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Old guy cycle advice


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Basic Stats:

53 yrs old, 255lbs, 5'11', 15% -ish bf

Background:

Lifting since forever.  Very lucky I still have healthy shoulders - can bench a lot.  Hips a little tender these days, but still squat, but not too heavy.

As I've talked about in the past, I'm on TRT prescribed, 100mg/wk - best thing I ever did.  Puts me just under the high limit of normal at 5 days after injection.

I test my blood 4X/yr.  

When cruising on TRT, I pin once/wk.  I notice no up/downs.  No prob increasing frequency when augmenting.

I seem to be lucky in that I have responded very well to low dosages so far.  Saw some fantastic results on TRT alone.  On it now for a little more than a year.

Previous 'Cycles':

Increased T to about 225 mg/wk total (2 pins/wk) and 50 mg Anavar/day.  Did this for about 6 weeks then gyms closed - fuck!  Back to TRT since.

Holy mother of jesus, what a brief but fun ride.  All lifts improved, but my bench especially.  Not bragging, but it's just the facts here, this put me over the Canadian Bench Record with a gym lift.  Signed up to make it official at a meet, but then this Covid BS happened - fuck again!!

Anyway, I have access to a well-equipped home gym now, so I'm back on the horse again for a few weeks now.  But it's a bit of a drive, so I'm just kinda maintaining with 2 full body workouts/wk, plus cardio on my own.  I won't do any augmentation until gyms open and I can be properly frequent again, but I want to prepare now for when this happens.

Goals:

To officially break the Bench record. However, this will require a little recomp, as I will compete in the 241 class.  Nutrition is no prob  - former BB'er and can control food.

So basically looking for suggestions for strength/recomp/joint protection protocol for an older, but high-responder type who doesn't want to fuck with my health.  I really don't think I need high doses of anything considering my history, but I know there's so much experience here, I'd love to hear suggestions to optimize my goals.

Thanks in advance!

PS - In addition, if anyone has any suggestions for a Bench Technique/Training coach, I'd be grateful too.  I know the basics of powerlifting benching, but am a newbie at shooting for maxes.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Keep test under 400 always imo... and continue to use safe compounds like var, npp, maybe throw in some mast. These will definetely make you feel and look good while helping with strength.

Primobolan has always been a safe but expensive drug, for that reason I never used it but a lot of ppl (including old ppl) love that for low sides and quality results... just have to run 1g+ that's the problem and its not cheap 😞

Equipose might be a bad idea but its also a 'somehwat' safer steroid but it might cause heart issues or give u a heart attack LOL because of increased RBC count. I used to use it alot but I just could not handle the BP issues.. havent run it in years as a result...

Everything else is wild and comes with more sides..

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10 hours ago, a_ahmed said:

Keep test under 400 always imo... and continue to use safe compounds like var, npp, maybe throw in some mast. These will definetely make you feel and look good while helping with strength.

Primobolan has always been a safe but expensive drug, for that reason I never used it but a lot of ppl (including old ppl) love that for low sides and quality results... just have to run 1g+ that's the problem and its not cheap 😞

Equipose might be a bad idea but its also a 'somehwat' safer steroid but it might cause heart issues or give u a heart attack LOL because of increased RBC count. I used to use it alot but I just could not handle the BP issues.. havent run it in years as a result...

Everything else is wild and comes with more sides..

Agreed on the Equipoise and BP issues. 

Never had any issue with BP until I started taking Equipoise this cycle, this will be my first and only cycle with it, you are better off with other compounds trust me, or give blood while on it.

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I feel my best on 375mg of test , toss in 50mg proviron , npp for joints , health wise I just feel good. I’m older myself I do occasionally run 500mg of test but lately with age I’ve stuck at 375mg and feel great, And occasionally some Madol pre-workout , nothing fancy here and I have access to it all.

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Very much appreciated gentlemen. Equipoise is out.  Will try the others soon - probably not all at the same time though.

One nice thing about getting older when you're a saver (or just a cheap SOB maybe) money is less and less of a problem so the cost of something like Primo is no biggie.

I've heard good things about Deca and joints too.  Thoughts?

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Deca is really nice for the joints, but it's such a long ester that I would stick with NPP if I were you, as @BodyTechPharma said. You'll notice the effects way sooner on the joints, for me that's what happened. Deca should only be used if you plan on doing a cycle for more than 8-10 weeks. Depends what you prefer man, but yes it will help with joints.

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Deca dick is also very real, not on NPP and throw in mast if you do npp. I liked deca... but... the deca dick was the major turn off. Despite all the ancillaries, p5p, etc... it still gave me shitty sex and erections.

As far as positives, insanely thick veins, pumps like an oral, fullness, SUPER SMOOTH lifts, joint pain masking (note, not true repair, it's really masking with all the fluid in there), and because I love my deadlifts and squats, it made every rep feel butter and water smooth. Tren on the other hand had me jittering and shaking and aching in comparison. But yeah I liked looking drier haha... deca is a michelin man type direction if you're fat also...

DECA always won me over for shear strength and smooth heavy heavy lifts... but deca dick and bloof made me never run it agin. Oh yeah was great for appetite too.

Bad part? Whenver I got off, I felt like I lost the gains and just got fat LOL... so I stuck to slow and steady quality gains instead and stuck to dry compounds...

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I think there are a lot of possible routes you could go. NPP or Primo is on the table for sure if frequent-ish or high oil volume pinning is not a problem. 

Why not do a repeat of your pre-closure run if you were feeling really good on it?  Or even add a little something extra in. 

For giggles Ill throw my 2 pennies in and say 250mg Test, 500mg Mast (enanthate), 50mg Var or 20mg Rad-140...and a couple IU of GH.

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  • 4 weeks later...

NPP and deca great for joints, BUT the joint benefits come after a decent time.  I’ve found the joint relief kicking in about the same length of time with both.  NPP will give gains faster, but not so much joint relief faster.  Just my experience there, as nandrolone is my favorite and have ran it many times in different esters.

since you do have a weight class to hit, keep the wet stuff at lower doses.

i would suggest

300test

200deca

50anava (good strength gains)

50 proviron to help with water, and gives a little strength

madol pre workout.

thats a good, VERY mild cycle for strength gains, just remember (since you’re a bodybuilder). Keep your working sets in the 1-3 rep range for strength, you don’t want to be putting on a lot of mass training like a bodybuilder.   Keep shoulders strong, and keep lats strong.  Take longer rest periods between sets on bench.  Keep in the 1-3 reps range.

ill try to explain a strong base for a strong bench, but learning how to engage lats while driving the bar only comes with experience.

3 points of contact, balls of feet on ground, butt and upper back on bench.   Don’t get into the habit of hyper extending so much your butt is in the air, you’ll see it on YouTube but it’s not much more beneficial.

keep shoulders tight, you can practice by putting a pencil in the middle of your upper back and holding it there with your rhomboids.  That will create the posture needed for upper back and flaring out the lats and give you a solid base as you drive the bar.     Butt on the bench with your feet slightly behind your knees, this draws some power from your legs.  Keep elbows in, and drive from about the nipple line.

at lift off, up back tight, elbows in (this is where the power from the lats come in) lower back with a modest arch, butt on the bench, balls of feet behind the knee.   Lower the bar in a controlled fashion, as you hit the bottom, be at nipple line, drive your feet into the floor, open up the lats and drive up with aggression.  A good tip for feeling it stick at 3/4 the way up is to exhale, tighten up the back, and pull shoulder back, allowing that final bit of movement to lock the elbows out for the “full rep”

 

I hope that helps

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Thanks, yes very helpful.   I have a pretty good theoretical understanding of the powerlifting bench, but am thinking I'd like advice from a coach as well.  

Thanks for the sticking point tip too. I almost always get it out of the hole but sometimes can't lock it out.

Time to get an order in.  Strength very close to pre-Covid now.

And thanks @Ryujiin for reminding me of GH.  Should probably do a run or two for health benefits alone.

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