Lurker with questions.

[Thunderforge]

Hello,
I've been silently hanging out here for several months. Trying to learn what I can and gain enough confidence with the topic to run my first cycle. I'm almost reluctant to post because I have so many questions etc.

Get the stats outta the way first though.

I'm 41 years old and have lifted on and off since my early 20s. I did have an extended break of about 6 years or so but have been back at it for about 4 years now. I stick to a Paleo (caveman) diet. This means Any meat/fish/poultry, fruits/veggies, and nuts and seeds with the occasional Blue Monster drink ( it's been proven via cave paintings that Paleo Man DID indeed drink Monster energy drink, crazy I know). 5'11" tall at 190 lbs. I'd put my bf somewhere around 10-15%. In the last few years my training has grown dramatically. I had a bit of a life changing event around two years ago and the end result was that my viewpoints on, well, just about everything, changed, opened up I guess. I began to experiment with lots of "outside the conventional wisdom" thinking. Including my training. Finally stepping away from the more typical BB training routines I was brought up to believe exemplified fitness. I am currently following Wendler's 5/3/1 program and will stick with this for at least 6 months. My strength gains are very exciting. Currently: Bench: 245, Squat: 440 Deadlift: 565. I realize that dl seems awfully high. I really have no explanation for that except to say that's just what it is. All those lifts are improvements over what they were 2 months ago. I have never trained with a low rep range like this and find myself REALLY liking it. Two days a week I also run hill sprints.

So! I have wondered for years if my test levels might be abnormally low. My work effort in the gym is very strong. I have been dedicated for extended periods and enjoyed modest results. I have researched, experimented and often been pleased with the results, but honestly, sometimes I was also envious of some of the other gym rats. Guys my age, doing less work and reaping better gains. Of course a lot of factors can influence this. Genetic, overtraining, diet, sleep. I know. I was careful and really did pursue knowledge. I tried many different approaches and evaluated the results. In the end I really just wondered if I was somehow handicapped. I hate to use the term "hard gainer". Everyone throws those ****ing words around. Of course it's hard dumbass. That's why everyone else quits! Anyway, I finally asked my Dr to run bw for me. He only checked my free test but the result wasn't surprising. 8.3 picograms. LabCorp's range? 40-49 years 6.8-21.5 picogram/mL. So while I qualified as normal it was JUST barely.

This is what brought me here.

My doc was good enough to put me on Fortesta gel, which I have been on for 3 months. I feel somewhat better but nothing amazing. Of course it's not really meant to do that, it's meant to improve my quality of life. I'd say it has, but it's also got me wanting more. I got more bw done last week but haven't picked up the results yet. I'm very curious.

Man, this has turned into a ****ing dissertation. Sorry.

I'll just get right to some of my questions.

The Fortesta is dosed at 10g of test per pump. I use 4 pumps per day. So that's 280 mg of test per week. A lot of the cycles I see for first timers say 400 to 500 mg per week. I can't find many references to Fortesta at all. What would happen if I just upped the dose to 8 pumps a day. I know it's not a typical way to add test for the purpose of building muscle, but I do have a legal scrip for it. Anyone have any experiences with this drug? Sorry for such a n00b question.

If I was to take the plunge and run a cycle of 500mg Test Cyp for 12 weeks should I continue my hrt too? I'm assuming I should since it's supposed to bring me up into a more normal starting range anyway. Perhaps stop the Fortesta and add another 200 mg of Cyp?

Thanks for the help.

[ScotchGuard02]

Welcome to the forum bro. I'm 52 and have been cycling AAS for about 4 years now. I can tell you from experience putting 280mg/wk of Test via a cream and injecting 280mg/wk of Test Prop will yield two totally different results. If you want to move to the next level in your TRT I would bag the Fortesta and go to the injections. Go ahead and just inject 280mg/wk of Test Cyp for starters. Within 6 weeks you'll feel a huge difference. I'm on TRT at 200mg/wk and I feel like a million bucks. I'm 5'11", 200#, 10%-12% bodyfat (depends on my wife's cooking). I bench 385 and can grapple with guys half my age. The injection's the real deal, my .02. If you're going to do a 12 week cycle then drop the HRT. Test Cyp is a longer ester then Test E. If you run Test E you can run for 12 weeks. If you run Test Cyp you can run a little longer.

[Thunderforge]

Thanks for the reply mate. I had a feeling that was what I was gonna be told. I'll see what the bw says then and if the doc is willing I'll see how he feels about the shots. Unfortunately I have no idea how that will go. I like this guy but he doesn't like to be told how to medicate, which I understand I guess. One of the first things he told me when I met him, just trying to make chitchat, was that he hated it when people came in already knowing what was wrong because they were on webMD. lol.