Winter Cycle Log

[zempey]

Figured I would post up a log of my winter primer cycle. Feel free to comment or critique, I have thick skin so chances are you wont hurt my feelings.

Stats:
Age: 42

Starting weight and estimated bf%: 257lbs @ 15-20%

Cycle experience: this is my first educated cycle, done aas a few times over the years. My first time was at 29-30 and I did a blast cruise for 8 months and went from a very lean 212 to and moderately lean 260. I have done a bit here and there a few other times before last year. Last January I did some sustanon to get in shape for a vacation, never did AI or pct or anything I should have, and I was probably over 20% bf. I lost some fat and built a little muscle, changed body composition a bit. I started a test and tren cycle in the spring to get in shape for the summer, and this cycle was going great until I upped all my doses and then the sides hit. That is how and when I found this site and realized how little I knew about aas. I started taking an AI and HCG and got things back on track, I also did a proper PCT for the first time. I did make some great gains, probably the best I ever looked.

Current cycle: Started Dec 17th doing test only, prop 350mg/week, e 100mg/week, c 100mg/week. Taking arimidex at .25mg eod, hcg @ 250iu twice a week, t3 50mcg ed. The reason for the long esters is I have 2.5 bottles of the 3 way blend so I am using them. It works out to be 100mg prop/100mg prop/300mg blend(100/100/100) in eod sequence.

Training and diet: I have been training on and off since I was 13 when I got my first york cement weight set for Christmas. Worked out in high school on and off and throughout my 20's. In my mid 30's I was training pretty serious and was moving some really decent weight for a natural hobby style lifter. That was the strongest I ever was and will ever be, good times and memories of training and living in California. Moved back to Canada and trained on and off, had gotten pretty heavy from drinking and eating, hit 300lbs at my worst. March of 2012 I had enough of being fat and out of shape and went back to the gym, trained hard, gave up beer for 90 days, cleaned up my diet, and lost 50lbs in just over 3 months. Pretty much ever since then I have been in the gym, had a few month lay off during the summer after losing the weight. My diet is pretty good, I am quite knowledgeable about nutrition, just don't always stick to what I know I should be doing.

I am excited for this cycle as it will be the first time I have things in place properly from the beginning, my body has enough time in the gym to be able to smartly push myself to make some solid gains. It will be challenging to stay fully on track with the holidays and all, but I think I will do ok, plus all those extra calories will go to good use. Feel free to chime in with opinions or what ever you want.

[RigPig]

Gonna follow ya Zempey, good luck buddy..keep it current!

[Buster Brown]

A log is a great way to stay on track and keep yourself honest.

[derekkpapa1]

Following along also
Good luck

[zempey]

Uneventful couple days, didn't hit arms yesterday, had to work and I was sore so I rested instead. Had a couple days with a few more drinks then I planned, so I am holding a little extra water the scale says 263 this morning. I have been getting really bad headaches over the last couple days, must be from the t3, but they are really bad. It woke me up in the middle of the night, had to take a tylonol 3 so I could sleep and woke up with a hint of it still. I am only taking 25mcg today to see if that helps, and will try not to drink and alcohol today. Have to move a friend so I will get a bit of an arm workout in. Will be doing my third pin today, 100mg prop.

[zempey]

Feel great this morning, the prop must be kicking in a bit cause I didn't wake up tired. I ended up moving a friend all day yesterday, 4th floor, no elevator, ya that was fun. The 25mcg and no alcohol seemed to work, no headaches, today I will take 37.5 mcg of t3 and see how that goes. Woke up at 266lbs today, had some high sodium foods yesterday so I am holding a lot of water. My back workout was great today, felt strong and upped my weights doing a 4x8 routine. Did 20 min fast paced bike to finish off and try to sweat out the extra water. Chest tomorrow and a shot of t300, this will be the end of the first week of the cycle, all good thus far.

[zempey]

Did my 4th pin today of t300 at 1.2mg, this will be the last pin of the first week. Woke up at 263 this morning, so pissed out a few pounds of water. I am noticing my left nipple is getting a bit puffy, it is the one that starts showing signs first so I started nolvadex 20mg ed and upped my ai to .25mg every day and a half. Not sure if it is just fatty deposits or gyno, bit I would rather be safe than sorry since there is lumps in there form the past. Being prone to gyno blows, might have to look into how much to remove the old tissue some day.

Chest today went well, was hungry cause I ran out of my carb supp so I will have to make sure to figure something out for tomorrow morning. I can't wait until the holidays are over so I can get my diet on track and back into a proper routine. Legs tomorrow then off for Christmas day, have two big dinners to pack in the calories, should get some growth out of that.

Now off to do some shopping, just have to get the wife something, she takes care of the rest.

[RigPig]

Zempey you are ****in crazy bro, braving the malls this time of years On Cycle lol... Hope that is just a fatty deposit and not gyno but you're right, better safe that sorry for sure!

[zempey]

I have some stuff in there, I'm almost positive that it is gyno but I don't really know what it is supposed to feel like. There is something behind the nipple, been there for as long as I can remember, but I will run the nolva and arimidex according to how much it acts up. My bf is up from where I would normally like it due to packing on the calories, but I will start to balance out after the new year and stay strict until the finish.

[zempey]

Feel good today, weight is at 265, left nip is definitely showing signs of gyno. Going to run the nolva ed @ 20mg and adex @ .25mg e1.5day, keeping my t3 @ 37.5mcg until after the new year when I will cut out alcohol 100% for the duration of cycle.

Legs:
Extensions: 4x12 icreasing weight each set. This was a warm up for my knees to hit squats.
Squats: 15-12-10-10, knee felt good and I was able to hit 3 plates without any trouble.
Press: 15-15-12-12, didn't push too hard on these, just worked up to 8 plates a side and squeezed the muscle hard and took them deep.
Curl: 12-12-12-12
Stand calf: 12-12-12-12
Seated calf: 12-12-12-12
Bike for 15 min to flush out my system.

Overall good workout, didn't want to push too hard with my knee, and my lungs still aren't 100%. Off tomorrow then shoulders hard and heavy. Merry Christmas, have a great holiday.

[BG]

Moved to the correct forum. Lounge is for off topic discussions, thanks.

[zempey]

Thanks, didn't know where to put it.

[zempey]

Woke up at 272 this morning, had dinner at the inlaw's last night and drank a fair bit so holding water. Have another big dinner today so I will be getting a ton more calories in. Off day today and shoulders tomorrow, going to hit it hard and heavy. Fifth pin today will be prop 110-120mg.

Merry Christmas, have a great day.

[derekkpapa1]

272 wtf your a house
Post up a pic big man

[zempey]

I am very swollen and bloated, hope to shed some of this water soon. When I got home from dinner last night I was 279 with cloths on, I feel fat as fuk.

[zempey]

Dec. 26th Shoulders. 272

Stand Military Press: 2 feel sets 2 working sets. These bothered my low back, wont be doing them too often.

Bar Shrug: 2 feel 2 working 1 burn. I was able to hold 315 for a couple sets or 12 with no straps, not using them for a while to see if my nerve damage gets better in my wrists.

Hammer Strength Press: 2 feel sets 2 working sets with one drop set.

Side Dumbell Raise: 4 working sets, light for high reps.

Seated Rear Dumbell Fly: 1 feel 3 working

Did some dips to burn out, 30-20-20, then rode the bike for 15 min.

Felt ok, was having a hard time getting into it, retaining a ton of water and felt crappy.

[zempey]

Today, Arms. 269

Close Press: 2 feel sets 2 working sets 1 reduced weight working set.

Incline Caver: 4 working sets.

Overhead Dumbell: 4 working sets.

Reverse Grip Pushdown: 4 working sets.

Tri's were pumped, whole upper body was pumped, felt awesome.

Barbell Curl: 2 feel sets 2 working sets. Working sets @ 135 and the elbow felt good, been a while since that weight.

Alt Dumbell: 4 working sets

Preacher Machine: 3 working sets

Dips as a finisher: 12 12 12

Had a great pump, was sweating like a mad man. Felt good today, much better than yesterday and some of the water is coming off. Doing another pin of 110-120mg prop today, 37.5mcg t3, and my adex and nolva. Gyno is under control I think, hard to tell with all the water retention, but it feels better. Day off tomorrow going to go skating with my friends and their kids.

[zempey]

Woke up at 268.8 this morning, starting to come back to a more reasonable weight. Was up at least 5 times through the night to piss, doesn't make for the best sleep, but I feel pretty good. Body is a little tight and sore from a good hard week of training. Start a new week tomorrow with back, should be a good workout.

[Rida5d]

I am very swollen and bloated, hope to shed some of this water soon. When I got home from dinner last night I was 279 with cloths on, I feel fat as fuk.

Did u check estrogen ?

[zempey]

I have been dialing in my arimidex , seems to be under control now, .25mg eod wasn't enough, now I am at .25mg ed. I think the beer and bourbon had a major part in this too, after new years I am cutting out alcohol completely. I have never done a primarily prop cycle before, so the fast acting ester took some time for me to figure out, seems all good now.

[Rida5d]

I have been dialing in my arimidex, seems to be under control now, .25mg eod wasn't enough, now I am at .25mg ed. I think the beer and bourbon had a major part in this too, after new years I am cutting out alcohol completely. I have never done a primarily prop cycle before, so the fast acting ester took some time for me to figure out, seems all good now.

High estradiol could cause bloating.. Be aware of that.

[zempey]

Dec 29 266lbs

Back

Bent Rows: 2 warm up, 3 working 10 reps each

Chins: 4x8

Hammer Row: 1 feel, 4 working with a drop from 5 plates a side to 1 on the last set.

Pull Down: 4x12

Row Machine Wide Grip: 3x12

Hypers: 3x10

Was a good workout, felt strong and my water retention is down. My ai is getting dialed in now and I am balancing out finally, my gyno seems to be under control as well. I think the only way to get rid of the lumps is surgery, they have been in there for a long time, not really sure when it originated, but it has been long enough that it isn't reversible. Will be going a shot of t300 and hcg today and hitting chest in the morning. If I have a spotter I might try for some 1rm lifts to see where I am at.

[zempey]

Dec 30, 268lbs

Chest

Bench: 3x3@275, 225x 10-10-9-8 last set 225x10 drop 135x15. I have always struggled with chest and want to try and get my strength up so I hammered flat bench today. I need a spotter to go past 275 for safety and piece of mind.

Incl Dmbl: 80x12-10-9-10

Flat Fly: 50x8x4

Hammer Strength Decline: 180x12x4

My tri's were sore today and so were my shoulders, I hit back pretty hard yesterday so I was sore all over. I really want to bring my chest up, I have low nipples and carry fat at the bottom of my pec behind the nip and have gyno lumps so my chest never looks good. I think if I can pack some mass on my pecs I can offset the look a bit. I ran out of nolvadex , going to try and find some today, my guy is on vaca for another week or so, I might be able to get some to tie me over. I wasn't expecting to have this so early on or I would have stocked up. I don't want to overdue it with the adex but might go to .5mg ed instead of .25mg ed.

I have a question about timing of the adex and nolvadex, I am taking them before bed now and my injections are in the morning, is my timing okay?

[zempey]

Dec 31 270

Decided to take the day off, going to be a long night and I have a ton of shit to do today.

I don't know wtf is going on but my nipples have both exploded and are starting to hurt a bit. The only thing I can think is that my adex is not real or severely under dosed. My guy had to get a different brand since his supplier couldn't get it, it is from Eclipse and they are a known brand around here so we figured it was legit. I had been taking .25mg eod and noticed some puffiness and upped it to .25 ed for a few days with no change. I had been taking some nolvadex @ 20mg ed for a week but ran out, and things seemed to get worse once that was out of my system. I took a full 1mg capsule yesterday and will do so again today, I will also try and track down some nolva, but my guy is away for a few more days.

I really wasn't expecting shit to go south so soon since I did my research and had all my ducks in a row, except for enough nolva on hand this early. Is there anything natural that will help, an over the counter estrogen blocker? I ****ing hate that my body is so sensitive to estrogen, it is really starting to piss me off.

Thanks for any suggestions, Zach.

[RigPig]

- GAL -->

[zempey]

Found some nolvadex , took 40mg right away, hoping for some relief soon. I'm not concerned with not training today, I can go tomorrow if I'm not too hung over. My body is really sore and my hormones are so out of whack that my head is not focused enough for a beneficial leg workout. Plus I am doing tile in the basement and getting lots of stair time in, lol.

Happy New Year everyone, play safe.

[RigPig]

Found some nolvadex, took 40mg right away, hoping for some relief soon. I'm not concerned with not training today, I can go tomorrow if I'm not too hung over. My body is really sore and my hormones are so out of whack that my head is not focused enough for a beneficial leg workout. Plus I am doing tile in the basement and getting lots of stair time in, lol. Happy New Year everyone, play safe.

Fair enough. Happy new year bud. Sounds like your is being spent like mine...home renos haha.

[zempey]

Jan 01 272lbs

No gym today, recovering from a long crazy New Years party, didn't go to bed until 6am then railed the old lady till 7ish. Still have the lumps, not sure how long it takes to see changes from upping the adex and adding the nolva, but I hope it is soon. Gym in the morning for shoulders, going to try and giver hard, hope I am recovered enough, pretty tired right now.

[zempey]

Jan 2, 270lbs

Shoulders

Smith press: 2 warm up, 5 working

Bar shrugs: 1 warm up, 5 working, 1 drop

Neutral grip press: 5 working

Side fly: 3 working

Rear cable: 4 working

Felt ok today, still a bit worn out from new years, didn't eat much yesterday. Will get my food intake up today and my water intake. Arms in the morning, should be replenished by then.

[zempey]

Jan 3, 269

Arms

Close grip press: 2 warm, 5 working, 1 drop

Cavers: 3 working, pulled my tri, it is not bad but uncomfortable at the moment.

Bar curl: 5 sets adding weight each set with the last being same as starting weight for a burn.

Dmbl concentration curls: 1 warm, 3 working.

Dips: 1x15, 4x12

Rope push down: 4x12

Pulled my tri on my first set of cavers, did a few more sets but it was sore and didn't push it to much more. Went right to bi's to give it a rest. I did a set of 8 with 155 on the big bar, it is the most I have done since recovering from my injury, felt pretty strong. The pump today was great, too bad the tri let go. I almost didn't go today, woke up with a bit of a sore throat and felt like crap, but glad I went in. Monday I start getting strict on diet and training, back into my routine of eat, sleep, train, repeat. It has been a bad couple of months, but it is time to focus and get back into my groove and kick start this new year off on a good note.

[BG]

How is your warm uplace and stretching? I do three sets of light curls, tried extention machine, 1 set of 25 pull ups , rc exercises and stretching. Seems like a lot but it is helping. I stick to this because when I don't i feel it.

[zempey]

I do 5 min on the treadmill, then a set of 50 crunches followed by some stretching. I do a 2 min plank followed by 50 quick push ups, I then move on to my exercises for the day. Yesterday I did a bunch of close presses and then when I went to do cavers I figured I was warm enough to not need a feel set. I only had 110 on the bar, not sure why my tri tweaked out, it feels good today so it wasn't too bad of a pull. Tomorrow I start the strict phase, no drinking, cleaning up the diet, all around getting more focused and healthy. I am still waiting on a call from a specialist for some results I got back from my thyroid and lymphnods, it has had me a tad freaked out the last few weeks since I just buried a very close friend to cancer. I know it is probably nothing, but the mind is a very tricky thing sometimes, so I have been very off since Nov when we lost our friend. I need to get my focus back and get back on track, with work, training, diet, and my personal life, I have held it together, but I feel it is holding on by the thinest of threads right now. Dropping the beer will help get my back on track and motivated. Thanks for taking the time to comment in this thread, I am always open to new ideas and advice.

[fitnesstrainer]

You got pics anywhere dude? Your stats are very impressive.

[zempey]

This is in june last year, around 250ish.

I will take some in the next week or so once I get rid of some water and my gyno subsides.

[zempey]

Jan 5, 273

Back

Chins: 12 12 10 10

Wide hammer row: feel set for 15, add weight for set of 12, working set 3x8 with double drop

Pull down: 4 sets adding weight each set

Cable row: 4 sets addind weight each set

Hypers: 3x12

Good workout, felt strong and hit some good numbers, back was nice and pumped. Did 15 min on the bike after to flush out the system. Chest tomorrow, going to try for some 1rm lifts if I feel good.

[stripes1990]

awesome thread keep it up !

[zempey]

Jan 6, 272

Chest

Bench: 135x15 185x12 225x15(pb) 275x2 315x1 315x1-225x8-135x15 Working towards 365, on a mission.

Incl Dmbl: 90x12 100x10 105x8 80x12

Pec dec: 4 sets with a tight squeeze

Hammer decl: 4x12 with a hard squeeze

Dips: 4x12

Today was all about hitting 315 which has been a huge hurdle for me, I am just not built for bench, but I am working hard at it. I want to get to 365 during this cycle, it will be a challenge, but if I can stay healthy I think I have a shot. I had my 15yo daughter spot me at 315 and I wasn't comfortable at all, she has no experience with how to spot. I am going to try another heavy weight lift on shoulder day before my regular routine. Just work my way up to a max lift, going to shoot for 325, I almost got it clean this summer, I think I should be able to if I feel good on Friday. Still not sure about this damn gyno issue, the lumps don't seem to be going down, and at times are still sensitive. I have been on 40mg nolvadex for almost a week now and 1mg(not really) of adex ed1/2-eod. I don't want to crash my e2 by upping it too fast. I stopped drinking, sunday was my last drink so I hope this helps, I know I shouldn't be drinking on cycle, but it was the holidays and I like to drink. Off day tomorrow, might go in for an hour of light cardio just to keep the blood flowing.

[zempey]

After reading some advice, I think on shoulder day I will try to rep out at around 80% instead of trying to max out. Have to keep myself in check so I don't hurt myself as per usual, lol.

[zempey]

Jan 8, 271

Legs

XT: 4x12 increasing weight each set

Squats: 4 sets increasing weight each set. Stopped at 3 plates a side for 8 reps to save my low back and knee.

Press: started at 6 plates a side for 15 then added a plate each set until 9 for 10 reps.

Stand calf: 4 sets increasing weight each set.

Had to bail early to take the kid to school, so no hams or cardio. Overall a good session for me, I don't train legs as hard as I used to. I barely fit into my jeans now and between my knee and low back I just don't push like I used to. I try and use strict form and get a nice squeeze throughout the full range of motion. I am just looking to etch in some shape and separation, but want to add some more size to my calves. They aren't lacking, but can calves ever be too big?

[zempey]

Just picked up my aromasin , 25mg tabs, I took one straight away and think I will run 25mg eod unless I feel it is too much then I will back it down to 12.5mg eod. These moobs need to go away, they are huge.