I read,after a cycle you should expect to lose 90% of your gains, what's the point?

[stpete]

There's a lot of factors that come into play here. Age, diet and training being the obvious ones. I know when i first started at 27 years old i kept a good bit of my gains. First three cycles were test only, then i moved on to multiple compounds over the years. And over the years my energy, diet and a thing called life kinda got in the way of me being able to rest accordingly, workout like i was used to, and eat every meal to perfection. And due to this, i sometimes lost everything i had worked so hard for. But if work called for me to work 6-12 hour days for 4-5 months at a time, that will happen.
In a perfect world, we all wish we could eat, train and rest as we see fit but it doesn't always work out like that. So personally, i use to increase my workouts(cause i know it will do that), improve my recovery(as well), and hope that i can continue my training, diet and rest post cycle as needed to keep as much as i can. Knowing that this might be impossible is a risk i'm willing to take.
I'm now 43 and still get quality gains on cycle but yes, it gets harder to hold on to those gains. All you can do is try as hard as you can 24/7 and make the best of it.

That's my take anyway.

[Shsm]

There's a lot of factors that come into play here. Age, diet and training being the obvious ones. I know when i first started at 27 years old i kept a good bit of my gains. First three cycles were test only, then i moved on to multiple compounds over the years. And over the years my energy, diet and a thing called life kinda got in the way of me being able to rest accordingly, workout like i was used to, and eat every meal to perfection. And due to this, i sometimes lost everything i had worked so hard for. But if work called for me to work 6-12 hour days for 4-5 months at a time, that will happen.
In a perfect world, we all wish we could eat, train and rest as we see fit but it doesn't always work out like that. So personally, i use to increase my workouts(cause i know it will do that), improve my recovery(as well), and hope that i can continue my training, diet and rest post cycle as needed to keep as much as i can. Knowing that this might be impossible is a risk i'm willing to take.
I'm now 43 and still get quality gains on cycle but yes, it gets harder to hold on to those gains. All you can do is try as hard as you can 24/7 and make the best of it.

That's my take anyway.

Great post... I can't wait until my 40s

[dec11]

There's a lot of factors that come into play here. Age, diet and training being the obvious ones. I know when i first started at 27 years old i kept a good bit of my gains. First three cycles were test only, then i moved on to multiple compounds over the years. And over the years my energy, diet and a thing called life kinda got in the way of me being able to rest accordingly, workout like i was used to, and eat every meal to perfection. And due to this, i sometimes lost everything i had worked so hard for. But if work called for me to work 6-12 hour days for 4-5 months at a time, that will happen.
In a perfect world, we all wish we could eat, train and rest as we see fit but it doesn't always work out like that. So personally, i use to increase my workouts(cause i know it will do that), improve my recovery(as well), and hope that i can continue my training, diet and rest post cycle as needed to keep as much as i can. Knowing that this might be impossible is a risk i'm willing to take.
I'm now 43 and still get quality gains on cycle but yes, it gets harder to hold on to those gains. All you can do is try as hard as you can 24/7 and make the best of it.

That's my take anyway.

im 37 and agree with you age can be a factor. these claims of keeping 70-90% of gains must be from ppl who were nowhere near natural potential from the start. its only ever internt gains that seem to stay for some strange reason (i dont mean yourself, more some of the wilder claims we see in the forum from time to time)

EVERYONE i know in real life shrinks back down to their starting weight after a cycle

[stpete]

stpete are you on trt?

No, i'm not. I do 2 cycles a year. Both consist of a relatively high dose of test. I'm running test only right now.

im 37 and agree with you age can be a factor. these claims of keeping 70-90% of gains must be from ppl who were nowhere near natural potential from the start. its only ever internt gains that seem to stay for some strange reason (i dont mean yourself, more some of the wilder claims we see in the forum from time to time)

EVERYONE i know in real life shrinks back down to their starting weight after a cycle

haha..Yeah, i know about some of those gains. Well, not personally, but i've heard of them. And for the most part i agree w/you dec. I didn't get post in your last thread on this issue but since it's brought up again i might as well. And yes, over time people will eventually lose those gains. Now, i also believe that it's up to the individual. A certain about is innevitable, while on the otherhand, i do believe that a person can keep if they're able to eat, train and rest accordingly. But it's hard to do. Hence, why we lose most, if not all gains. I'll never believe someone ran a cycle and now maintain those gains. If so, you must tell me your secret.

[Scabtree]

There's a lot of factors that come into play here. Age, diet and training being the obvious ones. I know when i first started at 27 years old i kept a good bit of my gains. First three cycles were test only, then i moved on to multiple compounds over the years. And over the years my energy, diet and a thing called life kinda got in the way of me being able to rest accordingly, workout like i was used to, and eat every meal to perfection. And due to this, i sometimes lost everything i had worked so hard for. But if work called for me to work 6-12 hour days for 4-5 months at a time, that will happen.
In a perfect world, we all wish we could eat, train and rest as we see fit but it doesn't always work out like that. So personally, i use to increase my workouts(cause i know it will do that), improve my recovery(as well), and hope that i can continue my training, diet and rest post cycle as needed to keep as much as i can. Knowing that this might be impossible is a risk i'm willing to take.
I'm now 43 and still get quality gains on cycle but yes, it gets harder to hold on to those gains. All you can do is try as hard as you can 24/7 and make the best of it.

That's my take anyway.

I agree, great post. Another point is sometimes it is difficult to measure gains, or loss of gains -- it could be strength, mass, fat loss, vascularity etc... For me it seems to be mass is the most difficult to hang on to, but strength seems to stay roughly the same.