Cycle Log

[currrentUser]

Starting Stats & Overview​

• Age: 19
• Height: 174cm
• Weight Before: 71.0 kg
• Current Weight: 79.2 kg (Week 7)
• Training Experience: 4 years natural foundation
• Goal of the Cycle: Recomp and lean bulk transition into a structured deficit. I wanted to pack on some quality density, pull out that upper-body roundness across the shoulders and arms, and see how my body handles the enhanced recovery while managing a brutal exam phase at uni.

2. PEDs Protocol​

• Total Duration: 16 weeks active cycle + 4 weeks PCT
• Compounds: Weeks 1–16: Testosterone Enanthate – 250 mg / week (split into E3.5D injections)
• Ancillaries/AI: None on hand or used right now. Keeping it to zero interventions since the bloodwork looks great.
• Post Cycle Therapy (PCT): Starting exactly 2 weeks after the last injection (Week 18) to allow serum testosterone levels to clear down to a baseline where HPTA restart is possible.
  • Weeks 18–19: Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) – 20 mg / day
  • Weeks 20–21: Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) – 10 mg / day

3. Training & Nutrition​

• Nutrition: Down at 2,300 calories right now. Relying on high-volume, filling stuff like huge bowls of protein oats, cream of rice, and Magerquark mixes to keep the hunger at bay while maintaining high protein targets (~185g).
• Training Split: High-volume Push / Pull rotation, focusing heavily on heavy compounds but adding a lot of extra volume for the side delts and arms.

Here is exactly how the main rotation looks right now with my current working weights and reps:

Push A (Focus: Upper Chest, 3D Shoulders & Abs)

• Close-Grip Incline Smith Bench Press: 40kg x 9 / 40kg x 6 / 30kg x 6
• Pec Deck Butterfly: 70kg x 9 / 65kg x 8 / 55kg x 11 (Focusing on super clean execution here)
• Machine Shoulder Press (wide grip, slow negatives): 45kg x 8 / 40kg x 10 / 35kg x 13
• Machine Lateral Raises: 50kg x 10 / 45kg x 12 / 35kg x 16
• Cable Tricep Pushdowns: 20kg x 10 / 15kg x 14 / 15kg x 12
• Weighted Crunches: 70kg x 11 / 70kg x 8 / 55kg to failure

Push B (Focus: Shoulders & Arms Progression)

• Machine Shoulder Press: 55kg x 8 / 50kg x 8 / 40kg x 12
• Cable Tricep Pushdowns: 25kg x 6 / 20kg x 11 / 20kg x 9
• Machine Lateral Raises: 55kg x 8 / 50kg x 14 / 40kg x 15
• Weighted Crunches: 70kg x 12
• Incline Smith Bench Press: 30kg x 8 / 30kg x 9 / 35kg to failure
• Pec Deck Butterfly: 65kg x 9 / 60kg x 9

Pull (Focus: V-Taper, Rear Delts & Bicep Mass)

• Unilateral Machine Lat Pulldowns: 115kg x 9 / 110kg x 9 (Absolute failure here) / 100kg x 10
• Neutral Grip T-Bar Rows: 60kg x 9 / 55kg x 9 / 50kg x 10
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls (elbow supported): 14kg x 10 / 12kg x 10
• Heavy Rear Delt Machine: 50kg x 10 / 45kg x 11 / 40kg x 11
• Incline Dumbbell Curls: 18kg x 7 / 14kg x 9

4. Progress, Notes & Mid-Cycle Log​

I'm currently cruising through Week 7 of my first-ever cycle running 250mg of Testosterone Enanthate, and honestly, the momentum carrying into the midpoint of this run has been incredible. Having built a solid foundation over four years of natural training, I thought I knew what to expect from my body, but the enhanced responsiveness right now is completely different as expected.

Beginning body weight was at 71 kg, and current body weight is sitting stable at 79.2 kg after 7 weeks in. Even though I’m keeping my nutrition locked down in a pretty aggressive deficit at 2,300 calories, my focus in the gym is through the roof. As you can see from the workout logs above, my high-volume push and pull sessions are yielding some decent results—strength is consistently progressing, and I’m noticing a massive difference in the overall roundness and capping of my shoulders and arms. Getting those 115kg pulldowns to absolute failure or pushing 55kg on overhead press feels completely different now. What’s even wilder is how fast I'm bouncing back. Despite the low calories and the heavy mental strain from balancing my dual-studies and intense university exam prep, my physical recovery is completely unbothered.

On the health side, my overall well-being and daily energy levels are incredibly high, and side effects have been minimal to non-existent. I’ve had a very mild breakout of pimples across my chest and upper back, but it's barely worth mentioning and completely manageable with standard hygiene. My Week 4 bloodwork actually confirmed that my body is handling the compound perfectly. Total testosterone completely maxed out the lab scale at >3,460 ng/dL, and my Estradiol came back at 70 pg/mL. Given how high my androgen levels are, that E2 ratio is good. I’m naturally managing the aromatization, meaning I get all the tissue-protective and mood benefits of estrogen without having to touch an aromatase inhibitor. Plus, my hematocrit is sitting at a 44%, so blood viscosity isn't an issue at all. The physique is looking dense, tight, and highly responsive, as you can see on my attached photo. (Im pretty happy so far)

Moving into the second half of this cycle, I’m expecting things to shift into a really fun phase. Now that the hormone is fully saturated, that typical dry look should become even more pronounced as the deficit burns off more fat while the test keeps my muscles full and pumped. Since this is my first time experiencing sustained saturation, I'll need to keep an eye on a few lagging indicators. Even though my blood thickness was perfect at week 4, red blood cell production can creep up over time, so staying completely on top of hydration during long study sessions is going to be a priority. I also need to make sure I don't let the enhanced recovery trick me into overtraining; my muscles feel invincible right now, but my tendons and joints still need time to adapt to the rapid strength jumps.

I’ve also mapped out my full exit strategy to keep as much of these gains as possible. I'll drop the last injection at Week 16, wait a clean 14 days for the Enanthate ester to clear out, and then launch a straightforward 4-week PCT using Tamoxifen (Nolvadex). Running 20mg a day for the first two weeks followed by 10mg a day for the final two weeks should be plenty to get my natural production firing again without overloading on SERM side effects. Ultimately, the plan is to hold the line on the 2,300-calorie diet, maximize this recomp effect, and ride this momentum right through the end of the run before getting pre-PCT bloods done.

 

[Donvitosharkone]

Starting Stats & Overview​

• Age: 19
• Height: 174cm
• Weight Before: 71.0 kg
• Current Weight: 79.2 kg (Week 7)
• Training Experience: 4 years natural foundation
• Goal of the Cycle: Recomp and lean bulk transition into a structured deficit. I wanted to pack on some quality density, pull out that upper-body roundness across the shoulders and arms, and see how my body handles the enhanced recovery while managing a brutal exam phase at uni.

2. PEDs Protocol​

• Total Duration: 16 weeks active cycle + 4 weeks PCT
• Compounds: Weeks 1–16: Testosterone Enanthate – 250 mg / week (split into E3.5D injections)
• Ancillaries/AI: None on hand or used right now. Keeping it to zero interventions since the bloodwork looks great.
• Post Cycle Therapy (PCT): Starting exactly 2 weeks after the last injection (Week 18) to allow serum testosterone levels to clear down to a baseline where HPTA restart is possible.
  • Weeks 18–19: Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) – 20 mg / day
  • Weeks 20–21: Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) – 10 mg / day

3. Training & Nutrition​

• Nutrition: Down at 2,300 calories right now. Relying on high-volume, filling stuff like huge bowls of protein oats, cream of rice, and Magerquark mixes to keep the hunger at bay while maintaining high protein targets (~185g).
• Training Split: High-volume Push / Pull rotation, focusing heavily on heavy compounds but adding a lot of extra volume for the side delts and arms.

Here is exactly how the main rotation looks right now with my current working weights and reps:

Push A (Focus: Upper Chest, 3D Shoulders & Abs)

• Close-Grip Incline Smith Bench Press: 40kg x 9 / 40kg x 6 / 30kg x 6
• Pec Deck Butterfly: 70kg x 9 / 65kg x 8 / 55kg x 11 (Focusing on super clean execution here)
• Machine Shoulder Press (wide grip, slow negatives): 45kg x 8 / 40kg x 10 / 35kg x 13
• Machine Lateral Raises: 50kg x 10 / 45kg x 12 / 35kg x 16
• Cable Tricep Pushdowns: 20kg x 10 / 15kg x 14 / 15kg x 12
• Weighted Crunches: 70kg x 11 / 70kg x 8 / 55kg to failure

Push B (Focus: Shoulders & Arms Progression)

• Machine Shoulder Press: 55kg x 8 / 50kg x 8 / 40kg x 12
• Cable Tricep Pushdowns: 25kg x 6 / 20kg x 11 / 20kg x 9
• Machine Lateral Raises: 55kg x 8 / 50kg x 14 / 40kg x 15
• Weighted Crunches: 70kg x 12
• Incline Smith Bench Press: 30kg x 8 / 30kg x 9 / 35kg to failure
• Pec Deck Butterfly: 65kg x 9 / 60kg x 9

Pull (Focus: V-Taper, Rear Delts & Bicep Mass)

• Unilateral Machine Lat Pulldowns: 115kg x 9 / 110kg x 9 (Absolute failure here) / 100kg x 10
• Neutral Grip T-Bar Rows: 60kg x 9 / 55kg x 9 / 50kg x 10
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls (elbow supported): 14kg x 10 / 12kg x 10
• Heavy Rear Delt Machine: 50kg x 10 / 45kg x 11 / 40kg x 11
• Incline Dumbbell Curls: 18kg x 7 / 14kg x 9

4. Progress, Notes & Mid-Cycle Log​

I'm currently cruising through Week 7 of my first-ever cycle running 250mg of Testosterone Enanthate, and honestly, the momentum carrying into the midpoint of this run has been incredible. Having built a solid foundation over four years of natural training, I thought I knew what to expect from my body, but the enhanced responsiveness right now is completely different as expected.

Beginning body weight was at 71 kg, and current body weight is sitting stable at 79.2 kg after 7 weeks in. Even though I’m keeping my nutrition locked down in a pretty aggressive deficit at 2,300 calories, my focus in the gym is through the roof. As you can see from the workout logs above, my high-volume push and pull sessions are yielding some decent results—strength is consistently progressing, and I’m noticing a massive difference in the overall roundness and capping of my shoulders and arms. Getting those 115kg pulldowns to absolute failure or pushing 55kg on overhead press feels completely different now. What’s even wilder is how fast I'm bouncing back. Despite the low calories and the heavy mental strain from balancing my dual-studies and intense university exam prep, my physical recovery is completely unbothered.

On the health side, my overall well-being and daily energy levels are incredibly high, and side effects have been minimal to non-existent. I’ve had a very mild breakout of pimples across my chest and upper back, but it's barely worth mentioning and completely manageable with standard hygiene. My Week 4 bloodwork actually confirmed that my body is handling the compound perfectly. Total testosterone completely maxed out the lab scale at >3,460 ng/dL, and my Estradiol came back at 70 pg/mL. Given how high my androgen levels are, that E2 ratio is good. I’m naturally managing the aromatization, meaning I get all the tissue-protective and mood benefits of estrogen without having to touch an aromatase inhibitor. Plus, my hematocrit is sitting at a 44%, so blood viscosity isn't an issue at all. The physique is looking dense, tight, and highly responsive, as you can see on my attached photo. (Im pretty happy so far)

Moving into the second half of this cycle, I’m expecting things to shift into a really fun phase. Now that the hormone is fully saturated, that typical dry look should become even more pronounced as the deficit burns off more fat while the test keeps my muscles full and pumped. Since this is my first time experiencing sustained saturation, I'll need to keep an eye on a few lagging indicators. Even though my blood thickness was perfect at week 4, red blood cell production can creep up over time, so staying completely on top of hydration during long study sessions is going to be a priority. I also need to make sure I don't let the enhanced recovery trick me into overtraining; my muscles feel invincible right now, but my tendons and joints still need time to adapt to the rapid strength jumps.

I’ve also mapped out my full exit strategy to keep as much of these gains as possible. I'll drop the last injection at Week 16, wait a clean 14 days for the Enanthate ester to clear out, and then launch a straightforward 4-week PCT using Tamoxifen (Nolvadex). Running 20mg a day for the first two weeks followed by 10mg a day for the final two weeks should be plenty to get my natural production firing again without overloading on SERM side effects. Ultimately, the plan is to hold the line on the 2,300-calorie diet, maximize this recomp effect, and ride this momentum right through the end of the run before getting pre-PCT bloods done.

Nice name Current user hahaha

I’ll be honest: the log is well written and you’re clearly tracking more than most first-cycle users, but I’d be careful with some of the conclusions.

First, the bloodwork is mostly clean from an organ-health perspective. Hematocrit at 44%, hemoglobin 15, creatinine 1.04, eGFR 104, ALT 28, GGT 20, platelets 174… all good. That’s a strong sign your body is tolerating the first half well.

But hormone-wise, don’t call this “perfect”. Total Test is above 3460 ng/dL on only 250 mg/week, which means you are a very strong responder or the blood draw was close to peak. Estradiol at 70 pg/ml is not crazy with that testosterone level, but it is still elevated. If you feel good, no need to panic or crush it with an AI, but you should not ignore it either. Watch nipples, water, mood, libido, blood pressure and sleep.

The glucose at 64 is also worth noting. In a deficit with high training output and university stress, that can explain some future fatigue or hunger issues if they appear. Don’t let the “I feel invincible” phase push you into digging too deep.

Also, 71 kg to 79.2 kg in 7 weeks while eating 2300 kcal is not pure lean tissue. A lot of that is glycogen, water, gut content and increased intracellular fullness from the testosterone. Still a great response, but keep the interpretation realistic.

Biggest coaching point: your muscles may be recovering faster, but your tendons are not. That line you wrote is spot on. Strength jumps fast on test, connective tissue adapts slower. Don’t turn every set into war just because recovery feels superhuman.

One criticism: I don’t see much leg work in the training log. If the goal is a serious physique, push/pull with lots of delts and arms is fine short term, but legs need to be documented too.

For PCT, 14 days after the last Test E shot may be too soon if your levels are this high. I’d rather time PCT based on bloodwork or at least allow more clearance instead of following a fixed calendar blindly.

Overall: very strong response, clean basic markers, but don’t get cocky. Keep monitoring E2, lipids, hematocrit and blood pressure, and post proper photos: front, side, back, same lighting. The bloodwork tells us you’re tolerating it. The photos will tell us whether the physique is truly improving.

KEEP IT UP!!

Shark

 

[currrentUser]

Nice name Current user hahaha

I’ll be honest: the log is well written and you’re clearly tracking more than most first-cycle users, but I’d be careful with some of the conclusions.

First, the bloodwork is mostly clean from an organ-health perspective. Hematocrit at 44%, hemoglobin 15, creatinine 1.04, eGFR 104, ALT 28, GGT 20, platelets 174… all good. That’s a strong sign your body is tolerating the first half well.

But hormone-wise, don’t call this “perfect”. Total Test is above 3460 ng/dL on only 250 mg/week, which means you are a very strong responder or the blood draw was close to peak. Estradiol at 70 pg/ml is not crazy with that testosterone level, but it is still elevated. If you feel good, no need to panic or crush it with an AI, but you should not ignore it either. Watch nipples, water, mood, libido, blood pressure and sleep.

The glucose at 64 is also worth noting. In a deficit with high training output and university stress, that can explain some future fatigue or hunger issues if they appear. Don’t let the “I feel invincible” phase push you into digging too deep.

Also, 71 kg to 79.2 kg in 7 weeks while eating 2300 kcal is not pure lean tissue. A lot of that is glycogen, water, gut content and increased intracellular fullness from the testosterone. Still a great response, but keep the interpretation realistic.

Biggest coaching point: your muscles may be recovering faster, but your tendons are not. That line you wrote is spot on. Strength jumps fast on test, connective tissue adapts slower. Don’t turn every set into war just because recovery feels superhuman.

One criticism: I don’t see much leg work in the training log. If the goal is a serious physique, push/pull with lots of delts and arms is fine short term, but legs need to be documented too.

For PCT, 14 days after the last Test E shot may be too soon if your levels are this high. I’d rather time PCT based on bloodwork or at least allow more clearance instead of following a fixed calendar blindly.

Overall: very strong response, clean basic markers, but don’t get cocky. Keep monitoring E2, lipids, hematocrit and blood pressure, and post proper photos: front, side, back, same lighting. The bloodwork tells us you’re tolerating it. The photos will tell us whether the physique is truly improving.

KEEP IT UP!!

Hi shark, thanks haha i know a great name. i have to admit that i did my bloodwork one day after my injection. I didnt know that this is not the best idea. I dont know if that e2 level is a good level, i guess it is but i dont really know if 70 is good in peak (my libido is there but not crazy. I recognize that my body is extremely likely to gain weight if i eat a little more than usually. In addition i dont lose that weight. If i eat bad one time and gain 1 or 2 kg (what is most likely water), that weight stays even if i eat 1900 kcal for days. I dont know why. I dont train my legs currently, thats right. My legs are my strength and as a hobby athlete i want to focus on my upper body because i see it as a weakness on my body. I would like to hear your recommendation on that

 

[Donvitosharkone]

First of all, I think you’re doing something that a lot of people fail to do: you’re actually listening and questioning your own assumptions. That’s a good sign!!

Regarding the bloodwork, taking it one day after your injection definitely matters. Your testosterone and estradiol were likely very close to peak levels. So seeing Total T over the lab limit and E2 at 70 pg/ml is much less concerning than if those numbers were measured at trough.

Honestly, I wouldn’t chase that E2 number. I care much more about symptoms than the absolute value. Good libido, stable mood, decent erections, normal blood pressure, good sleep, and no nipple issues tell me far more than a single estradiol measurement.

As for the bodyweight fluctuations, what you’re describing sounds very familiar. Some people are extremely sensitive to glycogen, sodium, inflammation, and digestive content. They can gain 1-2 kg overnight from a large meal and hold it for days. It doesn’t mean you gained fat. Fat gain is relatively slow. Water retention is not.

One thing I learned years ago: never make decisions based on a 2-3 day weight spike. Look at weekly averages. Your body is not a calculator.

Now about the legs:

I completely understand your reasoning. If your legs are naturally dominant and your upper body is lagging, it makes sense to prioritize upper body development.

What I would not do is stop training legs completely.

The biggest physiques are usually built by maintaining strengths while attacking weaknesses.

Personally, I’d keep one low-volume but high-quality leg session per week. Enough to maintain size, strength and structural balance, but not enough to steal recovery from your upper body focus.

Something as simple as:
Hack Squat
Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Calves

Done hard, once per week.

That’s often enough to preserve most of what you’ve built while allowing your shoulders, chest, back and arms to receive the majority of recovery resources.

Looking at your numbers and bloodwork, the thing I’d focus on most right now isn’t estrogen, drugs, or adding anything fancy.

It’s staying healthy, staying patient, and making sure the next 7 weeks are as productive as the first 7.

The biggest mistake first-cycle guys make is not underdosing.

It’s getting excited because everything is working and then changing things that didn’t need changing.

Right now, things are working.

Don’t interrupt success.

KEEP

IT

UP!!

Shark