I see your point. When I drop to HRT for 3 months I tend to drop calories also otherwise just gradually get fatter and my weight sits around 225-227. If I competed from that starting point, 215 is my guess.
Well you may want to consider a cruise (250-300mg) dose over an HRT (100-200mg) dose for one. Also, it seems that you have read some of my older posts, so you know the mistake I made this last 16 month break was only doing TRT and not HRT, meaning I did not use any GH, just testosterone. Whether it be a cruise or TRT, I believe using a small dose of GH goes a long way and helps hold more muscle and keep you leaner in the long run. As little as 2-3 ius @ day helps out greatly.
Another thing in regards to getting fat or soft when dropping the dose and calories is don't! LOL You have to train just as intense, but not so heavy to give your joints a break. Instead of dropping your calories, keep cardio up and if your not doing cardio, start. I am a big believer in year round cardio for heart health. You would be surprised how much more food you can still eat when running lower doses of gear if you do cardio as little as 3-4 times a week for 20-30 minutes.
If I blasted up to 250 and then dieted down to contest shape I wouldn`t be much heavier than 215 though. Why would I be?
Sure you would, as you would have acquired more lean tissue on the way up to 250lbs, so when dieting down, and hopefully doing it right, you will hold a good % of that LBM.
Levrone went from 215 chilling off season to 240 onstage by growing into the show, if he had blasted to 275 off season on everything and then dieted down, what would he weigh? Most likely somewhere near 240 odd.
How you said I was comparing apples to oranges, this one is way off in left field bro. Kevin was a very unique freak of a specimen! Just a freak!
The only way for me to get my stage weight up would be to either be considerably leaner at 250 (therefore muscle gained, fat lost) or get nearer 260 at a similar body fat level.
Exactly, your goal should always be to get bigger without turning into a pile of shit. Staying between 11-12% bdf is great for offseason. There is enough fat and water there to ensure joint support and enable your strength and lifts to go up to be able to add new muscle. The only reason I pointed out the 35lbs weight loss when prepping was due to you using the term “pretty lean”. I thought being 250lbs and pretty lean was 7-8% which made no sense to lose 35lbs during the prep, if you were pretty lean to start with.
What`s your take on it Mike, what needs to be changed? I`m guessing based on what you`ve said is I should blast longer than 3 months a year lol. The reason I tend to do 5-6 weeks on and 12-14 off is solely for health purposes. Using too much for the majority of the year doesn`t seem sensible.
Here what needs to change. You need to see if you are alright with running a cruise dose over a trt dose which will allow you to keep more muscle and be a little leaner during your down or lower dose time. You need to make a decision whether you want to use GH again as it will make things happen faster and move you past your plateau. And finally I would tell you to run 12 week blasts, and 12 week cruises as you will gain more than when running 5-6 week blasts. Plus 12 week cruises are long enough to allow the mind and body a nice break and you will be anxious to start your next blast. This will also only having you blasting or using higher doses 6 months a year. Believe it or not, if diet is in check, cardio is being done and certain health supplements are implemented, you can have very good blood work on a cruise dose. On top of all of it, STAY ON TOP OF YOUR BLOOD WORK.