First cycle - anavar

[yuppyguitar]

50mg/day - 8 weeks . 28 yrs old, 175lbs, 15% bf, 13 yrs lifting natural

Day 3 - nothing terribly interesting to report. I actually feel slightly weaker than normal, and get calf pumps just from standing or walking. Jogging more than 10 minutes is painful. Did full squats and DL today and my flexed thighs feel like rocks.

Recently finished a cyclic keto diet for 2.5 months @ 2000 cals / day, dropped 20 or so lbs, mostly fat, and lost about 15lbs on my bench. Now I'm doing around 3300 cals / day with 300 grams protein. Quite strange going from shitting twice a week to twice a day. The salads definitely help. Despite the huge change in cals my bodyweight is not going up as fast as I would expect, which is good because I was worried I might be putting on some fat.

I felt quite strange mentally this morning. I think I may have overloaded on supps or perhaps some mild food poisoning (30mg anavar, 2 caps silymarin, 1 animal pak, 2 caps joint formula, 1 freeze-dried acidophilus cap, 6 egg whites, 80g oatmeal). I'm going to swap a multivitamin for the animal pak and see what happens. I was getting the sweats and feeling close to vomiting and had what I would describe as a mental haze or fog. Looking forward to week 3.

 

[zedhed]

Hey yupp gr8 start up there.
Would you please also post up your workout?
Looking forward to your next post up bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Ah it was you. I ended up going with the madcow intermediate routine you recommended. So far I'm kind of shocked how quick the workouts are, usually 45 minutes and I'm done. Here's the table, slightly legible. My bench is obviously the weakest, so I'm hoping this cycle will get me repping 2 plates.


Week
Day Exercise Reps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 11 12
Monday Squat 5 135 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 180
5 170 170 180 180 190 190 195 200 205 210 215 220
5 205 205 215 220 225 230 235 240 250 250 260 265
5 235 240 250 255 265 265 275 280 290 295 300 310
5 270 275 285 290 300 305 315 320 330 335 345 355

Bench 5 95 100 100 105 105 110 110 115 115 120 125 125
5 120 120 125 130 130 135 140 140 145 145 155 155
5 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185 190
5 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 195 200 205 215 220
5 190 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 245 250

Row 5 95 95 100 100 105 105 110 110 115 115 120 125
5 115 120 120 125 130 130 135 140 140 145 145 155
5 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185
5 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 195 200 205 215
5 185 190 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 245

Wednesday Squat 5 135 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 180
5 170 170 180 180 190 190 195 200 205 210 215 220
5 205 205 215 220 225 230 235 240 250 250 260 265
5 205 205 215 220 225 230 235 240 250 250 260 265

Press 5 80 80 80 85 90 90 90 95 95 95 100 105
5 95 100 100 100 105 105 110 115 115 115 120 125
5 110 115 115 120 125 125 125 130 130 135 140 145
5 125 130 130 135 140 140 145 150 150 155 160 165

Deadlift 5 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 240 245 255 260 265
5 245 250 255 265 270 280 280 290 295 305 310 320
5 285 295 300 305 315 325 330 335 345 355 365 370
5 325 335 340 350 360 370 375 385 395 405 415 425

Friday Squat 5 135 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 180
5 170 170 180 180 190 190 195 200 205 210 215 220
5 205 205 215 220 225 230 235 240 250 250 260 265
5 235 240 250 255 265 265 275 280 290 295 300 310
3 275 285 290 300 305 315 320 330 335 345 355 365
8 205 205 215 220 225 230 235 240 250 250 260 265

Bench 5 95 100 100 105 105 110 110 115 115 120 125 125
5 120 120 125 130 130 135 140 140 145 145 155 155
5 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185 190
5 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 195 200 205 215 220
3 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 245 250 255
8 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185 190

Row 5 95 95 100 100 105 105 110 110 115 115 120 125
5 115 120 120 125 130 130 135 140 140 145 145 155
5 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185
5 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 195 200 205 215
3 190 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 245 250
8 140 145 145 150 155 160 160 165 170 175 175 185

 

[johnnyrockit8665]

Damn I got dizzy as shit trying to read that lol just playin looks good. good luck with your cycle

 

[zedhed]

Bro good for posting your workout but dam dude...can ya make it a little bit better for us plz?

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 9 - evening

Strength is increasing steadily, but nothing amazing to report yet. I wouldn't be posting this if it were not for what I am about to report.

Today is day 9. Since day 6, I've noticed puffy nipples. Each day it has gotten progressively more noticeable. This evening they have started to feel more sensitive, similar feeling to a jersey chaffing on nipples after a long run, but more subtle. Nothing hard, more soft like fat or water retention.

I've been on hcgenerate since day 1. I increased the dose from 3 to 5 caps from day 7. I'm guessing my symptom is either the increased free test from hcgen, or the one of the non-T hormones that anavar indirectly affects, since anavar cannot aromatize directly. Which is the more likely culprit? I'm going to drop the hcgen for a few days and see what happens. I have some nolva on hand, but if the symptom is due to one of the non-T hormones (IGF, prog, prolactin, etc), I've read nolva can exacerbate it, so I want to hold off on that for now.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 10 - evening

I dropped the hcgen this morning. Was feeling nervous all day and nipples still sensitive. When I got home after working out the puffiness seems to have gone down and they aren't sensitive, but it may be too soon to blame it on the hcgen, and I'm staying cautious. What a scare. Any hcgen experts out there? My understanding is fadogia agrestis works by reducing your SHBG, thus increasing free test. So is it then possible for increased free test to aromatise and cause gyno? Given I'm on anavar, I haven't been taking any AI.

On a brighter note, did some DL's today, heaviest set was very easy. Its hard to judge if it was completely due to strength, since I'm accustomed to sets of 8 reps, and switched to doing sets of 5 reps for the cycle. I've also changed my form. Previously I'd touch and go between reps, or almost touch before starting the next rep. Now between reps I let the weight come to complete rest on the floor before starting the next rep. The accompanying writeup for the madcow routine I'm using recommends this style for a complete range of motion, which makes sense, however, it does allow one to rest and get a bit more energy before starting the next rep, so its harder for me to judge my strength now against how I previously felt while doing dead lifts.

I also feel like I'm putting on weight too fast. Almost 8 lbs so far and I'm only halfway into week 2. I only have top 2 abs now, which kinda sucks after 2.5 months of strict dieting. At the same time, I'm only taking in around 3000-3300 calories / day and 30 minutes of cardio twice a week. Guess I could dial it down another 300 calories and increase the cardio and see what happens. I really loved the veiny striated look I had 2 weeks ago and I've heard anavar makes the pumps even more pronounced. My cycle goal is to increase lean mass and strength while keeping fat gain minimal.

 

[zedhed]

Hey bro,
You really should have an AI on hand. All of these compounds affect everybody differently.
I would not decrease your cal intake. It sounds like you are doing very well right now. You need fuel to build muscle on.
Would like to see your workout bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

As for my workout, its in my 2nd post.

I do have some nolva on hand, but if the gyno is caused by prolactin, progesterone, etc, it can make it worse, so I wanted to wait to find out which substance was causing it. Almost no sensitivity now without hcgen but the puffiness hasn't gone down to where it was before I started. Maybe I'll take 10mg for a week or two and see if that helps.

Why would you advise against decreasing cals? I agree an overabundance is better than under, but surely there's an ideal intake that puts on the muscle but minimizes fat increase. At my current rate it feels like I'm adding 80% fat/ 20% muscle, which isn't ideal.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Btw here's my diet:

Carb Protein Fat
Meal 1
6 egg whites 1.2 21.6 0.6
80 g oatmeal (half cup) 53.3 11.6 5.8
Meal 2
150g top round 0 52.65 12.9
8 oz sweet potato 47.2 4.6 0.4
1 tbsp fish oil 0 0 13.6
Meal 3
200g chicken 0 41 1.8
65g rice 50.18 5.135 1.885
1 tbsp fish oil 0 0 13.6
1/2 cup broccoli
Meal 4
150g top round 0 52.65 12.9
65g rice 50.18 5.135 1.885
Meal 5
80g oatmeal 53.3 11.6 5.8
200g chicken 0 41 1.8
1 tbsp fish oil 0 0 13.6
Meal 6
1 tbsp fish oil 0 0 13.6
4 oz sweet potato 23.6 2.3 0.2
200g chicken 0 41 1.8
lettuce&balsamic salad 0 0 0


Again sorry about the formatting, this is copied straight from excel. Zed you're a mod right? Maybe you can get one of the tech guys to enable tables in posts? That would be sweet.

I agree that its lacking in variety, but I think the important stuff is all there. I am on a multi for whats its worth.

 

[zedhed]

Will def see what I can do bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Today I shedded hair like crazy, at least 100 hairs I'd guess over the course of the day. I started to notice this yesterday. I don't know if this is the anavar or more likely, a delayed affect from the hcgen which I've dropped to 1 cap/day. This despite already being on 1mg of finasteride / day.

So far this has been full of more surprises and side effects than I was expecting based on other journals and articles I had reviewed on anavar. And in order to combat those side effects, more substances. Despite that, I'm trying my best to react quickly and continue the cycle to completion. If results so far are anything to judge by, I'd say it wasn't worth the cost and side effects, but its still too soon to say, roughly 6 more weeks to go, which really sucks because all I've read is how weak and mild anavar is in terms of sides. Since discontinuing hcgen, my balls have shrunk significantly. I'm not even into week 3 yet, is that normal?

In addition to the normal supplements to anavar:
silymarin
fish oil
novla
joint support
hcgen (was going to be pct, but decided to use it for on cycle support, until discontinuing due to hairloss and gyno)

I've added:
forma-stanzol (to combat gyno and plan to add back hcgen to get the balls to come back)
post cycle
topical spironolactone
nizoral 2% shampoo
minoxidil 5% foam

I'm fairly disappointed so far. In less than two weeks of anavar and hcgen I've managed to accelerate hair loss, get some gyno, empty my wallet, and have only 8 lbs of mostly fat to show for it. I guess I've spent $1000 or so on the whole thing. I'm feeling pretty negative about the whole experience, but at the same time I should be able to control things if there are no more surprises, so I want to ride it out to week 8 and see if I can salvage this one. Anyways, week 3 is when it strength should really hit if other journals are anything to go by.

 

[zedhed]

Hey bro,
I talked to the tecks about your question. They said that there is not anything that they can do right now. It is such a big project and so complicated that they just are not up to it at this time

 

[zedhed]

Today I shedded hair like crazy, at least 100 hairs I'd guess over the course of the day. I started to notice this yesterday. I don't know if this is the anavar or more likely, a delayed affect from the hcgen which I've dropped to 1 cap/day. This despite already being on 1mg of finasteride / day.

So far this has been full of more surprises and side effects than I was expecting based on other journals and articles I had reviewed on anavar. And in order to combat those side effects, more substances. Despite that, I'm trying my best to react quickly and continue the cycle to completion. If results so far are anything to judge by, I'd say it wasn't worth the cost and side effects, but its still too soon to say, roughly 6 more weeks to go, which really sucks because all I've read is how weak and mild anavar is in terms of sides. Since discontinuing hcgen, my balls have shrunk significantly. I'm not even into week 3 yet, is that normal?

In addition to the normal supplements to anavar:
silymarin
fish oil
novla
joint support
hcgen (was going to be pct, but decided to use it for on cycle support, until discontinuing due to hairloss and gyno)

I've added:
forma-stanzol (to combat gyno and plan to add back hcgen to get the balls to come back)
post cycle
topical spironolactone
nizoral 2% shampoo
minoxidil 5% foam

I'm fairly disappointed so far. In less than two weeks of anavar and hcgen I've managed to accelerate hair loss, get some gyno, empty my wallet, and have only 8 lbs of mostly fat to show for it. I guess I've spent $1000 or so on the whole thing. I'm feeling pretty negative about the whole experience, but at the same time I should be able to control things if there are no more surprises, so I want to ride it out to week 8 and see if I can salvage this one. Anyways, week 3 is when it strength should really hit if other journals are anything to go by.

Dang bro sure am really sorry to hear this. I hate it when anybody has a bad cycle.
I sincerly hope that things get seriously better for you and fast!
I cant really tell you anything about var as I dont use it. My only thought is maybe get some test and get running that with it ASAP.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 1 of week 3.
This cycle has been a rollercoaster ride. Over the weekend I felt some soreness in my lower right back. First I thought it was my liver. I researched symptoms: pale stool, diarrhea, clear urine. I had these. I realized I was jumping the gun a bit and being paranoid.

Clear urine - I drink a lot of water. Diarrhea, anavar can cause GI discomfort, although this was the first time since starting the cycle and I had just eaten a huge plate of rich jambalaya the night before. Pale stool - kind of subjective. The pain persisted for about 1 more day and then started to go away. I take the anavar with 15g of creatine. I realized I hadn't been drinking enough water over the weekend. I'm up to about 1.5 gallons now and feel fine.

Just as many others have described, week 3 for me has been when the strength finally kicked in. I wouldn't call it dramatic or anything, but I managed to add 5 lbs on the previous week's bench, 10lbs on squat, using the madcow protocol. Assuming similar increases over the remaining weeks in the cycle, that comes to a minimum of 30lbs on each lift. I imagine I'll go higher on squats, DL. My cycle goal was to add at least 40 lbs on each of the big 3.

Zed, I know you're not supposed to modify madcow, but as far as I know it works under the assumption you're natural. I'm sure I can blow away my previous DL record by more than the prescribed 5 lbs. So I'm tempted to add 10lbs each week instead of 5. That would get me +70lbs.

I feel a bit more aggressive and smaller things seem to get my adrenaline going. I'm not a violent person or anything, but I do tend to get ticked off easily. I imagine something like halo would be trouble for me. I also downed 2 cans of coffee at work today because I had trouble sleeping the night before. Sweated like crazy and felt like tearing shit up (metaphorically - in the gym). I also feel like my concentration is a bit better. Making lots of progress at work.

 

[zedhed]

Day 1 of week 3.
This cycle has been a rollercoaster ride. Over the weekend I felt some soreness in my lower right back. First I thought it was my liver. I researched symptoms: pale stool, diarrhea, clear urine. I had these. I realized I was jumping the gun a bit and being paranoid.
Maybe paranoid and maybe not. The bottom line is this. Better safe then sorry so IMO is a good thing to aware of your bod and changes.

Clear urine - I drink a lot of water. Diarrhea, anavar can cause GI discomfort, although this was the first time since starting the cycle and I had just eaten a huge plate of rich jambalaya the night before. Pale stool - kind of subjective. The pain persisted for about 1 more day and then started to go away. I take the anavar with 15g of creatine. I realized I hadn't been drinking enough water over the weekend. I'm up to about 1.5 gallons now and feel fine.
Good news then. Even on orals the amount of water we drink will make your urine mostly clear. Right now mine is clear also but foamy.

Just as many others have described, week 3 for me has been when the strength finally kicked in. I wouldn't call it dramatic or anything, but I managed to add 5 lbs on the previous week's bench, 10lbs on squat, using the madcow protocol. Assuming similar increases over the remaining weeks in the cycle, that comes to a minimum of 30lbs on each lift. I imagine I'll go higher on squats, DL. My cycle goal was to add at least 40 lbs on each of the big 3.


Zed, I know you're not supposed to modify madcow, but as far as I know it works under the assumption you're natural. I'm sure I can blow away my previous DL record by more than the prescribed 5 lbs. So I'm tempted to add 10lbs each week instead of 5. That would get me +70lbs.
If you feel that you can do it and still recover then keep on bro! Those guidelines on increases are more or less general. What you dont wanna do is change the excersize selection or the order that they are in. But I think prollo ok to add a little bit more intensity if you recover ok from it.

I feel a bit more aggressive and smaller things seem to get my adrenaline going. I'm not a violent person or anything, but I do tend to get ticked off easily. I imagine something like halo would be trouble for me. I also downed 2 cans of coffee at work today because I had trouble sleeping the night before. Sweated like crazy and felt like tearing shit up (metaphorically - in the gym). I also feel like my concentration is a bit better. Making lots of progress at work.

Yep stimulants do it to it bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 3 of Week 3

Today was light day + DL. I Added 15lbs to the madcow protocol, which put my last set today at 355x5 instead of the prescribed 340x5, and it was easy. If I really tried, I could have got 7 or 8. To be fair, the protocol was calculated from a max which I achieved during a keto diet. Extended out to the end of the cycle, I should be on target to rep 405x5 on the last week. The carbs now make a huge difference.

Squat increases so far haven't been easy, but I'm doing full squats now instead of half. I can definitely tell my hams and ass growing more. I can feel I have some weakness there from doing half squats for so long. Was hoping to get to at least 365x5 on this cycle but its looking more and more difficult.

Chest, well, I've always been weak on chest. Even on cycle I can see it is no different. Still struggling to get a 5lb increase each week. All I can do is give it my all, keep eating, sleep well, and hope for the best.

Finally, I'm adding forma-stanzol as soon as it arrives, at which point I will also add back the hcgenerate since I should be safe from gyno. That should hopefully provide some more strength boosts and even more aggression for the remaining 4 weeks. I'll then drop the anavar and continue 2-3 weeks with hcgen, forma, post cycle, and some nolva on hand just in case.

Any ideas on when the forma-stanzol will kick in full effect? I don't want to risk adding in the hcgen too quickly.

 

[zedhed]

Hey bro, to get that bench up you might try increasing your cals on bench day and have some carbs an hour or two before your workout. As for the Forma IDK how long the kick in time is on that bro. Maybe someone else will post up and let us both know.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Good call. I'll throw in some dextrose, jack3d, and some xtend (bcaa and other aminos) 45 minutes before for good measure and see how that fares. Bench, row, and squat are all on the same days (M,W,F), so if it helps, everything will increase. Only DL's have been shockingly strong so far.

 

[zedhed]

Bro you gotta remember thats a hell of a lot of load in one workout. Small increases long term is what you wanna see. Then compare where you started to where you ended. You will be happily shocked I am thinking.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 5 of Week 3

This was a preload workout, preparing me for the heavier weight I will experience on Monday. Hit most of my numbers easily. Squats were especially easy this time. Bench was still difficult, but I'm confident I can get the weight 5 times on Monday. Hard to say if the jack3d and carbs helped, definitely didn't hurt. And it also gave me a huge bicep pump when I did BB curls. Its the first time I could feel my pulse in my upper inner bicep after a set. Crazy veins too, despite being closer to 20% bf than 10%. I made it a point to do them slowly, using the same weight I normally do. Saw a youtube video recently of a pro bb'er describing his curl technique, and his description was excellent. Imagine your hand and forearm as a scoop, and your bicep propelling the scoop up. Which has the effect that instead of relying on your forearms to do some of the work, your bicep has to do everything. This helped a lot too, but I was surprised to get 125x8 so easily using almost zero momentum. Maybe will try for 135 next time. Good workout. The change in my body so far is subtle, but I can definitely tell I'm getting thicker and having more a more dramatic shape.

This being the end of week 3 and forma + full hcgen dose on the way I'm hoping the best of the gains are to come, but even without any uptick in strength growth, I'm quite happy adding 5lbs to my bench every week. Forma by the way takes 1 week to reach peak levels. I will run the forma and hcgen through the cycle and drop only the forma before starting PCT.

 

[zedhed]

Doing gr8 bro.
Yep thats exactly where Im at. 5 Lbs to my bench every workout and very happy with it.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 1 of Week 4

Today was awesome. I decided to increase by 10lbs instead of the prescribed 5lbs to my squat and row. Got all my reps without sacrificing form. I left my bench alone and followed the schedule by adding 5lbs since it is weak. Last week I got the 5 reps with a little strength to spare. Instead of going all out and doing 6 instead of 5 reps, I left some in the tank for this week. I was worried I might not get the 5 reps today. I was in for a surprise, because I easily got the 5 reps, and with a spotter I'd guess I could get 7 or 8 reps. So today I left A LOT in the tank. My schedule suggests I add another 5lbs to my bench next week, so I'm going to add 10lbs instead.

As of this writing, I've been on anavar a full 3 weeks, forma-stanzol 2.5 days @ 10 pumps/day. Going to increase the forma to 7 pumps tomorrow, then 10 pumps from Wednesday through beginning of PCT, then I taper it off to 0 by end of PCT. Finally I will taper the hcgen up to 5 caps / day after I've been on the forma for a full week.

Increases so far:
Squat: +20lbs
DL: +30lbs
Bench: +25lbs

This coming off a keto diet, so I was already pretty weak compared to my normal strength, still though, my bench is back to full strength, DL and squat are all time high.

Eating Sunday was crap. I had 1 small meal in the AM to afternoon, then 3 meals from 5pm thru midnight, instead of the normal 6 meals spread out. Obviously I'm getting awesome gains, but if I get my diet perfect I could probably do even better, so I will try to stay more focused. In fact after today's results I'm even more motivated to keep my diet strict.

Added topical spiro, and foam rogaine and the hairloss has stopped immediately. Pain in the ass but worth it.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 3 of Week 4

Nips puffiness seems to have gone down after adding 10 pumps / day of forma-stanzol, although I'll reserve ultimate judgement until after PCT. Today added 5lbs to my incline bench, 10lbs to my DL from last week. Then after I finished my last DL set, started to feel some tenderness in my lower right back, to the point that walking heavy or jogging caused me to feel some pressure in that area. Hope this goes away by next week, otherwise I may have to cut back on my DL and even squat weight, which would really suck considering the momentum I seem to have now. If I continue to grow at this rate, I'll achieve my goal of 405x5 DL by the end of cycle, and it would be a shame to miss that. Someone in the gym commented on how heavy my DL's were. Keep in mind however, that this is a mostly cosmetic gym, where rich yuppies go to tone their muscles and the most you'll see in a rare while is a 225lb DL, but unfortunately its also the most convenient one for me by location.

On DL, I don't have much experience with dramatic strength increase, but I know from research that it can lead to injury due to slower strength increases in tendons, ligaments, and stabilizing muscles. Would it help to add a belt? I don't normally use one for sets < 90% 1RM because I see it as a crutch that ultimately leads to greater injury because the stabilizing muscles never develop, but in this instance would it help? If yes, then the next question would be, when is it safe to remove the belt again? I guess I've sort of answered my question already (don't use the belt).

 

[zedhed]

Hey bro, looking real good on here. Your increases are excellent. Yeah man I know exactly what you are saying about diet, that takes so much dicipline...
I would nix the belt. You could consider dropping weight and adding reps for a couple rounds. Get that lower back and all of your connective tissues a bit more used to the load and then increase weight again.
Keep up the gr8 work and the gr8 log bro!

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 1 of Week 5

Today was good AND bad. First the bad: my lower right back was sore from DL's the week before. Today I did full squats. The first 4 sets were easy, after the first rep on my last set however, the back soreness came back, so I called it quits on that set. I wouldn't call it pain, but its definitely sore, and heavy weight exacerbates it. To be safe I'm going to take the week off everything except bench, which really sucks, because I won't be able to hit 405x5 on DL's by end of the cycle. I can't even do cardio because the bouncing motion causes the soreness in my back.

The good: bench today was awesome. I've added 10lbs since last week, and IT WAS EASY. I could've gotten 1 or 2 more reps. Also, my shoulder wasn't sore, which I expected because it normally is after heavy sets, today being the heaviest set I've attempt at 5 reps. Perhaps the increased recovery from anavar is making it happen? I'm really shocked. I'm going to go for another 10lbs next week, which would put me at my cycle end goal of 225x5 2 weeks ahead of schedule. If I can keep this rate, I'll be benching 245x5 by end of cycle.

Diet was on par last week, with the exception of Saturday. 6/7 days not bad. Weight increases have stopped, and the forma-stanzol has definitely had a thinning effect. No complaints here, but I'm thinking of upping the calories slightly, maybe 300-500 per day.

 

[zedhed]

Hey bro is your back tightness or sorness? Anyway good call on stopping when you did. There is plenty of time to get to where you wanna be bro. Nice on the bench too, congrats on the new PR!

 

[yuppyguitar]

Definitely soreness. I've tried a few yoga poses and exercises from youtube and they seem to be helping and my gf helped with a deep tissue massage to which I'm adding a hot bath. The real answer will be tomorrow morning when I get out of bed. That's when I'll know if I really fucked something up or if my back is just telling me to take it easy for a few days.

I read that a sciatic nerve pinch from a herniated disc can cause pain in the buttocks and hamstring. I felt that for a bit but it subsided after some lower back exercises. The soreness from DL last week went away and turned into stiffness. Today's squats took the stiffness back to a higher level of soreness.

 

[zedhed]

Epsom Salts in that hot bath bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 5 of Week 5. Still too sore to do anything but bench. I really hope I'm 100% by Monday but realistically this is probably going to take 1 or 2 more weeks if I'm lucky.

Today I added another 10lbs from Day 1 and did 3 reps instead of 5. Will attempt it for 5 reps on Monday. I expect this to be more difficult than my previous record attempts. If I get this, it will break my previous PR from about 7 years ago, which at the time I was a college student sleeping 9 hours a day with zero stress and endless amounts of food and spotters available. Also curled 135x8 slowly like it was nothing. Powered through sets of 20 bodyweight dips like nothing, and lat pulled the whole stack on the machine plus all of the extra stackable rubber weights, around 220lbs. Normally I'd do rows but saving my lower back from stress.

I must be really sensitive to test, because even with 10pumps forma-stan twice a day, adding 3-4 hcgen caps / day caused some gyno to come back slightly. So just as my balls were growing full size, I've dropped the hcgen completely.

 

[zedhed]

Bro you be a dam beast man. Your numbers are outstanding!

 

[yuppyguitar]

Day 1 Week 7

Super strong. 2 more weeks left and I'm done popping pills. That'll be a relief. Actually thats not true, I'll be popping PCT pills for another 3-4 weeks after that. Ughhh.

I'll be bumping up my chicken/beef servings 50grams for the next 2 weeks and adding more days of cardio. Haven't had a spotter around for bench these last two weeks, which kinda sucks, but got 225x5 today which was a first for me.

Since my lower back has been out I've been doing leg extensions as a squat substitute. Haven't added much strength because of that unfortunately, but the definition is definitely coming through. Today I went back to squats after 2 weeks rest, but skipped the last (heaviest set). Still not 100% but I only felt mild soreness today after doing 275x5. I skipped the bent over rows also and did laying T-bar rows instead. Also did some pullups for fun, got 15 easy, probably could have struggled and got 25 but I wanted to save some juice for the T-bar rows. On Wednesday I will try DL, but will probably have to skip the heaviest set.

I've put on almost 18lbs since starting, a good deal of it water I'm sure, since I went from a keto diet straight into this cycle with a clean bulk diet. Still vascular though.

 

[zedhed]

Coming back nicely bro. Take your time on that back, do it slowly and be good to yourself bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Now that I'm near the end of my cycle, I don't want the gains to stop. Since I've never done madcow before, it feels like a magic workout routine given that I did it for the first time on anavar and I've experienced huge gains like never before, which is deceiving since I've never completed it naturally for comparison. After I finish the cycle, I'm considering a 4 week maintenance period of something more conventional like 4 sets of 8 reps of 2 exercises per muscle group once a week, followed by a natural madcow cycle just to see what the gains are like. I'll use a similar diet. Will be interesting to compare. I definitely feel I can make some more natural gains on squats and DL with this program, especially if I add things like creatine and adaptogens, but its hard for me to imagine making any progress on my bench.

I also don't foresee any steroid cycles in my near future. Way too many sides for me on such a mild drug (hairloss, gyno, sore joints, and I've yet to do the post cycle blood test, so we'll see how the liver and lipids turn out). The monetary cost was also high though I don't mind that as much. If I did another cycle it would have to be anavar only again as I'm way too susceptible to sides, so something stronger is out of the question.

 

[zedhed]

Yeah bro I know exactly what you mean about your gains on the 5x5. Its crazy when your on to do that program. Just like the strength well never goes dry.
You know bro you really should consider a test only cycle. Actually IMO you would have fewer sides to deal with then you on the var cycle. Also less$$ I think.
Right now you should get yourself N2 Bridge, Phytosarms 360 and N2Guard. That way you gonna help yourself to keep some of those gains. Thats the prob with just doing an oral cycle. The gains dissapear so easily unless you really fight to keep them and give your bod all the help you possibly can.
So study up and consider a cycle of test at 500-500 mg/week. You would also need an AI such as Aromasin. Then for PCT you would need Unleashed, Bridge and Guard and maybe Phytosamrs 360. That would pretty much cover it. (so you can expense it) That would be a good solid cycle for you bro and largly keepalbe gains.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Came off the var on Sunday. I'll be running Post cycle, Unleashed, small amount of HCGen, and forma-stanzol over the next 4 weeks, then a bottle of bridge after that. I looked at phytoserms a bit, looks like it does the same as Unleashed and HGGen, in that it tries to increase free test by binding to SHBG, aside from that I'm not sure what the major differences are. Some people seem to like post-cycle/unleashed combo, some seem to like hcgen, some seem to like phytoserms.

Unfortunately the latter-half of Sunday I came down with flu-like symptoms. Slight elevated temperature, chills, sore/weak feeling all over my body. I rarely if ever get sick, so I was starting to think it was my body's reaction to changing hormone levels. In the late evening I was almost feeling so bad I had to concentrate to keep my food down and mind off the nausea. Also had diarrhea all day. Horrible timing to get sick on my first day of PCT. Wonder if my immune system is weak due to lowered test. Anyway, today is Monday and I feel better, took the day off of the gym to recover a bit more. I feel fine except for a slight discomfort in my stomach and more diarrhea.

I'm a bit curious how my strength will be tomorrow. We shall see.

On a test only cycle, I'm leaning towards not doing it for two reasons. 1) Pins are illegal where I live. 2) Test converts to DHT which causes baldness, and while I'd like to be larger, look better, I'm not interested in permanently trading my hair for a temporary increase in body mass. One of the big reasons I chose var.

 

[yuppyguitar]

PCT Week 1 - Day 3

Took Monday off, what would normally be first workout day of the week. Today is Tuesday. I decided to workout Tues / Thurs this week instead of the typical Mon, Wed, Fri, since I missed skipped Mon due to sickness. Went in the gym not knowing what to expect, but knowing that many people typically are weaker during PCT, and almost coming off a pretty intense sickness 2 days ago.

Well, I definitely did not gain any strength, and I didn't feel like superman as I did the previous week while "on", and I didn't have the huge super pump as before, and I was coming off flu-like symptoms, BUT, I got all my reps and maintained the strength I had in the previous week. I was quite happy with that. I even added 10 lbs to my DL from the previous week, which is down a bit due to a slight lower back injury.

Quite happy so far. I added 2 pills of HCGen to help with the PCT and started feeling the achy, puffy nipples again. Will post before/after pics and before/after blood test results when PCT is complete.

 

[zedhed]

Looking forward to the bloods and pics bro.

 

[yuppyguitar]

PCT Week 1 - Day 5

Decided to switch things up slightly today. I'm struggling to get all squat reps I did at end of cycle. Instead of 5 reps I only got 4, but still happy, thought I would lose more strength. Bench today really surprised me. Did 5 reps today at the same weight I did for 3 reps at end of cycle. Instead of bent rows I went to weighted pullups to ease my back a bit. I was already quite sore from the full squats.

Been a long time since I did weighted pullups, but I was doing sets of 15 bodyweight pullups no prob during cycle. Put the chain belt on and loaded it up with 55 lbs and got 7 reps. Was fairly happy with that. I'd like to get it up to 75 or 80lbs eventually. I also do pulldowns on the machine but I can do the whole stack plus all the rubber weights with more than 10 reps, so kind of hard to add any strength with that exercise. The weighted pullups are quite fun, I think I have a new favorite exercise.

Well, my cycle goals were to gain some lean mass, strength, and minimize fat gain. Looks like I succeeded moderately on gaining lean mass, surpassed my goals on strength, and failed moderately at minimizing fat loss. More concretely, I wanted to be able to rep 225 on bench, 315 on full squat, which I can do easily now. I'm quite happy with that. My new goals will be to rep 275 on bench, 365 on squats, 405 on DL. I currently weigh a slightly pudgy 184lbs, tiny love handles and all. I'd like to get to 7 or 8% bf and keep the strength. Right now I'd guess I'm about 16%.

One interesting thing I noticed, now that I'm off I do feel less aggressive, but I also feel like a load has been taken off my back. Perhaps the reduction in blood pressure? I just feel lighter, more natural, and easy going. I'm actually happy to be off. I was getting sick of popping tons of pills all the time, drinking huge amounts of water and creatine twice a day, reaching down to feel tiny nuts, finding tons of hair on your hands after shampooing. Also somehow I feel like the cycle has improved my cardio, even though I did minimal cardio during the cycle. After each workout now, I'm jogging for about 10 minutes, then running for 5 minutes. Even though I feel a bit winded after the run, I know before the cycle I'd only last 2 minutes running and feel like crap afterwards, maybe part of that also has to do with the keto diet I was using at the time.

I'm just sort of blabbering now. Time to end it.

 

[zedhed]

So overall a successful cycle for you bro. Good for you!
Thanks for logging your expereinces and thanks for the detail that you put in.
Keep in touch bro and take care.
Best regards
Zed

 

[yuppyguitar]

PCT Week 4 - Day 1
Still making gains on 5x5. Today I benched 240x5 which was exciting for me +15lbs since end of cycle. My lower back is still sore, so my squats and DL have suffered. Strength is still there in my legs, but I have to take it easy on the full squats. I feel my lower back getting hit most at the bottom of the squat. Also added HIIT cardio on off-gym days, Tues, Thurs, Sat. The sprints are also tough on my lower back, but I'm hoping weighted hyper extensions should help. I'm also starting to put on a bit of weight, eating the same as I did on cycle, but visibly I don't look any fatter. Won't touch a thing as long as the gains keep coming. Getting blood test Saturday.

Also did a bit of research on prolactin gyno, which is what I got. Was shocked to find many people see it halve in size within 3 days of starting pramipexole (trade name Mirapex). I've been on it 4 days now and definitely notice a difference. It's messed up my sleeping a bit, which seems to be common, but that should subside in a few days. Still have half a bottle of forma-stanzol left, not sure what to do with it.

I dunno why I'm still making gains; I guess its the strong PCT supplements, 5x5, and diet. This is awesome. I've also read HIIT stimulates GH. Too many variables here, but as long as the numbers keep increasing, I'm not tweaking anything. At this rate I'll be repping 225 on include before long. What a great feeling.

 

[zedhed]

Gr8 for you bro. Glad to hear that all is going well for you. I would use that Forma. It wont hurt anything at all and you will continue to see benefits from it man.
Outstanding on that bench too bro!!

 

[yuppyguitar]

Confusing typo in my last post. I said "repping 225 on include" but what I meant to say was "repping 225 on incline".

On your forma comment, yeah makes sense, I don't have enough left to use for anything else so why not. Maybe I'll go with the high 10 pump "anabolic" dose. Combined with bridge should be pretty good.

 

[zedhed]

That will keep you tight man. You will like it.

 

[yuppyguitar]

Week 6 - Day 5 - After cycle

Test Results

I've omitted the tests that returned normal.

Test | Pre cycle | 7 weeks post cycle | Reference range
ALT (GPT) | 22 | 51 | 5-45
HDL | 41 | 38 | 40-80
Testosterone | 660 | 1362 | 270 - 1070
Free Testosterone | 8.5 | 37.5 | 8.5 - 27.9

I'm a bit surprised the liver values are elevated and that my test is still elevated so high. I am on 1.25mg/day letrozole and tapering down at the moment to deal with gyno.

On cycle liver support, I was taking silymarin extract, N acetyl-l-cysteine, and liv 52 twice daily. To keep lipids in check, I was taking 4 tbsp of fish oil / day, and mostly avoiding fatty foods. I have no idea why test is still so high, my only guess would be the letro, but based on what I've read, it only increases test modestly.

I'm disappointed with these numbers, given the amount of precautions I took, and surprised at how high my test still is. Will post before/after pics later.

 

[zedhed]

Liver values and usualy kidney values will be high. Drink more water bro, You should still be at a min of 1 gal/day. What ester test were you using?

 

[yuppyguitar]

This was an anavar only cycle, which has a 9 hour half-life.

 

[benchingover500]

congrats on your cycle

 

[zedhed]

Oh yeah thats right bro. So an oral only, yes liver values gonna be off. How much water do you drink per day?
Also might wanna use Forged Liver Support. It really iss good stuff and does wonders.

 

[yuppyguitar]

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