Evolutionary.org Evolutionary Spanish Evolutionary Russian
Join Evolutionary Forums

A Beginners Guide to Cycling Safely

bodybuilder mrolympia

It is amazing to me how many “Average Joe” type men approach me and ask me about what they should be taking to pass a PT test in the Air Force, get in shape by the summer, or “to build muscle and lose fat.” They’ll talk about how there is a new supplement that is “almost as good as steroids” at GNC or Vitamin Shoppe. Even better is going into GNC and talking to the skinny sales rep just to see what they have to offer and what their sales pitch is on their new supplements. The best part is giving them both a dose of Endocrinology 101.

1st and foremost, if something is “almost as good as steroids” and it is available through GNC, it is probably going to get banned or it doesn’t work. If it does work, there is surely going to be a toxic “batch-dosed” substance in the supplement. What some leading supplement companies do is use a proprietary blend listing and they integrate ingredients at an unknown level. Another common practice is putting an unlisted ingredient in the supplement so you get a desired effect, then once a reputation for this compound builds; they pull the batch-dosed ingredient from their next batches to prevent detection.

What people need to understand is that bodybuilding and athletics aren’t just “take a steroid and whack balls like Bonds” field. They both require discipline, planning and trial and error. If a person is interested in fine-tuning their endocrine system with chemicals, they need to do so with nutrient-timing and exercise timing first. This is a process in its own. There are many means to reach and end result when discussing diet. You can do a keto-diet, a wellness diet (following the government’s recommendation), the Paleolithic diet, and thousands more. You need to find out what kind of training you’re interested in and taper your diet to this training. If you’re an endurance athlete, you’re going to need significantly more saccharides/carbohydrates than a bodybuilder and a bodybuilder is going to need a much greater protein intake than an endurance/aerobic based athlete.

This is part of what we in the field call “hitting your genetic potential.” There are a lot of bros that I am very fortunate to call friends who hit their genetic potential, then starting using compounds. This practice is why those bros are successful and get more out of their cycle then the average juicehead. Hitting your genetic potential means exhausting every natural option available to you before utilizing non-genetic compounds to reach your goals. The following emphasizes the importance of genetic potential and is a checklist for the incorporation of anabolic compounds:

Have you been working out naturally for 2 years or more?

If you have not been working out for 2 years, bare minimum, you haven’t reached your genetic potential and have no business touching anabolic or catabolic compounds. By working out naturally, we do not mean going to the gym for 45 minutes a day or putting in a few days a week. We’re talking balls to the wall here ladies and gentlemen. We are talking about pushing until you’re exhausted, doing advanced movements like drop sets, circuits and supersets.

What is your meal plan?

Can you tell us exactly what your meal plan is? Can you tell us your exact caloric intake? I want to know how you’re spreading it out. Are you eating after a workout? Before? Taking amino acids during the workout? What do you eat in the morning? Do you skip breakfast? Do you eat within an hour of sleeping? How often do you take recreational drugs and alcohol? These are all questions that need to be answered if you are going to play with your hormones. If you can’t answer any of the above with a positive and honest answer; stay away from anabolic substances.

Do you know your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?

Basal Metabolic Rate is the base rate at which your metabolism operates. This includes, sleeping, the thermic effect of food, thermogenisis, working out, yard work, EVERYTHING you do to burn energy. If you do not know how to adjust your caloric intake to match your BMR to your goals, you should not be taking compounds. If you have and you do not notice quantitative or noticeable progress, you should be checking with a doctor before you self-diagnose or you should be looking in between your ears and assimilating expertise before assimilation of anabolic compounds occurs.

When was the last time you improved a PR?

If you have a personal record you want to shatter but it has been a long time, you should be changing your diet or routine. If it’s the routine, we refer to FITT. Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type. Frequency can be the amount of times per week you perform the exercise. Intensity can be the reps or the weight. Time can be the time under tension/the total time you are exerting force against this weight. This can also include the reps and it can include the time for each rep (the concentric and eccentric motion). Type. This is the type of exercise. Is it an isometric movement (pushing against a weight without moving it)? Is it isotonic (pushing against a weight and moving it)? Are you swinging the weight? Are you focusing on the negative or are you just letting it drop? Are you using a partner, are you using two partners to blast the negative in extremely higher weights (e.g. negative repping 115% of your 1RM)? These are all ways to adjust your PRs. Have you tried adapting all of the above? If not you should not be using chemicals to adjust your training because you have not reached your genetic potential.

Is your body fat 12% or lower?

This is just a benchmark. Preferably, we’d like to see people in single digits for a lot of compounds but this is a general rule of thumb. Power lifters are the only exception to this rule. If your body fat is above this number, you are going to put yourself at serious risk. When taking anabolic compounds, there is an aromatase enzyme that lingers in everybody. People, who have serious body fat, tend to have more of the aromatase enzyme. The more of the enzyme, the higher likelihood of getting that word that any person who uses or abuses compounds fears: GYNOCOMASTIA, or “bitch tits.” Of all of the things you learn in health class about steroids, this might be the only generalization that is true. See, when a hormone aromatizes, it gets converted to estrogen. Estrogen is actually good for males and females in moderate levels as it contributes to bone calcification, libido and ironically it can burn fat as it can increase your metabolism. It also increases bile cholesterol and promotes HDL while antagonizing LDL cholesterol (the former being good cholesterol, the latter being the bad). So we do not want completely fry our estrogen. However, we also do not want it skyrocketing and forming breast tissue, another primary characteristic of the hormone.

Aside from the potential of gynocomastia, performance compounds can also create stress on our heart. On a healthy male this is an issue that needs to be recognized because of the potential for physiological propensities towards heart disease and other cardio-respiratory problems. If a person is obese, this possibility gets exponentiated and you are going to put yourself at very serious and probable risk for a myocardial infarction or a stroke.

You are going to benefit financially and/or competitively from cycling.

Ok. You’re name is Bonds. Lee Priest. Lebron James. In an extreme circumstance; your name is Vitor Belfort and you give WolfPackAlpha your favorite fight cycle. If you have a chance to win the fight of your life or if you are going to become more aesthetically pleasing than the opposition jumping on stage, you can easily justifying taking these compounds. If you cannot, you are not disqualified but it’s thought-evoking.

Lastly, if you are under 24 years old. Just leave. You are too young and your body has not finished developing completely. You are at the prime of your life and have more natty test than you know what to do with… which is why you’re masturbating 10x a day. Seriously, If you are a young male, you have the potential to completely obliterate your endocrine system if you research with these performance enhancement compounds at too young of an age.

Ok. You’re 24 years old. Your diet is in check. You’ve been working out since you were 15. You have hit every PR you could think of and you’ve changed your strategy towards maximizing your results time and time again. You’re considering jumping on stage for the second time and you know for a fact the guy who defeated you in your last stage/ring competition was taking something. What do you do? The following is the guide for easing into AAS utilization.

Start with SARMS. SARMs are doing wonders for bros now who have been cycling for some time so they should work with you. What are SARMs? SARMs are Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators. This means the chemical only attaches to the receptors it wants to… this means less shut down, minimal chances for hairline depletion, zero aromatase enzymes, so no gynocomastia.

Can SARMS shut you down? They have the potential to shut you down but every SARM is different. LGD-4033 is the most significantly suppressive SARM and should incorporate the same on-cycle support and PCT as a traditional steroid cycle. Ostarine at a 25mg dose for 4-8 weeks should not shut you down but it can. S-4 at 50 – 75 mgs is also only potentially mildly suppressive. S-4 has potential to TEMPORARILY alter your night vision. I emphasize “temporarily” because I’ve never heard of a circumstance where your vision does not improve within days of relinquishing your cycle. Additionally, everybody’s tolerance is different. I have a few bros who’ve hit the 100mg mark without any vision side effects whatsoever. Then again, I know a few bros who experienced it at 75mg. What I recommend is what’s called a mini-PCT the four weeks following an S-4 or Ostarine cycle. Usually natural testosterone boosters like HCGenerate perform the best in this.

What is endurobol?

Endurobol is a compound initially created by GSK (Glaxo Smith Kline) with the chemical name of GW-501516. This compound was vilified by the very company that created it directly after a study with rats revealed stomach tumors. “But Jay, why would you recommend a compound that causes cancer when all you are talking about is safely utilizing hormonal treatment?” Simple. It doesn’t. The dosages used in rats were dosages up to 40 milligrams per kilogram in the rat. This is the equivalent to dosing over a gram of this substance per dose. This is important to note because when the compound ships it is typically ships in a 30 day cycle which is a total of 600 mgs…. Yes you are reading this correctly. It ships in less than 60% of what an individual study-rat dose. When we as humans dose GW, we should be dosing it at 20mgs PER DAY. We weight 100-400x more than a rat so why was the rat given a dose >50x more than what we need? Because rats can metabolize chemicals 25-50% better than humans. BUT! The poor study rats were given more than a 5,000% stronger dose than humans. Considering the weight of the rat, the rat should have been given double or single digit micrograms, not milligrams.

So what does this GW compound do brother Jay?” I shall tell you gwashoppa. While the body is performing physical work, it goes through a cycle. The cycle includes 3 pathways: ATP/PC phase, glycolysis and the aerobic (with oxygen) pathways. Take note gwashoppas because you are going to learn basic relative science of Bioenergetics.

The 1st pathway is the ATP/PC phase. This is the first pathway described because the 1st 8-10 seconds consists of the ATP/PC phase. The phase is charged by the severing of ATP (adenosine-tri-phosphate). The ATP is split into ADP (adenosine-di-phosphate) until the PC (phosogen-creatine) adds one phosphate molecule to the ADP to make another ATP. Eventually, rather quickly actually, there isn’t any phosphate molecules left to make ATP so you run out of stored ATP. The next pathway, glycolysis, is the pathway utilizing carbohydrates. This pathway takes carbohydrates from the blood, then from muscle and liver glycogen stores, then from muscle amino conversion; i.e. gluconeogenesis or “new glycogen created.”

The body stores a total of 400 grams of glycogen (the storage form of glucose/carbohydrates). Once this storage of carbohydrates is depleted, the body often times goes directly into your amino acids for energy. Yes that’s right; you can and probably have eaten the amino acids of your muscle for energy. In other words, you’ve probably created a catabolic state. Catabolic means “breaking down” and “anabolic” means building up. Catabolic states can and will often be created through overtraining and starving ourselves of carbohydrates. Additionally, you should be taking in carbohydrates and protein post workout; within the 1st 15 minutes you are finished exercising. The only way to burn fat through physical work is through the aerobic pathway. If you are running and you cannot hold a conversation, you are not performing an aerobic workout.

The following is the time typically allotted for each pathway:

ATP/PC System: 8-10 seconds of an anaerobic/aerobic workout

Glycolysis: the remainder of an anaerobic exercise, 10 seconds to 18-20 minutes of an aerobic exercise

Aerobic pathway: 18-20 minutes until the remainder of the AEROBIC exercise.

How do I know how I’m burning fat Jay?” You should be able to hold a conversation while performing your aerobic activity. Additionally, monitoring your heart rate while exercising is the steadfast way to do this. To do this, you need to understand the Karvonin formula. The Karvonin Formula is:

(220-age) – (resting heart rate) = (your heart rate reserve). Now you take (heart rate reserve) * 40%-60%= (target). You take (target) + (resting heart rate) = fat burn. If you take 65% - 80%, you are going to put your body in an anaerobic state. I recommend well-conditioned athletes hitting the 60% mark. Considering my ACSM background, I recommend entry-level folks to take their first week at 40%, and then move it up to 45, then 50, then 55, then 60 week by week.

But Jay, what the heck does this have to do with my body looking like that Dylan Gemelli guy’s body”? EVERYTHING gwashopppaa, especially if you want to run some GW-501516. GW creates an affinity towards the aerobic pathway. GW plain and simply, speeds up the rate at which the body prefers fat as an energy as opposed to muscle amino acids, muscle glycogen, liver glycogen; etc. Also, GW heavily promotes HDL cholesterol while antagonizing LDL cholesterol. This means: lipids up, glycogen wasting down, fat burning up up up. This is a very dynamic compound as it can be used in a SARM cycle to burn fat, a steroid cycle to combat negative lipids, a steroid cycle to negate lethargy (Trenbolone comes to mind) and lastly, a PCT. Its PCT implications cannot be denied. Running GW in your PCT is crucial because it can prevent losing the gains you made when utilized synergistically with other compounds like HCGenerate, Ostarine and Liquidex.

The following is going to be a “scaffolding” protocol on how to ease into compound usage:

Ostarine Stack (Cycle #1)

Week

Ostarine

HCGenerate

1.

25 mgs/day

-

2.

25 mgs/day

-

3.

25 mgs/day

-

4.

25 mgs/day

-

5.

25 mgs/day

-

6.

25 mgs/day

-

7.

25 mgs/day

-

8.

25 mgs/day

-

9.

-

5 caps/day

10.

-

5 caps/day

11.

-

5 caps/day

12.

-

5 caps/day

 

*LGD-4033 Stack (Cycle 2)

Week LGD4033 N2Guard HCGenerate Liquidex Ostarine GW
1. 5 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
2. 10 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
3. 15 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
4. 15 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
5. 15 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
6. 15 mgs/day 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) - -
7. 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) 25 mgs/day 20 mgs/day
8. 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) 25 mgs/day 20 mgs/day
9. 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) 25 mgs/day 20 mgs/day
10. 5 caps/day 2mL/day (1mL X 2) 25 mgs/day 20 mgs/day
*Because LGD-4033 is more suppressive than Ostarine, I recommend a full PCT

 

SARMS Triple Stack (Cycle #3)

Week

Ostarine

S-4

(Andarine)

GW

HCGenerate

1.

25 mgs/day

50 mgs/day

10mgs day

-

2.

25 mgs/day

75mgs/day

20 mgs/day

-

3.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day*

20 mgs/day

-

4.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day**

20 mgs/day

-

5.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day

20 mgs/day

-

6.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day

20 mgs/day

-

7.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day

20 mgs/day

-

8.

25 mgs/day

100 mgs/day

20 mgs/day

-

9.

-

-

20 mgs/day

5 Caps/day

10.

-

-

20 mgs/day

5 Caps/day

11.

-

-

20 mgs/day

5 Caps/day

12.

-

-

20 mgs/day

5 Caps/day

*If you experience intolerable vision sides, drop down to 75 mgs.
**continue at 75 mgs if above protocol must be followed.

 

Testosterone Cycle #1(Cycle #4)

Week

Cypionate*

N2Guard

HCGenerate

Aromasin

Ostarine

Cardarine

(GW)

1. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
2. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
3. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
4. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
5. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
6. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
7. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
8. 300mgs 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
9.** 7 caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
10. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
11. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
12. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
13. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
- - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
*Note: Some experts prefer Enanthate esters. I believe it’s a matter of preference. I feel a slightly harder “kick” from cyp, though I cannot complain about enanthate.
** Some bros recommend starting the 4-week PCT 2 weeks after the last Pin of test, I recommend extending PCT to ensure maximal recovery. Additionally, I do not recommend extending the cycle to 10 weeks for a first run, though some may disagree.

 

Testosterone Cycle #2 (Cycle # 5)

Week

Cypionate*

N2Guard

HCGenerate

Aromasin

Ostarine

GW

1. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
2. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
3. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
4. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
5. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
6. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
7. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
8. 500mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day - -
9. 500 mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
10.** 500 mgs 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
11. - 7caps/day 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
12. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
13. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
14. - - 5 caps/day 25mgs/day 25mgs/day 20mgs/day
*Note: Some experts prefer Enanthate esters. I believe it’s a matter of preference. I feel a slightly harder “kick” from cyp, though I cannot complain about enanthate.
** Again, some bros may recommend extending to 12 weeks, however, I think 10 weeks is the sweet spot for me. I find that rebound comes fast with proper PCT at 10 weeks.

 

The above is the beginners guide to running 5 cycles. This should be over the course of 2-4 years. If you’ve reached this point, look for posts about recommended advanced cycles. These cycles will keep you independent from testosterone, i.e. keep your body’s ability to build muscle with natural testosterone.

Jay, thank you so much for the advice but where do I find all of these compounds?”

Everybody has their own source and it’s part of the game to research what works for you. I personally will not recommend a source for steroids. If you decide to research steroids that is your decision as an adult. I do not condone it without the advice and monitoring of blood work. However, I can recommend sites for each SARM, AI, and PCT Compound discussed.

Compound Checklist

Compound

Source

LGD-4033 www.Sarms1.com
Ostarine www.Sarms1.com
S-4 www.Sarms1.com
Cardarine (GW-501516) www.Sarms1.com
HCGenerate www.needtobuildmuscle.com
N2Guard www.needtobuildmuscle.com
Liquidex www.needtobuildmuscle.com
LiquiAroma (aromasin) www.ag-guys.com

Get more information about News, Doping, SARMS, Steroids, HGH and PDS...

Subscribe to our Underground Evo mailing list and get interesting news and updates directly to your inbox.

Have your say!

3 3
Avatar photo
Written by

Leave a Reply

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.