body fat and cycling

[mike2nice]

i am planning on a bulking cycle in the near future, and my concern is body fat in relation to gains in strength and size. i am under the impression that a person is more likely to get gyno with higher body fat (mine is 15-16%. I am concerned with gains here, and i am wondering if a higher body fat will get in the way of gains.

[2bshredded]

I think it has to do a lot with the persons genetics, etc. I'm 46, had a body fat of 16-18% when I did my first cycle....lost a sh*t load of BF.
But, my metabolism is high and have a long history of sports and cardio training.
The point I'm getting at is one's experience cannot be a landmark for others.

[ascendant]

2bshredded's experience is quite uncommon. the big problem with taking gear while having a high bf% is that bf is where testosterone aromatizes to estrogen, leaving you prone to numerous health problems including gyno. the less bf you have, the less conversion you have, and the better off you are.

also, most people do not lose significant amounts of bf from a cycle unless they're cutting calories and doing a lot of cardio. then again, you'd still be able to lose a lot of bf without the gear regardless.

personally, i'd advise the gear for bulking and your off times from cycles to cut up. however, you should get that bf down before starting your first cycle, as you will get much more out of a cycle that way.

my question to you is why is your bf at 15-16% and why would you prefer to not get rid of it first? do you not care about having an appealing physique? are you more of a powerlifter? if not, you may want to take a good look in the mirror and realize you need to shed some fat now, drop the gear and put it away somewhere, and work on your diet and cardio to drop some bf before pumping hormones into yourself.

if you're in the "i don't want to lose any weight though" boat, i've been there. however, after dropping my bf down from the 12% it used to be off-season to keeping it between 5-10%, i can tell you my physique, though not as heavy as it could be at 12%, is far more impressive and appealing when my shirts off and those muscles are flexed. just make the effort to get your bf down below 8% and you'll see what i mean.

[mike2nice]

yeah i guess i am in the "it's almost winter and i don't really care about a little extra bf right now" state of mind. just want to see some good strength and muscle gains, and take care of shedding some fat early next year after my cycle and pct are taken care of. the other thing is how deceptive my body holds fat. the majority is just in the ab region and with a shirt on you could probably think i was lying about my bf%. I am tall and look lean. I DON"T CARE ABOUT SEEING ABS RIGHT NOW, so why should it matter?

[donniebrasco]

yeah i guess i am in the "it's almost winter and i don't really care about a little extra bf right now" state of mind. I DON"T CARE ABOUT SEEING ABS RIGHT NOW, so why should it matter?

yeah im feeling exactly the same and was wondering whether it would make a difference, depending on bf

[ascendant]

yeah i guess i am in the "it's almost winter and i don't really care about a little extra bf right now" state of mind. just want to see some good strength and muscle gains, and take care of shedding some fat early next year after my cycle and pct are taken care of. the other thing is how deceptive my body holds fat. the majority is just in the ab region and with a shirt on you could probably think i was lying about my bf%. I am tall and look lean. I DON"T CARE ABOUT SEEING ABS RIGHT NOW, so why should it matter?

it should matter for the reason i stated above regarding aromitization. you will simply not make the same gains with a higher bf%. an anti-e such as arimidex might be able to help compensate for that, but i can't say for sure.

anyway, another reason to drop the bf more beforehand is you know if you're bulking while on the cycle that you will be gaining more bf during the cycle. now, it's gonna be hard enough getting your bf where it is now down to a reasonable level. if it goes higher, it's gonna be that much harder down the road. you can potentially end up spending months having to cut and doing tons of cardio with a strict diet.

now, if that's something you're ok with and you're sure you'll do later and you really don't care how you look right now, then go for it. but, think of what losing the extra fat will do for your girl or if you don't have one, keeping one that meets you and sees what's underneath the shirt. i don't care what a woman says about "i like you just the way you are". you go ahead and get your bf down to the point where you have a nice 6-pack and watch those legs spread like butter.

also, i find all too many people say to themselves they just wanna gain weight now and they'll lose the fat later. years down the road, they're still in the same state of mind, doing the same thing time and time again.

what it boils down to is keeping lean year round, which more and more people do now because of realizing the many many benefits to it, will help you substantially in achieving your goals. hopefully someone else can come along with some more technical info in regards to that matter, cause i think i've said enough here for now to get my point across.

[STEROIDZZ]

Its going to matter regaurdless, but since your probably going to do your cycle regaurdless of bf% i suggest using a good anti-e such as arimidex or letro, this should prevent that gyno, which you wil be highly prone to get with high bf% goodluck