Bulking to cutting - how long

[bmit]

5'8
186
14.5% bf
32 yo
10 years training off/on (hardcore for the last year)

On 300mg test / 200 mg deca per week for HRT for last year

Ran a 6 week fina cycle - started it at 75mg/eod and went up to 75 mg/ed after 10 days to make sure didn't get any bad sides.

Will have gained about 5-7 lbs muscle and put on about 3-5 lbs of fat. Want to get bf down to at least 12% for summer.

Was thinking of keeping calories at maintainable for two weeks and then doing slow caloric deficit and then working into some cardio. Thought my HRT would allow me to keep the new muscle. But i think my body may need a little more than two weeks to get used to the new mass.

Since on HRT, recovery won't be a problem. Just worried about rushing in too fast and losing my new muscle.

What would you go guys do/recommend?

[T-MOS]

being on trt, you should be able to keep your gains while doing a cutting cycle.

just up the cardio and watch the calories and still train heavy

[bmit]

so you are saying i can go straight to cutting w/o worrying about losing the new muscle. Am on 500mg/wk hrt so it is a pretty anti-catabolic cocktail. Just wanted to be safe and not sorry. Have worked really hard for these new lbs.

[T-MOS]

I think so, as you will still be on , and the steroids are good for retaining muscle.

if you are really worried, just monitor your calories close, keep a log of food intake and macro breakdown so you can monitor if you are losing too much muscle and adjust your calories and cardio acordingly

there is bound to be some muscle lose with fat lose, its only natural , but the steroids should help hold on to it.

[bmit]

so really no advantage gained by allowing my body to adapt to the new muscle for 2-8 weeks?

[T-MOS]

hmmm, i'm not that much of an expert when it comes to TRT, maybe another old fart can chime in and help you better.

I think you would be fine , but lets see what others say

[bmit]

When i was in college i ran a cycle (before HRT) and i gave myself PCT time plus about 4 weeks to adjust to new mass before i started cutting (naturally). Held onto all my muscle. Just want to be safe. But at the same time 14.5% is way too high bf for me as a single guy during bathing suit season. lol

[bmit]

bump for any other ideas on how long to wait. opinions? ideas? How long do you guys wait after bulking to start dieting down?

[canadian meat]

Slowly transition your diet and turn up your cardio so you can start burning the stored fat. Im also on TRT and making the bulk to cut transition Im personally going from about 7000 calories a day to maintenance so for me to rush things would be to much for my body
but i have upped my cardio drastically from 20 min a day to 60 min a day and no muscle loss here.

[GTOne]

bmit - i am getting ready to start the same therapy that you are on (300 test and 200 deca). those are some pretty good strengths for HRT I think everyone will agree.

don't mean to hijack, but have you experienced any gains from that (aside from the current cycle of fina)?

i have been on hrt with varying "cycles", but curious as to your experience with this mix...

[bmit]

GTOne - gotten really awesome gains from that dosage with very little sides. had some bacne as my hormone levels adjusted which has gone away. Taking propecia and rogaine to combat hair loss (better safe then sorry). Recovery, energy, strength, lean body mass has all greatly improved.