My First Steroid Cycle
Most of you guys know I use a high-normal dose of TRT.
I try to keep myself right on the cusp of supraphysiological Testosterone levels.
In the past I've blasted with supraphysiological amounts numerous times, and the first steroid cycle in particular is what I want to delve into today.
My first steroid cycle was the classic 500 mg of Test Enanthate for 12 weeks.
This is exactly how it was laid out:
| Weeks | Testosterone Enanthate | PCT (Post-Cycle Therapy) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-12 | 500 mg per week split into 1x 250 mg shot Monday and 1x 250 mg shot Thursday | |
| 12-14 | (Waited for ester to clear before starting PCT) | (Waited for ester to clear before starting PCT) |
| 14-16 | Nolvadex (40 mg per day) and Clomid (100 mg per day) | |
| 16-18 | Nolvadex (20 mg per day) and Clomid (50 mg per day) |
That's the standard “go-to newbie cycle” that is talked about on the forums all the time, and is about as simple as it gets.
I didn't even use an aromatase inhibitor because I was so uneducated and haphazardly jumped into the cycle thinking I knew everything already.
Looking back in hindsight, that cycle was overkill.
I didn't need nearly that much gear for where I was at.
Even now, most of you guys know my TRT protocol is only 100 mg of Testosterone Propionate per week right now (at least at the time of writing this article).
It changes sometimes based on different experiments I'm doing, but that's roughly where it's at all the time.
My Testosterone replacement protocol has evolved over the years as I started to realize that I could get away with less and less.
It used to be 200 mg of Enanthate per week, then I dropped it down to 150 mg of Enanthate per week, and then I dropped it to 125 mg of Enanthate per week.
Then, I changed the ester to Testosterone Propionate, lowered the weekly dosage to 100 mg, and starting pinning micro shots every day with an insulin pin to try and replicate what would be closer to normal endogenous Testosterone production (this results in higher Free T and lower levels of aromatization).
Knowing what I know now, and seeing first hand how much size I can hold with only 100 mg of Testosterone Propionate per week, I brutally regret using 500 mg of Testosterone per week for my first cycle.
What I Would Change In My First Steroid Cycle If I Could Go Back In Time
If could go back in time, I could have gotten away with half of that easily, and still made significant amounts of progress.
I also should have waited until I had a more thorough understanding of diet.
I knew how to lift heavy and train hard, but my knowledge about dieting and learning how to prime my metabolism was not where it needed to be.
As a result, I spent a fair bit of time on hormones wasting muscle building potential, and getting fat when I didn't need to.
For the majority of men, you only have so many cycles in the tank before you get to a point where you either:
A) Have accelerated the miniaturization of your hair follicles and are forced to stop using hormones to prevent further hair loss
B) Have a health issue that forces you off hormones
This is why it is so incredibly crucial to fully understand how to diet, train, and how to milk the most muscle out of intelligent dosages as possible.
Even if you're side effect free, the higher your dosage is, the less potential muscle growth you will get out of each dosage increment as Myostatin will increase regardless to inhibit you from gaining too much muscle in the presence of supraphysiological androgens.
If you start at 500 mg and plateau, where do you go from there?
You either increase the dosage, introduce other androgens on top of what you're already using, or you have to come off/greatly lower the dosage periodically to reset Myostatin.
Using too much gear off the bat is a big regret I have, but there wasn't as much of information available back then as there is now.
There were forums, but it wasn't like it is now.
When I was a teenager, bodybuilding was cool and getting as big as possible was the objective.
As the years progressed and social media exploded, freak show bodybuilders started to look less and less appealing, and we all started noticing how many bodybuilders were actually dropping like flies from health problems.
To the average juice head, 500 mg per week is nothing.
This is partially because we have all been brainwashed into thinking that there is no ceiling on the returns from AAS, when in reality, once you hit a gram or two per week, the diminishing returns are so drastic that even if you tripled the dosage at that point, you would just end up with more side effects and no additional muscle gain.
If you're convinced every IFBB pro is using 5 grams per week, then 500 mg per week seems a lot more reasonable.
The reality is that 500 mg is actually a lot of gear.
I can sustain my current physique on 100 mg of Testosterone per week.
Maybe even less, and I will likely see how low I can get it before I start seeing muscle loss in the near future (androgens are one of the main roots of heart disease).
If I could go back in time, I would probably use around 250 mg of Testosterone propionate, or 300 mg Testosterone Enanthate per week for my first steroid cycle (depending on my blood work).
How Many Milligrams Of Testosterone Do Men Naturally Produce?
The average natural male produces 3 mg to 10 mg of Testosterone per day, with the average being 6-7 mg per day.
That is only 70 mg per week on the absolute high end of the genetic elite.
Keep in mind, there is no ester that needs to be cleaved from the molecule, so 21 – 70 mg is literally 21 – 70 mg when it comes to endogenous production.
When you factor in ester weight with Testosterone Enanthate, 500 mg per week might actually only end up being between 300 – 350 mg of usable Testosterone.
However, that 350 mg is still several times higher than the endogenous production of a genetic elite.
It is around 7 times more Testosterone than an average young healthy male produces per week (50 mg).
Personally, I don't see any justification to start at 500 mg for a first cycle, or a dosage that would then put someone in a position where there is so much aromatization occurring that they are forced to deploy an Aromatase Inhibitor.
If you are already on half a gram of gear and throwing back Aromasin/Arimidex tabs just to keep your Estrogen in check during your first cycle, you're way off the mark from smart bodybuilding practices.
Do you really need to increase your androgen index by 7-10x times higher than what it normally is just to push past your genetic plateau?
No.
A much more reasonable dosage will still provide significant growth opportunity with a much lower incidence of side effects, while ensuring greater long-term growth potential, and I wish I realized this sooner.
