how did bodybuilders keep gains before there was "pct"

[kid1dakota]

Lets say there was a magic bullet and you could take it after a cycle and all blood work pertaining to the endocrine system would return instantly to the very highest end of normal.You still would not "Keep your gains" or size and strength possessed/gained on a supraphysiological doses of hormones.

I am not going to get into wether or not I believe PCT or tapering or cold turkey is best way to end a cycle.But your body in the absense of the higher levels slowly adjusts to the current level your hormonal enviroment can handle or maintain..Things such as other drugs and supplements may HELP delay or slow this process but KEEPING or maintaining the level of mass and strength permanently is not possible in the a lower hormonal state.Even if fully recovered from a PCT your hormonal levels are still lower than when on your cycle and at supraphysiological levels.

Even blasting and cruising which is the new trend.You can't take a couple grams and then go down to 100-200 mgs of testosterone and maintain the size on 2 or 3 grams.It will slow down the process but you wont "keep" all the gains .

PCT is more for health than for "keeping gains".People try and restart their endocrine system and get everything functioning again.Now is this better to keep shutting down and restarting? than staying suppressed? is it better to use female fertility drugs instead of letting things return naturally(if they do)?? thats a whole other debate as I just wanted to chime in that wether you use PCT or taper or cold turkey over time your size will return to what level your current hormonal enviroment will allow or support.

And as others have aleady said the guys would grow into their 1 or 2 shows a year.They DID NOT maintain year round.

 

[Animalus horrendus]

in my opinion most of the gains are maintained only if the workout continues to be hard combined with a good diet..... PCT is only to recover and stabilize the hormone levels....

 

[Springbok]

Lets say there was a magic bullet and you could take it after a cycle and all blood work pertaining to the endocrine system would return instantly to the very highest end of normal.You still would not "Keep your gains" or size and strength possessed/gained on a supraphysiological doses of hormones.

I am not going to get into wether or not I believe PCT or tapering or cold turkey is best way to end a cycle.But your body in the absense of the higher levels slowly adjusts to the current level your hormonal enviroment can handle or maintain..Things such as other drugs and supplements may HELP delay or slow this process but KEEPING or maintaining the level of mass and strength permanently is not possible in the a lower hormonal state.Even if fully recovered from a PCT your hormonal levels are still lower than when on your cycle and at supraphysiological levels.

Even blasting and cruising which is the new trend.You can't take a couple grams and then go down to 100-200 mgs of testosterone and maintain the size on 2 or 3 grams.It will slow down the process but you wont "keep" all the gains .

PCT is more for health than for "keeping gains".People try and restart their endocrine system and get everything functioning again.Now is this better to keep shutting down and restarting? than staying suppressed? is it better to use female fertility drugs instead of letting things return naturally(if they do)?? thats a whole other debate as I just wanted to chime in that wether you use PCT or taper or cold turkey over time your size will return to what level your current hormonal enviroment will allow or support.

And as others have aleady said the guys would grow into their 1 or 2 shows a year.They DID NOT maintain year round.

so if your body hasnt reached its genetic potential then i guess by that thinking you should be able to maintain most of your gains UNTIL you go over your genetic limit?

 

[petedw]

so if your body hasnt reached its genetic potential then i guess by that thinking you should be able to maintain most of your gains UNTIL you go over your genetic limit?

I've always wondered this...

 

[gt1]

very interesting thread, especially as all i normally see on bodybuilding forums is people getting flamed for not having a good pct in place.

 

[Skip]

Dan Duchaine used to recommend not going off because all the sides came when you went off. People knew about adex and nolvadex but rarely used it, and they were hard to come by. This was early/mid 90s, before that I would imagine that most people had a hard time finding a constant supply, and so would have to cycle. But forget PCT, the real advantage we have when coming off is GH.

Hard time finding a constant supply ... of gear? lol Umm... Not in the 80s. I remember seeing deca by the case and old blue bottles of dbol and abombs in the brown, tinted bottle (syntax or something like that? can't remember, I am too old). There was more gear back then than you could imagine.

Skip

 

[Moen]

PCT is overrated and really only pushed by internet guru know-it-all types and the guys who sell ancilliary drugs. That's the real truth. Back in the days you would just taper down, and for most, the transition went very smoothly. Everyone's body is different though.

I mean sure, there's plenty of medical documentation showing that clomid and HCG can help restore LH and FSH levels, but there's also a lot of literature showing these values rebounding with no treatment at all after ceasing hormone usage.

I say find what works for you and stick with it. Don't pile on 9 extra drugs you don't need just because you read it on the internet or some guy in your gym says you have to. Less is more sometimes.



Food for thought...

Idd!

 

[petersouth]

I can't speak to their usages, but I have read multiple bios of old-time lifters where many of those pros didn't even go to the gym for a parts of the off season. As someone else mentioned in this thread, they were focused towards winning one or two contests per year, not being huge all year round.

I can't recall who it was, but one pro in the 70s wrote about how he didn't even go to the gym for several months until it was roughly 20 weeks out from the Olympia. If I stayed out of the gym for even a month, I don't think I'd be recognizable... Thats genetics at play right there.

I remember that first scene in Pumping Iron where Arnold goes to the gym and Ken Waller is there at the front desk.

He says something like I want to sign up and start gaining some muscles. You can see he doesn't look big at all. From what I understand he was only about 200lb in the offseason and grew into the contest.

Maybe that's how most of them avoided being fried by now from taking dbol every day.

 

[bcaamuscle]

How did they prevent sides like gyno?

 

[JJBones]

I remember those little blue bottles of dbol ... they were fifiteen bucks a pop back in 1985. I would wonder how 100 tabs would fit into those little bottles. Sure was some good shit. About ten years I started using a little clomid ... alll in all I never used pct and ever really had issues ... 26 years later.