First cycle

Hi Guys

I have been pondering with the idea to move on from just ordinary supplementation to something more potent for the last 2 years.
Just a bit of background, I have been weight lifting since I was 18. Go to gym 5 days a week and do MTB cycling twice a week.
Always kept a fairly healthy diet and got a decent amount of protein daily. Progress was slow but always steadily in growth.
Until the last two years that I just hit a plateau, kept on the same weights and recovery was slow after each Mtb ride.
Finally got my free testosterone tested last week and it was 282 , which my GP specified was normal but might be too low for someone training 6 days a week.
My goal is to maintain and slightly increase muscle mass while still feeling an add on to endurance when riding MTB twice a week.

After a few hours of reading on Anabolic steriods SA I have noticed that a lot of newbies was recommended to start on Anavar 20-40mg daily and cycle that with Proviron 20 - 40mg daily. Will this be sufficient to help in the gym and on the endurance part when doing long out rides on weekends on the MTB?

Am I on the right path? Or can someone advise me otherwise?

Ok so the biggest thing I'm going to ask is nutrition based here.

What is your height, weight and age and how many calories are you taking in a day, I can put my money on your test being low because you aren't recovering properly which would come from lacking nutrition to meet your energy demands. How long are your rides?

Empire, I probably should have added that in the initial question, sorry about that.

I am 175cm and weight 88kg, 32 years old.
Currently I am on 3160 calories per day which I count on My Fitness pal app
I am trying to get at least 2 -2.5g op protein per kg in on current weight.

also forgot to add, Wednesday MTB rides is about 2 hours and Sunday rides about 3 hours.
Both rides burning calories above 1300

What is your fat intake of that?

it is normally between 25% - 30% of the total calorie intake, +- 82g

You should try and hit specific numbers and not leave anything to chance: 220g protein daily,90g fat daily balance from carbs.

Now next thing is what does your training split look like? I have a feeling a big issue is your 1300 calorie rides would put you in q negative energy balance most likely. So on days you ride you would have to up your caloric intake by an additional 300-400. That would mean you aren't dipping in past basal metabolic rate. Which is about 1950 calories. So you are burning through about 3250 calories on that day alone, and leaves nothing on the table after that.

Also I wouldn't ride and train on the same day, you have 0 recovery on those days then. So 4 days a week in the gym with optimum training volume for your calories to still be in a surplus, plus the higher calories on the days your ride will allow for hormone levels to come back to normal..

Noted, thank you for the advice on the calorie intake.
So a normal week will be:
Monday - Legs, back and biceps
Tuesday - Chest, shoulders and triceps
Wednesday - Cycling
Thursday - Same as Monday
Friday - Same as Tuesday
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Cycling

All workouts around 5am

What will be a normal free testosterone level for this training schedule?
Also I did the blood test after a week of resting, our second child was born, bit of a hectic week

I would rather see you doing pull push.
Back Biceps hamstrings traps.
Push Quads chest shoulders triceps

Remember heavy mountain biking is very quad dominant as you are always push the concentric, never controlling the eccentric, so think of cycling of a short range of a pushing movement.

In the upper 600 would be good. High stress environment and high levels of training do tend to tank hormone levels hence why I suggest pushing up the fat levels as well as caloric levels. So you are not in a negative energy balance.

You can take a good couple natural things to push hormones in the right direction. Ashwaghanda morning and night for cortisol. Curcumin 500mg before bed for inflammation, 500mg magnesium before bed and 25mg of zinc with that. Prioritize 8 hours of sleep for optimum recovery and reducing inflammation.

I haven't done the push - pull training for a while and will certainly start it on tomorrow with the split gym program.
Any suggestion if I should start with the Pull or push program on the Monday to get the most out of the Wednesday and Sunday Cycling?

I would be happy to get in the 600 range. Would benefit quite a lot out of that.

I am on the money with the zinc and magnesium intake, but the Ashwaghanda and Curcumin I have not yet heard of and will read about it tonight. Thank you for the advise on that.

I can assume that your advice will be to keep it as natural as possible? I will try these extra steps for a few months and get the bloodwork done again.

So you would not advise in taking the Anavar and Proviron to get that extra edge in training?

I would suggest testosterone if you are going any route as those 2 orals together well tank teat levels even more.

Ao as for the training question, you gotta look at what the goal is with training, is it to get bigger like bodybuilder bigger or is it to aid your mountain biking? As the exercise selection needs to be chosen based on goals, like you might get no benefit from doing high weight low rep squats to failure because your Quads won't recover for the biking, but then you may find that deadlifts or RDLs in a moderate range may be perfect for your hamstrings. Goals are the main thing.

Right now I'm pushing to the natural side of things because you need to enhance recovery long before you add in gear, if your nutrition and supplementation is on point before you add in anabolics then the anabolics will push things through the roof, how ever you won't get the most out of the anabolics in a negative energy balance.

I will follow the advise to get my Testosterone up naturally.
If after a while I don't see a difference I will have to include a Testosterone, any suggestions?

I know the two exercises is harsh doing them together but it has been a lifestyle for a while.
I am always between a rock and a hard place, seeing I want to add more lean muscle while still being strong on the bike.

I agree with you on the recovery side, the sleep pattern has just been wild with the newborn.
So far thank you for the awesome advise, I have learned quite a bit even after 14 years of training

Ok so if you are trying to add lean muscle whilst still doing all of the above etc i would push the calories up even more then to make sure you are in a caloric surplus daily, weight training days 3450 calories is where you would be and then bike riding days probably 3650 calories still keeping your protein and fats the same on both days and adding in the additional carbs. Focus on getting in about 50% of your carbs pre, intra and post workout and balance split up.

Riding days also pre, intra and post workout majority of carbs, making sure you have easy access liquid carbs during that ride in your pack if you are using a camel pack as the cardio work is going to be heavily glucose based.

You could use a good glucose disposal agent post workout with both weight training and post riding to make sure your recovery is great. I like the product called slinotrol by a brand skincare . As it has got a decent blend that will help aid the shuttling of glucose as well as the spiking of insulin to aid recovery. If you aren't afraid to use some performance Enhancing substances, taking injectable carnatine pre and post riding and well as pre workout with a bolus of carbs will greatly aid your endeavors.

Currently I am using products from a company called Pace and Power for the cycling part, quite good stuff that a dietician gives to you. I will ask her for a more glucose based product because currently it is more towards low calorie, high electrolyte intake during rides.

The spiking of insulin after riding is quite noticeable. I will google the Slinotrol as well today.

The injectable carnatine, is it the same as L-Carnitine in the oral format?

Oral l-carnatine does not work.

Bud you can just get a electrolyte fizzy from Biogen ( potassium and sodium) and glucose powder and some energade/powerade concentrate and even some glycerine to add in, don't need anything fancy. All of these things are available at dischem. It does not need to be Hella fancy, I just needs to be effective and full of carbs.

Even the energade mix.. Mix it up, the raio is 1:4, drink it, it has everything you need.

noted

Nothing fancy on those products, normal just like biogen or USN.
Energade and powerade on long out rides is no good, have crashed on that many times before. Perfect for anything below an hour.
Just had a look at the ingredients and only realised now that it is quite high in glycaemic carbs, which releases glucose in the blood quickly, nice to know that the oats that I eat before that is a slow releaser.
Also filled with the necessary minerals sodium phosphorus and potassium.

On the cycling part I am covered, just need to amp up the calorie intake.
Thank you for the assistance Empire

Having carbs with protein and fat pre ride will slow down the digestion of those complex carbs to fuel the ride. If you are using a camel pack you can constantly sip the high carb mix during the ride to keep glucose elevated whilst the pre workout complex carbs take their time to digest.

basically Nutrition needs to be on point.
Thank you for all the info Empire, really appreciate.

Just for interested sake, if later during the year I want to add on some lean muscle and benefit a little bit out of athletic performance. What cycle stack would you suggest? on moderate qauntities.

Start on mg per kg of testosterone

Will Proviron be good, or any other oral suggestion?

I will buy the Curcumin and Ashwaghanda this afternoon, will get blood work done in 3 months to see if there is an improvement before supplementing with a testosterone.

It can be but necessities of the cycle

whats your height? im 91kg at 184cm, if you say 18% bf and your shorter, its probably higher and your fat you should trim down first .
300mg test a week is good enough but your starting pct wayyyy to early. wait like 18 days not a week. Theres several tamoxifen protocols.
1) 120mg first two days then 20mg a day for 39 days total or wtvr
2) first week 40mg a day, second 30mg a day, third and 4th weekd 20mg a day
3) any other variation 40 mg first two weeks then 30mg third week, 20mg last week
lots of variations, dont take it during cycle unless you feel itchy nips.
Dont use an insulin needle for 0.5ml it will take so longg just 27guage.

starless wrote: whats your height? im 91kg at 184cm, if you say 18% bf and your shorter, its probably higher and your fat you should trim down first .
300mg test a week is good enough but your starting pct wayyyy to early. wait like 18 days not a week. Theres several tamoxifen protocols.
1) 120mg first two days then 20mg a day for 39 days total or wtvr
2) first week 40mg a day, second 30mg a day, third and 4th weekd 20mg a day
3) any other variation 40 mg first two weeks then 30mg third week, 20mg last week
lots of variations, dont take it during cycle unless you feel itchy nips.
Dont use an insulin needle for 0.5ml it will take so longg just 27guage.

actually, it's 3x the length of the longest ester before pct starts is the minimum. so 300mg of test e, 31.5 days after the last injection is when pct starts.

1.) 120mg tamoxifen on 1 day? no. pointless.
2 + 3 . is also pointless, it is not going to get you to bounce back faster.

and using a slin pin for half an ml of the test is perfect, I do it all the time.