Test only cycle log

[graciekiller]

Whats up bros. Today is the start of my test only cycle that I will be running for 10 weeks. I went over it a bit over in another category on this forum, but for logs sake, I will go over the bases again.

Height 5'6"
weight 170lbs
bodyfat 12%ish

My goals are a little different than most here. I am going after strength and performance gains with the hopes of keeping my weight as low as I can. The reason being is that I am a jiu jitsu/grappler, therefore, I need to make weigh ins. Generally speaking, the lower you can weigh in, the better off you are. So water retention is a big enemy of mines.

I am going to be taking test400 that I got from a buddy. Im hoping the gear is legit, it is a company called "id-labs". I did some research, but wasn't able to get much info on it. I am still in the market for better/legit sources for future cycles.

I plan on doing 1/2cc monday/thursday. I am hoping this t400 is not like the ones I experienced a few years back.....by that I mean the site injections would hurt like a mutha for 3-4 days!

My weekly workouts are consistent and looks something like this. If you guys see where I can improve on, please chime in and add whatever comments or advice you see fit.....

monday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

tuesday - chest, tris, pushing excercies, cardio work for 1 hour (30mins HIIT, 30mins low pace)

Wednesday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

thursday - backs, biceps, pulling excercises, cardio work for 1 hour (30mins HIIT, 30 mins low pace)

friday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

saturday - legs, full body big lifts (squats, power cleans, etc)

sunday - rest

I can go more in detail of the lifts if need be, but again, I am trying to get gains in strength and performance, rather than bodybuilding per say. Alot of my lifts are sport specific. My goals for the test is to help with recovery so I can train harder. As of right now, I can feel myself getting beat down physically and mentally at the end of the week being all natural.

As far as diet goes, its kinda a catch 22. I should be eating enough calories to fuel me for these workouts, YET, I still need to watch my weight because I do have to weigh in and make weight. So with that in mind, I try to make every calorie count.

My day job is that I am a construction foreman (structural steel/welding). So work during the day is very labor intensive and I am not really able to eat when I want and what I want. Its more of whats available and conveniant. So for work, I pack lots of fruits, pre cooked chicken/brocolli, tuna and home made sandwhiches. My main goals for the day is high protein/high complex carbs/medium fat. Naturally it has done me good, Im hoping while on test, it will be sufficient.

Other supplements include fish/krill oils, multi vitamins, whey and casein protein.

Thats about it for now. My PCT will be ordered this week and I also have cycle support supps on the side if need be. Any comments, concerns or opinions are highly welcomed. Since this is a pretty basic cycle, I doubt anything magical will happen, but hey, you never know, lol.

 

[zedhed]

Whats up bros. Today is the start of my test only cycle that I will be running for 10 weeks. I went over it a bit over in another category on this forum, but for logs sake, I will go over the bases again.

Height 5'6"
weight 170lbs
bodyfat 12%ish

My goals are a little different than most here. I am going after strength and performance gains with the hopes of keeping my weight as low as I can. The reason being is that I am a jiu jitsu/grappler, therefore, I need to make weigh ins. Generally speaking, the lower you can weigh in, the better off you are. So water retention is a big enemy of mines.
Hey bro your right in that this is not gonna be the norm on here for cycle logs! Thanks for posting up!

I am going to be taking test400 that I got from a buddy. Im hoping the gear is legit, it is a company called "id-labs". I did some research, but wasn't able to get much info on it. I am still in the market for better/legit sources for future cycles.

I plan on doing 1/2cc monday/thursday. I am hoping this t400 is not like the ones I experienced a few years back.....by that I mean the site injections would hurt like a mutha for 3-4 days!
Always heat your gear up first in a sink of hot water. Then after you inject deeply massage the injection site a couple times in the next half hour. That will help.

My weekly workouts are consistent and looks something like this. If you guys see where I can improve on, please chime in and add whatever comments or advice you see fit.....
PLease put down your specific excersizes as then it will be much easier for us to see exactly what you doing and then possibly comment.

monday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

tuesday - chest, tris, pushing excercies, cardio work for 1 hour (30mins HIIT, 30mins low pace)

Wednesday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

thursday - backs, biceps, pulling excercises, cardio work for 1 hour (30mins HIIT, 30 mins low pace) Do you have some means of getting your heart rate? If you do then plz put that in here too.

friday - jiu jitsu practice 4 hours (combination of sparring, HIIT, circuit training with light weight

saturday - legs, full body big lifts (squats, power cleans, etc)

sunday - rest

I can go more in detail of the lifts if need be, but again, I am trying to get gains in strength and performance, rather than bodybuilding per say. Alot of my lifts are sport specific. My goals for the test is to help with recovery so I can train harder. As of right now, I can feel myself getting beat down physically and mentally at the end of the week being all natural.

As far as diet goes, its kinda a catch 22. I should be eating enough calories to fuel me for these workouts, YET, I still need to watch my weight because I do have to weigh in and make weight. So with that in mind, I try to make every calorie count.

My day job is that I am a construction foreman (structural steel/welding). So work during the day is very labor intensive and I am not really able to eat when I want and what I want. Its more of whats available and conveniant. So for work, I pack lots of fruits, pre cooked chicken/brocolli, tuna and home made sandwhiches. My main goals for the day is high protein/high complex carbs/medium fat. Naturally it has done me good, Im hoping while on test, it will be sufficient.

Other supplements include fish/krill oils, multi vitamins, whey and casein protein.

Thats about it for now. My PCT will be ordered this week and I also have cycle support supps on the side if need be. Any comments, concerns or opinions are highly welcomed. Since this is a pretty basic cycle, I doubt anything magical will happen, but hey, you never know, lol.

Lets see how this looks after your additional details.

 

[graciekiller]

zed - big thanks for the comments. I took your advice and let the vial sit in a bowl of warm/hot water for a few mins prior to injection. First thing I noticed was that it flowed alot smoother going through the 23g 1" pin. Injection went smooth, no pain, no blood and no oil coming out of the site. Fast forward a few hours later, and its not so bad, feels like a slight almost not noticeable bruise. I still think its gonna hurt a lil for the next few days, but we shall see.

At the moment, I dont have any real accurate way of getting my heart rate, although I am going to get me a heart rate monitor so I can see what my HR is during practice, circuit training and cardio. I wanna see how far I am pushing myself.

Tomorrow is a lift day for me, and depending on how practice goes tonight, itll dictate what I do tomorrow and the intensity of it.

 

[zedhed]

Dont forget to massage the hell out of the injection site too bro. Looking forward to following this!

 

[graciekiller]

little bit of an update. Not real sure on when I will begin to feel things, so I just gotta wait and see. Diet has been on key and I dont really see it being a problem. My daily foods are always the same, so no sense in posting the same stuff everyday. Yesterday I decided to do some conventional weight lifting....lol. Spent about 3 hours in the gym, and did a full body workout which included your classic lifts....bench/incline bench, squat/leg curls/leg extension, lat pulldowns/cable rows, couple of bicep lifs, couple of tricep lifts, shrugs, shoulder presses. Did about 4 sets of each with 10-12 reps. Why? I just wanted to blast my body and since it was the first day of my cycle. Right now I am paying for it and I don't look forward to tomorrows soreness. I can feel the pain developing deep in the muscle and tomorrow should be a horrible day, haha. Even though I train hard on the mats, surf alot and do lots of movement....I havent done conventional lifts in a VERY long time. Amazing at how the human body can still be shocked even though you think you work out alot.

As far as the injection site goes, things arent any different than before. Test400 still hurts, lol. Feels like a deep bruise, a little tender to the touch. Just like I remembered, haha.

I plan on weighing myself every monday night just to track differences. Ive also taken some body measurements and I will post that info up tomorrow.

Again, please pardon my updates and posts. They will probably be bad in grammar, info all over the place and no real flow at all. Reason being is that my computer time is limited, so I need to cram what I can in a post with the little time I have.

 

[graciekiller]

woke up today and my body feels wrecked! haha. Doing those lifts really did a number on, and the muscle soreness feels like it goes down to the bone. Because of that, Im probably going to skip practice and use today as a recovery day...maybe just some light cardio after work.

I was curious to see what my weight was so I decided to jump on the scale. Keep in mind, my diet and training is pretty much the same year round, and I manage to keep myself at a consistent 168-170lbs (I cut weight for tournaments and compete at 159.9 and under). Jumped on the scale and it said 175lbs. I would assume water weight, as I dont think the test would kick in that fast. I told myself that the first two weeks are like a grace period and I wont expect anything different other than having sore injection sites.

 

[zedhed]

DOMS gotta love it bro!
No need to apologize bro. Your doing the updates which is the important part, and its mostly readable too.

 

[graciekiller]

DOMS gotta love it bro!
No need to apologize bro. Your doing the updates which is the important part, and its mostly readable too.

thanks man. I done some reading on DOMS, and some say that I should wait til Im completely healed and not sore before hitting the weights. Anything sooner, would just tear the muscle up before its repaired, thus prolonging the process. WHat do you think? I imagine in a few weeks I should not have this type of soreness once my body gets used to the weights and movements.

What other kinds of supplements should I include with this cycle? At the moment I take ON whey protein before and after practice/work outs, a multi vitamin, fish oils and casein before sleep. Should I be looking into other things like creatine, jacked or any other pre work out stuff?

 

[graciekiller]

Quick morning update. My fricken left side glute is killing me. Feels as though there is a deep bruise. Im not too concerned though, its the same pain I felt years ago when I was on test E. Maybe its in my mind, but Ive been getting alot more horny.....my fiance is loving it.

 

[graciekiller]

last night did a little bit of rolling, but nothing too much. The pain in my glutes kept me from really sparring and rolling. The pain after injections are starting to be a burden and is affecting my training. If I was only lifting and doing nothing with physical contact, then it wouldnt be too much of a problem, because I could just man up and deal with the pain. But when you are practicing with someone, and they kick you or drive there elbow or knee in the injection spot, thats death right there, lol. With that being said, Im going to try another brand and see if I getter better results.

As far as training goes, last night was a pretty intense cardio night. Did box jumps. 10 reps, 10 second rest for 5 minutes straight.....3 sets. Then it was on to explosive push ups. 10 reps, 20 second rest for 5 minutes straight....3 sets. After it was followed by 10 up hill sprints. Im about 8 weeks out from my tournament, so our program is well on its way. Goals are to increase strength (endurance, explosiveness and stamina), and increase aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. Needless to say, I could barely walk today because of muscle pains and injection pains, lol.

 

[zedhed]

Bro IDK what you are doing for weights but I think your reps should be in 10-12 range. That would give you strength and still not kill your indurence and stamina.

 

[rotinaj]

Bro IDK what you are doing for weights but I think your reps should be in 10-12 range. That would give you strength and still not kill your indurence and stamina.

He's not training for hypertrophy.
I think his reps should either be around 3 if he wants to be more explosive or very high(around 20) if he wants endurance.. He wants to maintain the lowest weight possible so low reps will work on his power while his training should keep his endurance up..

 

[graciekiller]

Ill post up my strength training program later tonight, but long story short it kinda looks like this.....

4 sets total of specific lift. 5 reps at heavy weight, followed immediately with no rest, 15-20 reps light weight. There is a percentage I follow off of my 1 rep max. Supposedly this training will increase explosive power as well and muscle stamina. We got it off of a MMA training program. Too early to tell results, but the pump is incredible! THe lifts I usually use this program on are....squats, dead lifts, lat pull downs, rows, leg extensions, leg curls, shrugs and bench. THe program seems like it is all over the place, but there is actually a science to it. This week I am going to do the lifts I just mentioned.

Next week is more cardio/sprints/light weights/plyometrics. The following week is more sport movement training with one day of lifting. As soon as I get time, I will go more into it. Waiting on my TGC shipment to come in, so I can get rid of the gear I have now and jump on something that has gotten awesome reviews.

Also going to start 3 weeks of prop to kick start things, while still taking the testE. The last 3 weeks I am going to jump back on prop to help the PCT cycle. So far, I am feeling more animal by the day and recovery seems to be increasig a little by little.

Just for entertainment value here are 2 pics about 5 weeks apart, lol. As you can see in the first pic, my clean bulk didnt go according to plan. Also forgot I had a tournament coming up in 6 weeks, and I had to drop about 25lbs to make weight. Lots of cardio, diet and hard work.

 

[zedhed]

Holydammittohell bro. You did that in 5 weeks. I am the student here bro. That is amazing. I really dont know anybody else that has done a recomp even near to that.
OUTSTANDING BRO!!
Hell this even deserves nipple shakers man!

 

[graciekiller]

Thanks bro. Alls I did for 5 weeks was CARDIO (low intensity in the morning, grappling practice at night) 5x's a week, weight train 3x's a week and followed an easy to make DIET, and an ECA stack. No other supplements besides your normal protein shakes. The key in me going from 185-190 down to 159 for weigh ins was my diet. I knew exactly how much calories I was taking in, and I made sure that every calorie I ate went towards energy and recovery. I was able to keep most of the weight off til today. I usually roam around the 170 range. Sometimes lower, sometimes a lil higher.

Fast forward to today. Depending on what my workout schedule looks like is how I eat during the day. If I know Im going to have a hard day at work and a really intense training night/practice.....Ill make sure to get in some good carbs and clean protein, and eat a lil higher in calories. If it is an easy day, Ill load up more on the protein and less in the carbs. I usually eat according to how my body feels and what it needs.

Cant wait til thursday. My TGC supps should be in. Excited to see/try what everyone has been raving about.

 

[zedhed]

WHOA!!!
You have TGC coming?
Dam bro you know the good stuff dont you?
Good for you bro that is super sweet stuff right there man.
Put up pics for us plz!

 

[graciekiller]

some ladies came and visited me today. not a whole party, but 3 of them. I am very happy. Now I can get rid off my crappy stuff that causes only pain. Gonna try these ladies right now, super excited!

 

[graciekiller]

Alrighty, injection went smooooth as butter! 100mg prop and 250mg testE (2cc total) in the left butt cheek and no pain at all! The real test is tomorrow and the next day.

Went to the gym for a quick little lift before I head off to practice. Did some biceps, triceps and traps.

4 sets total. 5 reps dumbells regualar curl with 45's. Immediately followed by 15 reps with the 20's.
4 sets total. 10 reps tricep pulldown at 150lbs on cable. Immediately followed by 20 reps at 75lbs.
4 sets total. 10 reps upright rows with barbell 85lbs total. Immediately followed by 20 reps at 35lbs.

Just a short and sweet workout. Left the gym drenched with sweat and awesome pump (my weights are lower than normal because of the lack of rest in between sets). Got home took a protein shake immediately followed by a fruit bowl. Getting ready for jiu jitsu practice. Gonna do alot of drilling and sparring. That should take care of the cardio today.

Tomorrow I got uphill sprints in the sand. 12 sets at 100% effort for 10 seconds. Rest until HR is back to resting. Then gonna hit up the north shore for a surf session. First swell of the winter (fun sized).

 

[graciekiller]

weight still at 175, but I feel alot stronger and feel more full. couple of buddies commented on how much bigger i look and asked about my weight. us jiu jitsu guys are like girls....we care more about scale numbers than appearance. they thought i was easily in the 180's but were surprised to see my at 174.3.

 

[zedhed]

Nice bro.
" us jiu jitsu guys are like girls..." LMAO!

 

[graciekiller]

monday update.
weight - 171lbs. Im kinda suprised my weight has gone down! I feel bigger, I AM stronger and mirror wise seems as though I maybe leaning out a lil. Anyways, it was a pleasant surpise to see 171. I thought for sure I would have been in the 180's. My diet has been on key and consistent. 3 protein shakes a day, lots of fruits for energy, and protein from boiled eggs, chicken and tuna. I sometimes add in a slice of whole grain bread for carbs and a scoop of brown rice. I notice that with my high amount of activity, carbs are very important.

Today is actually a rest day for me as I feel super beat up from last week.

 

[zedhed]

That fruit is giving you a lot of carbs bro - sugars.

 

[graciekiller]

That fruit is giving you a lot of carbs bro - sugars.

is that a good or bad thing?

Whenever I get a sugar craving I either run to the fridge or my cooler and grab some cut fruits to snack on. Also, my protein shake and a fruit before practice, and Im good to go.

With the amount of training I am doing, Im pretty sure I could get away with more, but I rather not. I wanna be just a tad under my caloric needs.

Even with my new gear, pinning the test E still hurts. I wonder if I cut the dosages down and go EOD would help? RIght now Im E3D.

 

[graciekiller]

Right now I am using TGC test E 250mg. Do you think if I did .5cc (125mg) EOD, it would help with the pain? Is that even a good idea?

 

[zedhed]

Bro IDK why that is hurting you. Ive done that so many times with no pain at all. Are you heating it up first under hot tap water and deep massaging after? Dont force the juice in, let your take it as it will too bro.
If it continues to be painful you might try putting just a pinch of Deca with it if you have any. I know that when I (rarely) find something that hurts me, if I do that its like magic. Nomopain!
Let me know bro.

If you can get away with the fruits then go for it bro. Like I said before you seem to know pretty dam good how to get your bod to respond to diet. But for most of us the fruits/sugars/carbs would not work too well.

 

[graciekiller]

thanks for always chipping it with advice. I did what you just said right now and we shall see in the next few days. I don't wanna sound like a cry baby, but I figure I should just note the pain in the log. Like I said in previous post, if alls I was doing was lifting, then the pain is really no concern. I am fine with walking with a limp, I am fine with the pain and it is what it is. The only problem I have with it is my jiu jitsu training. Sometimes I loose range of motion because of the pain and when someone applies direct pressure to the spot, it is almost like death, lol. What I notice has been helping is popping some ibuprofen before practice and it "numbs" the pain. Only down side to that, is that with the ibuprofen in me, I feel pretty weak during practice and sluggish. Its like a double edge sword. Hopefully soon my body will take to the test and all should be good.

Ive been getting more comments from friends and family about looking bigger and my cousins/family/friends are asking what Im taking, haha. Also I feel so much stronger now and my lifts are steadily increasing in weight. Next week is high volume/explosive weight training.

 

[zedhed]

Bro you should not be getting any pain from the size of the injections that you are doing.
Describe for me exactly how you do your injections. Prep and everything.
It is possible that you having a reaction to the gear, and that does happen sometimes. Do you have any allergies that you know of?

 

[graciekiller]

sorry for the long wait on update. weight is now about 178-180....which is alot higher than expected and/or that I want to be. I was suppose to make 159lbs by oct 21st, but I am not sure how I am going to accomplish that?

I changed up my lifting program to incorporate less sets and more reps. I am also now doing more low intensity cardio on the days that I train jiu jitsu. The high intensity cardio and plyometrics are now done on the days that I lift. I have been pretty clean on my diet, but I guess I might have to drop a lil more calories and tighten up the foods. This is going to be hard because I need calories for fuel....we shall see what happens.

Another thing that I have noticed is that during my training, and I am getting super pumped and getting that "swole" look and feeling. Im sure that would be awesome for your normal body builder, but for me, its a little annoying....actually really annoying. I am having a hard time sparring because my forearms get super tight as well as my other body parts when I am grappling. Would this be because of the test? Or maybe once I start doing more high rep training, the pumps should not be much of a problem? Any info would be helpful.

Back to the weight subject. I dont feel as I am bloated or having alot of water retention. I drink ALOT of water during the day and I appear to be getting more cuts and looking leaner. Maybe I should lay off the weights and keep to sparring, cardio and plyometrics? Good idea? Bad idea?

 

[zedhed]

NO do not lay off the weights bro. Go to higher reps like you said.
Also get some Taurine that will help the pumps.
Continue with your cardio and cut back your cals as you need to. Your Cals are directly gonna effect your weight and muscle mass. So with higher reps, a little bit more cardio and slightly less cals your will not gain and even loose some mass but will continue to gain some strength.
Keep posting bro and good luck.

 

[graciekiller]

I upped my cardio a bit more. on the low intensity days, I am doing 45mins of brisk walking on the treadmill increasing incline by 2.5% every 5 minutes. Pretty good sweat and workout, but not too hard on the body. I gotta be careful and not over train, so that is why I go a little longer on the low intensity stuff. Ive also brought my carbs down on the less intense days in hopes of cutting calories.

After talking to my coaches, i might just end up doing 160-169. That way my cut will only have to be about 6-8lbs and I can keep most of my muscle, strength and energy for the tourney. I think if I cut too much, I would be too weak and all the training I am doing would be for nothing.

Mirror wise I am starting to notice a difference. I mean there has to be a difference, Im up 5-7lbs but yet look leaner. Im stronger and there is a bit more fire in me. For entertainment purposes, I am now curling the 60lb dumbells with decent form (still using a tiny bit of body movement to help with explosive movement while curling) 5 reps 4 sets. Prior to this cycle, I was having a tough time curling 45lbs for 5 reps. My low rep strength was very low before this, but my stamina strength was good (if that makes sense).

The only body part that I have not been able to focus alot on is my legs. Usually from all the cardio, training and sparring, my legs are dead on a daily basis and heavy lifting is almost impossible to do without fear of injury.

 

[zedhed]

Looking good bro. I think its a good decision to move to that weight class bro.

 

[graciekiller]

Yea I also think it is a good decision. Ive been rolling with the bigger more skilled buy 200lbs+ to get myself mentally ready.
again for entertainment purposes, I wanted to put some pics of when I was my heaviest, pre cycle and mid cycle.

In this pic I was about 190-195. I didn't really realize how big and chubby I was, as I did not have any other pics to compare against. I also wasnt really training as hard in my jiu jitsu. All I know my shorts/pants/clothes was really tight, lol.

This picture is about 6-8 weeks ago. I was about 165lbs and felt pretty good. Alls I was doing was eating clean, cardio, surfing and grappling. I wasnt really into lifting weights during this period, instead, I was doing alot of body weight excercises. This picture was actually taken right after a work out, so I appear to be bigger than I was at the time. gotta get the pump in before a picture session right? hahaha. Bodyfat wise, Im not sure as I didn't really have any accurate ways to measure. I would assume 15-17% bf?

This is a current pic as of this morning. Im about 175-177lbs. I feel really good. Strength is good, cardio and endurance is good, and Im not starving myself. Hard to tell in the lighting, but I am noticeable leaner, just the pics doesn't capture it. Difference beteween now and 6 weeks ago, is that I can see striations in my shoulders and chest. To me, that is a decent sign of fat loss. It also seems I was able to keep or build a lil bit of muscle also. I was able to come to this conclusion by prior measurements taken of my arms, legs, waist and chest.

For the nest couple of weeks my diet is going to be getting cleaner and cleaner and weight lifting will be less. This is to help with loosening up and bringing the weight down. It will also give me more mat and sparring time to drill and keep the timing sharp with my technique. I don't feel like Im bloated or carrying alot of water at this point.....what do you guys think? Also picture is upon waking up, no lifting in the past 2 days. Usually the next morning after a lift day I look alot more full.

 

[zedhed]

Dude the diff between the middle pic and the last pic is night and day. You know your shit and you do it well bro.
Lots to be learned from you for most all of us bro.
Nipple shakers for you bro!

Very dam nice job.

 

[graciekiller]

Thanks brother Zed. I started to cut down from this past monday. I was walking at around 180-182lbs and I need to make 169 by next week friday. The diet has been cleaned up drastically. The only problem now, is that I have less energy and practices are grueling. Luckily this is the last week of hell practice. Next week is all about drilling and going light so that the body can recover and be as close to 100% come tournament time. This saturday/sunday will also be my last lifts in the gym. Gonna do a full body, light weight lots of reps.

Right now Im at about 176ish and starting to lean out decently or maybe its the water weight dropping even though Im drinking about 2 gallons of fluid a day. Dont mind me for posting another pic, but I figure why not. A couple of my friends and I was arguing about how much body fat I am at now. We don't really have an accurate way of testing, but by looks, I would assume around 12%

 

[zedhed]

Yep I would say around 12% also.
Bro you can get an Accu Measure caliper for pretty cheap. Just google it, a nice tool to have.

 

[nicholaswht]

grats man, you have a tournament up?

Hope you do well and break some face, you have a lot of good bro's rooting for you.

 

[jojoenglish85]

Looking good man, how is the gear treating you?