Do gains plateau mid-cycle?

[shrpskn]

I'm currently 9 weeks in on my current cycle. I packed some serious weight on in the first six weeks...+20-25 lbs from pre-cycle weight.

The cycle is a bulking cycle and I know my diet is spot on, but...

I'm wondering...once you have put on a certain amount of weight during a cycle, does that weight gain seem to plateau for any of you or do you continue to gain weight throughout the entire cycle?

Like I said, I hit +20-25 lbs from my pre-cycle weight by week six, but it is 3 weeks later now, and I am still holding steady at about +20 lbs. Has the weight gain leveled?
I phased tren A into the cycle at week 8. I'm currently running that @ 100mg/ed along with test cyp @ 750mg/wk and EQ @ 600mg/wk...Proviron @ 50mg/ed as well.

I'm looking to solidify the gains I've made so far as I know much of the rapid weight gain in the first 6 weeks was alot of water.

I'm not complaining about being up 20 lbs and holding steady at this point and I expect to retain much of that gain as I work to solidify the gains and round out the cycle with an aggressive PCT, all while keeping the diet and training very focused and disciplined.

The question I wonder though is, once a person has gained so much weight on a cycle, is there a point at which weight gain doesn't continue? I'm not interested in gaining any more than I currently have as I am quite satisfied with the results so far, but I'm looking for some feedback and/or experiences on this question I have.

Thanks,

[crash187ct]

20-25 in six weeks is insane, so congrats on that. my gains have always risen until the last week or so...plateau at week 9 is odd...i was going to say EQ isn't that great, but you just introduced some tren, so you shouldn't be experiencing plateaus. how's the intensity level, getting enough sleep?

i'm not going to pretend i know how to fix it, but in my experience....i've never encountered that....

[shrpskn]

^ I know...I've made continual gains all throughout past cycles so I felt compelled to ask this question.

I hear you, 20 lbs+ in 6 weeks has impressed the hell out of me too...I really went all out with the diet this cycle.

I'm only one week in with the tren and workout intensity has really been on the rise over the last couple days. I'm feeling pretty jacked right now.

Funny you mention sleep..my sleep pattern has not been all that stable the last few weeks and I now realize that this could be a contributing factor to my plateau...the tren is not going to help either as I've found past use has left me up at odd hours of the night sometimes.

I've doubled the dose of melatonin recently too, but that seems to be ineffective right now, so I think it will be time to hit up the doc for some sleep aides. I only have a couple ambien left so I guess it is time for a refill.

[Anaboxa34]

I'm just curious to know what your running for pct?

[SuperLift]

I'm currently 9 weeks in on my current cycle. I packed some serious weight on in the first six weeks...+20-25 lbs from pre-cycle weight.

Like I said, I hit +20-25 lbs from my pre-cycle weight by week six, but it is 3 weeks later now, and I am still holding steady at about +20 lbs. Has the weight gain leveled?

Thanks,

DAMN! 25 lbs in 6 weeks is very impressive. I will be running a Test/Tren cycle soon kickstarted with dbol, I hope I encounter some gains like that!

[shrpskn]

PCT:

HCG 500iu/e3d for the two weeks leading up to PCT

Proviron 50mg/wk throughout.

Nolva 40mg/ed throughout.

[Anaboxa34]

Thx for sharing, how long are you going to run the pct for?

[shrpskn]

^^ 4-5 weeks followed be BW to see where my levels are at and address further recovery options, if needed.

I forgot to mention that there are some OTC products that I usually incorporate into PCT and post-PCT as well.

[Anaboxa34]

Thx for letting me know. I was just curious because i have read a lot of threads where people refer to their pct plans as "light" pct "aggressive" pct etc. and I was just curious to see an example of a pct that would be considered aggressive. Thx again.

[shrpskn]

^^ IMO, aggressive PCT can mean more than just what compounds you incorporate...diet and training are facets as well.

I think it is all a matter of how well one recovers by the end of PCT and gains maintained.

No matter what I use for PCT, I always consider it aggressive. Better to make a solid recovery than an unstable recovery.

[Anaboxa34]

I was thinking along the same lines, I wondered why anyone would consider running a "light" pct.
As for running an aggressive pct, I wasn't concerned with what specific compounds you were running, but I was more interested to hear how many SERMS or AI's you were using as well as the length of the pct, the dosing of the compounds etc. The pct i plan to run with my next cycle is going to be 4 weeks of proviron and 4 weeks of clomid and i wanted to compare it to the pct you were planning. However i will not be running powerful compounds such as tren, and my doses of other compounds will be lower by about 250 mg. Again thx for sharing.

-Anaboxa

[IBdmfkr]

It's not how much you gain during the cycle but how much you're able to keep after all the smoke clears Goodluck.

[shrpskn]

The tren, cyp, and EQ will end week 16 followed by 2 weeks of test prop@ 100mg/ed before I enter PCT.

[shrpskn]

It's not how much you gain during the cycle but how much you're able to keep after all the smoke clears Goodluck.

So very very true.

Thanks,

[IBdmfkr]

I generally stop seeing gains after weeks 6-8 as well.. nothing new.

You could do a few things though at this point.
1. Take a week off training and clean up the diet a bit.
2. Take in more calories since your body is now 20-25lbs heavier so more calories will be required for continued growth.
3. Up your training intensity and progressively overload your muscles each workout.

You should be making gains YEAR around, not just while on cycle etc.. your strength shouldn't fall after a cycle either, this means you're experiencing atrophy and you're losing muscle mass. A workout log is a must.

[shrpskn]

I generally stop seeing gains after weeks 6-8 as well.. nothing new.

You could do a few things though at this point.
1. Take a week off training and clean up the diet a bit.
I can't see me taking a week off from training, but I will definitely reassess my diet.
2. Take in more calories since your body is now 20-25lbs heavier so more calories will be required for continued growth.
Understood.
3. Up your training intensity and progressively overload your muscles each workout.
The addition of Tren is definitely going to help me achieve this.
You should be making gains YEAR around, not just while on cycle etc.. your strength shouldn't fall after a cycle either, this means you're experiencing atrophy and you're losing muscle mass. A workout log is a must.

Thanks alot for the pointers I B dmfkr.

[rafael]

i always take a week off training during cycle. this seems to help my body recover from all the intensive training i do on cycle. also seems to help continue making gains after week 10+ . This works for me..may not for you or anyone else however...so dont think taking time off during cycle is a good idea...its just something that works for me:P

[zodiac666]

I'm currently 9 weeks in on my current cycle. I packed some serious weight on in the first six weeks...+20-25 lbs from pre-cycle weight.

The cycle is a bulking cycle and I know my diet is spot on, but...

I'm wondering...once you have put on a certain amount of weight during a cycle, does that weight gain seem to plateau for any of you or do you continue to gain weight throughout the entire cycle?

Like I said, I hit +20-25 lbs from my pre-cycle weight by week six, but it is 3 weeks later now, and I am still holding steady at about +20 lbs. Has the weight gain leveled?
I phased tren A into the cycle at week 8. I'm currently running that @ 100mg/ed along with test cyp @ 750mg/wk and EQ @ 600mg/wk...Proviron @ 50mg/ed as well.

I'm looking to solidify the gains I've made so far as I know much of the rapid weight gain in the first 6 weeks was alot of water.

I'm not complaining about being up 20 lbs and holding steady at this point and I expect to retain much of that gain as I work to solidify the gains and round out the cycle with an aggressive PCT, all while keeping the diet and training very focused and disciplined.

The question I wonder though is, once a person has gained so much weight on a cycle, is there a point at which weight gain doesn't continue? I'm not interested in gaining any more than I currently have as I am quite satisfied with the results so far, but I'm looking for some feedback and/or experiences on this question I have.

Thanks,

that has happend to me every fvcking cycle i have done, even running test E my gains will pretty much stop at week 10 or earlier. im getting ready to start a little bit heavier 8 week cycle to see how that works out, and see if i can keep my gains as good as after a long cycle.

congratulations on your great gains so far and good luck keeping your diet and training spot on during pct so you dont lose any of that muscle.

[BIG_T_MC06]

Heres my 2 cents, you may disagree but its what i have found works best...

During the first few weeks of a cycle the AAS are new to your body causing homeostasis to be altered. As the chemicals are something new to your body (even if you have used them before in the past, the 1st few weeks the introduction of chemis is still a shock to the system) it takes time for your body to to get back to normal hence the oppertunity for good/more gains.

After the first 4-6 weeks it has been my experience that the body adapts somewhat to the AAS and gains slow (as you said) or possibly stop. Why waste time, money and AAS trying to gain tiny amounts of weight after the initial onset of gains? You may not gain any more LBM or weight after these first weeks.

Stop the cousre at 4-6 weeks (make it a short heavy cycle) and then after that begin recovery. Doing so means you have shorter recovery time needed and therefor can get back on sooner = more courses per year.

Its like a child has growth spurts, growth is not continual it comes in phases.

T

[Jason865]

This is why I never run cycles more than 8-9 weeks, every cycle I have done I make all my gains by week 7-8.

[shrpskn]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Appreciated.

[mkrulic]

my gains start to slow down considerably after week 6. so I run 6 week cycles. I think you recover faster and can get back to it faster. I'd rather run 2 six week cycles in 24 then one 12 week. I'm including off time in there.

[shrpskn]

I will look into a shorter cycle protocol for my next cycle and see how that pans out...my cycles to date have been 10+ weeks, so maybe it is time to change things up.

[Maldorf]

I will look into a shorter cycle protocol for my next cycle and see how that pans out...my cycles to date have been 10+ weeks, so maybe it is time to change things up.

I have found over the years that I dont gain much on a cycle after week 6 or so. Thats why I have give the short cycle idea presented by Marcus. It worked well for me so far, I put on 20 pounds in the first 3 weeks of the cycle, and then 2 more pounds the last 2 weeks. I think the last 2 weeks I was dropping water weight as I stopped taking dbol and went on halo so that explains the low weight gain. With long cycles I found myself hitting a wall and not being able to increase muscle mass much at all. I tryed increasing calories(mostly protein), training harder, and upping the doses and nothing works. When I increased the dose I would get a response for a few days and then that would be gone.

[shrpskn]

^^ Yes, this all seems to make more sense to me now.

Thanks,