Hi I'm 20yrs old, male 5'7", ~149 lb. And I wanted to get some advice/thoughts about my first cycle my goal is to maximize muscle and energy over the cycle, come off and recover natural production. I havent started or bought anything yet. im gonna do bloodwork every 6 weeks, 2700 calories tracked. I have diet, sleep, training and everything else pretty dialed in.
Questions
1. Is 20 weeks too long for a first cycle at 20, or is 12-16 the smarter call? Recovery is my main concern, not peak gains.
2. hCG — is back-loading from week 13 the right call, or should it run low-dose throughout? Is 12 days post-cycle at 1,000 IU EOD enough before the SERM?
3. Hct starting at 48.6% — how much headroom do I actually have at 200 mg/wk before I need to act?
4. Does the AST 60 / bili 1.4 need to be fully resolved before first pin, or is a clean recheck enough?
5. Anything on the buy list that's wrong, and anything missing?
6. PCT dosing — is 40/20 x4wk enough or should I extend to 6?
7. should i aim to run just test and wait until my first bloodwork to figure out what to do for pct, I my main fear is shutting down my natural testing production permanently
Hormones from my recent bloodwork:
CBC:
- WBC 6.4, RBC 5.59, Hgb 16.9, Hct 48.6, Plt 158
Lipids:
- TC 185, HDL 50, LDL 119, TG 65, non-HDL 135, TC/HDL 3.7
CMP:
I think my AST/bili were flagged after a hard swim and gym session the day before.
Planned cycle
PCT
Monitoring
My Planned Purchases
Questions
1. Is 20 weeks too long for a first cycle at 20, or is 12-16 the smarter call? Recovery is my main concern, not peak gains.
2. hCG — is back-loading from week 13 the right call, or should it run low-dose throughout? Is 12 days post-cycle at 1,000 IU EOD enough before the SERM?
3. Hct starting at 48.6% — how much headroom do I actually have at 200 mg/wk before I need to act?
4. Does the AST 60 / bili 1.4 need to be fully resolved before first pin, or is a clean recheck enough?
5. Anything on the buy list that's wrong, and anything missing?
6. PCT dosing — is 40/20 x4wk enough or should I extend to 6?
7. should i aim to run just test and wait until my first bloodwork to figure out what to do for pct, I my main fear is shutting down my natural testing production permanently
Hormones from my recent bloodwork:
- Total T (LC/MS/MS): 466 ng/dL (250-1100)
- Free T: 86.7 pg/mL (46-224)
- Bioavailable T: 185.9 ng/dL (110-575)
- SHBG: 21 nmol/L (10-50)
- Albumin: 4.7 g/dL
- LH: 3.4 mIU/mL (1.5-9.3)
- FSH: 3.7 mIU/mL (1.4-12.8)
- Estradiol: <30 pg/mL (immunoassay, ≤39)
- DHEA-S: 476 mcg/dL (20-480)
- IGF-1: 216 ng/mL, Z -0.5
- TSH: 0.82 mIU/L
- PSA: 0.9 ng/mL
CBC:
- WBC 6.4, RBC 5.59, Hgb 16.9, Hct 48.6, Plt 158
Lipids:
- TC 185, HDL 50, LDL 119, TG 65, non-HDL 135, TC/HDL 3.7
CMP:
- Glucose 87, BUN 20, Creatinine 1.21, eGFR 88, Na 137, K 4.5, Cl 101, CO2 25, Ca 9.8
- Total bili 1.4 (0.2-1.1), AST 60 (12-32), ALT 20 (8-46), ALP 78
- Albumin 4.8, Total protein 6.9
I think my AST/bili were flagged after a hard swim and gym session the day before.
Planned cycle
- Test C 200 mg/mL — 20 weeks at 200 mg/wk, pinned 100 mg E3.5D subq with slin pins
- hCG: nothing weeks 1-12, then 500 IU Mon/Thu weeks 13-20, then 1,000 IU EOD for 12 days after last pin or do maintance at 250-500 IU 2x/wk for full 20weeks
- Anastrozole 1 mg on hand only — no AI unless week 6 sensitive E2 comes back >60-70 or I get symptoms. 0.5 mg 2x/wk if needed.
- No taper
PCT
- Start 14-18 days after last injection
- Tamoxifen 40 mg/day x14d, then 20 mg/day x14d
- Clomid 25-50 mg/day optional alongside if I can source it
Monitoring
- CBC, CMP, lipids, sensitive E2, total T at week 6; CBC + lipids + BP at weeks 12 and 18
- Hct >52: hydrate, split dose, more cardio. Hct >54: donate, check ferritin
My Planned Purchases
- Test C 200mg/mL x12mL x3 vials
- hCG 10,000 IU x2 vials
- Bac water 30 mL
- Tamoxifen 20mg x30-42 tabs
- Arimidex 1mg x1 box
- 27-30g 1/2" slin pins x60, swabs, sharps bin
