Fatboy - 1st Beginner Bulk Cycle Log

Hi all,
I’ve been a lurker here for quite some time and have gained much insight from member’s contributions on the forum. I have decided to start a cycle log to share my first ever cycle experience in the hope it may assist me as well as other noobs considering using gear. I am flying solo on this and only have this forum as support so would appreciate comments and input.

6 Month goal: +-6kg’s in quality LBM (90kg’s at 10% BF)
My stats:
Age: 41
Height: 1.76m
Weight: 85kg (Start)
BF: 12%
Training experience: 20 years (sporadic bursts for a few years at a time)
BMR: 2500 Cals
Daily target cals: 3600 (500-600 above TEE)
Macro’s: P35%/C40%/F25% (for D/bol period)
Gym: Home

Cycle: Beginners bulking cycle
40mg LP Dbol ED for 25 days
250mg PGW testocyp E4D for 77 days
PCT start after 36 days of last pin:
Clomid 100mg for 7 days, then HCG 500iu EOD for 20 days along wiith Nolva at 20mg a day for 30 days

January 2011 saw me weigh in at 110kgs @ approx. 35% BF. I had been sedentary for the previous 5 years living the typical South African male lifestyle of drinking far too much, stuffing my face and doing squat exercise. It then hit me like a steam train that I was turning 40 that year and there were so many things I still wanted to do and experience. Learning to surf being one of them. I unpacked my home gym and weights that had been in boxes since I moved to Dbn and as they say the rest is history.
That was the start of my journey, and through trial and error, calorie counting, research and effort I ended the year at 82kg’s, 14%. From Jan until Aug this year I basically recomped and managed to gain some LBM whilst still losing fat and finished up at 87kg’s. I decided that while waiting for my goodie bag to arrive I should try and lean out a bit more and managed to drop another 2kg’s to end up at 85kg.

I started my cycle last Thursday and will update accordingly.

+1 for getting your rear into gear

MRfeathers wrote: +1 for getting your rear into gear

LOL - Thanks man.


Week 1
So one week down. I started the dbol last Thur (16th) and am taking 20mg in the morning after meal and 20mg at night before weights. I also did my first pin in the right quad on the same day.

I had watched a number of youtube vid’s and did lots of reading up on pin protocol but was very nervous to say the least. The actual pin was painless, but my hands were shaking so much I must have bored a mine shaft into the quad and also injected the test far too quickly. The muscle pain kicked in a few hours later and stayed for 4 days. As a result, I was not looking forward to the next pin in the other quad. This time I took it slow and steady. I massaged the muscle more vigorously and also went for a run straight afterwards. This time there was only a little discomfort which was gone in 2 days. Next pin is tomorrow in the right quad so will see how it goes.

Been battling to up the cals as psychologically I’m still in cutting mode – that’s what a years dieting at a 500 cal daily deficit does to the mind. I’m forcing the food down and counting everything going in to hit my cal target of 500-600 cals above TEE. Will adjust calories post weigh in next Monday to make sure the excess stays within target.
After a week on the cycle the only effect I have noticed is better endurance in the gym but strength seems pretty much the same.

What should I be expecting from the dbol?

Physically there is a little loss of definition overall and strangely, veins are popping up everywhere but more prominent on calves and arms. I’ve upped my O2 intake by 2 litres to around 7 or 8 a day hoping this might counter any excessive bloat from the d/bol and help my liver. I’ve read in Feather’s log that bloat can be affected by diet so trying to keep it tight. My weight has shot up to 89kg’s as of this morning, but assume most must be due to water and glycogen.

I must add, I'm hunting for Woody these days? Not sure why?

the pinning will get better the further you get along with your cycle. im in week 7 now and i dont have any pain. the 1st few weeks were a bitch. you probably arent seeing much definition because you are retaining water from the dbol. give it another week or so and you will see your strength will be up from the dianobol, you will get crazy pumps during workouts! good luck with the lower back pumps. they are a killer on back and leg days.

enjoy the ride

Absolutely amazing results! You are a champion my man and you have done your research. +1 What diet did you use to drop the fat if I may ask?

Pyroclasm wrote: Absolutely amazing results! You are a champion my man and you have done your research. +1 What diet did you use to drop the fat if I may ask?

Thanks a million for your kind words.

I soon discovered that since the early 2000's there had been a huge change in the thoughts of diet and nutrition. Access by Joe Soaps to information and clinically proven studies also became easier with the growing internet community. As a result a lot of the "old" rules started being challenged. I also quickly found out that what worked for some did not work for all as sometimes our bodies react differently to the same things.

I followed the IF (Intermittent Fasting) principle made popular by Martin Berkhan. www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
Basically you consume all your calories within a 8 hour window and fast for the other 16.

I adopted this approach because it was suitable to my lifestyle. Sometimes doing something 100% optimally has to be traded off against being able to do something sustainabley (for months/years)

Weight loss is actually very simple, its calories in < calories out. Do this you will lose weight - period. Retaining the desired body composition however is where the work comes in. Just eating less and moving more will only result in catabolism which is what us gym guys want to avoid at all costs. I worked out my BMR and consistently ate at a 500 calorie deficit with a cheat day once a week where I would chow approx 1000 cals extra. I tracked every calorie and ensured my macro's of P/C/F were met.

My usual day was something like this:

05:30 - Fasted cardio (jog or MTB)
11:00 - Meal 1 (instant oats + low fat milk)+ high protein low carb MRP
17:00 - Gym
19:00 - Meal 2 (whatever wifey made - if low protein content + would add in a whey shake to hit protein macro)
20:30 - Bed
I controlled my hunger with plenty cups of coffee and lots of water.

Hope this helps, it is different from the 6 small meals a day, but worked for me.

FatBoy wrote: Hope this helps, it is different from the 6 small meals a day, but worked for me.

The GREAT old days that was.. Sigh.. :dry: Now it's 9 HUGE meals and I just physically cannot eat so much f'ing food. :crying face: I know I know do I want some cheese with that whine? :oops: haha

Welcome to the forum Fatboy and dammmn, congrats on the results from your hard work.

If u wanting to burn fat and harden up test prop and tren a. will give you amaizing results with the diet you on. vascular and lean
1ml tren a EOD
1ml test prop EOD.
Can add 3 - 4 stanizol tabs a day to that if you have the cash

test cyp and d bol are both for bulking and you will be holding a fair ammount of water unless thats what you wanting.

Amazing transformation bud! big up to you and keep up the hard work

Before and after pics are fantastic. Thats alot of hard graft and dedication!

TD wrote: If u wanting to burn fat and harden up test prop and tren a. will give you amaizing results with the diet you on. vascular and lean
1ml tren a EOD
1ml test prop EOD.
Can add 3 - 4 stanizol tabs a day to that if you have the cash

test cyp and d bol are both for bulking and you will be holding a fair ammount of water unless thats what you wanting.

Dude you better be kidding suggesting Tren for a first cycle!

seen as he has used now it is Purely a sugestion for what can make him hard and lean for the future.
something to consider for the future seen as he has been on a cycle.

Then suggest it in his 6th cycle log not in his first one. Come on man!

Pyroclasm wrote: The GREAT old days that was.. Sigh.. :dry: Now it's 9 HUGE meals and I just physically cannot eat so much f'ing food. :crying face: I know I know do I want some cheese with that whine? :oops: haha

Hahaha. I think the theory of numerous small meals for someone who is cutting works great if they have a tendency to binge eat. There is also not doubt that I could have lost the weight quicker and looked better if my diet had been better with more focus on micro's but rather chose to adapt it to suit my lifestyle to make the journey easier.

During this cycle, I've effectively added in one extra meal to the IF regime to hit target cals. So let's see what happens and I'll just adjust to what the mirror shows me. A little trial and error is part of the learning process.

TD wrote: If u wanting to burn fat and harden up test prop and tren a. will give you amaizing results with the diet you on. vascular and lean
1ml tren a EOD
1ml test prop EOD.
Can add 3 - 4 stanizol tabs a day to that if you have the cash

test cyp and d bol are both for bulking and you will be holding a fair ammount of water unless thats what you wanting.

Thanks for the suggestion, but after the loooong slow cut I've been through its time to add a bit of lbm so the next cut should be better.

On this subject my mentor had given me an option to bridge with winni/prov which i believe should lean me out but as its my first cycle and I didn't know what to expect from the dbol/test decided to first see where I was after 8 weeks or so then make the call.

So Friday was my next pin in my right quad which had really suffered when it lost its virginity so was hoping it would take it better this time. I had a early morning flight to catch so was a bit rushed and made a doff mistake. Whilst staring at the needle sticking out of my thigh, it hit me that I had forgot to swab the vile before loading. Eish what a chop!! Lesson learnt.

Luckily no discomfort or muscle pain at all today. For any noob out there reading this, I suggest you do your homework on pin protocol especially if you pinning on your own.

I chatted to my mentor on dbol timing as I was taking 20 mg after my first meal in the mornings and the other 20mg on an empty stomach at night an hour or so before weights. Decided to close the window to 4 hours apart on empty stomach before weights. My gym session was awesome to say the least and I hit pb's on squat and b/bell shoulder press. I also managed to irk out a few extra sets across all exercises today. It felt great.

I am def getting some bloat but not bad at all and can still see my 4 1/2 pack hiding there. I'm still surprised at the extra vascularity. Veins are popping on my quads and shoulders nicely despite the extra water retention. I was expecting to smooth out a lot more.

Thanx for sharing bud! Keep us informed of your cycle and your results.

Hey Fatboy awesome log. Love reading it seeing as I will be running the exact same cycle come November.

Hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread but I read you saying you take the dbol 20mg twice a day. I was thinking wouldn't it be better to take 10mg 4 times a day seeing as the half life is 4.5-6 hours. This in my opinion would keep the dbol levels more stable.

BearFootMonkey wrote: Hey Fatboy awesome log. Love reading it seeing as I will be running the exact same cycle come November.

Hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread but I read you saying you take the dbol 20mg twice a day. I was thinking wouldn't it be better to take 10mg 4 times a day seeing as the half life is 4.5-6 hours. This in my opinion would keep the dbol levels more stable.

Thanks and good luck with your cycle. With regards to your question, I have searched around for dose timings and there seems to be quite a number of different views. I think your point of keeping levels more stable has merit, but I haven't really been too concerned about this. Perhaps the more experienced members can provide some insight here?

Just an update. Been travelling a bit which has messed my pinning schedule up a bit as I was away and only could pin a day later than planned. I don't want to chance carrying my gear in my hand luggage on domestic flights so will just have to manage around these constraints as best a possible. It's crap having to training at hotel gyms, but just need to try and eat as clean as possible.

So I did my 5th pin on Sunday and I seem to be getting the hang of it now. No pain and no muscle tenderness afterwards which is great. I think getting into a routine, having steady hands and taking enough time to inject slowly is contributing to a better experience.

I've gained 6.5 kg's now and slowed my caloric intake last week just a tad, although I'm sure most of the gain has been water - just don't want to pack on unnessary fat.

I'm hoping someone can explain why my vascularity has improved so much as I would have thought the opposite at this stage?

I tried a bit of cardio last week but only got about 1 km out when I had to stop and walk. My calves were so pumped, I thought they were going to rip themselves from my shins. So cardio session was reduced with mostly short periods of jogging and walking. I've got Hill to Hill in 2 weeks time and just hope things get better before then. Will hit the hotel treadmill tomorrow morning and see what happens.

I've started a detailed log of my weight sessions to track weight progression and have been hitting PB's all round - suspect its mostly due to the extra calories as i dont feel much stronger but do seem to have better endurance. Also don't feel so spent after a good intense workout. I've noticed a change in mental focus to push harder and harder because of being on the gear - obviously want to get maximum benefit vs the risk. I hope to remember this when I go off and try and keep the mental focus strong. Only got six days on the dbol left so must keep the intensity up.

Any idea how long the extra water retention will last after the dbol or should I expect it to last a while longer? It's not bad at all, but after seeing a boep stare back at me in the mirror for many years I really miss my 4 1/2 pack.

So far no noticable sides (touch wood) but my better half is starting to smile a little more these days (she is touching a bit more wood)

So in summary, so far so good. Learning more and more from this fantastic forum every day.

BearFootMonkey

I've just re read the dbol article in the articles section:

The half-life for dianabol is only 3 to 5 hours so to achieve a uniform blood concentration one has to split the daily dose so that it can be taken every few hours. However taking all in one dose will produce a higher peak in blood concentrations albeit for only a short period of time. Both methods work fine, but it has been suggested that the later method will produce better results in the long run. Should you decide to take the entire dose at once the best time will be in the early morning. This would allow a considerable number of daytime hours for an androgen-rich metabolism to heighten the uptake of nutrients, especially the critical hours following training. Taking oral steroids with food may diminish its bioavailability especially fatty foods should be avoided 1 hour prior or after dianabol ingestion.

dude, i just wanna mention, and salute your awsome attitude! you will really go far in this game, i mean you have come so far already, keep up that mentality and you shall get the goals you seek! good luck bud! and keep motivated

Update.

Another week down and finished off my dbols yesterday as well as did my 7th pin of test c. My experience with dbol has not been too bad besides the extreme pumps limiting my cardio regime. My right nipple felt tender yesterday and I could have sworn I felt a bit of tissue which got me stressing a bit, especially in light of all the recent gyno posts. The problem is I kept rubbing, pushing etc which made it feel even worse. Fortunately today, it seems fine, but I'll keep a close eye on it.

Quick question for the experienced members - is the risk of getting gyno the same for a 40 year old as that for someone younger, or is it just biological make up?

Pin's are going well and my quads seem to be handling it fine. I'm pinning into lower, mid and top quadrants on the middle portion of the quad for some site variation. Test should start kicking in sometime next week (5th week) and I'm looking forward to see the impact.

My weight has stabilized at 92kg's this week, so that's 7kg's up but I have consciously slowed cal's down a bit this past week. Will keep at current levels for another week and see what the mirror says. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into some regular cardio from next week.

Weight training continues to be intense and weights are increasing nicely. I'm pushing as heavy as I can on the compound exercises. I've had a rotator cuff strain in my right shoulder for a few months which hampers some of the progress, but I'll just have to nurse it for now.

Do you guys deload during a cycle or is it balls to the walls to maximise the benefit of the cycle?

Will post progress pic's next week so I can track monthly performance.

Look forward to your advice and input.

Quick question bud, how did you get rid of all the excess skin from loosing so much weight i have noticed loose skin and stretch marks after loosing all my weight.