Great read on Pyramiding Cycles, Agree or Not?

[Iron Game]

[h=2]Pyramiding cycles by heavyiron[/h]

The human body is always fighting for homeostasis so the concept is to increase dose before gains plateau. Based on the 2009 myostatin study we can design a cycle that is effective for 10 weeks using this strategy. The following first cycle is for men that want a little more performance with added risk while only using Testosterone. The first 5 weeks a standard dose is administered to evaluate how your body responds and to determine if sides are manageable. If sides are manageable then increase the dose.


Week 1-5 600mg Testosterone weekly
Week 6-8 800mg Testosterone weekly
Week 9-10 1 gram Testosterone weekly


10-25 mg Aromasin daily with the goal of keeping Estradiol between 10pg/ml-30pg/ml. Only blood work can confirm if you are in this range.



500iu HCG twice weekly.

heavyiron's first cycle ever~1988

Thought I would share what guys like me were taking back in the late 80's.

Stats

I was 20 years old and had trained a few years off and on. I weighed a little over 200lbs. I never used any steroids previously. I did high volume, high intensity training.

My first cycle

All doses are approximate as I injected every 3 days the entire cycle.

Week 1 400mg Test C
Week 2 600mg Test C
Week 3 800mg Test C
Week 4 1 gram Test C
Week 5 1,200mg Test C
Week 6 1,400mg Test C
Week 7 1,600mg Test C
Week 8 1,600mg Test C

No PCT. LOL!

I loved my first cycle. I had zero problems and gained huge. I lost little to no strength afterwards but did drop about 10lbs in the next 2 months.

8 weeks off and then I jumped back on again. =)

I have done over 20 higher dosed pyramiding cycles over the decades and thought I would share one I just designed for a member. This member is an experienced user who wanted a 20+ week cycle. I prefer shorter runs when using higher doses but he wants to grow into a comp so he determined the cycle length. I personally would have liked to see this compressed into 12 weeks but he is set on 20+ weeks. This member wanted to use primarily testosterone and low dose deca.

*This cycle is for experienced users*

Myostatin limits growth around day 56 of a cycle. You can "push" gains by adding strong anabolics or upping the dose or my favorite, both.

Since you have little to no limiting growth factors the first 7-8 weeks there is no need to increase the dose however we must account for ester length when timing the increased dose. Timing your steroids is a commonly overlooked feature of cycle design.

Your choice of testosterone is excellent for pyramiding as I believe it must be the base of nearly every cycle design. Most experienced men can tolerate high doses with low incidence of side effects as long as E2 is controlled. It has been argued that most men reach a point of diminishing returns around 1.5 grams T weekly. I believe this to be a reasonable high end dose. I begin to experience more sides than is comfortable around 1.8 grams weekly. Around 2.5 grams I am quite uncomfortable so it is ideal to limit exposure to high doses. In other words, short durations at high doses are ideal.

Nandrolone is also an excellent bulker that has many positive therapeutic effects. I prefer low doses early in a course to prepare my joints for heavy lifting. 200-300mg weekly is plenty for therapeutic effects. For bulking, 2mg per lb of bodyweight is a good rule of thumb. Since Nandrolone can cause unwanted sides I tend to dose on the low end. I would run the deca as long as possible since it is such a low dose. Please consider 10 weeks minimum. Obviously you will need to drop the deca 5 weeks before a show.

Your choice of Letro is fine however it is a myth that it is much stronger than other AI's. AI's work about the same in men administering testosterone. One can usually see about a 50% reduction in E2 no matter the AI. 1mg adex=2.5mg letro=25mg aromasin in males. Letro does possess a slightly longer half life so dosing less frequently is fine but keep in mind the more T you administer the shorter the half life. One trial in particular proved saturation of E2 at 600mg weekly of T. In other words if your AI is dialed in at 600mg weekly it is likely you will not need to increase the AI dose even if you increase the test dose but the data is preliminary.

Week 1-6 500mg T weekly
Week 7-8 750mg T and 200mg Deca
Week 9-10 1 gram T and 200mg Deca
Week 11-12 1,250mg T and 200mg Deca
Week 13-14 1,500mg T and 200mg Deca
Week 15-16 1,750mg T and 200mg Deca
Week 17-18 2,250mg T ***
Week 19-20 2,500mg T **
Week 21-22 2,750mg T


*** When dropping a steroid you must account for this in your increase therefore I bumped the T 500mg these weeks.

**Carefully evaluate sides at this level. You may have to drop dose or stop increasing dose at this point. Monitor blood pressure and proceed with caution. Do not be afraid to stop at this level. Keep records of all effects like a steroid diary so you know what to expect next time.

Depending on your goals you may immediately begin a cruise of 300mg weekly after the course. If you have a show you will likely need to drop the testosterone but you may run anabolics like tren, winny or anavar during this time. After the show I would run a cruise dose of T so you don't crash right away.

~heavyiron


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[Muscle mechanic]

All I know is at 10 weeks I plateau. If I add something it helps. I often add things to bind to sbhg and lower cortisol as well as an oral or tren. I like an oral at start but I prefer one at this plateau. I have dropped to a cruise for 4 weeks them went back up and that worked too..
I also haven't used over a gram of testosterone in probably 8 years. And I haven't went over 750 test with about 400 deca or 800 masteron.
I also get ED around 10 week mark I always have to address it with shbg route along with estro

 

[Presser]

All I know is at 10 weeks I plateau. If I add something it helps. I often add things to bind to sbhg and lower cortisol as well as an oral or tren. I like an oral at start but I prefer one at this plateau. I have dropped to a cruise for 4 weeks them went back up and that worked too..
I also haven't used over a gram of testosterone in probably 8 years. And I haven't went over 750 test with about 400 deca or 800 masteron.
I also get ED around 10 week mark I always have to address it with shbg route along with estro

ED as in Dick issues? And for me whenever I plateau , I do like MM above and cut back to a light cruise then come back to a heavier dosage when I feel my body is ready to soak it back up. Example, higher dosage cycle for me is 200mg propionate eod, 50mg tren ace eod, 50mcg igf ed. And thats pretty hefty for me.

I was never one to keep upping the dosages, and never one to go super high dosages, I have done a couple highish dosed cycles in my 20's but when your 20 you'll soak up everything lmao.

Anyhow, Not a fan of this plan. Im a firm believer in less is more and if you plateau then change up hormones and the regimen.

I have rarely ever done a gram of a gear a week , and not sure how some guys do the amount of shit they say they do in all honesty lol.

 

[Muscle mechanic]

ED as in Dick issues? And for me whenever I plateau , I do like MM above and cut back to a light cruise then come back to a heavier dosage when I feel my body is ready to soak it back up. Example, higher dosage cycle for me is 200mg propionate eod, 50mg tren ace eod, 50mcg igf ed. And thats pretty hefty for me.

I was never one to keep upping the dosages, and never one to go super high dosages, I have done a couple highish dosed cycles in my 20's but when your 20 you'll soak up everything lmao.

Anyhow, Not a fan of this plan. Im a firm believer in less is more and if you plateau then change up hormones and the regimen.

I have rarely ever done a gram of a gear a week , and not sure how some guys do the amount of shit they say they do in all honesty lol.

Yes dick issue ED. Lol! Horny as hell but it gets soft. Wtf.
Happens after plateau and feeling on being on goes away. It goes away right when I drop back to cruise.
I myself consider 200 prop EOD and tren a 65 hefty.
It's long esters I get ED from with deca or tren especially.

But with cruise I try to go 8 weeks before blast but alot of blast or 500-600 test only wk

 

[beachbody]

I agree with Presser, I think 1 gram a week is too much. The body just converts extra testosterone into estradiol and DHT. And you get health problems like gyno. I was also wondering if there was some kind of study that shows that myostatin limits growth at the 56 day mark?

 

[Muscle mechanic]

I agree with Presser, I think 1 gram a week is too much. The body just converts extra testosterone into estradiol and DHT. And you get health problems like gyno. I was also wondering if there was some kind of study that shows that myostatin limits growth at the 56 day mark?

Vision posted a good post and study results on down reg or up regulation of androgen receptors with myostatin and what not. I myself can still make gains thru 12 weeks and up to 20 with testosterone and deca never went on longer than that. The reason I mentioned the erectile dysfunction is because I notice I get it around or just after this 10 week plateau. It's not everytime the ed, but it's well noticed. So myostatin, some other adjustments of other hormones cortisol, sbhg, estrogen I don't know. But when I drop back to cruise it's resolved in 5 days.

Regardless of esters and I use accordingly to them, but I feel and noticed every steroid within 2 days upped dropped or whatever. "WAITING TO KICK IN" they all the same for me 2 days. No shit!