First Cycle Advice

[jimmyjammer]

I'm currently on 125mg/week of TRT and my am looking to do a solid bulk by moving that up to 300mg/week for my first cycle.

When I first hopped on TRT, I began at 200mg/week and felt some itchiness and sensitivity in my nipples and some decent mood swings, even at that lower dose of testosterone cypionate. I currently pin on the days I go to the gym, which is M/W/F--three times a week.

When I lowered my test cyp to my current dose of 125mg/week, those symptoms went away.

I guess what I'm most curious about is...

Do I work my way up to the 300mg/week? Or do I just start pinning that amount immediately?

Also, I purchased Arimidex and am curious of the dosage and timing in using the AI with my cycle, especially because I seem to be sensitive to estrogenic and neuro‐hormonal shifts above standard TRT levels. I'm decently lean at 15% body fat taken by a DEXA scan.

For the AI, I'm thinking .25 twice a week. Perhaps less if I'm experiencing less sides.

I plan on pinning daily (43mg/daily) to keep blood levels stable. My diet and lifestyle are pretty locked in and have been for years, but wouldn't mind someone with experience to shed some light on best practices they've known to work.

Thanks in advance!

This community rocks.

 

[jimmyjammer]

I also plan on getting more labs done (TT, E2, hematocrit, lipids, liver enzymes, perhaps SHBG) prior to the cycle. I can share those when/after I get them done, if that helps.

Also...I forgot to mention I only plan on a six week cycle.

 

[Meetketchup]

I'd like to see the blood work results of what you quoted above before offering more advice (especially E2), but can you throw up a current pic showing your body comp? Dexa's are dexa's.

 

[elit3keraed]

OK, so a few things to address

One you need to get your labs done before you even start planning your cycle because you don’t know what your total test is or what your estrogen is at. Three times a week is a good pain rotation. In my opinion, it gives me top end of natural range with smack dab middle estradiol. I do 60 mg three times a week.

Were you doing three times a week with your original injections? Or were you doing once a week? I noticed that same dosage, but with different injection schedules completely shift how I feel. I can’t do once a week at any dosage without feeling like trash, whether it’s my estrogen getting out of control or my testosterone dropping too low by the end of the week. Twice a week I feel OK Ish, but three times a week is where I feel like I get the best bang for my buck.


If you were having estrogen issues at 200 mg split three times a week then you may just be a very sensitive converter. But you’ll need to see where your bloodwork at before you start taking an AI.

The last thing you wanna do is crush your estrogen, I had estradiol at 250 at one point and I wasn’t nearly as emotional and fucked up as I was with my estradiol under 10.


no sense in titrating up dosage. You’re only doing it for six weeks. Just jump straight into the 300 mg per week.

But the problem with running six weeks is you can start taking an AI if you start developing sensitive nipples, but you won’t know whether you’re taking too much or too little unless you either completely crash your estrogen, which is a horrible experience or you get blood work, but by the time you get the blood work back and you start messing with your dosage again the cycle is already gonna be over.

 

[jimmyjammer]

I'd like to see the blood work results of what you quoted above before offering more advice (especially E2), but can you throw up a current pic showing your body comp? Dexa's are dexa's.

 

[jimmyjammer]

OK, so a few things to address

One you need to get your labs done before you even start planning your cycle because you don’t know what your total test is or what your estrogen is at. Three times a week is a good pain rotation. In my opinion, it gives me top end of natural range with smack dab middle estradiol. I do 60 mg three times a week.

Were you doing three times a week with your original injections? Or were you doing once a week? I noticed that same dosage, but with different injection schedules completely shift how I feel. I can’t do once a week at any dosage without feeling like trash, whether it’s my estrogen getting out of control or my testosterone dropping too low by the end of the week. Twice a week I feel OK Ish, but three times a week is where I feel like I get the best bang for my buck.


If you were having estrogen issues at 200 mg split three times a week then you may just be a very sensitive converter. But you’ll need to see where your bloodwork at before you start taking an AI.

The last thing you wanna do is crush your estrogen, I had estradiol at 250 at one point and I wasn’t nearly as emotional and fucked up as I was with my estradiol under 10.


no sense in titrating up dosage. You’re only doing it for six weeks. Just jump straight into the 300 mg per week.

But the problem with running six weeks is you can start taking an AI if you start developing sensitive nipples, but you won’t know whether you’re taking too much or too little unless you either completely crash your estrogen, which is a horrible experience or you get blood work, but by the time you get the blood work back and you start messing with your dosage again the cycle is already gonna be over.

I've been doing three times a week (M/W/F) since the beginning, which was in March this year. Because the cycle is 300mg a week I'm going to do daily pins at 43mg. I'm also doing SubQ, so not intramuscular, with a 29 gauge, which seems to be pretty comfortable for me. Totally agree with getting the labs done first before beginning.

 

[Meetketchup]

Appreciate the response with the pic. My opinion: Get your training on point as 3 days a week isn't going to cut it. I have a feeling diet isn't as on point as maybe it should be. My point is you need to make some more gains and establish more of a base before upping dosages and cycling. If you don't I have a feeling cycling won't do what you think it will. If you wanted, you up your TRT dose up just a bit with the optimized training/diet that is another option.

I will let other guys give you their opinions on what they would do. Best of luck.

 

[Skud008]

Yeah I'm gonna agree with MK on this one, draw bloods to see what's actually going on and then hit the gym and the kitchen hard for the next several months, maybe upping your Test dose a couple months in and see what kind of progress you make, my guess is it'll be significant.

 

[elit3keraed]

I've been doing three times a week (M/W/F) since the beginning, which was in March this year. Because the cycle is 300mg a week I'm going to do daily pins at 43mg. I'm also doing SubQ, so not intramuscular, with a 29 gauge, which seems to be pretty comfortable for me. Totally agree with getting the labs done first before beginning.

Have you been doing subq this entire time? Like the 3x weekly shots?

You may be a poor responder to subq unfortunately if that’s the case. When I tried daily subq (25mg daily) my total test was in the 400s. Estrogen was higher too.

But definitely need to pull bloods and see what’s what before anything

 

[jimmyjammer]

Appreciate the response with the pic. My opinion: Get your training on point as 3 days a week isn't going to cut it. I have a feeling diet isn't as on point as maybe it should be. My point is you need to make some more gains and establish more of a base before upping dosages and cycling. If you don't I have a feeling cycling won't do what you think it will. If you wanted, you up your TRT dose up just a bit with the optimized training/diet that is another option.

I will let other guys give you their opinions on what they would do. Best of luck.

I appreciate the feedback. Mind you, I'm not looking to become HUGE, even for my size. I'm just looking to gain SOME strength and size. I know six weeks at those levels aren't going to give me that, but I was just curious what I could do with that.

Have you been doing subq this entire time? Like the 3x weekly shots?

You may be a poor responder to subq unfortunately if that’s the case. When I tried daily subq (25mg daily) my total test was in the 400s. Estrogen was higher too.

But definitely need to pull bloods and see what’s what before anything

Yeah, the entire time. Interesting you say that because when I got my last blood work done that's exactly where my test levels were at: low 400s.

Hmmm...

This is all good! I appreciate everyone's honest feedback.

I didn't know I could be a poor SubQ responder, which I might be—all things considering.

However, when I was doing 200mg/week for the first month, my test levels were around 1200.

Guys... I'll get my labs done and report back, for sure. More information is definitely needed.

 

[elit3keraed]

I appreciate the feedback. Mind you, I'm not looking to become HUGE, even for my size. I'm just looking to gain SOME strength and size. I know six weeks at those levels aren't going to give me that, but I was just curious what I could do with that.

Yeah, the entire time. Interesting you say that because when I got my last blood work done that's exactly where my test levels were at: low 400s.

Hmmm...

This is all good! I appreciate everyone's honest feedback.

I didn't know I could be a poor SubQ responder, which I might be—all things considering.

However, when I was doing 200mg/week for the first month, my test levels were around 1200.

Guys... I'll get my labs done and report back, for sure. More information is definitely needed.

Is there a specific reason why you do subcutaneous shots? Do you just not like intramuscular? Is it too painful or something? I’ve been doing shallow intramuscular dealt three times a week for the last couple months and it’s been treating me pretty well. It might be worth considering changing your administration from subcutaneous to intramuscular that might actually help. Unfortunately, this game isn’t cut and dry and requires a lot of experimenting and a lot of blood work to find what works the best. There’s people out there who respond very well to subcutaneous and there’s people out there that feel great on once weekly, it’s fairly individualized at the end of the day.

 

[jimmyjammer]

Is there a specific reason why you do subcutaneous shots? Do you just not like intramuscular? Is it too painful or something? I’ve been doing shallow intramuscular dealt three times a week for the last couple months and it’s been treating me pretty well. It might be worth considering changing your administration from subcutaneous to intramuscular that might actually help. Unfortunately, this game isn’t cut and dry and requires a lot of experimenting and a lot of blood work to find what works the best. There’s people out there who respond very well to subcutaneous and there’s people out there that feel great on once weekly, it’s fairly individualized at the end of the day.

That's just the way I've been doing it. A smaller guage needle always seemed better, if I could manage it. But I'm up for trying intramuscular? I'm definitely not opposed to it.

 

[Meetketchup]

What gains have you made on TRT doing the 3x/Week workouts?

 

[elit3keraed]

That's just the way I've been doing it. A smaller guage needle always seemed better, if I could manage it. But I'm up for trying intramuscular? I'm definitely not opposed to it.

I do a 31 gauge I think half inch or 3/8 inch insulin syringe for my deal shots and I don’t have an issue with it. You could always get a longer needle for glutes, but it’s pretty straightforward. subq is easier for sure and it was almost nice having a daily morning routine but my body just didn’t get the same response.