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DMZ 3.0 / Epi-Andro Run

Day 18: Chest & Forearms: I felt a little lethargic when I first got the gym, but I ended up having a really good day. A buddy happened to be there for spots so I pushed a little and surprised myself. On the flat bench today, I did a triple for 235 then bumped to 255 and nailed it with zero help. I let my buddy talk me in to chipping again for 275, I couldn't get that back up. LOL Probably should have chipped it for 265 instead. After failing at 275, I rested a sec and then did another triple at 235. I was maxing at 225 for 2-4 reps before DMZ so this is some serious gains on this exercise in just under 3 weeks. I also bumped weight up on inclines doing 10 at 155, 6x185, 3x205, and 4x225. The 225 set was with spotter helping. That's another huge gain as well. Rest of the day went good too. I chipped up a little on declines and dumbbell flyes too. So I am still getting stronger and I love it. Week 3 has been a hard week, fighting with the back pumps and working massive amounts of hours. Despite all that, I'm still having PR setting lifts on at least one exercise every day. I freakin love it!

Speaking of the pumps, they were pretty much non existent today. Lower back felt a little tight when I got there, but I did my stretching and never had an issue. Still taking the taurine and keeping those water levels up. I might rest tomorrow or just decide to have a light day because legs are saturday and I want to have a super big day of squats. Work schedule is suppose to be normal tomorrow, hopefully it remains that way and I can get fully rested up by Saturday.
 
Me too!! Now that I've experienced that, I have a whole new appreciation for the seriousness of taking preventative steps rather than reactive steps. lol
 
Day 19: Shoulders & Abs: Finally! The best day this week so far. With the pumps earlier in the week and working ridiculous hours all week, today was by far the best day in week 3. I've been getting good lifts this week, but the lack of sleep definitely effected my intensity. I crashed about 8pm last night and woke up late to work at around 8am this morning.(not really late cuz I'm sitting on 32 hours of OT for the week) When I woke up I knew it was going to be a good day, felt revitalized and energetic. Got in the gym and kicked ass. I did my last two sets of over head shoulder presses at 145 lbs which was a nice jump for me. I was only getting 1 rep at 135 last week, today I did 3-4 reps for two sets and I was 10 lbs heavier. That was my opening lift and it pumped me up for the rest of the work out. I'm going to be sure to get some good sleep tonight as well so I can crush this big leg day I have planned for tomorrow. I'm getting near the end of week 3 and that means only 1 week left! :( Must go 110% for this last week!!!

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Sides: Feeling good and pumps are gone but the lower back remains tight and I continue to put effort towards keeping the pumps away. Stretching, water, and the taurine seem to be helping but I feel like if I slip even a little them suckers will come back in full force.
 
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Day 19: Shoulders & Abs: Finally! The best day this week so far. With the pumps earlier in the week and working ridiculous hours all week, today was by far the best day in week 3. I've been getting good lifts this week, but the lack of sleep definitely effected my intensity. I crashed about 8pm last night and woke up late to work at around 8am this morning.(not really late cuz I'm sitting on 32 hours of OT for the week) When I woke up I knew it was going to be a good day, felt revitalized and energetic. Got in the gym and kicked ass. I did my last two sets of over head shoulder presses at 145 lbs which was a nice jump for me. I was only getting 1 rep at 135 last week, today I did 3-4 reps for two sets and I was 10 lbs heavier. That was my opening lift and it pumped me up for the rest of the work out. I'm going to be sure to get some good sleep tonight as well so I can crush this big leg day I have planned for tomorrow. I'm getting near the end of week 3 and that means only 1 week left! :( Must go 110% for this last week!!!

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Sides: Feeling good and pumps are gone but the lower back remains tight and I continue to put effort towards keeping the pumps away. Stretching, water, and the taurine seem to be helping but I feel like if I slip even a little them suckers will come back in full force.
Keep up with those electrolytes, too. I've heard creatine can help also (I just get my creatine intake from IML's Max Pump...which also contains taurine). :)
 
Day 21: Legs: Squats, squats, and more squats! I got to the gym a little so early so I could get stretched out. Was nervous in the beginning because just doing empty bar squats for warm up was making the pumps act like they wanted to flare up. I just kept stretching, drinking my gatorade and water, and rolling around on the lacrosse ball. The lacrosse ball helps so much. It's painful as hell at first but once I was done the back felt phenomenal. I decided to split my leg work up. I'm going to have two big leg days during the week and continue this even in the post cycle. Having one day for a shit ton of back squats, leg press and calves and then a second day in the week with some sort of squat variant, lunges, stiff legged, curls, extensions, and calves. I felt like an animal today. I worked my way up to 280 and got good and deep with it, last saturday I did 175 and didn't really get low enough to call it a squat. The 280 I took to the hole today and exploded out with no help from the spot. It felt awesome! After doing some overloads, I dropped the weight back down 245 and just kept doing sets of 2 until I was exhausted. This is a HUGE improvement in strength in just 3 weeks. Before DMZ I was doing 1-2 reps at 225 for my max and today I did a 1x at 280 and then multiple sets of 2x's at 245. I felt like a boss! After the brutal assault in the squat cage I moved on to 5 sets of leg presses to finish my legs off and then did some seated and standing calve raises. I don't get protein shakes from the gym too often because they use cheap protein and it upsets my stomach, but I had the shakes and felt nauseous so I needed something ASAP. Now I'm home and just ate some good solid food. Sitting here typing up this log and I can tell you that my legs are on fire! lol

Still good as far as sides. Making sure to keep up with preventing the pumps, but other than that I feel awesome.
 
Day 22: Arms & Forearms: Worked bi's, tri's and forearms yesterday. It was a good work out and definitely put serious work in, but I have been feeling very lethargic the past few days. My intensity levels just seem to be off. Saturday after legs and sunday after arms I got home, ate, and passed out. It wasn't the normal feeling like I could use a nap, it felt more like my body was just turning off. I'd go from feeling ok to being out of it almost instantly. When the feeling hits, I sit on the couch and basically wake up a few hours later with little recollection of going to sleep. Not sure what's going on. I'd like to think it's just because I've been training at higher levels than normal so maybe my body needs more rest than normal? I dunno, I'll see how it goes. Only 8 days left in the cycle.

I'm also feeling really.. heavy I guess is the word I'd use to describe it. I weighed in at 212 this morning and at 16.8% body fat. I have effectively gained 17 lbs ( 4 lbs BF, 13 lbs LM ) in 3 weeks and I can feel it. The gains are freaking out of this world and it's what I wanted! Just think my body is adapting slowly. lol Maybe some more stretching will help?
 
Day 23: Back: I can't even call this a work out. :mad: The pumps flared bad, I tried to push through and get some deads and bent over barbell rows in and that was a big fat no. It got so painful at one point I couldn't even walk up the stairs. I was super pissed and I feel like my run is going to shit these last two weeks and I think the primary reason is my lack of rest. I talked to sensei a bit before I left. ( The older guy I mentioned a few posts back) He knows first hand how I've been training and he's been telling me for awhile now, even before I started the PH's, that I need to rest more. He keeps telling me that with the volume and loads I'm doing I need to be resting more, I always laughed it off with some gung-ho response like, "I'll rest when I'm dead," or something smart like that. I went in to work at 10pm last night, worked until 1pm today and felt pretty good so I thought I'd hit the gym for some back. It turned out to be a horrible idea. Last week when the pumps flared up, it was a similar scenario where I had worked all night and had little rest. So it's plausible that the training super hard and not resting enough could be the catalyst that is making me crash these last two weeks. The first two weeks I was super energetic, week 3 is when the bullshit at work started and is the same time my intensity levels went to hell. I'm taking tomorrow off and the rest of the week looks good for work so I'm really hoping I can finish this thing strong!

But no matter what happens from here to the end, this run has been awesome! I could stop a week early and still be overwhelmed with my gains so far!
 
Definitely sounds like a rest issue to me, man. Might need to take a day or two off to focus on rest and food. Your in the final stretch with the PHs, so I'd just stick to your normal dosing, but definitely feel free to rest more...it's not like you're gonna lose any gains with it still in your system. Hell, a couple days of rest and food might even let you gain a little more in your last week! :)
 
That's the plan EB! Hopefully it pans out. I'm picking up a game for my PS4 tomorrow, so I'll have something to do so I don't get so stir crazy about not being in the gym. LOL. Thanks for all your help bro. Gonna finish the run at current dosing, rest up, eat big, and finish strong!
 
That's the plan EB! Hopefully it pans out. I'm picking up a game for my PS4 tomorrow, so I'll have something to do so I don't get so stir crazy about not being in the gym. LOL. Thanks for all your help bro. Gonna finish the run at current dosing, rest up, eat big, and finish strong!
Right on, mang!
 
Day 24: Rest

Day 25: Rest - Back pumps still raging so I cut my dosage in 1/2

Day 26: Chest: Woke up this morning still experiencing some pain in the lower back. I took 1/2 dosage again and forced myself to get to the gym. I worked on stretching the lower back for a good 30 minutes. Foam rolling, lacrosse ball, stretches, etc. I had a good chest day. Did 2 sets of 2 reps at 255 which is what I one rep'd last week. I'm up 17lbs and only gained just under 2/% body fat. At this point I'm super stoked about my gains. I honestly didn't think I would put on that much and I believed most logs were over exaggerating their gains. But I can honestly say now that it's not the case. I have decided to stop my run early and get started on my PCT. The pumps have gotten to the point where it's significantly disrupting my workouts. I'm not bummed out though, I'm so freaking happy with my gains that I'm totally good with stopping now at the sake of getting back on track in the gym. It's 4 days, so I don't think by any means that it breaks my run. Truth be told, I would run this exact stack again even if I only get 3 weeks out of it. It was just that good. I will be reading some more and seeing what else I can do to fight these pumps though. There's gotta be something I didn't do this time around that I can try for next time. I will be sure to post a few post cycle pics when I get home. Was asked today by a buddy I hadn't seen in a while if I had been stung by a bee. lol A little frustrated and curious about why I got those pumps so bad, but it gives me something to research and prepare for the next time around... and there will be a next time! :cool: I'll log periodically through the post just to update on the pumps, and mass retention.
 
Day 24: Rest

Day 25: Rest - Back pumps still raging so I cut my dosage in 1/2

Day 26: Chest: Woke up this morning still experiencing some pain in the lower back. I took 1/2 dosage again and forced myself to get to the gym. I worked on stretching the lower back for a good 30 minutes. Foam rolling, lacrosse ball, stretches, etc. I had a good chest day. Did 2 sets of 2 reps at 255 which is what I one rep'd last week. I'm up 17lbs and only gained just under 2/% body fat. At this point I'm super stoked about my gains. I honestly didn't think I would put on that much and I believed most logs were over exaggerating their gains. But I can honestly say now that it's not the case. I have decided to stop my run early and get started on my PCT. The pumps have gotten to the point where it's significantly disrupting my workouts. I'm not bummed out though, I'm so freaking happy with my gains that I'm totally good with stopping now at the sake of getting back on track in the gym. It's 4 days, so I don't think by any means that it breaks my run. Truth be told, I would run this exact stack again even if I only get 3 weeks out of it. It was just that good. I will be reading some more and seeing what else I can do to fight these pumps though. There's gotta be something I didn't do this time around that I can try for next time. I will be sure to post a few post cycle pics when I get home. Was asked today by a buddy I hadn't seen in a while if I had been stung by a bee. lol A little frustrated and curious about why I got those pumps so bad, but it gives me something to research and prepare for the next time around... and there will be a next time! :cool: I'll log periodically through the post just to update on the pumps, and mass retention.
Perhaps increase taurine next time around; how much were you taking? I believe 3,000mg (3g) is supposed to be the upper end..
 
Noted.

When I run again, since I know I might have issues with the pump, should I just run the taurine the entire 4 weeks? Try to prevent it rather than waiting for them to flare up and then trying to react.
Yessir
 
I'm really starting to wonder whether or not I tweaked my back. Would pumps still be happening after 5 days of no dosage? I started my PCT on Friday and didn't go to the gym. I went in on Saturday and wanted to do legs. So I spent a good hour rolling and stretching and getting loosened up. I went to the squat rack just to get a feel. My back twinged a little with an empty bar and was painful with just 135, so I packed my bag and went home.. pissed and aggravated. Sunday I rested and did not go the gym. Monday I decided I was going to go the gym and only do things that weren't taxing on the lower back, so I did arms. I did relatively low weight and full range of motion reps and actually got a really good work out. Still feeling a hell of a pump so I'm guessing the DMZ and Epi are still in my system. Today I really wanted to get leg work in. So I did all isolation machines, hip flexers, abductors, curls, and extensions along with some calf raises. Again, keeping the weight light and doing full range of motions with a good pause on contraction. The curls and hip flexers made my back twinge a little. Not enough to say it was painful, but enough to not keep pushing myself. I got a less than decent work out in, but didn't seem to aggravate the back anymore.

I've never experienced a back injury or a back pump so I'm having a hard time figuring out what this actually is. My best description is that the lower back muscles feel contracted to point that is so painful I can't even bend over to pick the toilet lid up to take a piss. Standing up straight is really uncomfortable also. Sitting on the couch with my feet up beside me, knees bent is the only position that provides relief. And sitting like this for 10 minutes will make me feel almost 100% better. Does this sound more like a muscle strain or a pump? Either way I guess, I am going to continue to PCT and just workout whatever I can that doesn't put too much emphasis on lower back.. This farkin sucks peoples :mad:
 
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Eh, that's sounding more like an injury to me. I personally would use Icy Hot to relieve the tension...and Aleve if the pain is really bad. Fish oil will work as a natural anti inflammatory. If it keeps up much longer, I'd see a chiro, they're usually much more efficient with these matters than a reg doctor.
 
Honestly, I'm kinda glad it appears to be an injury over back pumps because I want to run again! LoL. I responded very well to DMZ and felt I was handling it well until the back thing.

The injury is a result of my dumbass not allowing the body to rest, sensei kept telling me but I wouldn't listen. Well now I hear him loud and clear! You can tell someone the pan is hot, but until they touch it they will never truly understand the burn. Ha Ha. This is me, this is how I work, I seek wisdom through the experiences of life and after experiencing that pain I am much more respectful of not over doing it. Lesson learned! :cool:
 
Got in and did some back work today. I did all exercises that didn't require too much support of lower back. A few hammer strength, pull downs, t-bar. Kept it light with clean reps and concentrated on that full range of motion with a good pause while contracting. I had 0 problems with pain in the lower back and it's starting to feel much better, but I'm not going to push it. I'm going to stay light on the loads through this week and next week. Honestly, I've been going heavy for so long I forgot how much burn you can create with lower weight stuff. ha ha. It's time to start training smarter instead of harder.
 
Got in and did some back work today. I did all exercises that didn't require too much support of lower back. A few hammer strength, pull downs, t-bar. Kept it light with clean reps and concentrated on that full range of motion with a good pause while contracting. I had 0 problems with pain in the lower back and it's starting to feel much better, but I'm not going to push it. I'm going to stay light on the loads through this week and next week. Honestly, I've been going heavy for so long I forgot how much burn you can create with lower weight stuff. ha ha. It's time to start training smarter instead of harder.
Smart!
 
I really slacked off on my log.. partly due to the frustration with the minor back injury. I just wanted to check in and give a quick update. I'm a little over 2 weeks in to my PCT and still feeling good. I've been a little moody over the past couple days and I've been lethargic as hell in the gym, but once I get the heart pumping I'm still feeling much stronger. Actually set a new PR for myself on the bench last Friday and got a 1 rep for 270 lbs, spotter didn't have to touch it. Depending on how I feel later this week I was thinking about trying to chip that up to 275. I am back in the squat cage, although I'm not doing overloads right now. I did a nice solid rep at 275 and got deep with it, which is still way over what i was doing before the stack. Instead of doing overloads, I just did lots of reps at 225 and the back felt good. No problems.

Still working on keeping my training 'smart' and resting occasionally. Got to get refocused on my form and I've been working diligently at it for the past few weeks. It may sound dumb.. but I've been closing my eyes during reps to help me focus on the muscle. LOL
 
I really slacked off on my log.. partly due to the frustration with the minor back injury. I just wanted to check in and give a quick update. I'm a little over 2 weeks in to my PCT and still feeling good. I've been a little moody over the past couple days and I've been lethargic as hell in the gym, but once I get the heart pumping I'm still feeling much stronger. Actually set a new PR for myself on the bench last Friday and got a 1 rep for 270 lbs, spotter didn't have to touch it. Depending on how I feel later this week I was thinking about trying to chip that up to 275. I am back in the squat cage, although I'm not doing overloads right now. I did a nice solid rep at 275 and got deep with it, which is still way over what i was doing before the stack. Instead of doing overloads, I just did lots of reps at 225 and the back felt good. No problems.

Still working on keeping my training 'smart' and resting occasionally. Got to get refocused on my form and I've been working diligently at it for the past few weeks. It may sound dumb.. but I've been closing my eyes during reps to help me focus on the muscle. LOL
Nothing wrong with that! :)
 
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