Maintaining Gains / Maintenance Doses

[onefm]

Are the gains a person keeps proportionate to the amount of testosterone he is continuously taking? If someone gains 20lbs of lean muscle after a cycle of about 300mgs of Test per week, can it still be maintained with let's say HRT dosing of about 125mgs of Test a week? Considering that the proper diet, and workouts stay consistent.

[< <Samson> >]

Depends, ideally you want to find the minimum amount of roids it takes you to maintain what you want to keep

[Test Monsterone]

You’re not going to gain 20 lbs of muscle from 300 mg of test per week.

You can look at it two ways. Blast a lot of gear and hope to put on a lot of muscle and keep some of it after the cycle ends.

Or, you can do a moderate dose that is closer to your trt dose, and hope that whatever little gains you make are going to stay at your regular trt dose.

Your individual genetics, diet, and lifestyle will determine how much you can keep.

[< <Samson> >]

You’re not going to gain 20 lbs of muscle from 300 mg of test per week.

You can look at it two ways. Blast a lot of gear and hope to put on a lot of muscle and keep some of it after the cycle ends.

Or, you can do a moderate dose that is closer to your trt dose, and hope that whatever little gains you make are going to stay at your regular trt dose.

Your individual genetics, diet, and lifestyle will determine how much you can keep.

What he said

[Cuz]

You’re going to maintain whatever you and your body determine is maintainable. Gear diet and training all play factors. There is no cookie cutter recipe ideally you dont want to stay on gear all your life otherwise it will probably be short just chasing 10 extra lbs to satisfy your ego…

[Iranon]

Are the gains a person keeps proportionate to the amount of testosterone he is continuously taking? If someone gains 20lbs of lean muscle after a cycle of about 300mgs of Test per week, can it still be maintained with let's say HRT dosing of about 125mgs of Test a week? Considering that the proper diet, and workouts stay consistent.

I have said this for decades. You can not keep gains from drugs long term when you come off for life. I took some aspirin 8 years ago so it's still working right? Even with TRT at 40% the dose of your blast you will slowly lose it all...unless you ran a first cycle way too soon.

Secondly you could gain 20lbs of lean tissue on a cycle of 300mg test a week if: It is your first cycle, if you have an amazing diet and training program (John Meadows approved) and if you have top 5% genetics. Most of us will be happy with half that.

[< <Samson> >]

Slippery slope for sure

To keep my ideal physique intact, I run a bit - 150-180mg of test + 90mg of weekly Deca , 20-25mg of daily Proviron + usually 25mg of an oral like Var + HCG weekly + 5mg of daily Cialis

Considering adding some gH now since my new guy stocks it

[Honkey_Kong]

First of all putting 20lbs of muscle on from a 300mg cycle seems a bit far fetched (even if it's your first cycle). It's slightly more than some TRT doses. Just because the scale goes up 20lbs, it doesn't mean you gained 20lbs of muscle.

But eventually, when you come off gear, you're going to go back down to whatever your body/training allows you to maintain with the dose of your TRT or whatever your body is producing. You can slow this down by having a good training method, diet and plenty of rest.

[powerliftmike]

One can maintain some gains post cycle for sure. The longer you stay at the higher weight the easier it is to maintain. Your body acclimates to a new bodyweight, a new homeostatic set point if you will. Likewise, The longer you have been fat, the harder it will be to drop and maintain lower weight as well.

Personally, I can keep mass from years of training and on/off AAS with ~200-250mg/wk T. Just my anecdote. That is higher than TRT, which I run at 125mg/wk currently [real TRT, dr prescribed]. However, you can maintain a good bit with TRT if you have been training for many years and continue to eat the necessary calories and keep training intensity high. However, what I am speaking of is muscle mass here. Strength will absolutely drop. You will not be able to maintain strength off, TRT, or low dose. Androgen mediated nervous system effects are real.

In summary, if you train and cycle for years you can maintain a good amount of mass if everything else continues with diet and training, and given you are not hypogonadal from these cycles or get on TRT or low dose. Most strength while on cycle will go away. From numerous real world cases it appears that upper body strength can be disproportionately affected, e.g. your max bench press can decrease more than squat and DL. I have not even directly checked the scientific literature on this, but of course we can see upper body can be more androgen sensitive looking at differences in women and men. Compare female powerlifting records with mens and adjust everything for percentage comparison. It is interesting.

[XnavyHMCS]

Slippery slope for sure

To keep my ideal physique intact, I run a bit - 150-180mg of test + 90mg of weekly Deca , 20-25mg of daily Proviron + usually 25mg of an oral like Var + HCG weekly + 5mg of daily Cialis

Considering adding some gH now since my new guy stocks it

One man's TRT, is another man's cycle.
Glad to see that I am not alone...