How to retain muscle after a steroid cycle.
There are an endless number of threads/articles/discussions about the importance of a proper pct, how to use AI's, HCG, SERMS et al. These discussions are very crucial, as the endocrine system must be restored to normalcy. However another critical component of the post cycle period is hardly discussed at all: How to train in order to keep the size one got from the cycle. In my many years of experience, I see athletes retain 2/3rds of the size and strength the got from the cycle, because they run a correct pct coupled with proper training.
We are all familiar with the fact that steroids increase protein synthesis dramatically, what many do not know or understand is that there is a second role that steroids play in building muscle: They blunt the effect of cortisol. Intense training (absolutely critical to building muscle) increases cortisol. Cortisol/Glucocorticoids induce rapid muscle breakdown and proximal muscle atrophy. Androgen’s suppress this process very effectively.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15251668.
This^ is a large part of why I run gear. I like to do an hour and 20 minutes of high intensity lifting, followed up 25 minute of maximal training hitting the bags. Steroids enable me to do so. There is no way I could do nearly 2 hours of maximal training bereft of androgens
What this all means is that our post cycle workouts must both retain muscle, while at the same time not elevating cortisol. Doing so is a delicate matter, and many, many trainees succumb to this conundrum. Some keep blasting away, desperately trying to do the same workouts as they did on gear. In the words of my favorite villain, Bane, “admirable....but mistaken.”
On the other hand, you have trainees (especially those foolish enough to not do a pct who simply stop working out. Of course they lose all muscle, in fact becoming smaller than they were at the beginning of their cycle.
There was a well written thread here at TID about how to train after a cycle. The author advocated one week off at the end of the cycle. This is actually not a bad idea. However the reason I do not advocate this strategy is that one week might lead to two.... Instead, I argue that one should take a few days off, being careful to set a limit, 3 days or so. I also suggest that they take a day off anytime they feel like doing so. On cycle, I will not miss workouts, I will just suck it up and push through it. Do not do this when off cycle. Doing so is hard for A type personalities, but important.
To understand the next suggestions, lets take a look at training and muscle growth: Muscle do not grow while lifting, The grow when we rest/eat/sleep. The weights are the stimulus for growth. I am a fan of Dorian Yates philosophy, which was a spin on Mike Mentzers “Heavy Duty” philosophy. That philosophy says that we should only do enough sets to stimulate growth, and that is it. Warm up, and then do a “working set.”
A working set requires maximal intensity, going to failure, and then either forced reps, drop sets, etc. You put your heart and soul into that set. Dorian Yates had a similar approach to training, except he advocated 2 working sets.
Myself, and with people I work with, I advocate 3 working sets while on cycle. Warm up and 3 working sets may look like a typical work out program, but is not.
Keep in mind that once you do the first warm up, you don't need warm up for the rest of your sets. So, you do 2-3 sets of bench to warm up followed by 3 working sets. On your next exercise, you do 3 sets total, the first to absolute failure, using rest pause, but no help from a spotter. Same with the second. And to be clear, I am talking about doing everything you can to absolute failure. If you are not training harder than 95% of the people in the gym, you are not training hard enough.
Also, we hit each angle of the muscle, and no more. You will go all out on the bench, but then do no more mid-chest work. No flat fly's, pec deck, nothing. So, 5-6 sets of mid chest, and then hit incline, say 3 sets of all out dumbbell incline presses, forced reps on the final set. Then 3 more for decline. If you do not have a spotter, then do drop sets. If you feel the need to do more sets, then your intensity was not high enough.
Also, when on, I do lots of cardio, 5-6 days a week between high intensity martial arts training, and incline tread mill @ 80% of max heart rate. When off, I still do 2-3 days of cardio. I am older, as big as I want to be and do sports that require a high degree of cardio. Also, I do cardio for health reasons.
As mentioned, if you are a younger guy or gal, trying to get big, you may want to cut out cardio altogether. Cardio will eat into your recovery. One compromise might be to do 20 minutes of low intensity cardio twice a week. You have to determine what is right for you.
Now, onto the topic of weights while off cycle. First, instead of 3 working sets, decrease to 2. Drop all forced reps, drop sets and other extreme effort techniques. Instead, go to 90-95% of maximal intensity. That means one rep less than absolute failure. Try to stay with the same weight you were using on cycle, but one rep less. Be careful, as post cycle is one of the easiest times to get injured.
Years ago, Dan Duchane pointed out research that indicated that the best rep scheme for increasing natural test production was 5. This was true especially for large muscle groups, namely squats and deadlifts. The catch is that these heavy basic lifts were going on during a time that the body was susceptible to injury. Lets unpack this scenario.
Some do pct using a “power pct” approach. That means a large amount of HCG is used for 2-3 weeks after the cycle having long esters. That would get you to the point where esters would clear, and SERMs could be effectively implemented. Others use small amounts of HCG on cycle, and short esters during the end enabling an immediate transition to SERMs. Either way the endocrine system is artificially propped up. As such, there is no need for heavy 5's to stimulate natural test production. I recommend higher reps during this period to prevent injury. Once the SERMs end, transition into the 5 rep schema, being sure to use perfect technique in order to avoid injury. Do so for 2 months, at which point start moving into higher reps and having enough off time to begin a new cycle.
( - but that's not the problem - just joking - I never liked carneval or dressing up
