New here...first cycle q's

[sunkyman]

Hey guys! It's great to find a forum for the over 40 crowd. Before I post my q's, I'll fill you in a little on me.
Stats:
5'11
200 lbs
43 yr old
Currently been training for 2 yrs (much more when younger)
Current routine: 2 day split. Lift Mon, Wed, Fri...Cardio Tue, Thur, Sat
Day 1: Chest, shoulder, quads, tri's, abs
Day 2: Back, bi's, hams, calves, traps
I generally keep the volume low, doing a few warm up sets per exercise and only one working set to failure with the heaviest weight I can handle in good form. Example from today: chest - 40 pushups, flat bench 135 lb 12 reps, 155 lb 12 reps, 185 lb 12 reps (work set). Incline press - 135 lb 12 reps, 155 lb 11 reps (work set). Squat - similar deal ending with 205 lb 12 reps. Other exercises were leg press, leg ext, cable laterals, cable tri ext, cable crunch, hanging leg raise (no warmup on abs, just 1 set to failure of each). My rep scheme changes from one work out to the next. Today was 12's, next time will be 8's, and the next time will be 5's (for bench, squat, and rows), then back to 12's. So bodyparts get hit twice one week, once the next. I think I may go back to a "once a week per body part" soon, but I DO like to change things up every 6 - 8 weeks...
Diet is not bad but could always use improvement.
Today:
Wake at 5 am, drink one cup of coffee.
6 am - 3/4 cup of oatmeal w/skim, 5g creatine mono, 2g beta alanine, 30g protein blend (syntrax matrix 5.0), 2 tsp flax oil, multi vit, digestive enzymes, probiotics, b-complex, 400iu vit e, 2g fish oil, 1g acia extract.
8 am - 1 scoop NO shotgun...off to gym.
8:30 - 9:30: workout
9:35 - pws: 3 tbs dextrose, 50g maltodex, 40g whey, 5g creatine mono, 2g beta alanine, 2 tsp flax oil.
12:30 - 1 baked chicken breast, 8oz salad w/lowfat dressing.
4:00 - 1 cup brown rice, 2 cans (5oz) tuna, 2 tbs olive oil (xtra virg)
7:30 - 1 baked chicken breast, 1/2 cup steamed carrots, 1/2 cup steamed broccoli.
Drink 4 liters filtered water per day.
That's a typical day for me. Enough of that for now...

So things have slowed to a crawl as far as gains, when I push too hard my body tells me I'm not as young as I used to be...shoulder issues, bicep tendonitis, low back problems (recent x-rays show bone spurs and arthritis starting to set in), etc.
So I made the decision to give AAS a try. I've ordered my gear and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. And yeah, I still have mixed feelings about what I am about to do...and some fear I guess. But the decision is made and the money is spent, so...

First cycle will be like this:
wk 1 -10 test c 250mg 2x wk, adex .5 ml EOD
wk 8 - 12 t-bol 25 mg ed
wk 12 - 16 nolva 40/30/20/20

My biggest fear at this point is changing too much too soon, if you know what I mean. I don't want it to be obvious that I am taking AAS.

So my question is, at these dosages, is this fear unfounded? Should I reduce the test to 400 or 300 a wk? What can I expect?

I hope to be a part of your community for a long time and appreciate your experience and support.

[Papa Smurf]

Hey Bro and welcome

Lots of great guys on here that can help you out in alot of ways. Dont forget to check out there profiles. Just click on their names. Lets you get ta know us.

Good stats. Your diet doesnt have enough food in it. Your making the mistake of using the shakes as meals. Thats not how you grow. Post up in the diet forum. Those guys are great. Without the proper diet, you may as well just flush the gear down the drain.

Speaking of gear, is this your first cycle. If so, 12 weeks will be a better cycle. And why are you using an oral like tbol so late in cycle?
Im not an expert like some on here but these are some ? we need ta get answered.

[Tigershark]

Welcome.

[jbm]

Welcome!!!

[sunkyman]

Thanks for the warm welcome!
I'm currently trying to cut some stubborn body fat from mid section. Am I still not eating enough? Just switched from moderate cardio 30 - 40 min to low intesity cardio for 1 hour 3x wk, so we'll see how that works out.
I guess sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of your face...my diet has probably been a big part of my diminished gains. Historically, my body has a tendency to put on fat very easily, while very hard to lose it (I think the last time I was "thin" was when I was 5 yrs old).

10 wks for first cycle is because test cyp I ordered comes 20ml at 250 mg/ml, so 250 mg 2x wk = 10 wks. I could have ordered more I suppose, but I figured as a first cycle 10 wks should give me a good idea as to how my body will respond to the AAS.

I decided to use the tbol at the end of the cycle as a pre-pct kind of thing. I understand that pct protocol needs to start 18 days after last test cyp shot, but that I can use an oral right up until the day before I start pct. If I'm wrong about this, please let me know.

So...I can control how much I grow by how much I eat, right? So if my caloric excess is say, 500 Kcals a day, theoretically I could add 10 lbs of lbm over 10 wks. Which means my fear of 'growing too much too soon' is unfounded after all? Well, that makes me feel more at ease. I AM interested increasing lbm (obviously, or I wouldn't be here, right?), but at a moderate pace. 15 lbs in a yr would be fine with me.

I appreciate your input and again, it's great to have found you guys. I was checking out some other forums where guys our age that were interested in getting started with AAS were getting slammed by the youngsters. My thought was that it makes more sense to me for guys our age to use AAS than for a 20 yr old, as our natural test production is declining...nuff said I guess. No need to rant. Thanks guys.

[glover]

I would recommend adding a small amount of Deca or NPP. That will greatly help you with you elbow, shoulder and other injuries. Consider maybe 300 test 200 nandrolone per week.

[sunkyman]

Good advice. I had initially thought of doing a deca only cycle after reading about some of the benefits you mentioned, then I found out that deca is best taken with test. I wish now that I had ordered the deca instead of the t-bol, but I wanted to do only one injectible for my first cycle (not really sure why). If this first cycle goes well, I definitely plan on including deca in my next cycle. Thanks much for the input.

[WiBballer]

I finished a deca /test cycle and I would recommend it. It was my second cycle and I was wondering if it really would be helpful to the joints as I seem to have joint issues. I think it did help, the cycle was great and muscle hardness was outstanding.

[kaju]

You look good over all. I can see you are learning as you go. if you keep studying you may change your mind again before you start you next cycle.
I know Im comming in late here but I see you only done 4 weeks of tbol. at week 4 it will just be beginning to kick in. i was going to mention about starting pct later but I see you are already on top of that.
You should bedone with your cycle by now so let us know how things have gone and where you stand after pct.