[Anthony]

I went on HRT 3-4y ago because of low T/brain fog/ depression and later switched it to blasting and cruising. I was having low LH/FSH, with low fertility as a result. We were trying for a year or 2 until we got successful. And now I have a 2 month old ruining my eating, sleeping, and training schedule 😀

It was quite hard to be consistent here in China, due to pretty much 3 years of random pandemic lockdowns. Hard to restock HCG/HMG, hard to get food, hard to be consistent, hard to deal with stress from being locked inside your house, and worrying about your business. Hospital visits were out of the question during most of the pandemic, so I didn’t get my sperm tested.

Late 2023, I tried the Palumbo Protocol. High HCG, I did HMG 75iu twice a week, together with Clomid. I added in Soy Lecithin and 2x50mg Proviron. Part of what Palumbo said was no TRT. That didn’t work out for me, and after a month, during the constant brain fog and sleepiness became too much. Remembered Peter’s success story. Added in TRT just like he did.

Obsession with having a baby, and intimacy on a schedule took a toll on the relationship. Lifting isn’t as much fun when you’ve been maintaining and slowly losing strength for the last 4 months. Clomid had that emotionally unstable side-effect.

Eventually decided to drop Clomid, tried to make intimacy more natural/fun, and increased dose to sth like 250 Test, 400 Deca, 400 Mast. Stress went away, felt much better, and 2 months later she was pregnant. 0 complications.

Not a great example of what to do due to the lack of scientific approach and consistency, but this is what I think works for me, and what I’m going to do for baby #2:
– Get completely off gear until everything is out of my system
– TRT with enough Test to reach healthy levels. (So not minimal/none)
– HCG, I feel a 500-750iu 3x/week should be enough to get things working for me
– Leave out Clomid (as I’m not trying to get natural production going, and don’t want the mental sides)
– HMG 3x50iu a week
– Proviron (50mg*2 daily)
– supps, like vitamins, soy lecithin

All that in an environment where I’m with minimal stress.

[Anthony]

Personally having more success keeping test low, and npp higher. BP under control, and 0 noticeable sides. Test dose is lower than trt. It’s a bit of a balancing act, and seems increasing deca/npp, goes better with a decrease in test. At least for me.

Before tried to add in some npp while on higher test, and the sides were overwhelming, making me give up after 2 weeks.

If I were you I would simply throw it out and deal with compounds you feel better with.

[Anthony]

Legs are one of those muscles which make it easy to move a lot of weight, but not really gain a lot out of it. I’ve been doing the same for a long time, but managed to get my legs growing after dropping all that weight, and paying more attention to my execution. I always assumed that it was bad genetics.

Going extra deep with leg presses (lowest backrest position, knees to shoulders), control the eccentric for 2-3 seconds, stay in the hole for a sec. Squats I don’t have the proportions to go deep, but the same eccentric control and pausing at the bottom seem to do the trick. Also I’ve neglected the adductors for way too long. Changing these two things made me gain a couple of inches in circumference in the last year.

Those helped with my training buddy as well.

[Anthony]

Could have plenty of reasons.

Rest between sets being inconsistent
Inconsistent execution with heavy and lower reps, i.e. I sometimes catch myself going slower with lighter reps. Or even using a bit more momentum on your heavy sets.
Could even be fatigue building up over time and requiring a deload, but then those “lower than expected” results would happen more in other exercises as well.
Not enough rest in general
Not enough food

Pay special attention to them next time you do the same routine, and try to stick to the same weight, making it easier to compare

[Anthony]

Do you think it’s possible for most people to work up to deadlifts of 3-400+ kg?Which factor would you think is most important for reaching such an accomplishment? (genetics, training plan, higher body weight, PEDs..)

Well first we have to define “most people” I guess. If looking at that literally then certainly not as the vast majority of the people on earth couldn’t pull 300kg+

I think we have become very desensitised to what is actually heavy these days. Obviously with the record at 500 suddenly 300 and 400 are seen as light which is crazy. Only a tiny percentage of people on the earth will pull 300+ or be capable of doing so.

I think the biggest factor is genetics. Certain body types and muscle fibre make ups are more suited to deadlifting large numbers. Height and limb length play a big role here. Having short arms in relation to your height is a big disadvantage.

I always like to work off of percentages and IMO Simone pulling 2.5 times their bodyweight is a strong deadlifter and very achievable for the majority of trained/athletic individuals[/quote]

Thank you for taking your time to reply. The ratio is interesting. When lifting natural, I worked my way up to 2.2x bodyweight with DL. When starting enhanced lifting, my bodyweight/muscle mass went up, but the ratio remained at 2.2x. It kind of got to 2.3 once I dropped my water weight and some fat during a cut, as I maintained my strength

If I had to guess, the moment I will have added 10kg to my deadlift, my bodyweight will have gone up by about 4. My limiting factor is mostly my lower back, and I think I could only get that ratio up to 2.3 or 2.4 once I change up my training style. Will check out some of your videos on YouTube and see how I can apply it to my own training

But appreciate your insights, and now I can probably set more realistic expectations.

[Anthony]

Do you think it’s possible for most people to work up to deadlifts of 3-400+ kg?

Which factor would you think is most important for reaching such an accomplishment? (genetics, training plan, higher body weight, PEDs..)

[Anthony]

I think it’s implied in the bodyweight. In any case, it’s a guideline or a starting point, and it’s something you have personalize for yourself.

[Anthony]

I feel fine with 22.5lbs dumbells on top, using two spotters to add 45lbs ones became a mess.

Since then moved them later in my workout, and changed the execution: 2 sec eccentrics, and pause at the bottom. Gave me enough space to progress again. Also those hammer strength machines where you move inwards could kind of replicate the exercise to some extent, but easier to keep progressing.

[Anthony]

I suffered from brain fog for 2-3 years, and kind of gotten used to taking naps throughout the day to feel a bit normal. Not motivated to do anything. Libido went down, was dealing with depression.

First injection of test resolved that problem. Might be related to what you’re experiencing.

Maybe your gear is underdosed, bloodwork would verify that.

[Anthony]

My cravings during morning/afternoon times are manageable, but before bedtime become hard to handle. So my last meal of the day, I make protein icecream (or pudding as my blender isn’t strong enough).

2 scoops of whey, guar gum, 700ml of water, and a sweetener. Possibly add in some frozen berries/pb2 or whatever fits in your diet. It gives me a salad bowl full of yummy pudding, which halt my cravings.

So I would say find something with low calories, which you can eat a lot of. Another example is shirataki noodles, 20 calories per 8 ounce or something.

[Anthony]

Not exact science, but for my body I would say that puffy nips are a sign of taking too much. Either lower doses or use an AI. Former probably being better at my stage of development.

Experienced sensitive nipples along with puffiness (and being emotional), clearly being too high on estrogen. Ended my cycle and things subsided. I was pretty sure that those were the warning signs to look out for.

However on my next cycle, went lower with dosing, but added in extra compounds. Did get puffy, but no sensitivity/pain. Neglected it, and ended with a hard thing smaller than a pea.

In any case, I should’ve gotten bloodwork and actually know where my levels were at, rather than random guessing, or looking up what other people think about gyno.

[Anthony]

Very slow, light and concentrated execution of the exercise. Basically getting my form down.

Slowly progress through the weights, and reduce reps as I go up in weight. When getting closer to a work set, I might only do 1-2 reps.

On a push day for example, I would take a slow approach for the first chest exercise (which will be my big weight set), but my second one I would get to these working sets fairly quickly. However if doing a shoulder press later, still taking it slow and doing the same routine.

[Anthony]

If 3.5 ml is 72iu, then 1ml is 20.57 and 0.1ml is 2.057iu

If your slin pin is 1ml and has 100iu written on it, 10iu would be 0.1ml

[Anthony]

If you have sterile vials, usp grade carrier oil, and some 0.22 filters, could easily dilute it to a lower concentration. But then again, not exactly the type of stuff you tend to accidentally have.

If it’s the concentration used, this would solve it.

However if you have issues with all test, then it would be a good idea to figure out why exactly it would be. Otherwise it will be a pain in the ass… Or delt

I.e. ugl test e started causing pip 2y ago, seems it comes down to a new making method leaving some phenol in it. Baking it to around a 100C seemed to help with some.

If your response would be to the bb, possibly some ethyl oleate based, as they can get away with using less, but also depends on the brewer

[Anthony]

Floss band, putting it tight around the tendonitis area, move through full elbow flexion and.. ehh the other direction, for roughly 1 min kind of clears the pain caused by it. It’s a temporary fix though.

Had this issue a lot, and pinpointed it to skullcrushers. Throwing them out of my rotation, taking a couple of days break, and was feeling much better. Partials don’t seem to cause it for me.

In some cases it’s not about trying to find a fixing method, but getting rid of what’s causing it