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First cycle, would appreciate any input

nikeproton

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Hey everyone,

I know there are 100s of these threads but as it’s my first cycle I wanted to be extra careful and make sure I’m not doing anything completely stupid. Here is my plan, having never used steroids or injected myself before.

Weeks 1-12: 500mg/week, injected sun/thurs
Week 1-12: 250 IU EOD
Week 12-14: nothing
Week 14-21: nolvadex 10mg/day
(I have arimidex on hand if needed)

In addition I would also like to run HGH for anti aging and sleep benefits, protocol below:
Week 1-24: 2-4 IU HGH M/W/F

I plan on getting blood work 4 weeks in.

Does this all make sense or am I making any mistakes? Please let me know and thanks.
 

Luxferro

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Hey everyone,

I know there are 100s of these threads but as it’s my first cycle I wanted to be extra careful and make sure I’m not doing anything completely stupid. Here is my plan, having never used steroids or injected myself before.

Weeks 1-12: 500mg/week, injected sun/thurs
Week 1-12: 250 IU EOD
Week 12-14: nothing
Week 14-21: nolvadex 10mg/day
(I have arimidex on hand if needed)

In addition I would also like to run HGH for anti aging and sleep benefits, protocol below:
Week 1-24: 2-4 IU HGH M/W/F

I plan on getting blood work 4 weeks in.

Does this all make sense or am I making any mistakes? Please let me know and thanks.
Do you have an AI? I don’t like 2x per week injections. Try ED (ideal) or EOD. This will also let you pin with an insulin syringe which is very painless. It will reduce aromatization and decrease AI need which I can 100% guarantee you’re gonna need with that dose of test and HCG on top. Honestly HCG is a nightmare for me. Shit kills my libido but it may differ for you.

Don’t use 2-4 IU. Do 1-2 IU instead. You risk developing insulin resistance from 2-4 IU. For sleep and enhanced recovery 1 IU before bed on an empty stomach is ideal.

You also need to take T4. Taking exogenous growth hormone increases the conversion of T4 to T3. You can quickly deplete your pool of T4.

One surefire way to know that your T4 is being depleted is if your basal body temperature begins to drop significantly. Get an oral thermometer and take your temperature at fixed times throughout the day. If your waking body temperature is below 96, it’s a bad sign. If your body temperature stays low all day that’s also a bad sign.
 

Luxferro

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Also 2 weeks after your last pin is not long enough to begin PCT. You should start nolvadex sometime roughly 5 weeks after your last pin. The half life of Test C is roughly 7 days. It takes roughly 5 half lives for any drug to metabolize out of your system fully. That means 35 days or roughly 5 weeks. I would begin nolvadex PCT 10 mg per day starting on week 17 and continue that for 8 weeks. Get blood work at the 8 week mark of your Nolvadex PCT, then get blood work again 2 months after your last dose of Nolvadex.

The point of the blood work during and after nolvadex PCT is to ensure your HPTA actually recovered. The nolvadex will give you an artificial boost while you’re on it. Hope this helps.
 

JamesDoe350

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Hey everyone,

I know there are 100s of these threads but as it’s my first cycle I wanted to be extra careful and make sure I’m not doing anything completely stupid. Here is my plan, having never used steroids or injected myself before.

Weeks 1-12: 500mg/week, injected sun/thurs
Week 1-12: 250 IU EOD
Week 12-14: nothing
Week 14-21: nolvadex 10mg/day
(I have arimidex on hand if needed)

In addition I would also like to run HGH for anti aging and sleep benefits, protocol below:
Week 1-24: 2-4 IU HGH M/W/F

I plan on getting blood work 4 weeks in.

Does this all make sense or am I making any mistakes? Please let me know and thanks.
i agree with luxferro on the injection freq, the hgh dose to start wtih. HCG i have no exp with so no input on my end, i already got snipped so if i get shut down idc, ill just trt for the rest of my life. lol.

secondly, i dont see the ester of test you plan on using, test c/e has a 4 week window where it "builds up" in your system, then youre blasting with only 8 weeks left. id stretch out my cycle longer to 18-20 week with those long ester. PLUS PERSONALLY, when i ran my first cycle i didnt like just running JUST test. if youre trying to be safe and conservative, then run just test, but id run another short ester compound because you wont "feel" the test come on. some people are let down on their first cycle because they think they are going to gain all this muscle, which youll gain muscle, but not 15 pounds IMO and have a BF of 3% lol

some people might disagree but id get a second ped on hand, var, primo (make sure its legit), npp, and run that after your 4 week window

also what is your BW? are you going to come out the gate at 500?
be safe!

get a bloodpressure monitor and a blood sugar monitor if youre running GH. 1-2 iu youll be okay but once you get over 4 you could start having insulin issues

:)
 

nikeproton

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Thanks guys for the very thorough replies, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I’m using test enanthate from viper flex labs. I also have arimidex as an aromatise inhibitor. I will look into getting t4, i don’t want to build up insulin resistance.

For PCT, I read that I should start it 14-20 days after my last injection, per below;

“When to Start PCT​

Timing is a very important factor when it comes to PCT. You want to start PCT around the time the compound will be exiting your body and no longer a major factor in causing suppression. In the medical field, after 4 half-lives the amount of drug (6.25%) is considered to be negligible regarding its therapeutic effects.

Enanthate​
14-18 days​

I can change to pin test 5x per week to keep my bloods more stable, but if I’m pinning that much should I be using insulin pens to pin sub q instead? I have several 27g 1/2” available. (What pins do you guys prefer?)

Also I am 195lbs 12.8% body fat according to my last scan. Was hoping to add 15lbs with this first cycle.

Thanks again for the feedback.
 

Luxferro

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That length of time to start PCT isn’t enough. Trust me. Use steroidplotter to see where your blood serum levels of T will be 14-18 days post injection. It will still be high enough to suppress your HOTA. I say 4 weeks after last injection.

5x per week is good. I do all my injections in Ventroglute shallow IM. Zero pain, super easy!
 

AHomie

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Additionally if you were doing twice a week it would be Sunday Wednesday right? Not Sunday Thursday
 

FrancoC

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If you’re ok with pinning 5x/week just do EOD and keep serum as stable as possible
 

Luxferro

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Luxferro

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Additionally if you were doing twice a week it would be Sunday Wednesday right? Not Sunday Thursday
At twice a week you would be doing something like Sunday morning and Wednesday evening if you wanted to be super precise about the 3.5D injection frequency.

I’d recommend people pin as frequently as they can tolerate. Ideally ED but if not than EOD or 3x per week (like M/W/F). It’ll keep your blood serum levels nice and stable, minimize spikes in E2, DHT, and hematocrit and just give you a smoother overall experience.
 

FrancoC

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At twice a week you would be doing something like Sunday morning and Wednesday evening if you wanted to be super precise about the 3.5D injection frequency.

I’d recommend people pin as frequently as they can tolerate. Ideally ED but if not than EOD or 3x per week (like M/W/F). It’ll keep your blood serum levels nice and stable, minimize spikes in E2, DHT, and hematocrit and just give you a smoother overall experience.
Haven’t seen/read hematocrit benefiting from more injection frequency. Any source material you can share about that?

When running DHB my hct, hmg, and rbc were above range (nothing too high but that was after only 5 weeks use.)

Been on a cruise for a couple weeks and changed frequency from E3D to EOD to help with E2 issues and will continue that the rest of the way. If hct benefits as well that’s definitely a plus as my next blast will be Test, DHB, and Primo
 

Luxferro

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Haven’t seen/read hematocrit benefiting from more injection frequency. Any source material you can share about that?

When running DHB my hct, hmg, and rbc were above range (nothing too high but that was after only 5 weeks use.)

Been on a cruise for a couple weeks and changed frequency from E3D to EOD to help with E2 issues and will continue that the rest of the way. If hct benefits as well that’s definitely a plus as my next blast will be Test, DHB, and Primo
I’ll try to dig up some empirical data but my reasoning is the following:

If you inject less frequently, you’re introducing a large bolus of testosterone all at once. This large bolus would likely stimulate a greater degree of RBC division compared to an equivalent dose divided more evenly.

Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to be mediated through DHT. This group (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25074984/) found that administration of finasteride alongside 125 mg TE did not change hematocrit levels appreciably. To me, this makes no sense. There are tons of DHT derivatives that are well known to increase hemoglobin like Primo. I suspect DHT is still involved in some way.

Anecdotally, I’ve seen from the blood work of many individuals that switching from 1x/2x injections to daily or EOD seems to reduce hematocrit and eliminate the need for therapeutic phlebotomy on TRT dosages.

If you’re running high amounts of gear, I don’t suspect it would help you either way. I think your hematocrit would still be too elevated.

There’s lots of ways around this. Blood donation, naringin (grape fruit), adequate hydration etc.
 

Luxferro

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Haven’t seen/read hematocrit benefiting from more injection frequency. Any source material you can share about that?

When running DHB my hct, hmg, and rbc were above range (nothing too high but that was after only 5 weeks use.)

Been on a cruise for a couple weeks and changed frequency from E3D to EOD to help with E2 issues and will continue that the rest of the way. If hct benefits as well that’s definitely a plus as my next blast will be Test, DHB, and Primo
Hey buddy. Some things that can help would be:

1) Keep your doses reasonable. Please don’t run a gram of gear combined that’s asking for a disaster.

2) Use naringin or eat grapefruit to lower hematocrit. WARNING: IF YOU USE ANY PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION PLEASE DO NOT USE NARINGIN OR CONSUME GRAPEFRUIT. GRAPEFRUIT AND ITS EXTRACTS HAVE SERIOUS PHARMACEUTICAL INTERACTIONS.

3) Hydrate a lot

4) Try to minimize your iron intake. That means limiting consumption of dark meat. This will help with keeping your hematocrit down.

5) If all else fails, donate blood. Also, please remember to grab blood work pre-cycle and 6 weeks into cycle. I’ll hold you accountable to posting your blood work here. This CANNOT be negotiated. You must monitor your health status on anabolics.

Oh, also CONSUME 3-4 G OF EPA/DHA from fish oil per day. This will help keep the blood nice and thin.
 
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