I cover that part in this post here:
I’m a big believer in taking proper breaks from gear. Not a bridge cycle, not a cruise but to really drop down to a low to moderate trt dose.
The two photos below are are about 14 weeks apart. The summer pic was one of the last days of that cycle and the “skinny” pic was one of the last days of that health phase.
I want to demo the size difference and to also emphasize that you should not be afraid of getting smaller. If for anything, take a break from gear just so it doesn’t become a part of your identity because we all have a fixed runway with AAS use. You need to live away from it...
The length of the health phase is dependent on what I did prior and bloodwork, so it's not set in stone. The NPP rebound cycle will bring most of my bloodwork from contest prep back to normal, so I don't anticipate a longer than 6 week health phase. I have 2 types of health phases:
-
Extended health phase of 12+ weeks. With this health phase, I drop my test dose down to as low as 150mg/week and noticeably downsize. At 150mg/week test, my total test is about 900 with free test around 150 (I can manipulate that free test # with injection frequency if needed). By the end of this phase, I will look natty. There are photos in that other thread with examples. You can think of this as a "hibernation" health phase, where I just shut down and go back to as close to baseline natural as I can. The objective with this phase is to clear up any long term cumulative stress or inflammation, not just to normalize lab panels.
-
Abbreviated health phase of 6-8 weeks. With this health phase, I'll do a test dose of 300-350mg/week and retain most if not all the size gained in the prior phases. This addresses any adverse short term variables that may have been caused by the prior contest prep or growth phase. The primary objective here is to normalize lab panels without sacrificing too much size. This is how I'll approach the upcoming health phase in October.
There are other things I might do during a health phase, including:
- Physical therapy on any injury or mobility issue from the prior year
- Hair recovery protocol; finasteride, dermarolling, peptides, etc. I don't have much hair loss from AAS (another benefit of NPP) so this is more of a preventative measure for age related hair loss
- Prolonged fasting periods; multi day fasts
- HCG/HMG for fertility and testicular function recovery
- Various organ health specific protocols
And so on
