MuscleBeard's Basement

[MuscleBeard]

Thanks! I definitely didn't totally bottom it out so it could have been worse. Just so important to get bloodwork as frequent as possible. I'm sure I'll be feeling fine in no time! Thanks for following along

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[MuscleBeard]

Chest	Barbell Bench	4x6-8
Chest	Incline Barbell Bench Slight Incline	4x8-10
Chest	Hex Press Drop Set	4x10-15	Drop set final set
Chest	Chest Dips	4x8-10
Tricep	Single Arm French Press	4x8-12
Tricep	Long Rope Tricep Ext	4x10-15
Tricep	Close Grip banded pushup	3xFailure	Last set 3 rest pause sets

Today's chest and triceps workout. Up weight on all movements and it feels like my estrogen is rebounding well. Not as achy or fatigued today and I look fuller as well as leaner, despite being up body weight. Currently sitting around 230lbs. I'm 6'2 so it's nothing crazy but I'll take it.

I have about 6 weeks or so left before I will drop into a cruise dose, hold weight for a bit and eventually cut some bodyfat to set myself up for a nice spring blast hopefully. Still working out what compounds I want to use for my second cycle. Open to suggestions!

 

[MuscleBeard]

Tonight was back and traps. Solid workout, up in strength on all lifts. One noteable thing is the jumps in strength on isolation exercises. Jumping 10lbs on isolation movements and matching or beating previous week reps, is pretty cool.

See picture for how I do seated chest supported rows in my home gym. Lever arm rack attachment comes in handy.

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[ABMonkey]

Chest	Barbell Bench	4x6-8
Chest	Incline Barbell Bench Slight Incline	4x8-10
Chest	Hex Press Drop Set	4x10-15	Drop set final set
Chest	Chest Dips	4x8-10
Tricep	Single Arm French Press	4x8-12
Tricep	Long Rope Tricep Ext	4x10-15
Tricep	Close Grip banded pushup	3xFailure	Last set 3 rest pause sets

Today's chest and triceps workout. Up weight on all movements and it feels like my estrogen is rebounding well. Not as achy or fatigued today and I look fuller as well as leaner, despite being up body weight. Currently sitting around 230lbs. I'm 6'2 so it's nothing crazy but I'll take it.

I have about 6 weeks or so left before I will drop into a cruise dose, hold weight for a bit and eventually cut some bodyfat to set myself up for a nice spring blast hopefully. Still working out what compounds I want to use for my second cycle. Open to suggestions!

If I could go back in time I'd have added primo to my 2nd cycle.

 

[MuscleBeard]

If I could go back in time I'd have added primo to my 2nd cycle.

I'm really leaning towards primo...I'm thinking maybe 4-500 test and slightly higher primo or equal. Not exactly sure as I need to do more research about test to primo ratio. I see some people say to have higher primo and others say to dose them equally. Either way, I have a reliable primo source now so I can be sure it'll be real if I do run it.

I'm a little torn because NPP seems right up my alley but I just don't know if I'm mentally prepared for the potential added sides, this early in my use.

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[ABMonkey]

I think that's a personal thing everyone's going say different doses. I did 300mg test/600mg primo... it was great, could I have gone lower... probably but I had a good stock pile and its side free (for me and most). I think 250 test/400 primo would be a good place to start.

NPP is awesome, probably my most favourite compound but some do get sides off it. I'd leave it for further down the line personally but it is recommended as a 2nd cycle elsewhere.

I'm actually running test, primo and npp currently.

 

[MuscleBeard]

I think that's a personal thing everyone's going say different doses. I did 300mg test/600mg primo... it was great, could I have gone lower... probably but I had a good stock pile and its side free (for me and most). I think 250 test/400 primo would be a good place to start.

NPP is awesome, probably my most favourite compound but some do get sides off it. I'd leave it for further down the line personally but it is recommended as a 2nd cycle elsewhere.

I'm actually running test, primo and npp currently.

Appreciate the insight! I think I will go with primo for my second cycle. How much NPP are you running currently? Do you need a DA with it?

 

[ABMonkey]

500 test, 400 npp, 400 primo.

No, though I have caber on hand and have used it before... I've never truly needed it though. If you can tolerate high dose P-5-P that mitigates the need for caber up to modest dosages of NPP.

 

[MuscleBeard]

Solid leg workout tonight. I've been working a lot this week so I was feeling somewhat run down. Decided to take a page out of Jordan Peter's book and just did two main workout sets to failure. I'm glad I did. Prs all around. Triple rest pause split squats!

Bodyweight has been a little stalled. I'm fairly tall, 6'2 and I always need a ton of cals to bulk. I'm around 4200 cals right now and I've been hovering 228-230 for a few weeks. I've decided not to track my intra shake, roughly 200 cals.



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[ABMonkey]

Solid leg workout tonight. I've been working a lot this week so I was feeling somewhat run down. Decided to take a page out of Jordan Peter's book and just did two main workout sets to failure. I'm glad I did. Prs all around. Triple rest pause split squats!

Bodyweight has been a little stalled. I'm fairly tall, 6'2 and I always need a ton of cals to bulk. I'm around 4200 cals right now and I've been hovering 228-230 for a few weeks. I've decided not to track my intra shake, roughly 200 cals.



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I started training like that a few months ago and love it. The progress I have been making is insane. It all stems back to Dorian. These guys are onto something.

I feel like a lot of intensity etc is lost when doing the standard 4x10-12.

Our stats are similar. I need close to 5000 cals to put mass on.

 

[MuscleBeard]

I started training like that a few months ago and love it. The progress I have been making is insane. It all stems back to Dorian. These guys are onto something.

I feel like a lot of intensity etc is lost when doing the standard 4x10-12.

Our stats are similar. I need close to 5000 cals to put mass on.

Yeah very Dorian esq! I really enjoyed it. I may have to really consider moving in this direction following this program. I can see it being a lot of fun and very effective.

Good to know, I def need to up my cals!

 

[MuscleBeard]

Awesome workout today. Subbed in some high incline bench press today. First time doing them in a very long time and they really felt great today. Tomorrow I hit back. Excited to do some trap bar rowing. Really underrated row variation in my view.

5 weeks left on this dose and then I cruise for a bit, clean things up once my gains have been cemented and then plan out a spring blast.

Short post today, not much to say, strength is up every session, weight is stable and cals are up. Things are going well!

 

[MuscleBeard]

Well...I definitely let the log slide. I work in the mental health field and unfortunately around mid October things really picked up as this COVID situation progresses, the level of need for addictions and mental health support has skyrocketed. Between work, family time, eating and lifting, I have not had time for much else.

This will probably be my final update for this particular log, my cruise starts tomorrow. In total I ended up blasting for 18 weeks. I gained 25 or so pounds, of course some of that is water but I definitely put on a good amount of muscle, especially to my upper back, traps and delts. Chest also grew quite a bit. I am also certain my legs grew but I tend to hold a lot of my fat in my legs so when I am deep in a gaining phase, they just look like slabs of meat, not a whole lot of detail until I am 10-12% BF or less. I had to push cals over 4000 a day to prevent weight loss and if I am being honest, I ended up throwing in quite a few off plan meals towards the end just to see a small increase on the scale.

I am happy to end here, I think my body could use a period of maintenance calories over the holidays and once I let the new muscle settle in, I will run a 12 week cut on just TRT and get to a good level of body fat for the next blast.

Pros of the last 18 weeks:
-substantial strength gains, one of the coolest things was how fast I progressed weight on isolation movements, while still keeping form tight. Squats and bench gains were just silly as well, adding 5-10 pounds and matching reps just about every week. I have been training for 10 years consistently so I will definitely take that!
-Fullness through upper body was a massive pro, my delts always felt round and full and had much more pop to them
-New stretch marks across arms and delts. Always a nice indicator of growth

Cons
-Prolactin issues (resolved by p5p 200mg daily)
-More time dedicated to personal hygiene due to increase sweating and oiliness on skin. I found I needed to shower 2x per day to keep my skin feeling healthy
-Dips in energy and libido (resolved by increasing injection frequency to EOD instead of 2x per week).
-Night sweats
-First 5 weeks I had some redness and rash like symptoms on my back and chest. Went away around week 6-7. I was told this may be due to fluctuations in hormones'. It was pretty itchy at some points but happy it cleared up.


Other than that, all went well. Excited to clean up some body fat, improve insulin sensitivity and get my body primed for another gaining phase.

 

[PGM]

Chest	Incline DB Press	4x8-10
Chest	Floor Press	4x6-8
Chest	Decline Dumbbell Press	3x10-15	2 Cluster Set (rest 20 seconds)
Chest	Incline Banded Dumbbell Fly	4x12-15
Tricep	Close Grip Bench	4x6-8
Tricep	Incline Dumbbell Skullcrusher	4x8-12
Tricep	Single Arm Pressdown	4x12-15

Great workout today. Floor presses felt pretty strange as it has been so long since I have done them. Looking forward to adding weight to this movement over the coming weeks. I also have not done a ton of decline pressing recently and the contraction was fantastic. I am actually considering subbing something out on my other chest day for some decline barbell pressing. Something about that angle just really feels good. Nothing too crazy with weight today, feeling out some new movements and establishing some baselines to work from.

Tomorrow is back and traps. Looking forward hammering some back out before heading into the weekend. I smoked a nice big sirloin roast on my traeger this evening so I have some high quality protein for the next few days!

Wherever you are, I hope you are well

Loved doing floor presses. Normally did them on smith machine as always hard to find a good spotter if you are going heavy and doing them with free weights on the floor.