Question(s) about a beginner's cycle

[samgotti18]

Hey there folks, I have a couple of question concerning a Test E cycle for beginners. I have read across many forums and articles in the past year or so and the statement I have mostly come across is that people should do a cycle when they reach their natural limit. And it does make sense. I assume once you have reached your natural limit of muscle you can build and you start taking steroids you surpass that limit and build muscle you wouldn't have been able to build without steroids. I would also think that if you stop taking steroids you will surely get back to your natural limit at some point. What if someone who has not fulfilled their natural potential takes steroids ? Do they also go back to the state they were in before taking steroids or do they actually keep more muscle/mass than people who have reached their natural limit ? Any feedback would be gladly appreciated.

 

[Yes]

That's a fairy-tale..
I'd like to see how many people on here will answer honestly and say they reached their natural limit before taking steroids.

And yes, you will keep a lot of gains but you will lose a lot as well. Obviously, you will need to continue to train and diet or risk losing it all and then some.

 

[samgotti18]

That's a fairy-tale..
I'd like to see how many people on here will answer honestly and say they reached their natural limit before taking steroids.

And yes, you will keep a lot of gains but you will lose a lot as well. Obviously, you will need to continue to train and diet or risk losing it all and then some.

Obviously a lot of the gains on Test are water, so there is no chance of keeping all the gains, but would it be realistic to assume that a beginner would keep more mass and muscle after a cycle than someone who is closer to their natural potential ?

 

[Roush]

OP what's your age and stats?

Being it's your body it's your personal choice.. As for starting AAS once you hit your natural limit,, that's pretty impossible to gauge being our bodies are always changing and can be manipulated to change. You may be at a wall at 25 and 215 lbs,, well over the years how do you know you won't put on more muscle and be 230 at 34 years old... It's too hard to know.

If you hit a plateau or wall and stop growing, you may just need to completely revamp your diet and training cause you've been doing the same thing week after week.
If you bench 275 lbs for 8 reps for 5 sets, and you do that week after week year after year,, your simply not going to grow.. Your body will adapt to that response quickly and will then just maintain itself ( the body just wants to survive, nothing more,, you have to trick it and force it to grow).

AAS comes in when you old enough and have studied it and know enough to make a logical and rational decision to use it or not

 

[samgotti18]

OP what's your age and stats?

Being it's your body it's your personal choice.. As for starting AAS once you hit your natural limit,, that's pretty impossible to gauge being our bodies are always changing and can be manipulated to change. You may be at a wall at 25 and 215 lbs,, well over the years how do you know you won't put on more muscle and be 230 at 34 years old... It's too hard to know.

If you hit a plateau or wall and stop growing, you may just need to completely revamp your diet and training cause you've been doing the same thing week after week.
If you bench 275 lbs for 8 reps for 5 sets, and you do that week after week year after year,, your simply not going to grow.. Your body will adapt to that response quickly and will then just maintain itself ( the body just wants to survive, nothing more,, you have to trick it and force it to grow).

AAS comes in when you old enough and have studied it and know enough to make a logical and rational decision to use it or not

I am 23, 175cm, 74kg, 16% BF, bench 155 lbs for 10 reps

I am just playing with the thought and there is no concrete will to do a cycle, I just want to explore the possibilities. I am aware that there are quite a few side effects that can come with taking steroids and before making any irrational decision I would rather think about something like that very carefully. The main question for me is really, if I decide to do a cycle would it actually be worth it ? Assuming my diet and workout are on point, would I keep enough of my cycle gains to justify the use of steroids or would I lose more than half of my gains ?

 

[tbonexl]

All depends on diet and training really.

 

[oldmusclemike]

Simple Simon OP, If you continue to train right on and keep the calories up with thee proper diet the only loss you will undergo is that of the water. Keep you BF% down. You do not loose LMM unless you stop feeding it and working it. Don't let your muscles go into atrophy.

If you loose it all then you didn't build LMM and or you didn't keep training and eating to keep it. Loose it all my ass it you train and eat right. That's my experience

 

[SoCalSwole]

I am 23, 175cm, 74kg, 16% BF, bench 155 lbs for 10 reps

I am just playing with the thought and there is no concrete will to do a cycle, I just want to explore the possibilities. I am aware that there are quite a few side effects that can come with taking steroids and before making any irrational decision I would rather think about something like that very carefully. The main question for me is really, if I decide to do a cycle would it actually be worth it ? Assuming my diet and workout are on point, would I keep enough of my cycle gains to justify the use of steroids or would I lose more than half of my gains ?

What you are asking is if it is possible to do a single cycle and maintain the gains. Right? There are a few challenges with this venture. I have heard many guys say I just want to do 1 cycle to get me over the hump then I'll go back natural and keep my gains. This is flawed rational for the following reasons. People who go on a cycle and have a positive experience will always want to recreate that positive experience. Plus if you are like 99.999% of us that train hard and lift then it is never enough. You will always want an inch more here or 50 pounds more on the max.

The psychological effects of coming off a cycle are pretty harsh. You go from feeling like Superman to just feeling normal. On top of that your size and strength will go away by about half. So whatever you gain on cycle you should expect to lose about half when you go off. Also successful AAS use takes practice to get the most out of it. You have to learn how your body reacts to each compound to maximize the benefits they bring. You have to learn to manage your E levels. So to say you were going to do one cycle for the rest of your life I think is not worth the time, effort and money.

Let's say that by pure Luck you run a perfect first cycle running dbol and test. If your diet was perfect if your rest periods and training were perfect if your genetic potential was perfect. You might be able to gain 30 pounds 10 will be water. So 20 pounds of muscle. Then you go off and run a perfect PCT and lose the 10 pounds of water and another 8 pounds of the 20 you gained. You might walk away 20 weeks later having gained 12 pounds of muscle. Now this is a pie in the sky scenario. The above never happens this way the first time out.

Now lets say you train hard and eat right and take OTC supps for 20 weeks of 5 months. If you were dedicated and intelligent about it you could with a lot of effort gain 12 pounds naturally. 2.4 pounds a month for 5 months. Very doable all without running the risk of infection, running the risk of permanently shutting down your natural test.

For this reason, this is why we say work hard for a few years until you have used everything in your arsenal to grow. Then maybe if you want to continually grow and move past the genetic ceiling start AAS. At you age I can tell you from experience. 90% of guys in your situation will remain dedicated until something else is more important. College, Career, Relationships, Mortgages and car payments, kids. All these things stack the odds against you sticking it out with this lifestyle. Which is why I generally do not dedicate any more effort than the 5 min it took to type this in people at your stage because its not worth it. You will most likely quit at some point.

Train hard prove your here for the long haul. Learn everything you can about this is. If your interest in it remains in a few years and you have made progress then Guys like myself and me personally will tell you everything we know.

Hope this answers your question.

 

[Yes]

What you are asking is if it is possible to do a single cycle and maintain the gains. Right? There are a few challenges with this venture. I have heard many guys say I just want to do 1 cycle to get me over the hump then I'll go back natural and keep my gains. This is flawed rational for the following reasons. People who go on a cycle and have a positive experience will always want to recreate that positive experience. Plus if you are like 99.999% of us that train hard and lift then it is never enough. You will always want an inch more here or 50 pounds more on the max.

True story...

 

[samgotti18]

What you are asking is if it is possible to do a single cycle and maintain the gains. Right? There are a few challenges with this venture. I have heard many guys say I just want to do 1 cycle to get me over the hump then I'll go back natural and keep my gains. This is flawed rational for the following reasons. People who go on a cycle and have a positive experience will always want to recreate that positive experience. Plus if you are like 99.999% of us that train hard and lift then it is never enough. You will always want an inch more here or 50 pounds more on the max.

The psychological effects of coming off a cycle are pretty harsh. You go from feeling like Superman to just feeling normal. On top of that your size and strength will go away by about half. So whatever you gain on cycle you should expect to lose about half when you go off. Also successful AAS use takes practice to get the most out of it. You have to learn how your body reacts to each compound to maximize the benefits they bring. You have to learn to manage your E levels. So to say you were going to do one cycle for the rest of your life I think is not worth the time, effort and money.

Let's say that by pure Luck you run a perfect first cycle running dbol and test. If your diet was perfect if your rest periods and training were perfect if your genetic potential was perfect. You might be able to gain 30 pounds 10 will be water. So 20 pounds of muscle. Then you go off and run a perfect PCT and lose the 10 pounds of water and another 8 pounds of the 20 you gained. You might walk away 20 weeks later having gained 12 pounds of muscle. Now this is a pie in the sky scenario. The above never happens this way the first time out.

Now lets say you train hard and eat right and take OTC supps for 20 weeks of 5 months. If you were dedicated and intelligent about it you could with a lot of effort gain 12 pounds naturally. 2.4 pounds a month for 5 months. Very doable all without running the risk of infection, running the risk of permanently shutting down your natural test.

For this reason, this is why we say work hard for a few years until you have used everything in your arsenal to grow. Then maybe if you want to continually grow and move past the genetic ceiling start AAS. At you age I can tell you from experience. 90% of guys in your situation will remain dedicated until something else is more important. College, Career, Relationships, Mortgages and car payments, kids. All these things stack the odds against you sticking it out with this lifestyle. Which is why I generally do not dedicate any more effort than the 5 min it took to type this in people at your stage because its not worth it. You will most likely quit at some point.

Train hard prove your here for the long haul. Learn everything you can about this is. If your interest in it remains in a few years and you have made progress then Guys like myself and me personally will tell you everything we know.

Hope this answers your question.

Thank you for your excellent reply. This has actually answered my question. By no means do I want to become a bodybuilder or take this sport to another level. The reason I work out is to get a nice body, stay healthy and active. Obviously I can be a little impatient otherwise I wouldn't be thinking about a cycle. But after reading your post I feel confirmed about my thoughts that it probably isn't worth it. I have a career and I think we can all agree that the wallet muscle will always be more important

Thank you for your replies gentlemen. Have a blessed week !

 

[Roush]

^^ breath of fresh air around here to have a young guy come in here and listen to advice and not be a total punk and tell everyone to F off cause their gonna do the cycle any ways and they just want us to show them how.

OP will be successful in his endeavors

 

[SoCalSwole]

Thank you for your excellent reply. This has actually answered my question. By no means do I want to become a bodybuilder or take this sport to another level. The reason I work out is to get a nice body, stay healthy and active. Obviously I can be a little impatient otherwise I wouldn't be thinking about a cycle. But after reading your post I feel confirmed about my thoughts that it probably isn't worth it. I have a career and I think we can all agree that the wallet muscle will always be more important

Thank you for your replies gentlemen. Have a blessed week !

Glad I could help. Thanks for not getting all twisted up about it. You express more maturity than all of the newbies I have ever delt with and more than most of us on here

Good luck and remember we are good for more than just gear advise. Diet is 60%, training 30%, AAS 10%. At least for me. Others would argue the diet is even more important.

 

[oldmusclemike]

^^ breath of fresh air around here to have a young guy come in here and listen to advice and not be a total punk and tell everyone to F off cause their gonna do the cycle any ways and they just want us to show them how.

OP will be successful in his endeavors

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