Thoughts of running 1 cycle a year?

[BobTheBodyBuilder]

Plan on running a very simple and straight forward 12 week test only cycle every winter to look good for summer.

My main concern is maintaining most of the newly added lean mass while off cycle.

Will I be able to naturally maintain my gains post pct for ~ 8 months?

Note: I drink very seldom, maybe once a month. And I will not drink while on cycle or PCT. Also I will be taking AI during the cycle.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Diet will obviously be on point. I have the will power to ensure I eat 6 meals a day every 2-3 hours.

[Atomini]

Yes, it is possible. But you must understand that there are many factors involved in the question as to whether or not you will maintain gains after the cycle. The primary determining factor is: have you reached your genetic limit? If you have, then any gains you make past that limit will slowly be lost until you revert back to your limit.

WIth this being said, most people do not reach their genetic limits. I have seen others do one cycle a year and maintain most of their gains just fine with no problems. I don't see an issue there as long as nutrition and diet are sufficient enough to facilitate the support of your mass for most of the year.

[liftology]

Yes, it is possible. But you must understand that there are many factors involved in the question as to whether or not you will maintain gains after the cycle. The primary determining factor is: have you reached your genetic limit? If you have, then any gains you make past that limit will slowly be lost until you revert back to your limit.

WIth this being said, most people do not reach their genetic limits. I have seen others do one cycle a year and maintain most of their gains just fine with no problems. I don't see an issue there as long as nutrition and diet are sufficient enough to facilitate the support of your mass for most of the year.

How about one every 4 months? How long would it take for you to "lose" that muscle and revert back to your genetic limit? Assuming your routine and diet are on point and your PCT went well

[Atomini]

It is impossible to give an exact answer to that question. The human body does not work in absolutes like this when you are taking into account that everyone's body differs metabolically. I don't know your body. With proper training, diet, and PCT all I can say is that you will be able to create an environment sufficient enough to sustain your body's mass to the best of your genetic capability.

I can't just start throwing out arbitrary numbers like "4 months before you revert back to your genetic limit", or "one year", or "6 months, 25 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes, and exactly 37 seconds before you lose everything above your body's limit".

The only way you can know this for yourself is to do it yourself, observe, and know YOUR body. And even then, it literally takes years before you can figure these things out with trial and error. And this is assuming you have actually reached and surpassed your genetic limit.

[flecks man]

I would agree with the other members by saying too many factors to say, but you could also gauge by looking at the muscle itself. Is it quality muscle you have made? Or water muscle? As you know drugs like anadrol and alike wil mainly be water and less quality muscle than drugs like anavar ot tbol, where you can expect or at least have more of a chance to retain your gains.

[JohnnnyBlazzze]

I could ask 20 questions for the vague questions you asked!

What are your stats, what are you looking to achieve?

[Metalject]

A good way to look at it, and I'm oversimplifying this a little....the gains you made were supported by X amount of hormones. Without those hormones supporting those gains some will be lost. Look at it similarly as you would food. It takes X amount of food to support Y amount of mass. Without that food, the mass is no longer supported in the same way. Now what Atomini said about your natural genetic limit does play a role in all this, but the support factor of the hormones cannot be disregarded.

A funny thing I see all the time, you see guys make good gains on cycle, they run their PCT and hold onto the weight gained...every pound or at least close to it and then you hear them say they didn't lose any of their gains. They're standing there at 5'10" 220lbs and saying they didn't lose any gains, when the truth of the matter is their body fat went up. Their metabolism has slowed down because the hormones that supported its enhanced state are now lacking, yet they continue to eat like they're on cycle. They've made the dreaded mistake of so many...going by the scale to determine their success rather than the mirror.

[Shadowmaker]

it depends on how much you have gained... if you have loads of muscle then ofc 1 year will be not enough to lose it... Look at Kevin Levrone - he was away from bodybuilding for how many year? still looked big...
but if you will do your first cycle and then stop for a year, then your total progress will be small if any...

i would suggest you to do more cycles at first and then go to your maintaince idea...

anyway - steroids are not something you should do if you have toughts like these... its a lifestyle choice - its not something you do ocasionaly and then stop doing it... you can do it that way but there is no reason for that - its just waste of time, money and health.

[gula187]

I had a similar thought, by wanting to do 2-3 cycles max then just try to maintain afterwards.

[Times Roman]

Often times, post cycle, mass is lost. but for those that only plan on running a cycle or two, what they will find is that althouugh they will probably and eventually lose their new found mass, what they will probably retain is something I call recharacterization (sorry for the accounting term). This means that the cycle will resculpt your body, give you better vascularity, lose some bf%, and it is these "soft" tangibles that retainable, given that the diet remains strict.

I've never seen vascularity dissipate shortly post cycle without compromising a strict diet.

[gula187]

Often times, post cycle, mass is lost. but for those that only plan on running a cycle or two, what they will find is that althouugh they will probably and eventually lose their new found mass, what they will probably retain is something I call recharacterization (sorry for the accounting term). This means that the cycle will resculpt your body, give you better vascularity, lose some bf%, and it is these "soft" tangibles that retainable, given that the diet remains strict.

I've never seen vascularity dissipate shortly post cycle without compromising a strict diet.

So what you are saying a person basically have to stay on steroids?

[Shadowmaker]

could someone tell me the reason WHY would anyone wanna do a cycle or two and the stop??
are you looking for those 5lbs that you just cant seem to gain natural, or what? i just cant see the real difference between "1 cycle" and "no cycle".
the possibility is that if you are at least 5'11 no one except you would notice that you are that much bigger after that 1 cycle cause you cant gain that much on 1 lousy beginner cycle and if the results fade away in a few months, were is the point?

[mockery]

people are not honest about their cycles, average gym rats stay on for years at a time.

most people lose their gains when they come off, steroids are an illusion. To maintain that they have to get back on . Ronnie is quoted in his thread if you wanna put on lean serious mass time on = time off simply doesn't not work.

[Shadowmaker]

steroids are an illusion. To maintain that they have to get back on

its not illusion its a basic biology...
humans are a species that have their range of random stuff - range of height we can grow, range of weigt, range of pounds of muscle mass... there are always exceptions, just like biggest bunny in the world and crap, and there are also genetic mutations but if we are talking about normal cases its very simple...

stupid analogy : steroid on a mouse makes its body think its a cat so it packs on size... when off roids, mouse slowly gets to where it should be.
time on = time off works untill you go too far from your natural levels and the decrease of size is faster because - the further you go, the faster your body wants to get back... in most cases its like : gain "index 3" lose "index 2,5" and so on until you reach the point where you gain "index 3" and lose "index 3,5" - then you have to be more on than off untill you reach a point where you have to be on all the time just to maintain the sick fcuk you have created.

p.s - average joe with crap genetics cant reach that kind of level roids or no roids...

[titan13]

It seems to me that doing continual cycles has a snow ball efect, at least in my experience. Just for conversation sake say I gain 10 pounds of decent muscle on a 14 week cycle and keep 4 or 5 pounds by the time I cycle again 4 months later. By the end of the year those are pretty decent gains. I have cycled like this for the last 2 years or so and I would be suprised if I did not keep all of my gains if I decided not to do another cycle. I also think for the serious lifter one or two random cycles ran properly can help you get through sticking points in your training. Just my 2c

[mockery]

I end my cycles at 8 weeks. myostatin for me is a bitch if i try to go longer its a waste of time and money if i try and go longer. i will how ever hit the prop hard in the final 2 weeks after the last injection of the 8 week cycle. and run it up to the final 3 days of teh enthanate ester. Thats what works for me, 10-12 weeks dont get me any where.

[Metalject]

I end my cycles at 8 weeks. myostatin for me is a bitch if i try to go longer its a waste of time and money if i try and go longer. i will how ever hit the prop hard in the final 2 weeks after the last injection of the 8 week cycle. and run it up to the final 3 days of teh enthanate ester. Thats what works for me, 10-12 weeks dont get me any where.

To keep a cycle going strong, a lot of guys make the mistake of relying the same compounds the entire time. More progress can usually be made by rotating compounds and introducing various compounds as sort of a plateau buster when you hit stopping point.

For example, I've been a fan of Nandrolone/Trenbolone rotations for a long time. In this case, you might start with Nandrolone for 10wks, but 8wks into it you'd introduce Trenbolone and only use Trenbolone from wk 11 and onward. This doesn't mean you couldn't keep a little Nandrolone in there for joint issues and recovery if you desired, but Tren would now be the primary steroid rather than Nandrolone and more progress will be made.

I also really like Dianabol mid-cycle. Great way to break through a sticking point and works really well when you're doing the rotation type things described above. Testosterone Suspension is also a good option in this case.