My first bulking cycle was 250 mg of sust/200 mg of deca a week, and I blew up. A couple cycles later I tried 600 mg of deca alone, and my sides were much higher than the first cycle. Actually, I've run 600 mg of test a week, alone, and had fewer sides. The results from the deca cycle? Well who knows, on my 7th week I quite using it, switched to test/fina, and sold the rest of my deca to a friend. I didn't see any change in strength or lbm gains, after 7 weeks though I did put on alot of water, and had trouble getting an erections sometimes, and couldn't have an orgasim even when I did have sex. I'm really not a deca fan, unless it is at a low dose and stacked with something more potent. I don't recomend my frist cycle now for newbies, rather I would suggest using eq over deca. In my opinion (yes, we are all entitled to them), eq is a more effective compound, with no apparent side effects (for me at least).