Bro, curious as to what's your reasoning for starting it 3 weeks into a cycle? I think I read recently, someone said because that's how long it takes for the body to shut down? One could argue why not start it from day 1 or two weeks prior or on the 2nd day. These are minor details imo. People run it the last 4 weeks up to PCT in some cases. I think they are all beneficial.
a) I don't think that's correct...if not mistaken, the body shuts down with as little as one shot of test or de-ca for example... (I'd have to research to verify); Everyone is different and you must also take into the certain steroid and at what dose. But certainly by week 3 you will be shut down. That is one part of it. Testicular atrophy is the other. I would have to dig up the research but I have seen TA occur in as little as 4-6 weeks.
b) Why wait until the body has completely shut down? Isn't the point of running H C G during the cycle so that the body does NOT completely shut down? That is not always the point. Intermittent administration of HCG will keep the testicles receptive to lh - leutenizing hormone - , when we eventually go off a cycle. This may be due to HCG’s ability to help you maintain of a higher level of Inter-Testicular-Testosterone (ITT), when used during a cycle. This will aid and quicken your recovery of the hypothalamic-testicular-pituitary-axis. When doctors in the 80's coudl still help athletes with cycles, many took this approach. Another common reason is to prevent testicular atrophy. So, administration of hCG sends a signal to the testes to start production of testosterone (thus, hCG can help prevent testicular atrophy during a long cycle). However, remember that the testosterone produced can signal the hypothalamus to stop sending the signals to turn on the testes. So, hCG can be somewhat inhibiting to the natural process of hormone release. That is why many believe that hCG should not be used at the end of a cycle, when the desire is to stimulate natural production of hormones.
As for doing it after the cycle, from my experience, I think it's a bad idea to run H C G that long after the cycle's finished...like you're delaying recovery, plus a consensus seems that running it alongside with clo-mid and nol-va isn't such a great idea.... so rather, it's advisable to run it while the esters are clearing, not after... so for shorter esters, run it for the last 10 days of the cycle (500iu ED for example)...if longer esters, several days or so after the last shot...again for 10 days at 500iu ED The one problem I have with 500iu ED for 10 day procedure is there is research (again I would have to find - plus there was an EF member awhile back who published his own bloodwork study as a single case example of this) is that there is that HCG is not dose dependent in that increased frequency or dose does not stimulate further production. From the studies I have seen 250-500iu range every 3-5 day seemed to be the most common. So you would in theory get the same stimulation, not more, from 500iu's for 10 days straight.
Just my 2 cents!
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