46yr old male beginner, seeking advice

[Saber77]

Hello, just joined these forums today but have been reading up on Anabolic steroids as much as I can because I have never used them.

My story
I am 46. I have always been in decent shape, good size and definition. I started lifting weights in college over 20 years ago, but until 2007 my longest training cycle was about 8 weeks. After my 30s I noticed how much more effort it took to stay fit. I was in Afghanistan in 2007-2008 and that's when I took my weight training to a new level (at least for me). I lifted 6 days a week for 9 months, with two 45 min cardio sessions every day. I was 38 years old and looked better than I ever had.

Since 2008 I have been hitting the gym pretty regularly, although not religiously. Some months I go through a pretty rigorous training cycle for several months then take it easy for a month or two only going to the gym 2 times a week.

Now 46, it is getting very difficult to keep off the fat and stay trim, especially around my mid section. I am 6'0" and weigh roughly 210 lbs. if I had to guess, from pictures I've seen on this site, I would estimate my body fat at somewhere around 15-17%. While I have always been curious about steroids, I have never taken them, although I'm sure if I had easy access to them I would have tried them at some point.

So, before I start looking into this any further, I was looking to get some advice. My ultimate goal would be to get to around 200 lbs and 10% or less body fat. Are AS an option for me? Are my goals reasonable? Trust me, I'm not the kid who is gonna take steroids no matter what advice I get here. I am very health conscious, and if the experts say skip it, I will. But if I can safely make some nice gains, I'm all ears.

Thanks for reading.

[AR's King Silabolin]

If my only goal was to loose 5% of bodyfat I would not do aas.
Cardio and diett and maybe the drugs cardarine and/or legit sr9009 should cut it.
Use bcaa 6 times a day to make sure to min muscle loss.

[Saber77]

5% doesn't seem like a lot, does it? Thing is, I'm lifting more, eating much much better, taking more supplements, and doing more cardio than in my early 20s when I was 10-12%. I'm gaining around .5% to 1% of body fat a year, even with diet and excercise. I'm also at 36" around my waste and was hoping to get that to around 32". If my goal was to go from 35% to 30%, I'm sure I could do it without AS. However, getting below 15% now that I am 46 seems increasingly difficult. I'll definitely look into those drugs you named though. Tyvm.

[charger69]

5% doesn't seem like a lot, does it? Thing is, I'm lifting more, eating much much better, taking more supplements, and doing more cardio than in my early 20s when I was 10-12%. I'm gaining around .5% to 1% of body fat a year, even with diet and excercise. I'm also at 36" around my waste and was hoping to get that to around 32". If my goal was to go from 35% to 30%, I'm sure I could do it without AS. However, getting below 15% now that I am 46 seems increasingly difficult. I'll definitely look into those drugs you named though. Tyvm.

Saber- i started cycling at 47. The only reason i started cycling was because i was competing in bodybuilding and could not keep up with the ones using AAS. Naturally i went from 240 and about 25% bf to 165 and about 8% bf. Note: this was competition weight dehydrated. Natural weight went back up to about 175-180 after competition. My point is that I would not take AAS to get your goals. Cardio 2x per day at 1/2 hour plus the workouts and correct diet will get you as low as 8% which is lower than your goals. AAS allows you to get lower bu optimizing the protein synthesis, body fat burning, etc.
My recommendation is that you fine tune your diet, workout hard, and cardio for 45 minutes 3-5 x week and you can meet your goals. Diet is the key for you. Diet does not mean starving yourself. Eat 6 meals a day of quality food.

[Saber77]

Thank you for the reply.

Well, that's two replies telling me the same thing, so that's good. Thing is, since I have never taken AAS, I don't know what sort of goals are realistic and what goals are unattainable. Also, due to my age, I was trying to be a little conservative. When I stated 10%, that would be great, but if 6-8% was possible, that would be even better. I definitely wouldn't mind getting a little stronger and filling out my chest, shoulders and back too. My legs are naturally large, although they could definitely use some definition. For the past eight years I have not made any significant gains at the gym. The weights I am pushing now are the same or even slightly less than the weights I was pushing five years ago.

[tarmyg]

You could always run a blood test to make sure you are no deficient in any important aspect before making up your mind.

[The Deadlifting Dog]

Since 2008 I have been hitting the gym pretty regularly, although not religiously. Some months I go through a pretty rigorous training cycle for several months then take it easy for a month or two only going to the gym 2 times a week.

Consistency is the answer.
Only use steroids after training and eating are nailed down for many many months.
Why risk your health when you can achieve the results naturally?

Also, as stated above, get bloodwork now.

[Saber77]

Here are some images of what I have to work with:

[kelkel]

You could always run a blood test to make sure you are no deficient in any important aspect before making up your mind.

There's your answer. At 46 you very well may be testosterone deficient or have other issues impacting your progress. At the top of the HRT Forum is the Finding A Doc sticky thread. Get the first set of BW in it. Then you can assess things and make an informed decision. You'll be amazed what simply optimizing your hormones can do for you.

[Proximal]

At 57, understand the difficulty associated with increasing age, some-times it seemed no amount of training would show progress. If the test is on the low side, how about considering TRT? Some nice gains to be made on a steady, lower dosage and then blasting as needed. Great physique btw!

[charger69]

Shit bro

[charger69]

Shit bro

Sorry... You are so far more advanced than I was. I really think that you should do this without AAS and then evaluate your progress, but have everything dialed in. Diet, workout and cardio. Only use AAS to get that little extra you can't naturally. Alot of people think that AAS is magical and by taking it you become Mr. O. It only increases the efficiency and you will lose everything when you go off.

[Saber77]

Thx guys. I do try hard to stay in shape. I am a fanatic about it. Reading through these forums has been a tremendous help and very educational. I think I'll keep doing that and researching to find out more.

Kel, thx for the info regarding HRT. I'll also look into that and getting some blood work. Since lowtestosterone.com was sold it may take me awhile to find a good HRT physician.

I appreciate all the advice, and the encouragement to stick with it without AAS and fine tune my eating and lifting. Maybe that is possible, and I'll give that a shot for awhile yet. At 46, however, my lifting and eating is about ten times more fine tuned now than it ever was and although I am heavier and have a little more muscle now than in my 20s and 30s, I have less and less definition with each passing year. Maybe that is just a sign of getting older that I'll have to accept, but that's why I joined the sight to read and ask questions.