Taking a year off from shows to get bigger - how many cycles to do?

[Until_It_Sleeps]

So I have a show this month, and possibly October and November as well, then I'm done for the year. Coach wants me to take a year off and try to add more size. So, in a year (or maybe 18 months) how many cycles (8-12 weeks) total should I do? The last 16 weeks would be the cutting cycle, so how many bulking cycles and how much of a break between each one?

Or, to break it down:
November 2012: Last show
December 2012 - December 2013: Try to get big
January 2014 - April 2014: Cutting cycle
May 2014 - Next show

Or do I just take a month off all gear after my last show, then start up again and just do the same thing every week until it's time to cut?

[mockery]

i would! and this is my opinion only, finish the show in nov, take 12 weeks off. then probably blast for a year leading up to your 14 week cutter. Are you doing nationals in 2014?

[mockery]

cause if you are , i don't see why you would wanna come off

[Until_It_Sleeps]

Not a national show, but a very big local show that gets a lot of coverage. So just run the same gear from, say, Feb to Dec next year? Assuming it's all injectables, is that safe, or are there things that you aren't supposed to use for longer than 8-12 weeks at a time?

[mockery]

also look ahead do you have to do any photos or stand in a booth for your sponsor in Vegas or anything like that? if so, get thos behind you and then make it clear you are unavailable for a period of time so that you can bulk.

[mockery]

grow into your dosages, with your bulk i doubt you should use anything other then anavar and test. id start off with small amount of test and monitor how you are growing , sides... strength and increase as you need to over the period of time. Then stack for your 14 week cutter

[Until_It_Sleeps]

My pic is 18 months old; I'm a lot bigger now and I expect I'll have to use a lot just to maintain. I've been on 200mg/wk test for a few years now (with some breaks). But I would like to grow gradually and not just blow up the way I usually do.

[mockery]

females blasting is a bit trickier, listen to your body get lots of blood work, don't bulk higher then 10% stage weight.. use this time to hammer your weaker points. Obviously if you still get your period, dont measure or weigh yourself in this time frame.

Have a "living" "growing" diet that will adapt to your size gains or lbm gains. Dont have a set in stone diet you don't add to as you need to grow more.

[mockery]

im not sure how myostatin protein works in females, but perhaps every 8 weeks add 50mg a week, over a year that would be an addition of 300mg .. save all the var, and other stacks for the cutter. Cycle your protein high for a period of time that works best for you then decrease protein by half and for half the time you were on high protein then go back to high protein and make friends with carbs.

[mockery]

plan 3 , 10 day off periods from the gym in the year where you just recover, go on vacation etc and try to plan all trips or what have you in those 10 day static deconditioning phases.

[mockery]

the other option is 8 week on test, 8 week off, rinse and repeat. But if this show is a big deal, coming off is not a good idea.. especially if this show will help pay the bills.

[mockery]

Disclaimer: to those reading this

if you are a 18-21 year old male who weighs 143 lbs and is 6' ... this is not a great idea for you to blast year round advice. She has met her genetic limit and is 9000 x stronger then you.

[austinite]

What are your current stats and where are you looking to be after these cycles?

[Until_It_Sleeps]

What are your current stats and where are you looking to be after these cycles?

Current (10 days out from show):
Weight 124, bf 9%
Usual contest weight is 115-120, will probably be around 120 at this one
Biceps 13.5" (14.5 off season)
Bodybuilding for five years, enhanced for three years

I would like to add at least 10 lbs lean and get the biceps to 15" on stage, ideally coming in at 125-130 lbs and between 5-8%. I have never used GH but a few people have said I may have to in order to get to where I want to be.

[austinite]

Current (10 days out from show):
Weight 124, bf 9%
Usual contest weight is 115-120, will probably be around 120 at this one
Biceps 13.5" (14.5 off season)
Bodybuilding for five years, enhanced for three years

I would like to add at least 10 lbs lean and get the biceps to 15" on stage, ideally coming in at 125-130 lbs and between 5-8%. I have never used GH but a few people have said I may have to in order to get to where I want to be.

Ok. Great stats.

I'd probably consider one long cycle of primo.

[Metalject]

You know the whole taking a full year off to gain more size, in my opinion this rarely works as well as most people want it to. It seems most just end up gaining more fat than they would have otherwise, end up having to diet even harder (and it's already brutal) and end up looking about the same. Look at the conditioning of a lot of the top IFBB pro's these days that only compete 1x a yr....the conditioning has been horrific the last few years overall and now the new rule changes are going to force most of them to compete more often. I'm not saying you can't be successful with a full year off from contest prep, but growth really starts to stagnate during a constant off-season even with gear. Granted, insane cycles could change this some. I would also be very careful with continuous use of AAS throughout the year unless you're not worried about harsh virilization symptoms. For a good, high quality off-season, you might be better served with hard 8wk blast followed by 6-8wks of nothing but your HGH and then repeat...running HGH the entire time. Or you could run a hard blast for 8wks or so and then bridge with Anavar and nothing else or with Anavar and HGH if you're using HGH.

Anyway, that's my opinion but the biggest thing is listening to your coach...that's what you pay him for, to know the best answers for your body...otherwise there's no point in him/her.

[Until_It_Sleeps]

So many options!!!

I've never used GH so definitely would want my coach's guidance on that...I've always had a problem gaining too much fat in the off season; I will pack on 20+ lbs after a show. So my plan this time is to stick with my coach thru the off-season and have a mass-gain plan with some real help and not just do what I usually do: eat 3500 calories; figure "well, at least some is probably muscle" and then find a coach at 12 weeks out and say "How do I fix this?!"

I also don't have much experience with orals; I've used dianabol but really did not like that. It made me horribly sick and I had bad chest pains. But I hear orals are good at the beginning of a cycle to jump start; would anavar be good for this?

[austinite]

Anavar would help but I would run at the end of your cycle.

Primo @ 100mg EW for 12 weeks. Var @ 10mg ED for the last 5 weeks.

[Metalject]

So many options!!!

I've never used GH so definitely would want my coach's guidance on that...I've always had a problem gaining too much fat in the off season; I will pack on 20+ lbs after a show. So my plan this time is to stick with my coach thru the off-season and have a mass-gain plan with some real help and not just do what I usually do: eat 3500 calories; figure "well, at least some is probably muscle" and then find a coach at 12 weeks out and say "How do I fix this?!"

I also don't have much experience with orals; I've used dianabol but really did not like that. It made me horribly sick and I had bad chest pains. But I hear orals are good at the beginning of a cycle to jump start; would anavar be good for this?

Yep, happens to most people in the off-season.

Yeah I'm not surprised you didn't like Dianabol ...it can be pretty rough for a lot of women. As for Anavar , it can really be used at any point during a cycle for a woman. Some of my girls run Anavar for a few wks and then add Primo on top of that for a handful of wks and then drop it and continue with the Var for a little bit. Anavar and EQ can be a good option too or even a rotation using all three, Anavar, Primo and EQ. Whatever you do, if you use HGH throughout your entire off-season you should find you stay a little leaner this go around.

[Until_It_Sleeps]

Is GH meant to be used daily long-term, or is it cycled like anything else? I also don't understand the dosage, iu vs cc? Are they the same? And I read somewhere else it takes a few months to see the effects of gh, so when do you come off of it?

I think calorie-wise I don't need anywhere near what I thought I did. I'm at 1000-1200 now and obviously this is for dieting but at 124 lbs, I'm not suffering. The physical hunger isn't too bad. So to build I probably don't need the 3000+ I was doing. I'm only 5'1" so maybe even a 5-lb lean gain would look significant on me.

[t-dogg]

Hgh is used long term. 6mnths plus. Nothing will happen over night.

[Metalject]

Is GH meant to be used daily long-term, or is it cycled like anything else? I also don't understand the dosage, iu vs cc? Are they the same? And I read somewhere else it takes a few months to see the effects of gh, so when do you come off of it?

I think calorie-wise I don't need anywhere near what I thought I did. I'm at 1000-1200 now and obviously this is for dieting but at 124 lbs, I'm not suffering. The physical hunger isn't too bad. So to build I probably don't need the 3000+ I was doing. I'm only 5'1" so maybe even a 5-lb lean gain would look significant on me.

Yes, GH is meant to be used daily and long-term. That's the only way you'll get any decent use out of it, especially if growing is a desire. There really isn't an exact time to come off. If you're using it during your diet, use it the entire time until you get 10-14 days out...you want to pull it shortly before a show due to the possible water retention it can cause. During the off-season, you'll need a solid six months for it to really have a positive effect growth wise. However, the total dose will determine how valuable that growth is. But, even with as little as four months at a moderate dose its metabolic enhancing traits will be valuable as it pertains to maintaining a leaner physique during the off-season. Whenever you start HGH, for the best results I would plan on continuing its use all the way through the diet, so you really don't want to start until you know you're not going to have any breaks with it. Most women will find 1-2iu per day to be very valuable when it comes to conditioning...during the off-season, the same dose can be used but some may find the 2-3iu range to be suited for this time of use.

Regarding IU to CC or ML, there really isn't a set standard. A single unit is dependent on the concentration of the substance. For example (using the number 10 for an easy understanding) if you have a vial of HGH and it contains 10iu, when you mix it you will add in 1cc or 1ml of water. That means the entire vial now contains 10iu in a total 1ml solution. If you were to mix the same vial of HGH using 2ml of water, this means you still have 10iu but now in a total 2ml solution. Once you know your desired dose, you take an insulin syringe and if you mixed in 1ml of water this means each tenth marking on the insulin syringe represents 1iu. If you mixed in 2ml of water, this means two tenth markings on the insulin syringe represents 1iu.

In my opinion, once your show is over the best way to start is to not have a total caloric intake in mind. The best way to go, and this can be hard, is to stay on your base diet you used through most of your contest prep while slowly adding in more carbs and fats as needed. This might mean you start back with where your contest diet was during the early stages. After a week or two add in some carbs to your breakfast and maybe one more meal. I'd stay on that plan for a few wks and then add carbs into another meal or two...moderately. Continue to follow that until you reach a point where you need to increase the total carb and fat content of a meal but don't just start piling the stuff back in there. If you do, it's a perfect recipe for gaining butt loads of fat and bloat.

Sorry so long. Hope this helps a little.