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Lot of great points in this post and I keep nodding my head agreeing. I always prompt people to pick a coach who has been there done that and this is a huge reason why. You don't see this stuff when you're younger. Now with boards and internet you can hear it but really a lot of guys just ignore it only to find out reality years down the road... I started using almost 20 years ago. The analogy I could use would be tires on a race car. When you're younger you can take the curves harder and you don't notice the bumps. Over time the tires loose their ability to handle and you start finding yourself over correcting more and more to hold traction. The older I get, a FEW things that stand out:
1) I never had to run as hard as I thought I did-
2) You better take some time off between races if you want to run the circuit
3) Bigger didn't always mean better, bigger means more wear and tear
4) Watch for and react to signs- be diligent in looking for issues and do what you have to do to fix them before they become catastrophic!
5) Realize the race will end- be smart and develop and exit plan BEFORE you blow your motor.
6) Your car may not have the ability to do things other cars do.
7) When you're not getting better it's time to turn off the juice. Don't keep a cycle going if you're not progressing.
Really I have always been a husky or bigger guy and that's what got me in to lifting to begin with. No way the hotties were going to go after the fat kid. Probably very typically when I started I gravitated to the gym "bros" and "experts." Over time as growth stalled I neglected food and ran after more drugs first. Never really experienced any bad side effects in my 20's. Because I didn't have sides, I was growing, and strong as a bull I didn't do much blood work. In my 30's I started paying much more attention to food and less on the gear. Doses started going down and I started to regularly get blood work and cardio was intermittent. My placings started getting higher in shows and my physique was much much better. Now in my early 40's I'm forced to keep doses down, despite that my physique has never been better. I'm the biggest I've ever been but I'm finding little things coming back a little abnormal in my bloodwork. Getting blood pressure down is requiring me to put a lot of effort into it. I'm getting very conscious over calcium scoring, heart health, training and all the things I've read and heard about over the years. No doubt I'm reaping the effects of the life I've lived the last 20 years.
Every year I was able to add a few lbs of stage weight. This was not dose dependent for me as it was always 3-6 lbs even to this day where I use the least amount I've ever used. The higher dose I used the less time I could stay on without feeling like total garbage. When I only gained a few lbs in a year it was the years I stayed on the majority of the year. The last few years I've taken more time off everything. Not TRT but completely off of everything. Last year I was on stage at 260 lbs. No doubt in my mind I'll be much heavier next comp. My test has been as low as 16 but usually around 50 when I'm off of everything and yes I feel like complete garbage. My composition is horrible during that time compared to when I'm using something however my weight will stay about the same. The sweet spot for me now when I use is TRT @ 10mg daily of test and its better on my all around bloodwork. I don't have crazy changes in my composition and honestly with that dose and a little hgh I am able to still train and grow. Of course I use much more when I'm pre contest but nowhere near what I used to use.
I guess the take home message from me is to pay attention to the smaller details and do them. Do them consistently and do them well and you can get really far doing this stuff. The more I paid attention to the small stuff the better I became. I know the end of the road is coming for me and I'll need to downsize to stay going. I'm one of the lucky ones so far and I've made it to my early 40's. You don't see many 50 year olds at 300+ lbs and if I keep going the odds are stacked against me to be one of them. So one more year of this and it's the curtains for my competitive life....
1) I never had to run as hard as I thought I did-
2) You better take some time off between races if you want to run the circuit
3) Bigger didn't always mean better, bigger means more wear and tear
4) Watch for and react to signs- be diligent in looking for issues and do what you have to do to fix them before they become catastrophic!
5) Realize the race will end- be smart and develop and exit plan BEFORE you blow your motor.
6) Your car may not have the ability to do things other cars do.
7) When you're not getting better it's time to turn off the juice. Don't keep a cycle going if you're not progressing.
Really I have always been a husky or bigger guy and that's what got me in to lifting to begin with. No way the hotties were going to go after the fat kid. Probably very typically when I started I gravitated to the gym "bros" and "experts." Over time as growth stalled I neglected food and ran after more drugs first. Never really experienced any bad side effects in my 20's. Because I didn't have sides, I was growing, and strong as a bull I didn't do much blood work. In my 30's I started paying much more attention to food and less on the gear. Doses started going down and I started to regularly get blood work and cardio was intermittent. My placings started getting higher in shows and my physique was much much better. Now in my early 40's I'm forced to keep doses down, despite that my physique has never been better. I'm the biggest I've ever been but I'm finding little things coming back a little abnormal in my bloodwork. Getting blood pressure down is requiring me to put a lot of effort into it. I'm getting very conscious over calcium scoring, heart health, training and all the things I've read and heard about over the years. No doubt I'm reaping the effects of the life I've lived the last 20 years.
Every year I was able to add a few lbs of stage weight. This was not dose dependent for me as it was always 3-6 lbs even to this day where I use the least amount I've ever used. The higher dose I used the less time I could stay on without feeling like total garbage. When I only gained a few lbs in a year it was the years I stayed on the majority of the year. The last few years I've taken more time off everything. Not TRT but completely off of everything. Last year I was on stage at 260 lbs. No doubt in my mind I'll be much heavier next comp. My test has been as low as 16 but usually around 50 when I'm off of everything and yes I feel like complete garbage. My composition is horrible during that time compared to when I'm using something however my weight will stay about the same. The sweet spot for me now when I use is TRT @ 10mg daily of test and its better on my all around bloodwork. I don't have crazy changes in my composition and honestly with that dose and a little hgh I am able to still train and grow. Of course I use much more when I'm pre contest but nowhere near what I used to use.
I guess the take home message from me is to pay attention to the smaller details and do them. Do them consistently and do them well and you can get really far doing this stuff. The more I paid attention to the small stuff the better I became. I know the end of the road is coming for me and I'll need to downsize to stay going. I'm one of the lucky ones so far and I've made it to my early 40's. You don't see many 50 year olds at 300+ lbs and if I keep going the odds are stacked against me to be one of them. So one more year of this and it's the curtains for my competitive life....
