I’ve never kept a log before, so this is a new experience for me. But, then, I’ve only done one cycle prior to this so there’s not been much reason to.
To elaborate on the title of this log: After a 9-month bulk (fulk) in 2013, I ran my first cycle (Epi @ 36mg for 6 weeks) in Oct ’13 with the expectation of cutting some of the fat I’d put on, and the Epi was to help retain the LBM and strength I’d gained, as I always lose both, significantly, on a cut. Well, one week into the cut I started to feel like I was “wasting” the cycle, so I ramped my calories up (read: I was eating buffets every single day, and sometimes twice a day…) and decided to continue bulking. Granted, I got strong as hell and didn’t put on as much fat I would have without help of a cycle, but I still failed to follow-through with my initial goal and I was 25lb fatter than I should have been. Even though I was proud of the strength gains and PRs, I feel like I eff’d that situation up. It’s hard for me to stick to cutting because in the back of my mind, strength is always my motivation and driving force, so when my strength starts to plummet, so does my discipline.
That brings us to 2014. I ran CKD for 11 weeks and averaged a loss of 1.3lb/week, then started having trouble returning to keto after my carb-ups (not getting back into ketosis, but actually putting the carbs down). They went from 36 hours to to 60 hours in week 10 to 84 hours in week 11… I needed a break, mentally, plus there was the whole strength loss aspect, so I added carbs back in the last week of March. In the first week I had the normal carb/water bloat, as expected, but the second week my measurements calculated out to a 1% BF gain, and that had me worried. After going back and forth all weekend, I decided that I needed to focus on losing the fat this year, and that I could worry about strength once I figured out where I should be in the grand scheme of things.
My stack arrived Monday, 7 April, and I was thinking about returning to Keto on a bigger deficit and using the cycle to keep strength/LBM stable, like last year. I took my first dose yesterday morning, Tuesday, and then hit the gym that evening and put up numbers I haven’t seen in 3 months. I know it’s not because of the PHs, it’s because after 2 weeks of carbing-up (over maintenance, too, I might add; For dinner, Sunday night, I ate an entire box of pancake mix and chugged a half-gallon of milk…) my stamina and strength was starting to return. Obviously, I was beside myself, so I’m going to put off Keto for now and try to enjoy this cycle. My hope is to avoid last year’s pitfall of binging and control my calorie intake with a little more discipline.
Monday I weighed in at 228, just over 20%. I know that’s fatter than most, and probably fatter than you’d recommend for being on-cycle, but strength loss kills me and I’m one of those guys that loses strength on a cut, no matter how small of a deficit (whether it’s IIFYM, Keto, or anything). Plus, I hope to walk around at 15%, so I’m not looking to get to single digits or anything. I'm also coming up on 40 and have low test (below 300, but no TRT), so I need a little help, anyway. I’ve bumped my calories up to 3500 (about 300 over maintenance) aiming for around 225g protein and 115g fat. I’m lifting M/Tu/Th/F doing 5/3/1, and I think I’m gonna add Wednesdays in to do some power work (power cleans, snatches, etc). My stack is EpiTren at 4 caps and EpiAndro at 3 caps, plus cycle support. I’m hoping to reduce bodyfat on the Tren, plus retain or even add some lean mass with the small surplus, all while retaining or gaining strength. After my 6 week cycle and PCT, then I’ll try going back on Keto with Osta (and maybe Lean Fuel Extreme) to shred down some more.
So Day 1 was yesterday, Tuesday, 8 April 14. There probably won’t be much to report for the first 2 weeks, so during this period I’ll try to just update you every few days instead of boring you with daily reports of little, actual information. I see a lot of people post their daily workouts, but I can't imagine anyone really cares how many sets or reps I'm doing from day to day unless I'm setting new PRs. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see in a log?
To elaborate on the title of this log: After a 9-month bulk (fulk) in 2013, I ran my first cycle (Epi @ 36mg for 6 weeks) in Oct ’13 with the expectation of cutting some of the fat I’d put on, and the Epi was to help retain the LBM and strength I’d gained, as I always lose both, significantly, on a cut. Well, one week into the cut I started to feel like I was “wasting” the cycle, so I ramped my calories up (read: I was eating buffets every single day, and sometimes twice a day…) and decided to continue bulking. Granted, I got strong as hell and didn’t put on as much fat I would have without help of a cycle, but I still failed to follow-through with my initial goal and I was 25lb fatter than I should have been. Even though I was proud of the strength gains and PRs, I feel like I eff’d that situation up. It’s hard for me to stick to cutting because in the back of my mind, strength is always my motivation and driving force, so when my strength starts to plummet, so does my discipline.
That brings us to 2014. I ran CKD for 11 weeks and averaged a loss of 1.3lb/week, then started having trouble returning to keto after my carb-ups (not getting back into ketosis, but actually putting the carbs down). They went from 36 hours to to 60 hours in week 10 to 84 hours in week 11… I needed a break, mentally, plus there was the whole strength loss aspect, so I added carbs back in the last week of March. In the first week I had the normal carb/water bloat, as expected, but the second week my measurements calculated out to a 1% BF gain, and that had me worried. After going back and forth all weekend, I decided that I needed to focus on losing the fat this year, and that I could worry about strength once I figured out where I should be in the grand scheme of things.
My stack arrived Monday, 7 April, and I was thinking about returning to Keto on a bigger deficit and using the cycle to keep strength/LBM stable, like last year. I took my first dose yesterday morning, Tuesday, and then hit the gym that evening and put up numbers I haven’t seen in 3 months. I know it’s not because of the PHs, it’s because after 2 weeks of carbing-up (over maintenance, too, I might add; For dinner, Sunday night, I ate an entire box of pancake mix and chugged a half-gallon of milk…) my stamina and strength was starting to return. Obviously, I was beside myself, so I’m going to put off Keto for now and try to enjoy this cycle. My hope is to avoid last year’s pitfall of binging and control my calorie intake with a little more discipline.
Monday I weighed in at 228, just over 20%. I know that’s fatter than most, and probably fatter than you’d recommend for being on-cycle, but strength loss kills me and I’m one of those guys that loses strength on a cut, no matter how small of a deficit (whether it’s IIFYM, Keto, or anything). Plus, I hope to walk around at 15%, so I’m not looking to get to single digits or anything. I'm also coming up on 40 and have low test (below 300, but no TRT), so I need a little help, anyway. I’ve bumped my calories up to 3500 (about 300 over maintenance) aiming for around 225g protein and 115g fat. I’m lifting M/Tu/Th/F doing 5/3/1, and I think I’m gonna add Wednesdays in to do some power work (power cleans, snatches, etc). My stack is EpiTren at 4 caps and EpiAndro at 3 caps, plus cycle support. I’m hoping to reduce bodyfat on the Tren, plus retain or even add some lean mass with the small surplus, all while retaining or gaining strength. After my 6 week cycle and PCT, then I’ll try going back on Keto with Osta (and maybe Lean Fuel Extreme) to shred down some more.
So Day 1 was yesterday, Tuesday, 8 April 14. There probably won’t be much to report for the first 2 weeks, so during this period I’ll try to just update you every few days instead of boring you with daily reports of little, actual information. I see a lot of people post their daily workouts, but I can't imagine anyone really cares how many sets or reps I'm doing from day to day unless I'm setting new PRs. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see in a log?
