Taking higher amounts briefly v moderate amounts continuously

[Billegitimate]

Bit of a hypothetical: imagine you are prescribed 140mg/week of testosterone cypionate. Let's call it 7grams in a year using 50 weeks to make it easy.

So assuming that's what you have to use, and your goal was maximum muscular size, would you do better to stay on 140mg a week for the year, or cycle it? So 2 ten week blasts of 200mg a week and the other 3 ten weeks at 100mg a week for example. That's still 7grams in a year.

Slow and steady gains at 140/week or focused mass gain during 20 of those weeks at 200/week and then try to hold on to the gains when at 100/week.

This all assumes the 140/week puts you in the top 1/4 of range, and 100/week still kept you at levels that you were happy with.

I'm curious what others think on this.

 

[tbonexl]

When u blast, you should keep most of your gains if diet and training are in check. I would say blast&cruise is the preferred way to get gains.

 

[halfwit]

I think you leave your prescribed dose alone. TRT is not for getting "swole", it's for restoring hormone balance. If you have a set dose, that's what your body needs.

If you want to discuss AAS cycling this is the wrong forum for such. I'll be more than happy to discuss AAS in the AAS forum, not the TRT forum.

 

[tbonexl]

^^^^^didn't catch that one^^^^^

 

[Billegitimate]

Halfwit: Thanks! If a mod can move the thread, great, if not I'll start a new one over in the AAS forum.

Regardless, it really is a hypothetical discussion for me. Though the case as stated doesn't apply to me I am just very curious what the experts think.

 

[Megatron28]

Moved.

Now I can chime in with while I understand this is a theoretical question, I think reality makes it a false construct. Testosterone is extremely cheap and readily available. One can just blast and cruise at will essentially.

 

[halfwit]

Halfwit: Thanks! If a mod can move the thread, great, if not I'll start a new one over in the AAS forum.

Regardless, it really is a hypothetical discussion for me. Though the case as stated doesn't apply to me I am just very curious what the experts think.

Thanks Mega!

Okay, so here's the deal. Your body requires a certain amount of calories, water, protein, sleep, relaxation, and hormones to not only build muscle - but to also maintain it. So let's say you cut your dose down to stockpile your test for a nice blast. Sure, makes sense to me, you get pharma grade test, get yoked by it, and no one's the wiser.

Except what I listed at the top. I don't know how muscular you are, but let's imagine cutting your dose in half does for you what it would do for me. That would put me around 400ng/dL, which was still in zombie status, and any mass I was carrying beyond that testosterone value would start to atrophy.

I know, it sounds crazy that the body is that smart, but I have seen this personally as I easily lost 6" from my legs when I went hypogonadal. I still have yet to gain all that back, but I guess I should be happy as I can still (sort of) fit in dress slacks only 4" bigger to accommodate my legs haha.

This is why many of the bigger folks in bb/pl cruise year-round with several blasts. That is what I do, and definitely recommend you do. Find a good source and supplement your TRT, don't try to stretch it out like that, you'll only frustrate yourself.

 

[Billegitimate]

Thanks Mega!

Halfwit: I know the guys on here who say the info is "for a friend" are a dime a dozen, but while this is curiosity and not "for a friend" it really is just curiosity. I have all I need for TRT and can blast when I choose.

The same question I suppose goes for blasting/cruising. Set aside for now that running supraphysiological levels for long term drives HCT up as well as a host of other issues and just compare approaches for muscle mass.

Take the total amount of T you might inject in a year while blasting/cruising. Divide that evenly over the year and make it your new "cruise" dose. Which approach would you think would lead to greater overall muscle mass assuming training, diet, sleep are the same?

(Yeah, I enjoy the hypotheticals and understand it's a contrived scenario for a thought experiment.)

But I will answer it myself: I think if nothing else the blast/cruise approach is superior for the simple reason that all of life is cyclical. Mentally it's nice to know this "blast" is a defined window in which to crush yourself in the gym knowing you'll recover, and to devote the energy to making everything on point in a way that would wear one out if done indefinitely.

 

[Megatron28]

You can't really be blasting all year long. While you don't have to worry about damage to your HPTA since you are already on TRT, being at supraphysiological levels still stresses your body. You can't do that indefinitely.

 

[halfwit]

Honestly, I think that a steady approach is more conducive to growth, but we do have to take other factors into consideration like connective tissues and liver/kidney health. From a hypothetical standpoint, I can see the reasoning, but I do feel that there would be a point of diminishing returns down the road.

This is why I prefer to jump up in doses for 16-24 weeks, tossing in other goodies, then coming back down to my TRT dose. I don't like to admit it, but those of us on TRT do have a little more freedom in how long we blast for as HPTA recovery is no longer a concern for us.

Just to do the math for arguments sake: I'm on 250mg/wk for TRT. This puts me around 1000ng/dL. If I add that up, I receive 12g per year to play with. Assuming a mild cycle of 500mg/wk, and an average cycle of 12 weeks, that leaves me with 6g to last me the remaining 8 months, or 150mg/wk to cruise on. That would put me around 600ng/dL of total testosterone - which is still in that zombie-zone for me. I'm probably an exception to the rules in this case as I tend to require 750ng/dL to feel great. Just doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[bigben66]

I agree, steady would be better for muscle growth...

Working on the 'Weider Progressive Overload theory' - you can make small gains in either reps or resistance gradually over a period of time if your health is good and you are 'stable state' - which a steady dose of TRT would ensure.

However if your body was in a constant 'blast and cruise' imbalance - how could you possibly entertain progressive overload - when one month your T levels are supraphysiological and then the next month you are 'below par'

Much harder to gauge progress, and making you more injury prone for sure!

 

[Roush]

Instead of just cruising on a low dose of test then blasting like 10 weeks at 600 mg a few times a year.. Why not consider blasts using multiple compounds, compounds that may work synergistically together, over an extended cycle all laid out based on specific goals.

For example- you wanna bulk up and make some gains and then lean out later for definition (this is all diet dependent of course)-- so you blast something like this.
- test 500+ mg a week
- dbol kick start
- npp for 5 weeks
- deca weeks 1-14
- masteron weeks 8-20
- proviron weeks 1-20

Then when your finished, you've bulked up and then leaned out at the end of the cycle,, now you go back to your cruise dose of test at a level that is right for you and will maintain your gains

Note: this is all dependent on your experience with diff compounds though

 

[Mprtz]

I think there's another factor here. While periodized training regimens and bulk/cutting cycles may have their place in achieving an unsustainable peak (for competition, etc.), we tend to judge ourselves by where we are relative to the highest level we have reached.

If the goal is to be happy about the way you look and perform, then it is far better to shoot for a look and performance you can maintain year around. That's my opinion anyway.

 

[bigben66]

Just to do the math for arguments sake:

Not like you to throw some maths and equations into a post Halfwit!!

 

[halfwit]

Not like you to throw some maths and equations into a post Halfwit!!

Hahaha, I did behave this time.

 

[TWOLIP]

stick to prescribed dose and blast once or twice a year.. you can find examples of blasting and cruising all over the site... but playing around with 60mg isnt going to make a difference.