Planning my second cycle, learning from the first, help opinions needed

[blaj]

Hello

I ran my first cycle ever this year from may to august. I am 56 started at 87 kilos. I had been weight training seriously for 2 years and had naturally gained about 25 pounds trough hard work and clean eating. Based on what I read here I ran the following

12 weeks of test E @ 500 mg per week (two shots)
I ran exametastane at 6.25 mg ed
ran Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) at 500 iu twice a week (no blast at end of cycle)

Starting at the end of august I ran a PCT consisting of

clomid and nolva

100 mg 40 mg week 1
50 mg 20 mg week 2 to 4

Long story short : the cycle was rough on me, but effective and PCT was absolutely great, way way better than I expected !!

So I plan on running a second cycle early next year. My first one showed that 500 mg Test e works for me so I am thinking of going with that again, maybe adding 40 mg TBol for a few weeks at the beginning to jumpstart things. I would tend to not try to change a winning plan. But I would like to get dialed in a little better.

As an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) I ran exametastane at 6.25 up to 12.5 mg ED but obviously I never really got things sorted out in that departement. I got great results in the gym and body composition wise I noticeably lost fat and gained muscles, but mostly I felt like crap (run down, sleepy, low libido) while on cycle.

1) Would Adex be worth trying as an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) instead of exametastane ? Should I just stick with exametastane and try to find the right dose to run ? What would you do ?

2) Is going with the same gear (500 mg of test E) a good idea ? Will I see great results again or would my receptors benefit from mixing things up with other aas ? Should I up the dose ?

3) My strenght went up considerably but I am concerned reading about the bad effects of aas on ligaments ? At 56 year old, would running some deca be advisable even if so far my joints seem ok ?

4) Is tbol worth trying to begin with ?

I am not out to become a bodybuilder. I am looking into aas as a means to build up my muscles/strength to basically feel better and so far I am pleased with the results.

Expecting great advice from you guys Have a nice day

 

[ken3531]

The best thing to do is get blood work done mid cycle. This will tell you if the exemestane is at a good dosage. During your cycle you may have very well had your E levels too high or low. Exemestane is great and many people use it so just get bloodwork done during your cycle and adjust the stane dosage accordingly. You always want test as the base of your cycle to definitely stick with it. Maybe bump it up to 600mg a week or more if you're comfortable. Most will tell you to only add 1 compound at a time so since this is your second cycle, I would add either the deca or tbol, not both. Not saying nobody does that it's just a bit safer because if you get bad sides or anything you can pinpoint the cause. I would suggest the deca over the oral for mass gains.

 

[smittiot]

Adex works very well.
You might really like deca. I do at 46 yrs old and not justfor the joint issues. It just seems to like me all over.
Deca requires some other ancilliary products, so study up.

 

[blaj]

The best thing to do is get blood work done mid cycle. This will tell you if the exemestane is at a good dosage. During your cycle you may have very well had your E levels too high or low. Exemestane is great and many people use it so just get bloodwork done during your cycle and adjust the stane dosage accordingly. You always want test as the base of your cycle to definitely stick with it. Maybe bump it up to 600mg a week or more if you're comfortable. Most will tell you to only add 1 compound at a time so since this is your second cycle, I would add either the deca or tbol, not both. Not saying nobody does that it's just a bit safer because if you get bad sides or anything you can pinpoint the cause. I would suggest the deca over the oral for mass gains.

I did get blood panels after 8 weeks into the cycle and it showed my test level to be above 1500. So the gear was good which I new just by the effects. I also had :

estrodiol 27.8 pq/ml range 7.6 to 42.6
lh 0.1 miu/ml range 1.7-8.6
FSH 0.7 miu/ml range 1.5-12.4

So as far as blood tests go, my estrogen seamed to have been dead on. But I still felt like crap. So I am really not sure where to go with that on my next cycle ? Hence my question about arimidex vs exametastane...

 

[blaj]

Adex works very well.
You might really like deca. I do at 46 yrs old and not justfor the joint issues. It just seems to like me all over.
Deca requires some other ancilliary products, so study up.

Hey smittiot

I know if I run deca, I need to have prami on hand in case of a gyno episode. But I have read that as long as estrogen is controlled trough Aromatase inhibitor (AI), prami is just a nice to have, 'just in case', and should not be systematically taken during cycle ?

How much deca would you run on top of 500 mg Test E per week for a first time ?

And can you tell me a bit more about the good deca does to you ?

Did you have libido issues because of deca ?

 

[smittiot]

I started 350/500 now at 400/600.
Test/Deca cycle seems to me, way better than my test only cycle. Strength, fullness, recovery.
Libido is off the hook. Not sure why, but I am way up over test only run (sustanon).
I have tried my prami to assess tolerance, but have not needed it and do not use it at this point. Others will disagree.