Seth Williams on Test Up
Some people say to treat SARMs -- especially the more potently anabolic LGD 4033 -- as if they were steroids when it comes to on-cycle and post-cycle support. I'm not sure I buy that. Various accounts have people going on this stuff for way more weeks than recommended and not having any problems.
I have also heard that a lot of the negative steroid-like side effects people have reported (and why they say a thorough PCT is needed) is because so many people got prohormones and oral steroids when they thought they were getting SARMs. Seth has put it bluntly, saying that if you paid $40 for your SARM...it probably wasn't a SARM; you were probably sold bunk or prohormones that companies were trying to offload after the ban.
I did indeed pay $40 from Southern SARMs for my first SARM, and I wonder if it might have in fact been a prohormone. I mean, the strength gains did come after a few weeks. But I experienced increased aggression and blood pressure spikes. I wonder if they sold me Halodrol or something.
Either way I've since switched to Olympus Labs UK's LGD-4033 and I've been feeling much better. My strength and mass gains are still coming. By the end of next week I'll be able to say that I increased my bench by a solid 50 lbs within two months. My squat will be up a solid 70 lbs and the same for my deadlift. Granted I've been nearly this strong before...but never on all three lifts at the same time...and I've been struggling for a year to get back to these strength levels with no success. I was plateaued hard thanks to increasing age.
Here I am about to turn 40 and cruising past my highest ever bodyweight and powerlifting total from five years ago when my natural test levels were higher.
My best ever pull was done in competition: 506 lbs done with a belt in the sumo style. A belt and sumo means at least 30 lbs more than my beltless conventional. Sumo is an extra 10 lbs by itself and more when I practice it often and the belt is another 10-20 lbs. I got 495 with a belt and conventional the same season I did the 506 belt and sumo. I should be able to pull 505 conventional without a belt for a double within the next couple of months. Then I will be as strong in my weakest possible deadlift style (conventional, no belt 505 x 2) than I ever was in my strongest deadlift style (sumo with a belt 506 x 1).
My beltless-but-wrapped high bar squat should be 405+ x 2 at that point...which means that my more difficult squat style (high bar, no belt) will be about where my best ever official squat in my best style was (low bar with belt and sleeves for 418 x 1). Because I'm forced to use wraps I won't feel like I've really beaten that best low bar until I've hit high bar with 425 x 2. My best ever high bar in wraps with no belt was done during a warm up for the tenth day of a Smolov base phase. I got 385 wearing the THP Revolution blue and black wraps. They were fairly loosely wound and gave me about 20 lbs. So when I hit 385 for a double in the next couple weeks, I will be at my highest ever high bar with wraps.
I think the SARMs will get me there. The plan right now is to keep the LGD-4033 going till for another two weeks at least to get me to a total of eight weeks. People say that one should have a definite cycle length in mind ahead of time. I do. But I am also willing to stop if I sense that things are going wrong. So we'll see.
I need 4-6 more weeks to hit the squat and deadlift goals I have in mind. So I'd like to make it all the way to 12 weeks total. I will be taking the Test Up alongside the LGD to aid with testicular maintenance. The bottle of Test Up is a two-month supply so that should take me to the end of my LGD run (another month and a half at the very most) and into my post-cycle week-long break before I start with Ostarine and Cardarine (I'm stopping Cardarine for now because I think it's not working so well because LGD anabolic strength has me eating over maintenance).
Ostarine is supposed to be far better at maintaining mass than putting it on. Which suits me fine after my LGD run since Ostarine is also supposed to be far less suppressive to test production. Based on my experience with Test Up I may order another bottle to run with the Ostarine. Heck, I may keep taking Test Up for a total of six months if my libido gets like it was a few years ago.
This is purely anecdotal and has no scientific backing. But I felt a tingling in the boys today an hour or so after swallowing my first Test Up pill. I was informed somewhere that both shrinkage and growth can produce tingling. I felt the tingling of shrinkage a few weeks ago, which has since stopped. Maybe the Test Up is already having some effect..? This is not scientific AT ALL. But it has me feeling good at the start. All I know is that what I've been doing overall has been working. My mood is vastly improved, my outlook on life is the best it's been in a couple of years...if I can regain my old libido, I'll be in heaven.
Oh, and there's the rapid muscle and strength gains. I look at my 2014-2015 log on Starting Strength and I see myself writing my expectations over and over...and failing to meet them over and over. I just didn't have the right hormonal environment. I start taking this stuff and a couple weeks later my muscle mass and my lifts really start taking off.
8.26.2015/Wed, 187 lbs
Back Squat, high bar, squat shoes, wraps (red line @ 355), NO BELT
45 x 10
135 x 6
225 x 4
275 x 3
315 x 2
335 x 1
355 x 1
375 x 2
335 x 1
Deadlift, conventional, no shoes, hook grip, NO BELT
405 x 2
435 x 1
455 x 1
465 x 1
475 x miss
I just had to go squat. Could not be helped.
An important note about my use of wraps...
...Knee sleeves just aren't cutting it at all right now. Honestly neither are the light Harbingers. They just aren't thick enough to support my patellar tendons. I used them wrapped loosely enough to keep on throughout my warm ups. I squatted up to an easy, fast 335 with them. I kept them on under my pants and wrapped the red lines over my pants. So I did have more support in terms of wadding behind the bent knee than I did last session. But even so the red lines were wound loosely too.
A thick dude who clearly used to powerlift came over and offered to show me how to wrap tighter to get up to 50 lbs. I explained that I compete raw and just like enough wrapping to offer support for my noodly knees.
Every serious powerlifter who has seen me wrap my knees can't believe I get anything at all out of my wraps. But I do get 20 lbs over completely naked knees, half of which is confidence in the hole. Note that no matter what I am using, I can squat down under my own power and can bend my legs as I walk. I don't wrap so tight that I have to waddle straight-leggedly.
I'm not going to lie. I do like that I can warm up to >90% of my wrapped double with just sleeves or a very light wrap. I pause the first rep of my warm ups up to 275. I like to feel I am completely in control of relatively heavy weight. I even take 315 slowly down in the first rep and while I don't quite pause it, I do treat it as if I have no fear of getting stuck. A little less so on the second rep. But I find it very helpful to wind my system up for new heavy attempts to treat what recently seemed like Big Weight instead as No Big Deal.
The double with 375 was clean. I needed three big breaths between attempts, but it was not a big break. It did take a hell of a lot out of me though. I walked 375 out again for a single and realized right away I did not have it in me. I went down to 335 with the intention of getting some doubles. But just one rep felt like a struggle.
I packed up to go, stretched my quads with a 10-second lying hero pose, but found it was pouring rain outside. I mean awful late summer Florida storm. I went back in to get in some pulls. But I was really drained and couldn't expect much. Got to that 465 which was surprisingly smooth, then found 475 stapled to the floor. Again, my quads were too burnt to do a proper 335 squat in wraps at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if I got 475 for a double when fresh.
I may wait till Friday to bench again because my right shoulder got a tiny bit dinged when I flared a little too much at the sticking point yesterday. If I do that, I'll probably pull again after bench and go for 475 and see if I can do it twice.
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