First cycle log

[deestar]

Ok-

I figure if I'm doing this I should do it right, and keep a log of my progress so I can figure out what works and what doesn't, and maybe even get some helpful feedback.

My initial plan was to go with Test-E (500mg/wk) and D-Bol (20mg/day) for 12 weeks (with the D-Bol for the first 4 only). This changed a bit after talking with my trainer, who I trust way more than I probably should, but he hasn't led me astray yet. I know I'm going against the general consensus with this, and I'm at peace with that and willing to deal with it.

The new cycle:

1-12 Test-E (500mg/wk)
1-12 Deca (400mg/wk)
1-4 D-Bol (50mg/day)

Not a radical departure from the original plan I guess, but I know most here typically frown upon first cycles consisting of more than test and an oral.

I actually started this cycle 9 days ago, so I'm a little late starting the log party. The next couple entries will be from memory and just catching up to the present day.

Starting point:

33 years old
6'0"
199lb
12.5% bf

I tentatively have plans to do a show in October. Whether I hit that date or not depends on how this cycle is going - I'll know more for sure in about 6 weeks I guess (which is about the 12-week mark to showtime).

D

 

[deestar]

Saturday, May 22

First injections tonight. I am very prone to MRSA infections (my skin in general is terrible, I'm sure this cycle will make it better.../sarcasm) so I did the injections immediately after taking a shower and scrubbing with some clorhexadine wash. Actually, my girlfriend (nurse) did the injections, which is awesome because I am a complete pussy. Maybe someday I'll do 'em myself, but that day is not today.

She was looking forward to sticking me but it was not as much fun as she had hoped. The needles we had were 25ga 1.5" - too long and too small for her liking. We did 2mls in each glute (200mg/ml deca and 250mg/ml test), and it took quite a while to push that oil through the 25ga needle, and she had to push pretty fucking hard. I'm glad I couldn't see her face as it was happening (did I mention I'm a pussy?).

Significant soreness ensued for several days.

D

 

[deestar]

Sunday, May 23rd

Popped first D-Bol at 6am this morning, workout at 8. Felt nothing. What, no instant gratification? I had heard it worked fast, but apparently not quite that fast

D

 

[deestar]

Wednesday, May 26

Bigass knots in my ass are finally starting to go away. Discomfort when sitting is mostly gone. Annoying headache all day, took some aspirin early but it persisted. D-Bol side effect perhaps?

D

 

[deestar]

Saturday, May 29

Workout this week have been significantly more intense, though I am strongly suspecting placebo effect. Strength is pretty much unchanged, but I'm sweating like a jackass, which I rarely do when lifting (cue the haters).

Second injections tonight - same doses, same needles, WAY easier and faster this time. Girlfriend attributed this to better positioning and using both thumbs on the plunger. Another headache today that persisted for about 6 hours in the late morning/afternoon hours.

So - the gear I'm using was obtained through my trainer, though about a month earlier I had ordered some stuff online. I turned to my trainer because I was very impatient and sick of waiting for the package to show, so I just got enough from him to get started. This included only a week of D-Bol (I stupidly thought my package would arrive any day), so tomorrow morning (Sunday the 30th) is my last one. It'll be a few days before I see him again, so I'll be without oral supplementation for a few days at least. We'll see if it's noticeable.

Libido is completely off the charts, not sure what to attribute this to (too early for test effects at this point, right?). The girlfriend started a winny cycle on Wednesday (her first), so hopefully her libido catches up soon because forcing myself on her is getting tiring.

D

 

[deestar]

Sunday, May 30

Off day from the gym. Did 30 minutes of cardio just to maintain my level of fatness. Scale is going up rapidly (up 6 lbs so far to 205), which I suspect is largely water. I certainly look fuller all over.

I've totally neglected to mention my diet so far. I am completely OCD about my food prep and macro intake, so I'm not too worried about it being off. I was at about 3300 calories (my maintenance level) before starting the cycle and kept at that level for the first few days (50/35/25 carb/prot/fat). Basically a shit-ton of chicken, brown rice, tuna, oats, sweet potatoes, and ice cream (just kidding). A few days in I bumped things up to about 3700-3800 calories, and more of a 40/40/20 split. I'll run with this for a few days and see how it goes.

D

 

[deestar]

Monday, May 31

Holy goddamn arm workout. Pump following tricep dips (first exercise) was almost painful. Awesome. My arms are never sore after a workout, so it'll be interesting to check that tomorrow.

Hungry today, a sensation I have not felt for months (I was up to nearly 5k cal/day for much of March/April). Bumping up calories a bit more for tomorrow, into the 4k range.

D

 

[deestar]

Tuesday, June 1

And now we're all caught up. And there was much rejoining (from me, anyway...I need to go to sleep).

I have deemed my back and legs to be lacking, and will begin working them out twice a week starting now. Typically I go 2 on 1 off, which results in hitting each body part once a week. Time to step it up.

So this morning, I did back, focusing on width (wide grip pulldowns, pull ups, etc). This evening was shoulder/traps with the girlfriend. It's a tough muscle group for me to really feel a pump in, but I thought it was all right. Not enough volume for my taste (we are following a workout program she got through an online personal trainer - with the right intensity, the volume is usually fine...I guess I was lacking a bit tonight).

Energy was great all day in spite of the workout split. I was HUNGRY today at work on 4k cals. I mean, hungry all day, stomach growling, the works. Adding more carbs/fat tomorrow, sticking around 375 grams of protein.

Tomorrow is scheduled off but I'll be doing legs in the morning and then nothing until Thursday evening.

D

 

[Tblock1]

Hey we are somewhat similar size what arr your best lifts right now? (I'm 6 foot 195 around the same bodyfat)

 

[deestar]

Nothing super impressive:

squat, 315x10
rack deadlift, 345x12
flat bench, 225x10 (my weakest by far)

I'll attempt higher on my squat an dead next time as I'm getting more comfortable with the heavier weights. All of these number went up significantly in the 2-3 months preceeding my cycle.

D

 

[Tblock1]

your squat is higer than me, not sure about deadlifts cause I don't do rack deadlifts. I have maxed 445x1 off the floor on deads though, and think I could get 465x1 now. I think your bench is higher than me though, cause I go really low rep and can maybe do 250x3. I'm still 17 though so I got som time hahahhaha Nice work good luck on your cycle.

 

[deestar]

I hate doing deads off the floor. My trainer introduced me to the move in the rack and I'm a big fan of that. I don't understand how people my size can get 400lbs off the floor. Crazy...my hat is off to you.

Things I forgot from my first post last night (I was tired, sue me):

The thread I started in the AAS forum asking for advice before ordering anything. Naturally, I got some great advice and am only listening to parts of it. We all do it, but at least I'm honest about it.
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/taking-plunge-first-cycle-701045.html

And my 'before' pic, also posted in that thread. Hopefully I'll look back at this in a few months and laugh.

 

[Captain FT]

Looks good man, keep it up. This area doesn't get a ton of traffic since its plats only. Keep working hard.

 

[deestar]

Thanks!

Did legs today before heading to work.

2 sets extensions (light weight, warm-up)
4 sets hacks (deep)
4 sets squats (heavy)
2 sets extensions (heavy)

That took about 50 minutes which is all I had time for. After work and some errands I met the girlfriend at the gym for some cardio, and settled in for the night.

This would be a good time to mention that I am very fortunate to have a job that gives me unique flexibility to do what I have to do as a bodybuilder. I can eat all day long, do cardio on lunch, whatever - I'm quite lucky. I'm actually a college student on a 6-month break until Fall term starts, and filling in my time now working at the job I used to have before going back to school. The date of my planned show is 1 week into the Fall term, so I expect that will cause some issues in that important final week of prep. Yuck.

Food today: I upped the portions on everything, and then swung for the fences by indulging in a cheat meal for dinner.

Total calories: 5460
Fat: 160g
Carb: 600g
Protein: 410g

I think it worked out to 43/29/28 carb/protein/fat - I log everything on my phone and it's not next to me at the moment. I've found that being super meticulous when it comes to food is what it takes to keep me on track. Others certainly can get similar results with less effort.

Oh yeah - also got a resupply of my orals today - my source was out of D-Bol so I got Anadrol instead - yet another deviation from my plan, but whatever! I'll start that first thing in the morning. Also got the girlfriend a GH kit to go with her winny and while this thread isn't about her, I'm excited to see how it's going to work for her.

D

 

[Captain FT]

Nice man. GH is powerful but needs to be run for a long time, minimum 3 months and even then the results are that impressive. That in mind, its the only drug that will get you beyond genetic potential by creating new muscle cells, not just making existing muscle cells larger like joos does.

Best of luck I'll keep checking back

 

[deestar]

June 3

Started the Anadrol today, 25mg in the morning and 25 mid-day. No noticeable effect on today's workout.

Workout was chest & back. I hate this day. I think I mentioned above that I am following my girlfriend's split as prescribed by her online trainer, just to make it easier for us to work out together. It looks like this:

shoulders/traps
arms
*off*
chest/back
legs
*off*

Abs and calves are done alternatively, one of them per workout. I hate chest and back just because the movements are so big, it really just exhausts the shit out of me. Today looked like this:

Deadlift (3 sets)
Pullups (1 set)
Pulldowns (2 sets)
Close-grip pulldowns (1 sets)
1-arm rows (3 sets)
Incline DB press (4 sets)
Flat bench BB press (3 sets)
Incline cable crossovers (2 sets)

Not to mention my GF was 30 minutes late to the gym due to work, so I warmed up with 4 sets of pull-ups (10 reps per). I could hardly move by the end.

Food today:

4700 calories
110g fat
530g carb
440g protein

20/44/36 split - pretty good, was only hungry a couple of times throughout the day.

 

[deestar]

June 4

Weight this morning was 207 @ 11.5% bf (our scale has proven to be extremely accurate on the bf %, when checked against other traditional tests). It cost a shit-ton so it better be accurate.

Energy was low-ish today, I almost fell asleep at work a couple times. I am HOT HOT HOT all day long. Today may have to be the last day of wearing jeans to work, because I just sweat like a mofo. My 'office' is a large enclosed room with about 50 computers in it, and it is by far the hottest area of the building. Throw in my general over-heating, and the fact that the AC in our office was out today while they were working on the HVAC, and it was probably close to 80 degrees in there. Yuck.

Workout was ok tonight - did legs, didn't kill myself.

Leg press - 4x15
Lying leg curls - 3x15
Extensions - 3x15
Walking lunges - 2 sets
Standing calf raises - 4x12/10/8/6
Seat calf raises - N/A

On the last set of standing calf raises I felt something really painful on the 3rd rep, and just called it a day after that. Now, 3 hours later, that area is super tight when I walk. Not sure what I did to it, but I hope it's just short-term.

In other news, I stubbed my toe hardcore on the bed first thing after waking up this morning, and ripped off a big chunk of my pinky toenail. That was bad enough, but then 30 minutes later I did the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING again. I almost called in sick, went back to bed, and gave up for the day...but for some stupid reason I pressed on.

 

[Tblock1]

June 4

Weight this morning was 207 @ 11.5% bf (our scale has proven to be extremely accurate on the bf %, when checked against other traditional tests). It cost a shit-ton so it better be accurate.

Energy was low-ish today, I almost fell asleep at work a couple times. I am HOT HOT HOT all day long. Today may have to be the last day of wearing jeans to work, because I just sweat like a mofo. My 'office' is a large enclosed room with about 50 computers in it, and it is by far the hottest area of the building. Throw in my general over-heating, and the fact that the AC in our office was out today while they were working on the HVAC, and it was probably close to 80 degrees in there. Yuck.

Workout was ok tonight - did legs, didn't kill myself.

Leg press - 4x15
Lying leg curls - 3x15
Extensions - 3x15
Walking lunges - 2 sets
Standing calf raises - 4x12/10/8/6
Seat calf raises - N/A

On the last set of standing calf raises I felt something really painful on the 3rd rep, and just called it a day after that. Now, 3 hours later, that area is super tight when I walk. Not sure what I did to it, but I hope it's just short-term.

In other news, I stubbed my toe hardcore on the bed first thing after waking up this morning, and ripped off a big chunk of my pinky toenail. That was bad enough, but then 30 minutes later I did the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING again. I almost called in sick, went back to bed, and gave up for the day...but for some stupid reason I pressed on.

OW!!! On a good note that is a lot of food you eat a day....440 g's protein is solid!

 

[deestar]

OW!!! On a good note that is a lot of food you eat a day....440 g's protein is solid!

Thanks! I'm not so sure the people in my immediate vicinity appreciate it so much, if you get my drift. It's pretty brutal at times.

Weight is up to 210...it's just piling on at this point. Way cool.

Saturday was an off day, we did some evening cardio - my girlfriend hates that I can just half-ass my way through 20-30 minutes and she has to go balls out for 45. I keep telling her to look forward to her first off season when she can focus on putting on some size, and it will all be worth it. I think she's buying it, for now After my cardio I did 6 sets for my traps, which are lagging. Got a reasonable burn, which is not typical for me. Woohoo! More injections Saturday night.

Bigass knot in right glute Sunday, ow. Did arms in the morning, which was uneventful for me (girlfriend did her first set of dips using her entire bodyweight, which is a huge step for her - she is kicking ass). Food prep all day, followed by some evening cardio in our apartment gym where it was 83 degrees. Fuck that, never again.

D

 

[deestar]

June 7

Weight this morning was up to 212.2, BF was DOWN to 10.5%? What the fuck is going on with this stuff? Not that I'm complaining mind you. I may need to do some emergency clothes shopping this week, as nothing fits. Sides are absolutely nil at this point - my face is a little oilier than normal, but overall my skin has actually IMPROVED since I starting injecting.

Shoulders last night - very good workout, looked something like this:

Smith Machine behind the neck press (partial rep, lower half only) - 4 sets
Bent over raises - 3 sets
Lateral raises - 2 sets, higher reps

Then we did 2 sets of a compound move I don't know how to explain - the first part looks like an Iron Cross, then something else, then some front raises. I had to use heavier weight than I wanted to because of how crowded the gym was. It turned out great as I got a freakish burn from this.

Smith machine shrugs - 2 sets
DB shrugs - sets

Calf Press - 4 sets
Seated calf raises - 2 sets x 30 reps

Overall I'm feeling well. I had another headache today, and it seems clear to me something with these orals (first the d-bol and now the anadrol) is causing this. The headache was persistent through my workout but it didn't really slow me down, so it's certainly tolerable.

In other news, I've got a significant bruise on my right glute from the last injection. My girlfriend is monitoring it very closely, as she is every week, because she is paranoid about the possibility of infection, and wants to catch it early. The pain is certainly subsiding though and I can barely feel it now on Tuesday (shot was Saturday).

 

[Tblock1]

Nice man that is awesome that the bodyfat is down! Can't wait to see progress pics at the end of the cycle!

 

[deestar]

Ok, things are starting to get a little ridiculous. After an off day yesterday, the weight this morning was 213.6 w/9.7% BF. I believe the bodyfat numbers are being skewed/manipulated by all the water retention, but seeing the number that low sure makes me feel better. I am feeling ridiculously huge, and when I met my girlfriend at the store after work, she greeted me in the parking lot with a wide-eyed 'holy shit' look on her face. She'd seen me earlier that morning, but apparently the changes have been dramatic enough that she still isn't accustomed to seeing me like this. It's great!

Legs tonight. Should be fun!

D

 

[deestar]

Weight this morning is 215.0, 9.6%

Epic leg workout last night - looked like this:

Squats - 6 sets (3 warmups, 3 working sets, max of 335 for 10)
Lying leg curls - 3 sets
Calf press - 3 sets
Hack Squat - 3 sets
Legs Press - 5 sets, max of 720 for 12
Extensions - 1 set to failure

Ouch! The squat and leg press are both personal highs. I have typically avoided leg press because I find the machine so uncomfortable, but the gym we were at yesterday (not our usual one) has a different machine that is WAY better. I'm sure I can do higher than 720, just need to work up to it.

Apparently it's pretty obvious that I'm cycling - I guess putting on 16 lbs in 18 days is noticeable. One guy at the gym told me with a slight grin that I got pretty big in 2 weeks. He's a good kid, but only a kid - 18 - and I don't want him getting any stupid ideas.

My girlfriend and I split up (uh, our workout in the gym...we're still very much together) and she was doing calf raises while I was plugging away on the leg press. She got cornered by a dude who was just talking her ear off (I could care less, not the jealous type), and I could see her struggling with him. Eventually I banged out my last set and rescued her from him, meaning I had to talk to him for a few minutes...ugh. Anyway, after we left she told me what they were talking about - he opened the conversation with "So your boyfriend's on steroids right?" I mean, what is it that compels people to just blurt out shit like this to people they barely know? We have talked to this guy twice. He's just an idiot. The first thing he ever told me was that he takes 'vitamins' *wink*. One of my GF's co-workers was at a bar over the weekend and saw this guy there, and he was taking his shirt off and dancing around like a jackass (not appropriate behavior given the venue...hick town) yelling out that he's "ON THE JUICE" - ugh. What a total retard. Oh, and did I mention he's 53? He does look pretty damn good though, I must admit.

Chest/back tonight.

 

[deestar]

Chest/Back last night.

I got to the gym a few minutes early, so I figured after stretching I'd do some wide grip pullups while waiting on the GF to show. I did 1 set when she called and said she was running a little late. By the time she showed, I had done 7 sets of 10 and was FRIED. And thus, we were ready to start.

Incline DB press - 4x8 (new max of 95lbs for 8 reps)
Rack deadlifts - 3x8 (up to 315, but I changed the rack and went about 5 inches lower than usual. Definitely felt different)
Flat BB bench - 3x8 (max of 245 - record for me)
Cable flys - 2x12
Chins - 1x8
Wide-grip pulldowns - 2x8
Close-grip pulldows - 1x8
High row - 2x8, 1x15
Abs
Puke

Didn't really puke, but walking out was difficult. Needless to say, not much happened after that last night.

Lots of looks and comments at the gym, I guess it's pretty obvious what I'm doing. It doesn't help that I'm breaking out a bit worse than usual (mostly on my right arm). Going to investigate some options this weekend on dealing with that.

D

 

[Tblock1]

Damn man your bodyfat is going down and size up? Great progress!

 

[deestar]

Thanks tblock, I certainly appreciate the encouragement and feedback!

Been extremely busy the last few days with little time to post. Weight is holding steady in the 215 range. Tomorrow is my last day on Anadrol.

Saturday's workout (arms) and Sundays (shoulders/traps) were excellent. Endurance is increasing and I'm hitting new maxes on most lifts. Tried some new things with very good results. On Saturday I did 8 dips with 90lbs on the belt, by far a record for me.

Injections saturday night were...interesting. We got our TNB supplies this week (had been using a handful of 3ml 25ga 1.5" syringes before that were acquired via....other means). Lesson learned: 18ga is too big for a draw needle. My test syringe had a chunk of rubber stopper in it and had to be chucked, so 2cc's wasted there. We then drew and pinned with 23ga 1" needles - the deca in the left glute didn't really get deep enough, and it's left what looks like a gigantic welt on my ass that looks and feels nasty. Not painful so not worried about infection (my GF is a medical professional, so she's watching out for me), but it's uncomfortable and a bit itchy at times. My GF suspects she got carried away with the larger bore needle and may have injected too quickly, or perhaps 1" wasn't *quite* long enough for that spot - it was definitely going in the correct quadrant. She has administered thousands of injections in her career and has seen this before, and she's not worried. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really doubt I would be doing this without her help. She's the best.

Also got in some posing practice on Saturday, and it feels good to be learning the basics this far out. I need this all to be automatic by the time the show comes around.

D

 

[deestar]

Time for a quick update-

Weight has been holding steady around 215. This morning it was 213ish but I was terrible with hydration yesterday, so that was to be expected. Today was a little better but not by a ton.

At the advice of my trainer I upped my test dosage a bit, which necessitated splitting it up into 2 shots, which I should have been doing anyway. My first mid-week shot was on Wednesday, right quad, and....holy fuck. That was a mule kick from hell. Thank god we had done legs that day because I was limping like I'd broken my leg for a solid 3 days.

We did my usual shots tonight instead of Saturday night, because we were tired as fuck last night and didn't feel like going through the clean/sterilize routine. Did left quad and right glute, hopefully the first quad shot was an anomaly. Legs are supposed to be tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

Training has been good this week - I'm now at the 4 week mark, so based on what I've read this is when the stuff should really be kicking in. I did a bonus unscheduled workout tonight (chest/back) while the GF did her cardio (45 minutes) and it was sufficiently intense. I like hitting certain parts twice a week, and the width in my back is really coming up nicely.

16 weeks out from my planned show right now. Trainer's advice is to continue as-is for another 2 weeks, then clean up the diet without reducing much for another 2 weeks. At that point we'll begin the 12-week pre-contest diet, which he think will be fine based on how lean I am now. I was REALLY hoping to be a little bigger before starting the diet, as I don't want to diet down to 170 or 180 for the show. Having never done this before, I don't really know what to expect. I just know I'd rather be big than compete before I'm ready in my own eyes, so I'll have to watch everything closely for the next few weeks and make an intelligent decision.

D

 

[deestar]

Been 2 weeks since my last update. I've been super busy with work and working out, and honestly not much has changes here so I haven't felt compelled to write.

Injections have continued as scheduled without incident. I ran out of test-e last weekend, but conveniently I had FINALLY received the goods I ordered online just earlier that week, so I did Sunday's injection with 1cc of test-e and 1cc of the new test cyp. I also started HCG that same weekend, and I believe my nuts are already thanking me for that. I'm doing 250 iu twice a week.

Today marks the 14 week-out point for my show. After some debating over many things in my life, I've decided that come hell or high water, I am doing this fucking show. Additionally, I don't want to feel rushed as the show approaches, so I'm starting my pre-contest diet today. More realistically, it will be in the next couple days, as I sprung this on my trainer yesterday and don't yet have a solid meal plan established.

The current aas plan is to continue as is. In all honesty, though this is my first cycle, I plan on things getting a little more complicated as the show gets nearer. I plan on starting EQ as soon as I'm able to get my hands on some (this week hopefully), and I know my trainer typically recommends Winstrol for the final 4-5 weeks of prep. I'm not too concerned about loading up on too much gear, to be honest (though perhaps I should be, haha) - all sides to this point have been manageable. Acne was really bad at first, but has calmed down a bit as I've found ways to help manage it. Benzoyl Peroxide has worked well, but it makes me itch like a mofo, so I only use it on my shoulders every few days. Hitting the tanning bed regularly has made the biggest impact. My nipples are sufficiently irritated so I plan on starting letrozole this week.

D

 

[Tblock1]

good luck man!

 

[deestar]

Quick update:

Saturday the 3rd marked the 14 week-out date for the show I've selected, and I started my pre-contest diet on the 4th. For right now, I'm dropping the calories to about 3000 and increasing the cardio from....well, not much, up to something more reasonable. Probably 30 mins 5x a week to start. I will have help on my prep but my trainer is getting ready for his show on Saturday and I don't want to bother him until after it's over.

On another note, we did shoulders yesterday and I pressed 80lb db's for 12 very solid reps. I think my previous high was 65 for 10. Where the fuck did that come from? That was in the morning, too...usually weaker in the morning.

 

[Tblock1]

Quick update:

Saturday the 3rd marked the 14 week-out date for the show I've selected, and I started my pre-contest diet on the 4th. For right now, I'm dropping the calories to about 3000 and increasing the cardio from....well, not much, up to something more reasonable. Probably 30 mins 5x a week to start. I will have help on my prep but my trainer is getting ready for his show on Saturday and I don't want to bother him until after it's over.

On another note, we did shoulders yesterday and I pressed 80lb db's for 12 very solid reps. I think my previous high was 65 for 10. Where the fuck did that come from? That was in the morning, too...usually weaker in the morning.

was that 80'sx12 seated or standing?good stuff though!

 

[deestar]

Seated! No legs helping out there.

Super quick update: started EQ last night, 400mg right glute. Super easy injection, absolutely no soreness or swelling this morning (I usually get at least a little).

Legs earlier this morning, great all around workout.

D

 

[thelocal]

man ill say this,good progress,but your injecting all kind of stuff for a first time,u should just stay with one compound or 2 compounds and not try out everything at once lol imo

 

[deestar]

man ill say this,good progress,but your injecting all kind of stuff for a first time,u should just stay with one compound or 2 compounds and not try out everything at once lol imo

Thanks for the feedback. I will say I don't completely disagree, but I've set myself up on this course knowing what could happen. I'm not really concerned about sides, the only thing that bothers me is not knowing for sure what is causing them (which I think is the main premise behind doing a 1-compound cycle to start).

That being said, I don't think I'll run deca again, and adding the EQ at week 6 makes it easier to spot any potential sides brought on by it - so I've got a reasonable handle on things. Again though, I agree with you in principle.

Updates: injection into left quad on sunday has turned into a fairly significant red patch that is warm to the touch. Watching this closely. Hurts like hell also, which is consistent with pretty much every quad shot so far. Workouts have been nice and intense, cardio sucks. Diet is ok, but 3000 cals leaves me hungrier than I would like to be. Meeting with my trainer this weekend to go over my diet (he was in the final stages of his own prep when I started dieting so I've been winging it on my own up to now).

D

 

[deestar]

Forgot to mention this - I've finally come across a product that is doing something positive for my skin. It's designed to treat razor irritation but I'm finding it's working extremely well on this persistent acne I've had since I was doing PH's. This is after just 5 days of use so far. I know that plugging specific products is frowned upon, so I will do the opposite and share a link to a YouTube video that shows you how to make your own for almost nothing.

The girl in the video is correct - you can spend about $50 for a large-ish supply of this stuff, but I got enough supplies at the store to make a lifetime supply for about $4. I've heard of markup before but come the fuck on.....

YouTube - Save Money, Make Your OWN TendSkin!

ps - if this isn't kosher please don't ban me. I'm not trying to start shit.

D

 

[deestar]

And so it continues. Just under 12 weeks out from my show. Cardio has picked up considerably and I started carb cycling this week (high carbs yesterday with leg training in the evening, low carbs today with no weights scheduled).

Weight is down to 206. Trainer wants me to shoot for light heavy for my show, but I feel pretty confident that I can make it down to middleweight. I just don't think I have enough size on my frame to feel comfortable in with the light heavies. Though another of his clients was shooting for middleweight for a show a couple weeks ago and missed it by about 2-3 pounds - and he won the light heavy class anyway, and damn near won the overall. So we'll just play it by ear. Based on my results from last summer, I know I can cut up pretty well.

Sunday's shots were uneventful. I definitely cannot do test in the quads - it just hurts like shit every time. Really the test bites pretty hard wherever it goes, but it's pretty easy to tolerate in the glute, even though I can feel it for several days. The deca and EQ are almost completely painless wherever they go.

Skin is clearing up considerably. Currently the best it's looked in 6-7 months, which is fantastic. Another week or two and I'll feel comfortable back in tanks at the gym (which is great, because it's hot as fuck in there).

Read about and tried FST-7 training on Saturday - holy shit. Did arms on sat, shoulders on sunday, and legs yesterday. I *rarely* get sore after a workout (cue haters saying I'm not working hard enough - fuck you, I am), but 2 days after each workout I am *definitely* feeling it. Walking tomorrow should be pretty difficult.