[Cameron Thomas]

@kostasosfp

From my understanding, you’re better off physiologically saving your PCT phase for when you truly need it, that time being when you know you are going to be spending a substantial time off of AAS use or specifically trying to re-establish fertility.

Otherwise, a sustained dose to mimic endogenous production between ‘cycles’ is going to cause far less havoc hormonally and potentially even metabolically.

With such short time-frames in mind, you’re continually giving your body mixed messages here it would seem in respect of telling it to switch on and switch off repetitively.

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[Cameron Thomas]

UPDATE – 5th Dec

After 2 full rotations of taking intensity right back up and a slight increase in volume, everything seems GOOD to go.

Great two days of training so far this week, Push with @drdeanstmart and Calum @ FLF Monday and Pull with @kuba1000hotmail-co-uk-cielen yesterday. It’s safe to say my entire upper body is trashed and today will be spent sitting on my ass playing student for once.

Ran bloodwork last Wednesday which I’ve attached, this is now 12 weeks into my rebound ‘cycle’ of 300mg Test E & 100mg Nandrolone. I previously stated it was 275mg & 75mg Nandrolone but realised since I rounded up the ml’s when drawing it worked out slightly higher. I can’t say I’m massively informed when it comes to interpreting labs which is why I’ll often seek opinions elsewhere, but nevertheless, I can’t see any areas here that would raise concern for me. Particularly after having a chat with Dr Dean Monday about the potential benefits of keeping Oestrogen at a higher point on lipid oxidisation, which anecdotally here seems to be the case since I rarely see HDL that high.

Next post I will layout the set-up of my current diet which has now been more or less consistent for the past two weeks and has seen digestion pretty damn close to perfect.

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[Cameron Thomas]

UPDATE – 28th Nov

12 days and counting of ‘normal’ digestive function… sounds stupid but never have I experienced issues like this so my gratitude right now is sky-high.

Training is by no means at full capacity, but as mentioned above I’ve now completed a full rotation of LPP running with a 1 day on 1 day off approach which seemed to go down well.

This rotation I increased the intensity and volume a tad, and also decided to train pull & push back to back…

Bad idea. Not TERRIBLE, but it simply made for a sh*t session which left me wishing I’d missed it altogether. Running on 6 hours sleep, RHR elevated a touch and HRV down, the signs were pointing towards recovery… but stubborn Cam got the best of me and a headache ended up hitting halfway through.

Pretty sure it’s more so related to lack of sleep as opposed to an acute-response from the increase in training stimulus so we shall see where markers are at tomorrow morning after a full 9 hours sleep.

Other than that, very very positive mindset moving forward and after a chat with @kuba1000hotmail-co-uk-cielen today I can’t fucking wait to be pedal to the metal once again because we have some very productive training lined up, in what is shaping up to be one of the best gyms in the UK, and a hell of a lot of content to capture as he prepares for his Pro debut.

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[Cameron Thomas]

Want to see you eating up!

FT is tough

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[Cameron Thomas]

PHYSIQUE UPDATE – 24th Nov

(Post taken from IG)

Not really sure what time-frame is appropriate here but… here’s where I’m at 10 weeks post-show, off the back of 3 weeks of non-existent training and sporadic nutrition (gut-health dependant).
⁣
Due to the above, tracking anything has been inconsistent until the past week. I left off around a 216lb average when things were going ‘great’, and since Monday I’ve managed to claw things back to an average of 214.5 after dropping to a low of 211.

BUT… by no means has body comp held, which I had no expectation of it doing. When I’ve been able to eat, which I’ve consistently been able to do this week, I’ve been averaging 4,000 – 4,500 calories.

I’ve no desire to reduce calories excessively to protect body composition as I know that once training intensity/volume is slowly tapered up, I’ll ‘settle’ at this caloric intake.

In retrospect, where my body fat ‘set-point’ has seen me fall in the past when energy & physiological function has perceptively been in a good spot, has been a lot higher than where I’m sitting, and I think it’s actually in my interests to become little more comfortable with that fact.

NUTRITION – Currently I’ve adopted a low protein, high-fat & moderate carb approach macronutrient wise in the interests of placing minimal stress on the gut. When signs here give me the go ahead, I’ll slowly be switching out fat with protein (gram for gram, not calorie equated) until I return to a baseline of 1-1.2g/lb from direct sources.

TRAINING – As I’ve mentioned in recent posts, for now I am in a very much low-inflammatory phase of training until I can be sure I’m able to establish a consistent level of recovery & digestion. Very low volume, low frequency and moderate intensity with marginal adjustments as and when appropriate (NOT when my emotional bias gets the best of me).

A frustrating period to say the least, but one that is necessary and that can only yield positives in the future.

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[Cameron Thomas]

Context-dependent as you are likely to see some arbitrary numbers being thrown at you here so I will just give my insight into what I would be considering if I were to hypothetically prescribe a dose…

What is ‘good off-season’ shape? Pictures are your friend here to allow us to get an insight into body composition and how much lean tissue you hold.

What are current testosterone levels? Getting insight into endogenous levels two years post AAS should give us scope to determine what dosage is appropriate to elicit a response and to establish a baseline for your cycle.

What was the previous cycle.. how much lean muscle was accrued and how much of this were you able to maintain?

By no means am I as informed as many on contributors on here, but these are things I think everybody should consider before throwing around general dosage recommendations with no context!

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[Cameron Thomas]

That just sounds like a hormonal disaster to me…

But I’m not qualified enough as to comment any further than that!

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[Cameron Thomas]

Why let arbitrary numbers dictate the length of your cycle? I would argue it’s advantageous to let health markers & progress dictate the length of a particular phase, this way you aren’t selling yourselves short simply because your ‘time is up’.

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[Cameron Thomas]

I’m not sure if he grasped the concept of what all three of us were getting at…. *face palm*

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[Cameron Thomas]

Excited to push up now I would imagine!?

Any particular goals for the off-season?

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[Cameron Thomas]

I wonder…. Lol

There definitely needs to be transparency here I think, which is what you guys are providing which is awesome.

When it is very realistic (as it was for myself) for somebodies ‘blast’ to be at 250mg, which is within the ballpark of where we are seeing most ‘cruise’ at… there certainly needs to be someone shedding light on the actual reasoning behind this.

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[Cameron Thomas]

I agree with the guys above..

Consider the adjustments you can make with the other variables in your toolbox to continue progressing, the biggest being food!

I don’t know your previous history, but you almost certainly aren’t going to have come anywhere close to reaching the peak of what progress can be made at those dosages after only 3 weeks.

In my opinion, most under-estimate just how long progress can be made whilst keeping drugs consistent… but that’s another tangent for another day.

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[Cameron Thomas]

4-6 weeks is a drop in the ocean buddy, hard for us to conceptualise having to take such an extended period out of the gym but… the fire will be LIT.

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[Cameron Thomas]

I think you’ve made an informed decision that will pay off massively, especially considering both your professional (bodybuilding) and personal ambitions…

Will be interesting to follow somebody trying to conceive down the TRT route!

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[Cameron Thomas]

UPDATE 21st – November

Well… since my last update, things, unfortunately, took yet another turn for the worse.

I took 5 days off of the gym, thought I was good to go… Trained two days consecutively and BAM, second day of training, migraine hits, hot/cold sweats, shivers, full body fatigue, diarrhoea for 4-5 days straight. Happy days!

Oh and this was over my Birthday weekend! So as you can imagine, not a huge amount of motivation to report on anything bodybuilding related given the very very frustrating situation I am in right now.

After a productive conversation with JP, it became obvious to me that my entire approach training/nutrition post-show was the complete opposite to what it should have been in response to the level of accumulated fatigue and quite bluntly battered state I was in systemically from a nervous system POV. During a time where volume, frequency and intensity should have been at an all-time low, I ramped it up to an all-time high. IDIOT!

It’s safe to say I’m paying the price.

So as I write this, this is following another 7 days off of training and I’ve now learnt my lesson one too many times to return to the gym expecting to immediately so a plan has been put in motion to start with the absolute MINIMUM to establish what my body can tolerate at this point, before very tentatively layering on top of the initial programming structure as and when biofeedback suggests it is appropriate.

The REBUILD

Week 1

8-12 rep range
3-4RIR on all working sets

Pull
Off
Push
Off
Legs
Off
Repeat

Pull A
1x Neutral grip pulldown
1x DA machine row
1x chest supported t bar
1x rear delt rope p/d
1x db preacher

Push A
1x Incline hammer press
1x banded dip
1x upright cable fly
1x lying lateral raise
1x floor cable cross ext

Legs A
1x pendulum banded
1x leg extension (load mid and lengthened)
1x SL lying hamstring curl
1x Hip extension
1x Toe press

Pull B
1x DA hammer pulldown
1x DA machine row lat focus
1x Incline bench db row
1x rear delt machine fly
1x Incline bench cable curl

Push B
1x standing press
1x Rev band low Incline Smith
1x upright cable fly
1x incline bench Y raise
1x Incline face away cable cross ext

Legs B
1x lying hack squat
1x leg extension (load mid and shortened)
1x Seated hamstring curl
1x Smith glute bridge
1x Seated calf raise

There’s a LOT to be taken away from this experience, and I’m more than willing to do what is necessary to climb my way out of this hole so I can begin moving forward once again.

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