First ever cycle!! I have crossed over to the dark side!!!

[randy841]

What do you guys think about me adding home-made skim milk yogurt to my diet?

I do the same. Its healthier, fresh, and free of any preservatives. Anything that can be made at home, one should.

 

[StumpMT]

@randy: I completely agree with you there. I only buy fresh fruit and veggiess that I will use within a week. I cook all my meals. It takes a lot of time but its so much better. Plus I've gotten good at it since I've been doing it for so long.

 

[StumpMT]

Holy leg day!!!! Injected last night around 11p in left vetroglute with no problems at all! Woke up this morning with a little bit of soreness (VMS). Took two ibuprofen for it then ate my breakfast (8 egg whites and 1 cup oatmeal with 1tbsp flaxseeds on top). About 45 min later I had my pre-workout formula.

I hit the gym and boy was I ready to train some fucking legs!!! I did warm-up sets for squats at 135, 225, 275, and 315. Then I did a working set of 5 with 365 then another with 365 for 8 reps!!! I felt like a beast that just couldn't be stopped!! lol After that I tore up the leg press for a couple warm-up sets then working sets of 8 with 700. Then it was onto stiff-legged dead lifts. Worked up to a set of 8 with 275. After that I did some standing leg curls and calf raises. This was definitely a great lifting day! I can't wait to see what kind of lifting days I have once the test really starts kicking in a couple weeks from now. YEAH BUDDY!!!!!

 

[Juicer2222]

Ha its exciting reading all ur posts. U r doing very well. I cant wait to get on my next cycle.

 

[skyyman]

ok guys this is my first cycle...I want to keep my gains...what should I take and how much....

 

[Juicer2222]

Start a new thread dont steal his. And u dont even need a new thread, just search "first cycle" there is probably 1000 threads.

 

[StumpMT]

Good looking out Juicer.

 

[StumpMT]

Well today was chest day. I decided to change things up so I did chest and biceps. I had yesterday off and man was I ready to attack the weights today! For chest I did the following...

Flat bench:
Warm-up: 135x10r, 225x8r, 275x6r
Working: 315x5r, 315x4r, then I dropped it down and I was able to get 275 for 10reps!
Incline dumbbell:
100x8r, 105x8r, 105x7r (tough)
Flat Flyes:
45x10r, 50x10r, 50x10r
Cable crossovers:
65x10r, 65x10r

After that my chest was super pumped!! Then it was onto bicep work.

Barbell curls:
First did a couple warm-up sets with just the bar then...135x6r, 135x6r, 135x6r
Incline dumbbell curls:
40x8r, 45x6r, 45x6r
Cable curls (like doing a front double bicep)
60x10r, 65x10r, 70x10r

After that I did 3x10 of hanging leg raises.

After a particular body part I've been trying to really stretch that area as much as I can. I've heard this really helps in the growth department.

Anyways I felt great in the gym today. Why am I looking forward to each injection that I give myself? lol I inject again tomorrow morning for injection #4. I'm really really looking forward to the kind of gains I'm going to make.

 

[Juicer2222]

that sounds like a sick workout. i might steal that workout on monday for my own. my trainer (pro natural bber) told me to do this split, which i thought was weird cause u hit bis and tris 2 days in a row, but he said he's used it for yrs and never felt like it was overtraining.

chest bis abs
back tris abs
legs abs
delts abs

so im starting that 4-day split on monday. see how i like it.

how long did that workout take u?

 

[StumpMT]

My routine is very similar to yours now. Mine will be...

Chest/Bis/Abs
Back
Delts/Tris/Abs
Legs

I've done chest/tris for a while and I'm starting to feel that since my triceps are done after my chest that they're not getting proper stimulation. Which is why I think they're lagging a bit. So that's why I'm throwing them in with shoulders a few days after chest so that they're nice a rested and ready to get demolished lol. After today I like the idea of biceps on the same day as chest. Gonna stick with it for a while.

The workout I did today took me almost an hour exactly. I have rack deads tomorrow so I'm super excited about that. Gonna pin then hit the gym for some back destruction.

 

[StumpMT]

Back daaaaaaay! So this morning I did my 4th injection....fail!! lol I injected, aspirated, and saw blood FUUUUCK! So had to pull out, switch needles and start all over again. I guess I can't expect to never hit a vein. I mean it's bound to happen sooner or later. Second time around everything went smoothly. I injected into my left vastus lateralus. I'm expecting to be pretty sore the next couple days considering in a virgin muscle and I had to inject twice lol. Oh well that's the price you pay. Anyways onto my back training. It went something like this....

Warm-up: Body weight pull-ups for 3 sets of 8
Rack Deads: Got up to working sets of 405x6r, 415x6r, 425x6r (tough!)
Barbell rows: 225x8r, 225x8r, 225x8r
Dumbbell rows: 130x8r, 130x8r, 130x8r
Cable rows: 180x10r, 210x10r, 215x10r
Shrugs: 225x10r, 225x10r, 225x10r

I forgot my straps (which I don't use on dead lifts...only chalk) so I think I could've gone heavier on some of those lifts but I'm still happy with how I did today. After back I did 3 super sets of cable crunch with 90sec planks. Abs felt great after that!!

I weighed myself too. I'm sitting at 209lbs. I can still see my abs like I could when I was 200lbs 3 weeks ago so I'm pretty please with my progress so far. When I tested my BF% a few weeks ago I was about 13% at 200lbs using something that you hold out in front of you. It wasn't at the gym today so I'll have to use it tomorrow to see where I'm at now that I'm 209lbs. I hope I haven't gained too much fat over the past 3 weeks :/ I don't think I have cause I can still see my abs pretty well which tells me I'm still pretty lean. I need to buy some calipers so I can get a more accurate measurement but as long I keep using the same testing method I can track my progress pretty well.

I'm competing in my first bodybuilding contest the middle of July and when I do my last injection I will be about 7 weeks out. So I would like to stay relatively lean throughout this cycle. It's all diet though which I have been spot on with so far.

Well, time to chill until delt/tricep training tomorrow.....maybe I'll take a nap...sounds so good right now lol.

 

[Juicer2222]

My routine is very similar to yours now. Mine will be...

Chest/Bis/Abs
Back
Delts/Tris/Abs
Legs

that sounds like a pretty nice split. maybe if i dont quite like this after a couple weeks i'll do that.

and i would recommend u run gear through your show. im doing my first show in june and everyone that is competing with me and has competed before says u should run ur gear all the way through the show because it helps spare ur muscles when u r restricting calories.

 

[StumpMT]

Hmmmm yeah maybe I should've done that...damn! Oh well. My last injection near the end of May will put me at 15 weeks being 'on'. I could order more test-e but being my first cycle I don't think I should run it that long. I found out about and decided to do the show after I started the test-e. This will be my first show and I'm doing more for 'contest preparation' experience. I guess we'll see how I do. Just have to wait to see how I look in a couple months you know. Thanks for the advice though. I'll definitely do that for my next show.

 

[Juicer2222]

ur in the exact same pickle i was. i was doing a cycle for 9 weeks and i was like 18 weeks out from my show. so i either had to keep running the cycle all the way through, and it would be like a 7 month cycle, or i stop it early, get natural levels back in 6 weeks, and then jump back on the cycle for 12 weeks to prep for the show. so thats what im doing. im just finishing pct from last cycle, and in a couple weeks im starting my cutting cycle. definately not the best for recovery time, but i got myself in that situation cause i wasnt planning far enough ahead. i know in the future now.

 

[StumpMT]

Yeah being my first cycle I don't really want to stop it then start it again. I'll just how things go. Last year when I was training for my first half marathon (I don't know how much you know about that sort of thing but a half marathon is a 13.1 mile running race) I would lift in the morning and run at night after work. I would lift hard and when I ran it would be one or two long runs (6-10 miles) a week and intervals once or twice. I was going up in my lifts and watching my abs start to show. This was with a reduced carb diet. I've never seen my abs before that in my life so it was very exciting. Anyways, there were a couple guys at the gym who knew how far I was running and how often and they just couldn't believe how I was holding onto my muscle. So maybe I have some decent genetics.

Anyways, should I have planned better? Yes lol. But, I'm not really too worried about it as I feel I'll be able to get pretty cut while keep a lot of my gains based on passed experience. Only time will tell though as I was doing that naturally last year whereas this time around I'm injecting testosterone.

How many shows have you done?

 

[Juicer2222]

ill be doing my first show in june. thats sweet, u were restricting carbs and running a lot and still building muscle? thats makes me feel better about my precontest diet cause im worried if its possible or not. im keeping my protein at atleast 250g/day and fat under 70g/day (almost all good fats), and my carbs im cycling between 100g/day and 250g/day. i want to get more cut obviously for the show, but im trying to grow into it. i wanna put on atleast another 5lbs of lean muscle while cutting.

 

[StumpMT]

Yep, for instance my dumbbell incline bench went from 100lb for 6-10r to being able to do 3 sets of 6-8 with 120s. I obviously had a little extra fat to lose as I was about 230 last April with a lean body mass of about 174lbs to the day of the race (Sept 25) weighing between 195 and 205 with a lean body mass of around 175-176. It's not a huge gain in muscle but considering I was running upwards of 10 miles at once (a 200lb male burns an avg of about 150 cals per mile) I think it's pretty damn good! I'm actually gonna head to the gym in about an hour and jog about 3 miles (which takes me about 25-30min). I've heard doing light cardio like that or intervals 2-3 times a week is really good while on a cycle.

I was going to sign up for the Indy Mini (half marathon in Indianapolis) which is at the end of May but with me doing a show I feel that much cardio preparing for a bodybuilding show wouldn't be good.

As you've probably read already I'm taking in about 300g protein and carbs a day right now. I've been doing that since Christmas and have gained maybe a pound. Before I started my cycle I was 200lb. I haven't changed diet or anything except eating more peanut butter and I stepped on the scale today and it said 209!!!! I was super shocked lol. Only way to tell if that's clean weight or not is to get my bf% checked which I'm doing tomorrow. I was about 13% at the start of the cycle using a handheld thing (174lb lean body mass). We'll see what it says tomorrow.

 

[ronnie2010]

This was a Test-e only cycle right? I am kind of surprised by your quick gains. Did you frontload anything? Most people don't start seeing anything until 3 or 4 weeks in. I am not doubting you I was just surprised. You say you gained like 9 lbs and you are only about what...10 or 12 days in?

 

[StumpMT]

Yeah this is a test-e only cycle and its my first ever. Yeah I know test-e is the longest ester and it takes 4 weeks or longer to start seeing gains. That's why I'm curious as to what the handheld meter I've always used puts my bf% at. I'm shocked as hell too!! I was NOT expecting that when I stepped on the scale. No I didn't frontload with anything although. I thought about it with 1000mg of test-e the first week. The only thing I've done differently is I replaced a cytogainer shake with oats n whey and up'd my breakfast to 8 egg whites and 1cup oatmeal an I also take in more peanut butter. But that's it. I guess ill find out tomorrow and ill post my results.

 

[ronnie2010]

Interesting. I am also going to start my first cycle soon enough. I have been doing research for like 2 years now LOL. I feel like a freaking vet on the info. I was thinking of frontloading mine with T-bol but if your making gains like that with only the first few weeks into it. I am not sure now.
Keep us all updated on your progress. I know I am interested.