Empire 2022 road to stage

Seems like he updates as much as I do. Its what now, 3weeks out?

4 weeks on Saturday, I have had a stomach bug the last 2 days, been shitting my guts out.

I haven't been posting much cos I don't really get much response nor interest in terms of questions so it's kind of defeating the point of an open cards prep log you know.

That's rough man! Getting your appetite back after this is also tough. You must be feeling pretty flat. Rather now than a week out.

Hey Empire, I see you're using Glucophage during your cut. Is there any benefit in adding 500mg x 2/day in a lean bulk scenario?

DR.DEATH wrote: Hey Empire, I see you're using Glucophage during your cut. Is there any benefit in adding 500mg x 2/day in a lean bulk scenario?

yes, I now use less Glucophage now seeing my carbohydrates are lower, and I dose it higher the night after my skiploads, even though I am dosing the insulin during my loads.

remember what is the point of using a drug is? At the start of a diet, when carbs are still high and cardio is low, you still want to be insulin sensitive. also, I tailor my insulin dose to my diet, not my diet to my insulin, hence why I have only been using small doses of insulin. Remember you can use insulin to improve insulin sensitivity, and also take pressure off the pancreas, there is no negative feedback loop for the pancreas when implementing insulin. SO please don't think it's going to turn you into a type 1 diabetic, all it does is removes pressure off the beta cells in the pancreas when gobs of carbs are used.

now if you are eating gobs and gobs and gobs of carbs during your lean bulk, you are going to suffer from insulin resistance issues. it's going to happen. hence why it is vital to monitor your fasted glucose levels to see where you are in terms of insulin sensitivity. if those numbers go up and and up, then there needs to be some intervention. 1.) more volume to match your caloric intake, 2.) insulin sensitizing substances such as Glucophage, or 3.) low level basal insulin.

now most people go but insulin makes me fat....NO. too many calories makes you fat. so if you are eating too much, you are going to get fat anyway. what happens is people usually come to a pre conceived idea of say 15iu of insulin is going to be a magic number and then consume an additional 150g of carbs to cover the insulin, so the additional 600 calories on top of the calories they are eating is the reason for the fat gain. Now yes Glucophage has its place in the off-season, yes with insulin and without. rule of thumb is usually 1mg of Glucophage per 1g of carbs taken in.

if you are in a situation where you are starting a diet and need the insulin-sensitizing effects, it's okay to start on 500mg and come down to that 1mg per 1g of carbs ingested. for the most part, not many people have too many issues with 500mg of Glucophage, but some do, I have a client on this forum who has had serious ibs issues where Glucophage has made it worse by slowing digestion and making his IBS worse, so he cant use it. that and he could probably go harder and heavier with a little more volume before we push up the food, and get to the point where his fasted numbers are skyrocketing.

so for you, in a lean bulk, I would say 500mg 2x a day would be overkill. start with 250mg daily and access tolerance from there.

my calories are down to 2100 now, so my insulin dosing is down to 3iu just for the pump and anti-catabolic nature around training, so my need for Glucophage is very very little as I am also doing 90mins of cardio a day, and for the next 2 weeks going to push to 120mins a day. fasting glucose numbers due to using clen is up to 80mcg a day.

00pump wrote: That's rough man! Getting your appetite back after this is also tough. You must be feeling pretty flat. Rather now than a week out.

it's the 2100 calories a day that's making me feel rough. appetite is fine, and I'm back to normal.

i had a massage on Tuesday that was hectic, the guy really hammered me, and i don't know if that is what sent my body into a shock and maybe stored toxins were released, but it really did a number on me that is for sure.

It's motivating to see how committed you are for this while sticking to safer doses. That's the way to go. You're going to kill it next month... I've only been on 100mg/week of test for almost 3 months and that was really rough for a while, but had to do it after some dodgy blood work.

Keen to see the next pics update.

High hematocrit and hemoglobin and RBC? How was your cardio load? I'm dealing that alot with clients who have had covid or been vexed. Maybe ask admin for my mail, cos I'd love to chat to you about that if that is the case.

Empire wrote: High hematocrit and hemoglobin and RBC? How was your cardio load? I'm dealing that alot with clients who have had covid or been vexed. Maybe ask admin for my mail, cos I'd love to chat to you about that if that is the case.

Yep haematocrit and all the RBC stuff is usually elevated so I give blood, which keeps it borderline. I'm not concerned about that as it's acceptable. Cardio is fine. ECG also looks good.

It's my kidneys that were worrying me with higher than before creatinine and eGFR of 79. I've done a lot of low dose 100mg/week tren the last few years and my eGFR has been consistantly testing lower... Taking ALA, NAC and resveratrol but not as clued up I'd like to be about this.

It's hard to get a good idea on how concerning creatinine, urea, eGFR is when you're training hard, an on a high protein diet and gear which all increases protein and creatinine in the blood. So I've been taking it easy for a while. I've got your contact info bud. Will hit you up when I get the next bloods soon.

Well at 79 at a hyper musculatur individual who is over certain age with thicker blood isn't bad.

Lesdoctor has an equation that is better for the egfr based on more factors. I had a client who's egfr was 55 but he checked either LesDoctor and ended up being 92 based on his equation..

Yea tren Is a fucker.

Your blood markers for thickening would be fixable for sure and taking tudca at 500mg per day and doing a short cycle of high dose tb500 can help with kidney issues and repairs 1mg per kg per day for 20days has been shown to improve kidney function.

4 weeks to go. Still watery in the lower back from the yohimbine and well,fat. Always my bitch spot. I will add some arimadex at 2 weeks out just to get rid of any estrogen related water. Need to get some massage done on my back, lats feel and look a bit stuck.

But all in all I think I've made decent improvements since last year. Fuller, bigger, harder. Oh and I need bigger posing trunks these ones are too small. Fak.

4 weeks to go. Still watery in the lower back from the yohimbine and well,fat. Always my bitch spot. I will add some arimadex at 2 weeks out just to get rid of any estrogen related water. Need to get some massage done on my back, lats feel and look a bit stuck.

But all in all I think I've made decent improvements since last year. Fuller, bigger, harder. Oh and I need bigger posing trunks these ones are too small. Fak.

Holly molly :ohmy:
Some crazy changes thus far.

your onderbroekie is skew


How can you get more definition on the ab area? Just work them out? or is it really that abs are made in the kitchen?

And traps, other than that, dude looking jacked as hell!
how much water weight do you gain when you do a skip day? do you also take 2-3 days to whoosh like me? or is yours faster?

still holding overall water for certain reasons, sleep being one of them. but i don't train abs, until now, cos i find it makes me wider in the waistline if i do too much of it.

usually about 8kgs or so on a load day. no i take longer to whoosh than you do depending on the amount of food i consume

I think I may be a little vascular after some cardio and food.

Holy shit! Beast mode activated! Well done Empire, hard work pays off and thx again for the updates!

8kilos?

Thats insane!

Ab workout makes sense,
What is better in the comp, definition, or hourglass look (small waist, big shoulders)?

Pics look great man, but for some reason I just don't think they do you justice, you look far more fantastically freaky in person...

I’m just trying to understand how you are taking so much substances as an amateur bodybuilder.

So much substance? Look at mg per kg.

Remember your local gym has got guys using 10x more than I am. I'm using less than a 1000mg a week after 17 years of training. Guys who do their first cycle do more than a 1000mg.

Stickynote5 wrote: I’m just trying to understand how you are taking so much substances as an amateur bodybuilder.

Show me on yourself, keeping that much muscle during a cut on anything less and coming in that dry.

00pump wrote:

Stickynote5 wrote: I’m just trying to understand how you are taking so much substances as an amateur bodybuilder.

Show me on yourself, keeping that much muscle during a cut on anything less and coming in that dry.

Seen any billygoats? I think there is a bridge missing a troll..