First Cycle Log

[Thespear]

Hello everyone,

I'll start off with my stats: 26 YO, 6 years lifting, 14-15% BF, 6'0" tall, 203lbs. I will try to get some pics up soon. Using 23ga to draw/inject and 30 ga slin for hcg .

Basic Test E cycle -

Bloodwork- Pre / 6 weeks/ 22 weeks


Week 1-10
Test - 500mg (2 x 250)
adex - .5 EOD(will be running this up to pct and adj. as needed)

week 2-12
hcg - 500iu/week (2 x 250) subQ on days with test

week 4-10
anavar - 50mg/day (25mg am/pm)

week 13-17 (5 weeks)
PCT-Nolva 20mg ed

OTHER: omega 3 krill oil 500mg/day, animal flex joint support and 5% nutrition liver and organ defender daily.


Here is my pre cycle bloodwork, everything looks fine to me, but I would love a second opinion.
CBC With Differential/Platelet
WBC 3.1 LOW 3.4-10.8 x10E3/uL 01
RBC 4.91 4.14-5.80 x10E6/uL 01
Hemoglobin 14.5 12.6-17.7 g/dL 01
Hematocrit 43.1 37.5-51.0 % 01
MCV 88 79-97 fL 01
MCH 29.5 26.6-33.0 pg 01
MCHC 33.6 31.5-35.7 g/dL 01
RDW 13.3 12.3-15.4 % 01
Platelets 199 150-379 x10E3/uL 01
Neutrophils 38 % 01
Lymphs 47 % 01
Monocytes 10 % 01
Eos 4 % 01
Basos 1 % 01
Neutrophils (Absolute) 1.2 LOW 1.4-7.0 x10E3/uL 01
Lymphs (Absolute) 1.5 0.7-3.1 x10E3/uL 01
Monocytes(Absolute) 0.3 0.1-0.9 x10E3/uL 01
Eos (Absolute) 0.1 0.0-0.4 x10E3/uL 01
Baso (Absolute) 0.0 0.0-0.2 x10E3/uL 01
Immature Granulocytes 0 % 01
Immature Grans (Abs) 0.0 0.0-0.1 x10E3/uL 01
Comp. Metabolic Panel (14)
Glucose, Serum 86 65-99 mg/dL 01
BUN 20 6-20 mg/dL 01
Creatinine, Serum 1.06 0.76-1.27 mg/dL 01
eGFR If NonAfricn Am 96 >59 mL/min/1.73 01
eGFR If Africn Am 111 >59 mL/min/1.73 01
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 19 8-19 01
Sodium, Serum 141 134-144 mmol/L 01
Potassium, Serum 4.2 3.5-5.2 mmol/L 01
Chloride, Serum 101 97-108 mmol/L 01
Carbon Dioxide, Total 24 18-29 mmol/L 01
Calcium, Serum 9.6 8.7-10.2 mg/dL 01
Protein, Total, Serum 6.9 6.0-8.5 g/dL 01
Albumin, Serum 5.1 3.5-5.5 g/dL 01
Globulin, Total 1.8 1.5-4.5 g/dL 01
A/G Ratio 2.8 HIGH 1.1-2.5 01
Bilirubin, Total 0.5 0.0-1.2 mg/dL 01
Alkaline Phosphatase, S 62 39-117 IU/L 01
AST (SGOT) 22 0-40 IU/L 01
ALT (SGPT) 14 0-44 IU/L 01
Lipid Panel
Cholesterol, Total 149 100-199 mg/dL 01
Triglycerides 54 0-149 mg/dL 01
HDL Cholesterol 57 >39 mg/dL 01
According to ATP-III Guidelines, HDL-C >59 mg/dL is considered a
negative risk factor for CHD.
VLDL Cholesterol Cal 11 5-40 mg/dL 01
LDL Cholesterol Calc 81 0-99 mg/dL 01
Thyroid Panel With TSH
1 of 2
TSH 3.170 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL 01
Thyroxine (T4) 6.4 4.5-12.0 ug/dL 01
T3 Uptake 33 24-39 % 01
Free Thyroxine Index 2.1 1.2-4.9 01
Testosterone , Free/Tot Equilib
Testosterone, Serum 612 348-1197 ng/dL 01
Comment: Comment 01
Adult male reference interval is based on a population of lean males
up to 40 years old.
Testosterone,Free 15.79 5.00-21.00 ng/dL 02
% Free Testosterone 2.58 1.50-4.20 % 02
Prostate-Specific Ag, Serum
Prostate Specific Ag, Serum 0.8 0.0-4.0 ng/mL 01

IGF-1
Insulin -Like Growth Factor I 161 98-282 ng/mL 02
Estradiol, Sensitive
Estradiol, Sensitive 18.2 8.0-35.0 pg/mL 02


THANKS!

[Back In Black]

Your Adex dose is probably double what you will need.

You should drop the bar and run test only.

You should add Clomid to your PCT.

Did you read this?

My First Cycle: Planning and Executing a Successful First Cycle

[Thespear]

Yes, I have read just about every sticky on this board multiple times. Thanks for the advice on the adex, I was planning on running .25 or .5mg EOD.

The Var reasoning is that my source and another guy I lift with that have been cycling for years have ran var with their last 3 test cycles and say they love it. Granted im not going to just take someones word for it without researching. They ran their first cycles test only and said it was great but after they ran one with var they said they wouldn't go back. I have it on hand and "plan" to give it a shot. Im waiting to start the oral until the longer ester test kicks in. this way if I have any sides I can know what caused them. If I run and everything goes well I may start the Var on the back end. If not i can always save it for the next one.

I have read on other forums that Nolva is superior to clomid and they don't need to be ran together.
Here is an excerpt from some of my readings...

"However, it acts as an anti-estrogen in the pituitary, thus increasing LH and FSH, which results in an increase in testosterone . 20mgs of Nolvadex will raise your testosterone levels about 150% (6)...Nolvadex actually has quite a few applications for the steroid using athlete. First and foremost, it?s most common use is for the prevention of gynocomastia.

Nolvadex does this by actually competing for the receptor site in breast tissue, and binding to it. Thus, we can safely say that the effect of tamoxifen is through estrogen receptor blockade of breast tissue (7).

Estrogen is also important for a properly functioning immune system, and not only that, but your lipid profile (both HDL and LDL) should also show marked improvement with administration of tamoxifen (34).

Nolvadex also has some important features for the steroid using athlete. In hypogonadic and infertile men given nolvadex, increases in the serum levels of LH, FSH, and most importantly, testosterone were all observed (35)It can also block a bit of estrogen in the pituitary, which is a great benefit when used with HCG (more on that later) (36)(37).

The increase in testosterone Nolvadex can give someone with a dysfunctional is basically that 20mgs of Nolvadex will raise your testosterone levels about 150% (6)...Why don?t we use Clomid, another SERM? Well, basically because it takes much more to do the same thing.

In comparison, it would require 150mgs of Clomid to accomplish that type of elevation in testosterone, but Nolvadex also has the added benefit of significantly increasing the LH (Leutenizing Hormone) response to LHRH (LH-releasing hormone) (6). This most likely indicates some kind of upregulation of the LH-receptors due to the anti-estrogenic effect Nolvadex has at the pituitary.

Although both Nolvadex and Clomid are both SERMs, they are actually quite different. As you already know, Nolvadex is highly anti-estrogenic at the hypothalamus and pituitary, while Clomid exhibits weak estrogenic activity at the pituitary (7), which as you can guess, is less than ideal. It should be avoided for the PCT I?m suggesting?and in fact, avoided in general?it?s simply not as good as Nolvadex.

Need I even add that the 150mgs of Clomid you need to get the hormonal increase experienced with 20mgs of Nolvadex is much more expensive? So lets dump the Clomid?and no, using it along with Nolvadex will provide no ?synergy? that I?ve ever seen in any relevant study.

SO how much Nolvadex should you use during PCT? I favor using 20mgs.day, although to be totally honest, you can probably even get away with far less than that.

Doses as low as 5mgs/day have proven to be as effective as 20mgs/day for certain areas of gonadal stimulation. (8) 20mgs/day, however, is a dose that myself and others have used with great success, and the research I?ve done in this area typically uses this milligram amount. SO lets stick with 20mgs/day for now.

So that effectively suggests Nolvadex can not be used at Mega-doses to get a mega-increase in your natural hormones."

Not tryin to say anyone on here is in the wrong, just came across conflicting info on the Nolva v clomid debate. I have easy access to clomid if i decide to go with both. The test, var, hcg, adex and nolva are all on hand now.

Thanks

[Kyle1337]

Definitely drop the Adex to .25 mg EOD.

Start HCG day 1.

Also, did you read this? Plenty other similar results online too about why you need both for PCT.

Testosterone Cypionate + HCG + Dbol?

Why risk it? Scroll down to austinite post. Good luck.

[kelkel]

If you run the cycle at least do 12 weeks. Other than that good advice above.

Next, you need to look into your thyroid. Your TSH is way high and T4 low end, which can be an indicator of hypothyroidism. Yes, TSH is in range but it's an old range. A more modern, accepted range is .3 - 3.0.

Nolva and clomid will each be more effective when run alongside each other. Not saying nolva won't work on it's own, it's just more advantageous to run both. Test works on it's own too, but you're choosing to run Var as well. See my point?

I'd drop your liver support and pick up NAC for now.

Best of luck.

[Thespear]

Thank you Kyle and Kel, I hadn't read that post by austinite. Good reading, I will run clomid and nolva together. Going to go ahead and run a 12 week cycle as well. Still planning on the anavar as long as mid cycle bloods are good. I will check into the hypothyroid issue kelkel, my sister has a problem with hers so I'm sure it's hereditary. What would be the symptoms?

[Thespear]

Sorry that was a stupid question, I googled it. I'll check it out. I do have some of the symptoms but mostly just fatigue. I'll ask my doc next time.

[kelkel]

You may not feel any. Do some reading at Stop the Thyroid Madness™ - Hypothyroidism and thyroid mistreatment when you can.

[Thespear]

Thank you. I will be starting this week with the above cycle. Only changes will be extended to 12 weeks and clomid/nolva pct. First pin will be in a day or two and I will try to keep it updated weekly for anyone who is interested. Any questions for me just ask. Pics coming as well.

[AKD_FitChick]

Coming from someone that has Thyroid issues and Hashimoto's and is on 3 medications for it, you should request a Free T3 and a Free T4, your TSH is high..........when you get your Free's tested post your levels......it is absolutely genetic and runs in men the same way as woman. I have experienced different symptoms, mainly I know immediately when my levels are off due to fatigue. Then comes sensitivity, dropping fat is harder. Make sure to do research to cause the ranges that they have are 'old' ranges and you should be in the top 1/3 of ranges for T3 and T4 and the low end of TSH for you to be functioning normally, but to really grasp if you are good you need to run a full panel which is Free T3 and T4 with TSH, it's all about how your body converts.

Good luck on your cycle!!!

[Thespear]

Thank you akdanielle

[Thespear]

Couple before pics I took this morning. Not the best quality or angles but whatever... not quite as lean as I usually am because I had a buddies bday dinner last night and splurged a little with a big steak and potato, plus dessert lol. 203lbs on the scale.

[Back In Black]

Good luck bud.

FYI I'd peg you closer to 20% than 15%, birthday dinner or not.

[Thespear]

Ok, thanks, I honestly don't know exactly where im at and cant accurately judge myself. My sister in law is a NPC figure competitor and she put me in the 15-20 range as well.

My weekly schedule is

Monday- AM fasted cardio w aminos/PM Chest
Tuesday - AM fasted cardio w aminos/PM Back
Wednesday - AM fasted cardio w aminos/PM Legs
Thursday - AM fasted cardio w aminos/PM shoulders
Friday - AM Off / PM Biceps/Triceps/Calves(also get trained on leg day)
Sat - AM fasted cardio w aminos/ PM off
Sun- Rest day

Cardio is 30 min SS incline treadmill at the house and my training is usually around 50 min to an hour.

[Proximal]

Good Luck with your cycle!

[Thespear]

Alright so I did my first test e injection. Ive never really had a needle problem/phobia, I can go to the doc and give blood and watch while they stick me, no problem whatsoever. Not gonna lie though I was pretty nervous when it came time to finally go for it. I had some 23g that I was gonna use to draw and then inject with 25g but my 25g hadn't came in yet and I had everything else so I said screw it and went ahead with the 23g x 1in. I cleaned the vial and my glute with alcohol prep pad and got my spot dialed in where I wanted to go... drew back 1ml on syringe with air, injected into vial, drew back 1ml oil, swapped needles.... moment of truth, no going back now lol. I didn't jab, more of a steady push, went right in, barely felt it really....aspirated, no blood, good to go, slowly pushed in... never really felt anything until after I pulled the needle out.... then a slow dull pain all around the area... im sure this is normal and as im typing this is is starting to subside but is still strong enough to notice. (I pinned about 10 min ago). Does this feeling normally last for a few hours? I guess it really depends on the gear....


Also, does anyone have any opinion on what time of day to take Arimidex ? AM/PM? before or after meal? does it matter?

THANKS!

[Proximal]

Hope you are doing well with your cycle!

Regarding your other questions, wish I could help more: I inject sub-Q, has worked well with me. Regarding the Arimidex , I do not recall seeing consistent specifics during my time on the forum. Me personally, I typically take it the day after I inject. Over the months, I've taken it both a.m. and p.m., in both instances it has always been effective for me.

Again, good luck!

[Mr.BB]

Doesnt matter which time you take adex. I take it in the morning with breakfast, just a matter of preference.

Good luck with cycle.

[Thespear]

Ok, quick update. Im now about 10 days in, doing my 4th pin Monday. I have rotated my injection sites around, I started with right glute, then left quad, right quad and next will be left glute. I'm going to follow this protocol that way it will give each site more time in between pins. Since I haven't been on long enough to pin the same spot more than once Im still having soreness after pin usually lasting about 48 hours. Nothing crazy, just sore probably from being virgin muscle. BTW I'm running Biotech brand test e out of Uruguay UGL.

MOOD- good, haven't really noticed much of a difference, Im usually really laid back and happy anyway though.

LIBIDO- seems to be increased some, frequent morning wood and just overall up. Even my wife said something about it lol, ive only pinned 3 times for a total of 750mg, may be a placebo effect but I don't think so.

GYM- I don't really see any improvements here, I didn't figure I would this early in the cycle. I do seem to be sweating MUCH more, even outside of the gym and exercise. My lifts haven't increased, I haven't really tried to push it though. I'm not concerned with the amount of weight on the bar, Never have been, its all about the form/squeeze to me. I do feel like my stamina may be up a touch, this could also be placebo effect though.

Other than that, everything is normal it seems. I do seem to be holding some extra water, which im sure is normal.

The only problem I seem to be running into is splitting my anastrazole tabs. they are 1 mg and im trying to quarter them with a razor, which usally ends up me getting about two good pieces that are .25 mg each and then the others are F'd up and break up into tiny pieces. The good thing is that I bought double the amount of adex I needed, so whatever ends up crushing I can just toss out. Going to try a pill cutter but im not certain this will help much.

Ill try to update again in a week or so....

[Thespear]

Alright, 3rd week/7th pin update

Not much new to post since last weeks update. Mood/libido are still good, no major change.

The only real change I started noticing this week are the pumps in gym. They come much sooner and are stronger than normal. The vascularity is increased slightly as well. I did legs today and started with Hams/glutes then calves and finally quads. By the time I got done with my 2nd warm up set for hams with very light weight my hamstrings were completely pumped, all the way from the back of my knee to my glutes, felt GREAT! looking forward to the next 9 weeks in the gym.

The post inj soreness/tightness is still bad. Every time I pin I keep hoping this time it wont be as bad, but that same feeling creeps in as soon as I get done injecting and lasts about 48 hours. Sometimes it interferes with my morning cardio on the treadmill but I just try to ignore it and power through. I timed myself this time while injecting to make sure im going slow enough. Took me 90 seconds to inj 1ml from a 25g needle...? I feel like this is slow enough....

Everything else is going according to plan. I'll update again next week.

[Thespear]

6th week update

Noticeable size gains already. Up to 218lbs - from 203. Muscles feel very full, all the time and it literally takes almost nothing to get a pump. Vascularity is increased as well.

Strength is up significantly, (315 x 8) on bench. Previous best was 5 reps.

I sweat constantly, in a 72 office at work I sweat, in the gym I am completely soaked.

No acne or gyno symptoms. I am holding water but nothing abnormal, and I am also drinking roughly 4-5 liters of water daily and trying to limit sodium intake to 2-3 grams daily.

Bloodwork coming, results should be in by the end of next week, ill post when I get them.

[Marsoc]

My lifts haven't increased, I haven't really tried to push it though. I'm not concerned with the amount of weight on the bar, Never have been, its all about the form/squeeze to me. ....

No offense. And yeah form is always important, and a squeeze is good to I guess. I mean why not. But how do you expect to grow if u don't push your body to its limits. And I don't mean that you need to lift 2,000lbs. But I'm saying if there is hardly resistance. Then why even train with weights. Lol. I mean you wanna be able to do no more then your desired rep range. Considering using only percentages of max strength each set so you can go as you will..etc
Just don't understand not going hardcore or till failure if your banging weights..not talking shit just wondering what your mindset is

[Thespear]

Didn't mean it like I don't like to lift heavy weight, I do. But I see a lot of guys in the gym trying to push more weight than they can handle. Putting 315 on and benching it for 1 or 2 reps with bad form just to say you can do 315 isn't as important to me. I would rather do 275 for 8 good reps to failure.

I do train to failure on most of my lifts each workout. I keep all my lifts in the 8-12 rep range mostly, when I start failing at 6 reps I bring the weight down.

I believe in going heavy as you can, to a certain extent. Heavy, High volume, to failure sets are all staples in a good weightlifting program. I just see too many idiots out there doing deads/squats/bench with bad form because the weight is too heavy for them. They will end up paying the price for it one day because they want to "showoff".

[Thespear]

BLOODWORK RESULTS: Everything seems in check to me, I appreciate any feedback though.


CBC With Differential/Platelet
WBC 6.2 3.4-10.8 x10E3/uL 01
RBC 5.02 4.14-5.80 x10E6/uL 01
Hemoglobin 14.5 12.6-17.7 g/dL 01
Hematocrit 43.2 37.5-51.0 % 01
MCV 86 79-97 fL 01
MCH 28.9 26.6-33.0 pg 01
MCHC 33.6 31.5-35.7 g/dL 01
RDW 13.3 12.3-15.4 % 01
Platelets 233 150-379 x10E3/uL 01
Neutrophils 67 % 01
Lymphs 22 % 01
Monocytes 5 % 01
Eos 6 % 01
Basos 0 % 01
Neutrophils (Absolute) 4.1 1.4-7.0 x10E3/uL 01
Lymphs (Absolute) 1.4 0.7-3.1 x10E3/uL 01
Monocytes(Absolute) 0.3 0.1-0.9 x10E3/uL 01
Eos (Absolute) 0.4 0.0-0.4 x10E3/uL 01
Baso (Absolute) 0.0 0.0-0.2 x10E3/uL 01
Immature Granulocytes 0 % 01
Immature Grans (Abs) 0.0 0.0-0.1 x10E3/uL 01
Comp. Metabolic Panel (14)
Glucose, Serum 87 65-99 mg/dL 01
BUN 16 6-20 mg/dL 01
Creatinine, Serum 0.98 0.76-1.27 mg/dL 01
eGFR If NonAfricn Am 106 >59 mL/min/1.73 01
eGFR If Africn Am 123 >59 mL/min/1.73 01
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 16 8-19 01
Sodium, Serum 141 134-144 mmol/L 01
Potassium, Serum 4.6 3.5-5.2 mmol/L 01
Chloride, Serum 99 97-108 mmol/L 01
Carbon Dioxide, Total 24 18-29 mmol/L 01
Calcium, Serum 9.6 8.7-10.2 mg/dL 01
Protein, Total, Serum 7.0 6.0-8.5 g/dL 01
Albumin, Serum 4.5 3.5-5.5 g/dL 01
Globulin, Total 2.5 1.5-4.5 g/dL 01
A/G Ratio 1.8 1.1-2.5 01
Bilirubin, Total 0.3 0.0-1.2 mg/dL 01
Alkaline Phosphatase, S 66 39-117 IU/L 01
AST (SGOT) 34 0-40 IU/L 01
ALT (SGPT) 33 0-44 IU/L 01
Lipid Panel
Cholesterol, Total 135 100-199 mg/dL 01
Triglycerides 56 0-149 mg/dL 01
HDL Cholesterol 41 >39 mg/dL 01
VLDL Cholesterol Cal 11 5-40 mg/dL 01
LDL Cholesterol Calc 83 0-99 mg/dL 01
Thyroid Panel With TSH
1 of 2
TSH 3.650 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL 01
Thyroxine (T4) 3.9 LOW 4.5-12.0 ug/dL 01
T3 Uptake 35 24-39 % 01
Free Thyroxine Index 1.4 1.2-4.9 01
Testosterone , Free/Tot Equilib
Testosterone, Serum >1500 HIGH 348-1197 ng/dL 01
Testosterone,Free >57.15 HIGH 5.00-21.00 ng/dL 02
% Free Testosterone 3.81 1.50-4.20 % 02
Prostate-Specific Ag, Serum
Prostate Specific Ag, Serum 1.1 0.0-4.0 ng/mL 01
Roche ECLIA methodology.
Insulin -Like Growth Factor I 207 98-282 ng/mL 02
Estradiol, Sensitive
Estradiol, Sensitive 22.9 8.0-35.0 pg/mL 02

[Thespear]

Just finished 9th week, 3 more full weeks( 6 pins) to go. Ready to absolutely crush the next few weeks. This past week I have been sick with a cold/flu and it caused me to miss 3 workout sessions, which sucks but it motivates me even more to make up for lost time the next 3 weeks. Up to 220lbs from 203. Don't feel like I have put on much BF, if anything im a touch leaner. Here are a few progress pics from todays back/shoulder workout.

[Thespear]

Also I did notice on my BW that my t4 level has went down a good bit, kelkel maybe you can tell me what your thoughts are on this???

[Proximal]

Just finished 9th week, 3 more full weeks( 6 pins) to go. Ready to absolutely crush the next few weeks. This past week I have been sick with a cold/flu and it caused me to miss 3 workout sessions, which sucks but it motivates me even more to make up for lost time the next 3 weeks. Up to 220lbs from 203. Don't feel like I have put on much BF, if anything im a touch leaner. Here are a few progress pics from todays back/shoulder workout.

Looking good bro! 17 pounds - NICE!

[Thespear]

Thanks Prox!