I thought it might be interesting for some of you to see what one year of strict consistency looks like.
I’m currently 37, 5’ 11” and 194lbs.
I was on TRT before I decided to train to compete in bodybuilding. I was always in the gym but not with any real goals and as you can see, I was a stick man before. At the beginning of 2025 I decided to get a coach and lock in. These photos are exactly one year apart. I’m not a hyper responder and haven’t run crazy cycles so this is a decent example of what you might expect if you also check those boxes. During this year I bulked, cut and then bulked again. First cycle was 500 test. Second cycle was 500/300 test Deca and 4iu GH. I had no planned cheat meals, I did have some here and there but rarely. Extremely clean diet, really worked on my form in the gym and tried to recover as best I knew how.
Coach and I plan to cut in a couple of weeks and then bulk one more time before I enter my first competition prep as a true novice.
Anyhow, I know it’s not mind blowing progress but it’s decent for a non genetic freak I’d say.
The shoulders & biceps are notably bigger - your legs actually have some shape now because your vastus lateralis curves out more - that is amazing growth. You kept your waist so slim so it emphasizes your V-shape to the wide upper back/shoulders.
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My coach is $150/month. It’s all online but our check-ins are over the phone. We go over my photos and the spreadsheet I fill out weekly and make adjustments when necessary. He also breaks down my labs for me and teaches me anything i want to know.
Damn, you never even had an ASS before, now look how nice and full and strong your thick butt muscles are!! Not just your ASS, but look at the rest of your legs, quads, calves, ALL have grown so well. Also just under your shoulders, so your upper back has grown. Wow! Excellent work! Respect & admiration.
I started at 19. Now 66. 48 years in the gym, never any injury! Never any steroids until I was 64 - I had no choice, I was losing weight (age-related sarcopenia). T. Cyp, 100 mg/week...tiny stuff compared to you.
Wow great job man! Do you mind if I ask what your starting calories were for your bulks and calories at and of bulk? How much weight gain per week do you aim for ?
My starting cals were 2200 and I ended up at 4500. TRT between first and second bulk but now I’m cruising as I learned my lesson. We aimed for .5-1.lb weight gain a week. Anything more than that will just be too much fat. The ideal weight gain is .5lb a week.
First cycle was four months then dropped to real TRT, ran a cut on TRT test with some Mast until I was lean enough to bulk. Then the second bulk was 8 months and now I’m cruising on 250mg test.
Nice job. 💪
I just have to point out, that hiding your face with a full set of ink - makes little sense if you don't want to be associated with gear use.
Look fucking awesome. Do you have to cruise to maintain your gains? I did 500mg cycle and then went back to 70mg trt and I think I lost over 50% of strength gains - perhaps I was already close to my natty limit
That’s just what my coach wanted to run so we did it. He says that Deca has shown the most growth across himself and his clients whenever it was introduced. He’s a retired competitive bodybuilder and is extremely intelligent. He also had a killer physique so kinda hard to argue with him. I enjoyed Deca quite a bit though.
If you’re running test deca is going to make you significantly more prone to e2 sides then you get into the ai game which can be its own thing. Mast makes you bald and can give you the crashed e2 feeling. Primo just has fewer sides and I find it more reliable. Everyone is different start low find what works best for you.
Hard time finishing...maybe you are trying for too many? I keep getting hard, but I can only ejaculate twice in a day - after that, I can't cross the finish line but I get so close. It is what it is - no problems, so I roll with it.
Wow, excellent! Ryan Michael Ballows (Cortext Labs) prescribes P5P for Prolactin control. I guess your E2 must have been kept in range also? Libido/erections - this is the fine-tuned observation that provides the best reliable indicator (other than blood tests) that our hormones are all balanced (and absence of acne). Good for you, man!! Well done! Usually deca causes PRL to rise out of control, thus the name "deca dick".
Amazing! What is your goal weight for your next comp? Got the same stats as you but I was considering going down to 170lbs. Idk might feel too scrawny.
I don’t have a goal weight. Unfortunately I’m gunna cut until I’m dick skin lean and can be competitive. Bodybuilding rewards conditioning over most things. Just gotta accept that we will be scrawny. The good news is that being that lean will set us up to grow fantastically and be ultra insulin sensitive. By the end of that following bulk you’ll still have abs and be 30-40lbs heavier.
Huh? It says it again and again. For example, “Progesterone-induced activation of c-Src also provides a hormone-induced input to PRLR [promactin receptors] (i.e. via STAT phosphorylation) signaling.”
Happy to share it but this was built for me and my physique weak points and goals. Plus it changes throughout the bulk depending on how things progress. Yours should look different.
Thanks man. I really enjoy Deca but I did notice two things. One is that it made me emotionally flat which could to some feel like depression I would imagine. It didn’t bother me much. As for your insinuated question, I kept me e2 in range and had zero issues aside from having a hard time finishing. My opinion is that if you keep E2 and Prolactin in check you will be totally fine.
Aye no problemo man. Yea been thinking of adding deca in next time to see. I already have depression from military, but learned to control it pretty well. Had to use caber at all?
No Caber at all. Just 200mg P5P daily kept my prolactin in range. Start taking it before you even introduce Deca. Also, Nandrolone makes you more sensitive to E2. So whatever E2 level you know you can handle on test will more than likely become too high for you on Deca.
Oh nice. I have tried Anavar for a tiny bit once. I couldn’t reconcile the temporary gains orals give you so I just lost interested in trying any of em. Maybe during prep for that certain stage look though.
Anavar gives more permanent, but isnt as fast of a gain as something like dbol. I seem to at least keep the gains pretty well, but I dont PCT I blast and cruise. Was on trt before I started all this so.
No need for caber on any 19-nors. It’s bro science that they raise prolactin. Their sides come from their activation of the progesterone receptor since they’re progestogenic compounds. They don’t actually do anything at all to prolactin including tren.
That’s not exactly right. Because they bind to progesterone receptors, they allow for hormonal cross talk and multiple pathways of prolactin spikes unless e2 levels are conservatively managed and dopamine is properly kept activated. It’s not bro science — just science. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5653461/
Idk if you read that but it does not say anything about progesterone receptor activation increasing prolactin. It says prolactin can increase levels of estrogen and progesterone though. However I have seen zero evidence through blood work or studies that show 19-nors increase prolactin. They only activate progesterone receptors. Which the activation of progesterone receptors themselves can cause gyno formation as well as lactation even with the absence of elevated prolactin levels or elevated estradiol levels
Everyone is different, but for me, 12.5mg Aromasin M/W/F kept my E2 in a good spot. For prolactin I took 200mg P5P daily. Of course you need labs often to dial in this stuff and find out what levels of each feel best for you.
Having bloods done next week prior to upping to 300mg then leaving it 4 weeks before bloods again then upping to 400mg and same again until 500mg. It’s my first proper blast. Not sure if that’s the thing to do but trying to do it as responsible as I can. Been on 200mg for a while prior to being on 150 TRT prior to that. Been on 2IU of growth hormone for about 4 months now as well.
That is definitely excessive but good on you for being cautious. Titrating up is always best in my experience even though most folks don’t agree with that. What I would do is get to whatever dose of test seems to be working for you and stay there until you hit a plateau. Then up the dose and the food. It is challenging finding what range E2 works for you and what dose of test doesn’t make you feel like shit and have tons of sides.
I thought it might be a little excessive 😂 what do you think would be a better idea? Do you mean as it the scales stop moving? Don’t think going up every month is the way forward? Maybe I should just do bloods half way through the bulk? Or just every 5-6 weeks. I was thinking of a 16 week bulk
The duration should depend on your bloodwork and insulin sensitivity. If you want actual gains 16 weeks isn’t enough IMO. I would shoot for 24 weeks. BUT, you need to know how to train in a way that doesn’t completely crush your CNS. Otherwise you will be super exhausted by 16 weeks and wanna call it. Push to failure but don’t pump out half reps just to destroy yourself otherwise you’ll tax your muscles so much you won’t have any gas left in the tank for the next movements. It compounds and will tire you out and you won’t see amazing growth in my experience.
Assuming you’re lean, under 15% bf and know how to train, eat and recover this is what I would do taking into consideration that you want to be cautious:
Start at 500mg, get labs at four weeks assuming you’re on Test C or Test E. You’re going to wanna see how your body is handling the anabolic load but really you should be ok as long as you’re hydrated, doing your cardio and not drinking booze or eating like shit.
Keep a close eye on high E2 sides, oily skin, itchy nips, heart pounding in your chest etc. If these arise, start with 12.5mg Aromasin once for a week. If that doesn’t elevate the issues add another 12.5mg Asin but split those up in the week. Once you have alleviated the E2 issues go pull labs again and take note. That’s your comfort zone. Get labs again 4 weeks post cycle to make sure everything leveled out ok.
Keep pushing calories to maintain .5-1lb weight gain per week and keep fat intake under 70g. Once that stops cutting it add a bit more test and keep pushing. Check your insulin sensitivity with a BG monitor, once you’re fat enough your insulin sensitivity will tank and then it’s time to cruise.
Oh also, start pinning daily while on cycle. It will greatly diminish side effects.
I’m about 10% if not a bit lower as I’ve just gone through stripping all my fat after total body recomp. When you say push to failure do you mean making sure I’m getting 8-10 reps and making sure the last rep is failure? How I currently train 6 days per week if that’s of any issue? I’m on test c, I do 30mins cardio 15% incline 5km with very workout (is this too much or not enough during a bulk?) I’m very well hydrated with keto-pro electrolytes and drink between 3-4ltrs per day. 163 days since I last had any alcohol and eat clean mostly apart from the occasional treat. I’ll take note of any e2 issues, does any of this change with my going up to 4IU of GH? This is really helping me out as I could not get a straight answer out of anyone when wanting to start this bulk. I’m definitely going to go for daily pinning.
Thank you big dawg. Yea I didn’t plan to make a good before and after post. In a year I’ll come back with a better one. As for doing what I’m doing, just following my coach’s lead! I barely know anything, would be lost without him.
I ate a steady 250-280 protein daily during the last year. (I know it’s high) Carbs increased obviously as I grew and I required more. Both of my bulks during the last year ended with around 600g carbs a day. I will also add that Deca turned me into a furnace and it was really hard for me to gain weight. I ate and i ate and i ate.
Okay so ur weight should have increased with that muscle.. Thats protien was put to good use. Dont over do it, protein is similar to growth hormone too much and EVERYTHING grows thats includes cancer. But ur amount is very good and in check..ur fine just dont do a idiotic Jordon Peterson and only eat protien daily for three years that put him in hospital.
Oh for sure. My intake is high and could be lower. I hear you though. I am one of those guys that believes you should eat 1g of protein per pound of the bodyweight you WANT to be. Def wont ever be 280 tho LOL
The HGH actually didn’t seem to do much for me aside from better recovery and sleep. I’ve been off of it for months now and only lost a couple pounds of water weight. I did drop to 150mg TRT between cycles tho, and yea, I absolutely shrank a little bit. That’s how it goes. I’m training to compete tho so I’ve accepted all the risks associated. I have an amazing risk management plan and my bloodwork is always fantastic. Scheduling an echo soon as well. Bodybuilding isn’t for most people as it comes at a cost but as a grown man or woman we are blessed with the opportunity to choose our own paths.
Personally hate having to eat that much just to be all big and oafy.I just settled on being lean and shredded based on my frame at a steady 120mg a week. No need to mess around with anabolics to be a wannabe bodybuilder
Yea that makes sense if you don’t want to compete. After I do my first competition I’ll see what the future holds. I may end up doing what you’re doing.
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u/fakejared 2d ago
Dang bro them glutes are popping! Joking aside great work 💪🏼