Deloading before a use of gear/bulking cycle?????

[Iron-man]

1) Is there any benefit in "deloading" prior to starting a cycle. After a deload you usually start as submaximal weights & spend weeks "progressing" your way back up to your "new max's" (basically-take a break & start lower & work back up)
....OR....
2) Should the weights be kept the same & wait till the strength gains start which will allow for the weight to "progress" creating new max's in the end
(basically-continue as normal & let the gear take you to new max's in each left/rep range)

[Iron-man]

Anyone????

[helium3]

i had a break b4 i started my first cycle,took a week off then worked slowly upto my maximal weight which progressed nicely when the test kicked in.
i will proberbly deload b4 my next cycle,get the joints ready.

[Bigun]

I would recommend a period of 'Anatamical Adaptation' where you train for a few weeks at a medium intensity to strengthen ligaments, tendons and other support structures of the muscle system

[Iron-man]

i had a break b4 i started my first cycle,took a week off then worked slowly upto my maximal weight which progressed nicely when the test kicked in.
i will proberbly deload b4 my next cycle,get the joints ready.

Sounds like HST....
Reason I posted this originally is I have done HST where it calls for an SD period (deload) prior to starting the HST cycle, making the muscles susceptible to progressing upward from sub-maximal loads. The HST worked great, I am curious if it will even work BETTER with gear.

[jef]

go strong or go home! i would keep lifting as heavy as possible for the amount of reps/sets you're shooting for with 1-2 really hard working sets for each muscle group. no sense in deloading weight imo. better to take off a week every few months than to deload

[helium3]

Sounds like HST....
Reason I posted this originally is I have done HST where it calls for an SD period (deload) prior to starting the HST cycle, making the muscles susceptible to progressing upward from sub-maximal loads. The HST worked great, I am curious if it will even work BETTER with gear.

and you would be correct and yes hst works fantastic with gear.i did test e for my first cycle and found that a 10 week test cycle and a 10 week hst cycle worked very well,because when you come of test you can be susceptible to joint pain and taking an sd and starting high reps and lower weight helps as many incorrectly keep trying to push the same weight as when on which leads to injuries.come off the cycle eat well pct and maintain then build back up to your maximal weights.

@jef lower weights higher reps doesnt mean light weights,you are still using the weight as you would in any other rep shceme.

[Iron-man]

and you would be correct and yes hst works fantastic with gear.i did test e for my first cycle and found that a 10 week test cycle and a 10 week hst cycle worked very well,because when you come of test you can be susceptible to joint pain and taking an sd and starting high reps and lower weight helps as many incorrectly keep trying to push the same weight as when on which leads to injuries.come off the cycle eat well pct and maintain then build back up to your maximal weights.

@jef lower weights higher reps doesnt mean light weights,you are still using the weight as you would in any other rep shceme.

Helium 3, Thanks for the reply. I am currently in the 2nd wk of 15's. When I get to the 5's & post 5's, I might go from the 3x wk to 2x wk with increase volume.
When I finished the post 5's last time, my bench actually got up to 360 for 1rm.
So, what I am thinking is, when I get to the 5's, I should be able to "extend" them for some time due to increased strength gains from the AAS cycle. My wish list includes gaining about 12lbs of lean keepable gains & a bench of 380+. We'll see!!!

Let me know what you think
IM

[helium3]

it sounds good you should get both your wishes although strength does drop a bit after a cycle.good luck.