Keeping gains-
Some tips for coming off a cycle for the moderate user to hold on to the new found muscle -
These tips are for the moderate user and not for the high dose or long term AAS user, these basic methods will help maintain a degree of muscularity while in the off period. If all procedures are carried out during cycle you would of maximize gains and will be carrying new muscle tissue, then you need to focus on the off period and put yourself in an optimal position to keeping your new found gains once the cycle is stopped.
One of the areas of focus is the HPTA (Hypothalamus-pituitary-testicular axis), Recovering the HPTA is vital to maintaining gains, typically on a 10 week standard AAS cycle will almost certainly cause full suppression despite any strategies we might undertake. This is why shorter cycles are becoming increasingly more popular because with these type of cycles there is a significant chance you will have testicular function straight after or very shortly after the cycle as stopped.
Once the cycle as stopped we must preserve our gains and if steps haven't been taken during cycle we must now take some steps to reduce estrogen binding in the hypothalamus. clomid is preferred choice in this area but aromatise inhibitor will also be as effective or better still both. The only way to fully recover your HPTA is to completely come off cycle, with this day and age of PCT compounds to recover with, the job will be easy.Problems occur if you stay on cycle to long or keep taking low suppression drugs to bridge cycles together, all this will have an effect on your HPTA and long term health of it. Recover and maintain the new found gains and stay as healthy as possible, remember suppression and shutdown are linked they both effect your HPTA.
Nutrition - is another area which we must focus on to help maintain the new found gains, after a cycle androgen levels are going to be lower than normal even with the above strategies. We have to maximize the anabolic hormones as much as possible while our system is recovering. Overeating has been shown in numerous studies to maximize these factors. Over maintenance calories are needed to promote the anabolic edge, sure some fat gain will occur but this will almost totally retain the new found muscle from the cycle. As testosterone returns to normal and recovery is nearly over the calories can be lowered to maintenance or below depending on your goals. Never start dieting in the recovery stage.
Training - If you have been training intensely during the on period you can help to maintain the new found gains with a slight alteration in the way your training. In some cases further gains have been seen in the recovery part of cycling, this is normally with short cycles and very intense training. If you implement more rest days and make sure your C.N.S get fully recovered further gains can be seen. Keep the training sessions down to around 30 mins and incorporate longer rest days in-between. Long workouts lower testosterone to cortisol ratio, so don't go for long workouts no matter how strong or fit you may feel, short and fast will help with recovery without further stress on your system.
Still concentrate on the basic heavy movements this and still focus on HIT type of training, also take more attention on the eccentric part of the lift because this causes most of the muscle fiber damage, after warm up do about 2 sets per bodypart and dropset them, which should consist of eccentric reps start with maximum followed by 90% Max, then 80%max, making sure you take a good 5-6 seconds for the eccentric portion of the reps on all dropsets. There are many other ways of training to help recovery but this method does have great benefits by making the workout shorter and the muscle being hit in a different way. Further gains can be achieved if careful planning is done of your training sessions.
Supplements- Its hard to advice what supplements will help and work for you in recover and maintenance so i wont go to much into this section. clearly a quality protein powder and a good creatine in the off period does help drastically also high levels of BCAA's and glutamine all aid recovery, past experience will help to pick which other supps may help and agree with your body.
The more advance you become the more advanced procedure need to be carried out.
Some tips for coming off a cycle for the moderate user to hold on to the new found muscle -
These tips are for the moderate user and not for the high dose or long term AAS user, these basic methods will help maintain a degree of muscularity while in the off period. If all procedures are carried out during cycle you would of maximize gains and will be carrying new muscle tissue, then you need to focus on the off period and put yourself in an optimal position to keeping your new found gains once the cycle is stopped.
One of the areas of focus is the HPTA (Hypothalamus-pituitary-testicular axis), Recovering the HPTA is vital to maintaining gains, typically on a 10 week standard AAS cycle will almost certainly cause full suppression despite any strategies we might undertake. This is why shorter cycles are becoming increasingly more popular because with these type of cycles there is a significant chance you will have testicular function straight after or very shortly after the cycle as stopped.
Once the cycle as stopped we must preserve our gains and if steps haven't been taken during cycle we must now take some steps to reduce estrogen binding in the hypothalamus. clomid is preferred choice in this area but aromatise inhibitor will also be as effective or better still both. The only way to fully recover your HPTA is to completely come off cycle, with this day and age of PCT compounds to recover with, the job will be easy.Problems occur if you stay on cycle to long or keep taking low suppression drugs to bridge cycles together, all this will have an effect on your HPTA and long term health of it. Recover and maintain the new found gains and stay as healthy as possible, remember suppression and shutdown are linked they both effect your HPTA.
Nutrition - is another area which we must focus on to help maintain the new found gains, after a cycle androgen levels are going to be lower than normal even with the above strategies. We have to maximize the anabolic hormones as much as possible while our system is recovering. Overeating has been shown in numerous studies to maximize these factors. Over maintenance calories are needed to promote the anabolic edge, sure some fat gain will occur but this will almost totally retain the new found muscle from the cycle. As testosterone returns to normal and recovery is nearly over the calories can be lowered to maintenance or below depending on your goals. Never start dieting in the recovery stage.
Training - If you have been training intensely during the on period you can help to maintain the new found gains with a slight alteration in the way your training. In some cases further gains have been seen in the recovery part of cycling, this is normally with short cycles and very intense training. If you implement more rest days and make sure your C.N.S get fully recovered further gains can be seen. Keep the training sessions down to around 30 mins and incorporate longer rest days in-between. Long workouts lower testosterone to cortisol ratio, so don't go for long workouts no matter how strong or fit you may feel, short and fast will help with recovery without further stress on your system.
Still concentrate on the basic heavy movements this and still focus on HIT type of training, also take more attention on the eccentric part of the lift because this causes most of the muscle fiber damage, after warm up do about 2 sets per bodypart and dropset them, which should consist of eccentric reps start with maximum followed by 90% Max, then 80%max, making sure you take a good 5-6 seconds for the eccentric portion of the reps on all dropsets. There are many other ways of training to help recovery but this method does have great benefits by making the workout shorter and the muscle being hit in a different way. Further gains can be achieved if careful planning is done of your training sessions.
Supplements- Its hard to advice what supplements will help and work for you in recover and maintenance so i wont go to much into this section. clearly a quality protein powder and a good creatine in the off period does help drastically also high levels of BCAA's and glutamine all aid recovery, past experience will help to pick which other supps may help and agree with your body.
The more advance you become the more advanced procedure need to be carried out.
