep dropping food to get down to 15% or less… Yes… At some point you’ll have to eat a lot less than what you want. Bodybuilders with tons and tons of muscle are even eating 2000calories/day or less when dieting to ridiculously low bodyfat. Since you aren’t a bodybuilder and don’t carry a lot of muscle it’s not an absurd fact that you’ll have to cut your calories lower in order to reach your desired bodyfat.

You are not supposed to feel great… You will be hungry, tired and frustrated. Dieting is NOT easy and that’s why we live in an obese world, if it was so easy then everyone would look great.

Bottom like is that you need to lose body fat before anything else and to do this you need to be in a calorie deficit and to follow an appropriate training program. At this point, nothing else is relevant… Keep it simple and efficient. You’re overanalyzing everything… Train hard & diet = lose fat

25

[quote]Leafblighter wrote:
Hi Shadow,

Thank you so much for offering your free advice on this forum. I’ve read your posts from the beginning, and I don’t recall this question being asked before.

What methods do you recommend for tracking progress in the gym (i.e. progress pictures, tape measurements, scale weight, body fat measures, etc)? Seems like all of the methods of measurement have real drawbacks, and I’m curious how you tweak them to make them as effective as possible.

Also do you have any idea, from coaching experience, what might be reasonable expectations for a natural trainee in his 30’s w/ ~1 year consistent training experience? Without a good yard stick of what progress looks like, it’s hard to evaluate my success. For example, if it takes me 6 months to add 1 inch on my chest… is that a huge win or a huge fail? I realize this is very individual but hoping you might have a rough idea of what can be expected in the first two years of training or so.
[/quote]

Great question, thank you for posting and following.

What your asking is kind of tricky. If I had to choose the best tool for progress I would say the mirror and progress pictures. I like pictures because you can see any little changes that are happening when you put them side by side. If you do them at the same location at the same time every week it is the best.

My second choice to measure would be a body fat measurement done with a dexa scan or a metal caliper with someone experienced… Not necessarily because the numbers are accurate but because you can see the changes if you use the same device regardless of precise number, just pay attention to changes. Skin folds are going down… Gains in lean muscle mass (dexa scan). Just don’t get caught up in the numbers, as long as you see positive changes you are in the right direction.

I have never used tape measurements. It’s very inaccurate and doesn’t take into consideration water and fat etc… This is the most inaccurate thing to go by.

Third best option is the scale but it can play a lot of tricks with your head. It gives you a general idea of what your body is doing in the off season or a diet. If your bodyfat isn’t going up but you are SLOWLY gaining weight this would be a good thing. When you’re dieting and slowly losing weight but not muscle (based on dexa scan & pics) then it’s probably a positive thing. This is why I say it’s tricky!

If you use a combination of all methods it will give you a pretty good idea of what your body is doing.

As for the second question, it’s very individual (as you’ve heard me say a million times) but as a beginner in the first year or two the gains should be very significant if all factors like diet and training are on track and depending on your original starting point. I hate the tape measure as a tool so it’s hard to say if an inch is good or bad. How about you post a before and after photo for me and I can give you a more precise answer, I’d be happy to help you track progress here of you don’t mind posting.

I’ve got a good eye, so feel free to post side by side photos along with diet/training and I can give you my opinion and some tips (THIS GOES FOR ANYONE HERE)

26

Ok ill try that
Now for the workout plan:

I think I understand how dieting works now so gaining or loosing is not if difficulty to me.
However, post cycle I do tend to shed around 8-10lbs still, which I believe can be lowered.
I usually up my protein intake around 10-20% more but keep carb intake the same.
Perhaps thats where I make the mistake- should I up my carb count as well and possibly gain some fat post cycle and then just cut a bit when test levels go back to normal?

As for training, I usually drop down volume by almost half, train at 3-8 rep range with no supersets or dropsets, while on cycle I tend to use pyramid sets of rep range 8-15.

On cycle split:
Chest, back, quads, off, shoulders, arms, hams, off.

Off cycle split:
Chest triceps, back biceps, off, shoulders, legs, off.

Correct me if im not on the right track.

I have been thinking of incorporating the 5x5 workout but not sure if its ideal for on cycle or post cycle.
Or is there a specific workout that you would recommend for gaining mass?

Thanks in advance.

27

Thanks shadow for answering all my steroid related questions. I am actually from Canada and got all my anabolic steroids and hgh from PGANABOLICS

Solid Canadian source as far as I can tell. I was wondering if you think there is a big different with pharmaceutical grade steroids vs underground? I pay more for pharma…but wondering if there really is a huge diference.

28

[quote]Wayacrucis wrote:
Hi shadow. Do you believe that Trenbolone could cause an increase in BP?

From my own experience only anabolics that cause water retention such as Anadrol, Dbol, etc seem to do raise BP. I am currently on Test E, Tren E and Anadrol and my BP is a bit high. Average around 145/70. Diastolic reading is perfect, but systolic is a bit high. I am thinking once I get off the Anadrol this should return to normal?

I just wanted to get your opinion on the matter. I’ve seen many threads on the internet where people claim that Tren raises their BP drastically, but I don’t understand through what mechanism it would do so. Started to thinking maybe it’s caused by another substance. [/quote]

I’m in agreement with you here. I’ve never had any issues with tren and blood pressure. I would say Anadrol is the culprit here.

29

I was curious how you felt about this approach. Ive done it before and it works and im doing it again and its still working. its simple, a little costly, but i was curios to see how you felt about it.

When i start “dieting” it really stays simple for me. I have a regular job so things staying simple are a must for me and my boss, lol.

Basically my diet consists of

Breakfast - 1 serving mag10
Lunch - chicken with greens or steak with greens (about 8oz meat)
afternoon snack - mag10
preworkout - finibar
periworkout - 2-3 servings of plazma
post workout - 2 servings mag10
last meal - another grilled protein source, about 8oz (chicken, fish, steak) and some simple carb source. (cereal, rice, potatoe) i shoot for about 40g carbs of whatever it is.

as simple as it is i always seem to have awesome recomp while putting on weight.

i just came back from a injury that i took off 10 weeks from because of that and other life priorities that kept me out of the gym. but that simple diet i’m on track to come back in better shape in about 8 more weeks. heavier and leaner.

31

If you had to take a guess (or maybe you have inside knowledge on it), what would you say CrossFit Games athletes are running? Olympic Weightlifters?

32

[quote]blooddrunk.n wrote:
Ok ill try that
Now for the workout plan:

I think I understand how dieting works now so gaining or loosing is not if difficulty to me.
However, post cycle I do tend to shed around 8-10lbs still, which I believe can be lowered.
I usually up my protein intake around 10-20% more but keep carb intake the same.
Perhaps thats where I make the mistake- should I up my carb count as well and possibly gain some fat post cycle and then just cut a bit when test levels go back to normal?

As for training, I usually drop down volume by almost half, train at 3-8 rep range with no supersets or dropsets, while on cycle I tend to use pyramid sets of rep range 8-15.

On cycle split:
Chest, back, quads, off, shoulders, arms, hams, off.

Off cycle split:
Chest triceps, back biceps, off, shoulders, legs, off.

Correct me if im not on the right track.

I have been thinking of incorporating the 5x5 workout but not sure if its ideal for on cycle or post cycle.
Or is there a specific workout that you would recommend for gaining mass?

Thanks in advance. [/quote]

Sorry I missed this question the other day and accidentally skipped over it.

This looks decent but even when you’re on cycle I would still keep the heavy lifting. Instead of 8-15reps I would do 3-15 reps. First exercise should be the heaviest with the lowest reps and increase the reps as the workout progresses and the exercises get “easier”

It’s normal to lose 8-10 lbs after the cycle. Likely it’s mostly water weight. I wouldn’t increase the carbs and risk fat gain but you can increase them to a point but if you notice excess fat gain and then back off. I would increase healthy fat intake after the cycle in order to help your natural testosterone level get back to normal (roughly 10-15% of what you were consuming during the cycle)

5x5 can work well both on and off cycle. It will work and it’s a good balance for both strength and size goals.

33

[quote]ty_ty13 wrote:
I was curious how you felt about this approach. Ive done it before and it works and im doing it again and its still working. its simple, a little costly, but i was curios to see how you felt about it.

When i start “dieting” it really stays simple for me. I have a regular job so things staying simple are a must for me and my boss, lol.

Basically my diet consists of

Breakfast - 1 serving mag10
Lunch - chicken with greens or steak with greens (about 8oz meat)
afternoon snack - mag10
preworkout - finibar
periworkout - 2-3 servings of plazma
post workout - 2 servings mag10
last meal - another grilled protein source, about 8oz (chicken, fish, steak) and some simple carb source. (cereal, rice, potatoe) i shoot for about 40g carbs of whatever it is.

as simple as it is i always seem to have awesome recomp while putting on weight.

i just came back from a injury that i took off 10 weeks from because of that and other life priorities that kept me out of the gym. but that simple diet i’m on track to come back in better shape in about 8 more weeks. heavier and leaner.[/quote]

I don’t think this looks too bad at all and it could work well with a few tweaks. It’s very simple and efficient as you mentioned but here are a few suggestions:

First of all, you don’t have much fat here at all and you want to make sure you’re getting enough for your body to function efficiently. (40-50g/day can be a good number to start with)
Add some healthy fats throughout the day. Ex.mct oil, avocado, natural almond butter etc. but also take into account that you have a bit of fat in your meats and the Finibar.

Also, maybe add another solid meal. Egg whites in the morning for example(and you can drink them if it’s easier) and then in your afternoon snack have 2 servings of MAG-10 and remove the 1 from breakfast.

34

[quote]Pinkylifting wrote:
Shadow, my training is going well thankyou, or consistently at least. But it has raised a question.

During weight loss, How much strength loss would you accept/tolerate before you became concerned with muscle loss.

I have dropped probbaly 8lbs in the last 4 weeks and have noticed strength loss on front squats and deadlifts. I have also dropped my wiast half an inch down to 32 and was thinking that these may be part of the cause. For reference my front dquat workout has gone from a comfortable 8x8reps @ 220lbs to struggling for 8x6 reps at the same weight.

Second question.

For a forst cycle, as previously reccomended, i am still considering Anavar.
Is 7 weeks with taper up and down a reasonable length as follows:
Week 1 - 50mg
Week 2 - 75mg
Week 3-5 - 100mg
Week 6 - 75mg
Week 7 - 50mg
I was thinking 1 weeks clomid 50mg then 1 week 25mg as a precautionary PcT.
Finally would you still reccomend low dose nolva daily for a mild cycle like this?

Thanks

[/quote]

I wouldn’t be too worried about the strength loss, what you’re experiencing is normal when dieting down. It’s hard to put a percentage on it but so far you haven’t lost much strength and it can depend on many things like how you are feeling that particular day, your current diet, current cycle, overall energy level etc. When I diet I don’t lose much strength especially this year when I started taking micro-pa, it’s a great product to keep you strong and looking full while dieting so it’s something you might want to look into if the decreases in strength are becoming an issue. Usually you are losing reps in the set due to a lack of glycogen in the muscle. You haven’t really lost strength because you are still lifting the same weight but you are just getting fatigued easier because of the low energy due to the diet.

The taper up and down looks good to me and with such a mild cycle this is one of the only times I don’t think nolva is 100% necessary. Pct looks good, this is a good idea.

35

[quote]CxTucker wrote:
If you had to take a guess (or maybe you have inside knowledge on it), what would you say CrossFit Games athletes are running? Olympic Weightlifters?[/quote]

Mostly short esters…anything short acting is good for olympic lifters because most of them are drug tested.
Some things commonly used are: test suspension, tren suspension, halo, winstrol, anavar.
If they have time before competition then tren-a or test-p is also a possibility.

Crossfitters have been known to use everything under the sun. The drug testing is not as serious as olympic sports.

36

So I have a few questions for you but first I’ll give some info.

I’m 23, 180cm tall, and 170lbs, probably 15%bf(guessing. Can begin to see abs in ideal lighting.)
My first time lifting weight was 2 years ago @145 lbs. I never stuck with it for longer than a month at a time.
In the last 3 months I’ve gone from 158-170lbs and been consistent. When I was super skinny last year I decided to buy a Sarm stack of S4, ostarine, and GW as a boost. I then decided to hold off til I gained more naturally and was consistent. I’m currently working out of town and being housed in a camp with GREAT food and a full gym. Can eat to my hearts content and dinner always has a huge salad bar, 2-3 types of meat, a fish, rice, and veggies.
So my questions.

Is there any negatives to me using these now to boost progress? I also have some HCGenerate and Nolva for a PCT if I encounter shutdown.

My goal as of now is aesthetics. Should I be lifting for strength and once it’s decent switch to hyper trophy, or start lifting for hyper trophy now?
Thanks for your input Its greatly appreciated

37

hey Shadow,

hows your training and all the stuff? hope your doing great.

since the last time we spoke, i decided to back off and going into PCT in 1.5 weeks, now i prepared this PCT plan and was wondering if you could give me any feed back to it on what things i could change to make best out of it.

  1. Training - while i was on, i was training around 5/6 days a week, now when coming off i was thinking about something similar like this:
  • chest/back
  • quads/harmstrings/calves
  • off
  • delts/traps/forearms
  • off
  • bis/tris
  • off
    / repeat

ofcourse when i was on my routine was nowhere like this, i trained legs twice a week and back/chest aswell. Training frequency was totally different and i was looking to do basic compound movements atleast twice a week.

1 a) i will be cutting the volume by exactly 40%, so if i did around 20 sets for my back i will be around 12 sets. Intensity will go down a little bit aswell, lets say if i rested on arms 60secs between sets, now it would be around 75/80secs. Does this make sense?

1 b) keeping the training sessions limited to 50minutes? When i was on my volume was totally different, i was in the gym for atleast 90minutes, depends on how i felt that day. There is a lot of discussion going on about this when it comes to PCT, whats your opinnion about it? I have a friend who competes in mens physique and well he kinda does really good compared to the physiques standard and all he does in PCT, is just come in - warm up - keep the intensity as high as before - start off compound movements - include some isolation afterwards - lift heavy and after 50mins he’s done.

Nutrition:

calories while on:
4400kcal - 650g c 300g p 70g f
breakdown while on:
Meal 1: Protein/Fat/Carbs
Meal 2: Protein/Fat/Carbs
Meal 3: Protein/Fat/Carbs
Meal 4: Post Workout Meal Protein/Carbs
Meal 5: Protein/Carbs
Meal 6: Protein/Fat

now going into PCT:

calories set to maintenance:
3600/3700 kcal:
500g c 200g p 100g f

breakdown while in PCT:

Meal 1: Protein/Minimal Carbs
Meal 2: Protein/Fat
Pre workout: Protein/Carbs
During workout: Carbs
Post workout: Protein/Carbs
Meal 4: Protein/Fat
Meal 5: Protein/Fat

now you might say, that carbs always intra workout - but since i can’t really get intouch of plazma. While on cycle i’m having 50g malto 30g whey combined with glutamin, bcaas and while i will be in PCT - i will alrdy be consuming malto during the workout and finishing it with protein/bcaas/glutamin?

  1. small things like Vitamin C 2g pre workout / 2g post workout, also adding creatin in the PCT - or should i leave it out?

Thanks a lot

38

there are a couple of things i haven’t heard talked about anywhere and was wondering what your thoughts on them are.

1)i know you’re not a scientist so i’m just asking what your thoughts are on this logic… GH makes everything grow(or divide or whatever the process).
so someone only taking GH is going to experience growth everywhere.
shouldn’t that mean that the testicles also grow? which would then follow that they produce more test. seems that’s how it should work in theory.

to put it another way. if i only did GH for however long, would my balls eventually get bigger and would they then produce more test?

  1. the above brings me to this. doesn’t one’s penis also grow using GH and or test?
    we know what it does to women down there. but that side effect is never mentioned in relation to males.

it may sound like a wanted side effect, but that might not be the case. can you comment at least to what extant that should be a concern if any.

thanks.

39

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Dear Shadow:

Have no clue who you might be, but you sound an intelligent and wise guy, we are lucky to have you around here, I ve learned a lot!!

I m a physique competitor, actor and model. 33 yo, being an athlete since 1995, 6 feet and half an inch, 200 pounds give or take. My questions are these:

  1. Getting ready for a role and currently use 500mg of primo, 300mg of T, 40mg oxa a day, 200mcg t4, 3 iu GH, ( the omega labs owner is a friend of mine so I can get all that gear for real and cheap as hell), along with omega 3,SAW PALMETTO, vit c 2grams, vit e, melatonine, glutamine, bcaas, some green tea, some red wine for resveratrol and cardiovascular protection, whey protein… my cutting cycles looks like that. I never seem to past 90kg, guess to be a 95kg guy I might up the T to around 750 mg per week right? ( besides eating a surplus of kcals).

  2. Do you think drinking a galon of water a day is a must for a guy 90kg of muscle? I attended a seminar of a eminence in nutrition and he said water depletes you Vit B and makes you nervous ( too much of it), 1.5 to 2 L to a normal guy would make it. Maybe 2.5 for a fit lean guy.

  3. Muscular failure… is a necessity? Every time I train MF for 4 or 5 sets in a session, my CNS get fucked up and I feel like shit the other day so I opted for only go to failure for 1 or 2 sets per session. Now I can train 5 days in a row… when I went failure every set specially heavy, couldnt train more than 2 in a row.

  4. I do smoke pot somtimes, makes me feel relaxed and I think relaxing is good for us which stress the body so much. I also use some propanolol to lower my heart rate when Im going to act ( once in a while), and use Xanax here and there to lower cortisol. Also try not to take life too seriously, arguing too much and I avoid the chaotic traffic of Mexico DF. I try to ejaculate several times a week in a vagina if I ve a gf and in different ones if I m single, I love the feeling and makes me feel relaxed and happy. I inhale deeply to oxigen my organs. Sometimes I wear earplugs on street, and I avoid noisy persons ( specially chicks) noise alteres me a lot and that might up the cortisol. I dont attend night clubs, hate loud music… listen to Mozart, etc… What do you think of these pratices? I hate stress.

  5. I ve a problem with peeing. I wake up at the 5th or 6th hour to urinate and 50% of times cant sleep back, which lets me little sleep. Do you know any trick to increase my bladder size or something to not having to pee at night and be able to sleep 7 or 8 hours straight?

  6. The TRICKY ONE hehehe… I fell in love with g flux but I dont know if Im overkilling it. . Weekly, I do 7 hours of weightlifting of course big compound exercises, I do about 90 min of cardio a day at 110 ppm, and about 1 hour a week of HIIT ( some sprinting, jumping,). At gym I do about 25 sets of the main muscle, about 10 sets of forearms, 10 sets for abs…thats 45 sets in a session.

That s a total of 15 hours a week of exercise… is it too much? I want to be 95 kg of muscle, not 88 or 90. Time is no problem, have many days off work and I do well financially fortunately, so I can workout as much as needed.

I estimated my BMR in 2300, I use to burn 1.200kcals a day training … so to be in a minus 700 to 1000 kcals a week to get ripped, I consume about 2500 to 2800kcals per day, sometimes I even do 2 hr of cardio ( I FUCKING love cardio and playing videogames or reading), train for 2 hours and eat 3000kcals a day!

I remind you I use 200mcg of t4 we dont have t3 here in Mexico, some burner and green tea, in my mind,a body which burn and eats SO MUCH, is gonna be leanest and stronger than if I only train 1,5 hours a day and eat 2200kcals in contest mode… . Am I right?

what do you think about this crazyness? cause I read you said some huge builders use to eat 2000kcals a day in diet and Im only 90kg Im confused, but maybe they use a ton of T.

MY DIET:

( before morning cardio 1 scoop whey, bcaas, glutamine, t4, fat burner).

  1. 75 gr oats, 1 isolated whey protein, 10 whites, 1 or 2 yolk,
  2. 250 gr chicken, veggies

TRAIN

3.after workout, 75 gr of oats, honey ( dont wanna mess with slin), 1 banana, 2 scoops whey, 10 whites 1 yolk
4.50gr brown rice, 250 gr chiken and veggies
5.250 gr chicken and veggies or salad, 1 olive oil tablespoon

TOTAL FOOD, about 320 P, 230 CH, 55 to 65 FAT.

Those are pics of when I was training 3 to 4 hours a day and eating about 2800 to 3000kcals a day not starving. Quite lean, but not shredded.

40

[quote]Shadow Pro wrote:

[quote]CxTucker wrote:
If you had to take a guess (or maybe you have inside knowledge on it), what would you say CrossFit Games athletes are running? Olympic Weightlifters?[/quote]

Mostly short esters…anything short acting is good for olympic lifters because most of them are drug tested.
Some things commonly used are: test suspension, tren suspension, halo, winstrol, anavar.
If they have time before competition then tren-a or test-p is also a possibility.

Crossfitters have been known to use everything under the sun. The drug testing is not as serious as olympic sports.[/quote]

Would Halo / Winny / Var not show up on their tests?

What would you think are staples for CF’ers? While some might need to add size, what about the guys on top who are just focused on getting stronger / faster?

41

[quote]Shadow Pro wrote:

[quote]tazzx wrote:
[/quote]

Here is the food that you currently you don’t want to consume when you are trying to get down to your desired body fat
Milk
Greek yogurt
Wheat bread
Bananas
Apples
Fatty beef

[/quote]

Shaddow, I have seen you say this before and also read others that don’t rank the good old greek yogurt too highly… just curious why you put greek yogurt and fatty beef in this list for losing weight? If you total calories for the day are in deficit why it matters? I have a fair amount of cottage cheese and greek yogurt as its high in protein…

I guess apples, bread and banananananas because it’s high carb and you cannot eat that much for what you get out of it…

You also put milk in that list… is it due to high fat content?

(I just noticed above you mentioned greek yogurt is a shitty source of protein and people handle lactase bad - unfortunately no delete post button :slight_smile: