Surgically Enforced Training Pause

[2023rebuild]

Good afternoon all,

I am facing a decision in regards to my cycle and I would be grateful for some insight from the forum. I'm going to put down all the facts so apologies for the novel. I try and periodize my training so that I am in as good of condition as possible for my two main sports: snowmobiling and wake surfing (so feb march and june -august). This means that my big training months are generally april-may and Sept-Dec. That said, I having been treating the snowmobile season the same as heavy training from an AAS standpoint because it doesn't matter If I put on a little weight and deca and dbol help with my elbows and shoulders. Surfing requires a bit of a cut so EQ has been helpful there. Sadly anavar really hurts my hairline so even though I have a ton of it, I haven't been using it.

I am on TRT full time as a baseline so any supplementation is in addition to that. I will be nearing the end of a "no orals" cycle (TRT plus EQ, plus a little extra Test Cyp in the last two weeks) at the end of November. Normally I would jump back in with dbol at that time and then add in Deca soon thereafter and keep on both through march.

I have to have gum surgery which is going to require a solid two weeks of no exercise. Its expensive and I want a good result so intend to follow the doc's instructions. Right before the surgery I will be traveling for work for a week. This is going to take me out of my training routine for at least two weeks but likely three. I have found that when I miss this much time, I really lose forward momentum (was out for three weeks in sept because of sickness and travel for work and I pretty much undid all of my summer gains as far as weight goes, it was super demoralizing).

Here is the question: given the proximity to the snowmobile season I am wondering if any of you have thoughts as to jumping on dbol before the enforced down time to try and preserve what I have or if that is a waste of time on orals and I should wait until I am able to get back under the weights. I will say that I seem to be able to tolerate dbol incredibly well (have been on several long cycles in the past two years but have had very good liver tests), but Ido want to have some time off toward the end of the season so that I can cycle back on April-May to maximize gains before summer starts and lifting goes down due to surfing (which requires a bit of a cut anyway).

Really appreciate any insight on this. Been doing this a long time but the two "on-seasons" plus the enforced downtime is causing me to question whats best

 

[Dial It In]

Personally having to recover from things time to time just roll with trt while this is going on. It sounds like you never cycle off anything. It’s okay to have a full health phase and circle back around. Often times when you start back up you’ll respond better. Injuries and interruptions are part of the game. The issue you are facing is purely a mental dilemma as you mentioned you got demoralized before. If you aren’t being handed big checks or your wife is gonna leave you because you lose gains then just let everything recover. Life happens and when it’s all said and done your physique is the last thing anyone that really matters in your life is going to talk about.

 

[cousinmuscles]

I don't think dbol will help, it is not so anabolic by itself. Maybe up your TRT dose just slightly. 2-3 weeks is not long enough to lose muscle, but may cause some detraining. The strength, speed and muscle fullness will return quickly once you start training again.

 

[RockyP]

run HRT dosages and stay active as much as you can - it works for pro bodybuilders when they have their gyno surgery, it will work for you. Jordan Hutchinson won 2 shows and competed at the Olympia in the same year that he had his gyno surgery (with post op complications). Same for Terrence Ruffin (though his surgery was not gyno - something else minor). Believe me, we all know the anxiety about losing gains, looking flat, etc. But you have to remember that as long as your test levels are high normal / just above normal, you are very very very unlikely to lose muscle in 2-3 weeks as long as you are eating well.

 

[2023rebuild]

Personally having to recover from things time to time just roll with trt while this is going on. It sounds like you never cycle off anything. It’s okay to have a full health phase and circle back around. Often times when you start back up you’ll respond better. Injuries and interruptions are part of the game. The issue you are facing is purely a mental dilemma as you mentioned you got demoralized before. If you aren’t being handed big checks or your wife is gonna leave you because you lose gains then just let everything recover. Life happens and when it’s all said and done your physique is the last thing anyone that really matters in your life is going to talk about.

That's a fair point. It was hard to look back at my gym log and see the loss in strength (nearly the entire summer's worth) though. At the same time part of it was definitely a liquid diet i had to do for 4 or 5 days for GI problems right before I left (doctor's orders), and then jet lag and "conference decisions" (late nights, bad food etc). I def am not as concerned about the physique though. What gets me is the strength loss and the time at which it might be lost.

See, last year I hurt my knee wake surfing in sept and didn't start lifting regularly until November (injury plus work travel) so I didn't go into the sled season as strong as I would have liked. Was hoping not to repeat that this year.

And yes I have been on trt full time since 2015. Until late 2023 though I hadn't done a cycle since 2012. I have had very little off time since then though (and for me "off time" is just normal doc prescribed TRT levels .

appreciate your insight

 

[2023rebuild]

I don't think dbol will help, it is not so anabolic by itself. Maybe up your TRT dose just slightly. 2-3 weeks is not long enough to lose muscle, but may cause some detraining. The strength, speed and muscle fullness will return quickly once you start training again.

Man I tell you what, i'm like 4 weeks back into regular training and the strength is coming back slllloooowwww

 

[2023rebuild]

run HRT dosages and stay active as much as you can - it works for pro bodybuilders when they have their gyno surgery, it will work for you. Jordan Hutchinson won 2 shows and competed at the Olympia in the same year that he had his gyno surgery (with post op complications). Same for Terrence Ruffin (though his surgery was not gyno - something else minor). Believe me, we all know the anxiety about losing gains, looking flat, etc. But you have to remember that as long as your test levels are high normal / just above normal, you are very very very unlikely to lose muscle in 2-3 weeks as long as you are eating well.

Am literally not supposed to get my heart rate up for the first week and then no gym at all until after second week. I guess it has something to do with surgery on the head and risk of busting stitches

 

[RockyP]

Am literally not supposed to get my heart rate up for the first week and then no gym at all until after second week. I guess it has something to do with surgery on the head and risk of busting stitches

Surely you can walk at a leisurely pace? I can’t imagine they want you laying in bed for a week.

 

[2023rebuild]

Surely you can walk at a leisurely pace? I can’t imagine they want you laying in bed for a week.

I think they said slow walks at like day 3 but not enough to raise the heart rate too much

 

[RockyP]

I think they said slow walks at like day 3 but not enough to raise the heart rate too much

Ok - I think you can work with that - the most important thing will be the diet. HRT levels of PED's will be plenty. You MIGHT lose a LITTLE strength but if you're getting your food in I would be very surprised to see any changes in your physique. Granted this is not a fair comparison due to genetic elitism and the amount of gear they run, but when top competitors stop taking everything for weeks / month after a show (some of whom stop training completely for a few weeks), they lose nothing when they return. Again, they are likely coming down from close to 3 grams of gear so even after a few weeks of wash out the levels are likely still high, but as I'm sure you're aware of that famous study where they compared men given Test who did not train to men who trained naturally, the men on the test who were not training gained more muscle at the study end point.

 

[cousinmuscles]

Man I tell you what, i'm like 4 weeks back into regular training and the strength is coming back slllloooowwww

Lol trust me I know, in November of 2019 I pulled my left glute on deadlifts, felt it hard. Took 2 years for the injuries to fully surface. 1+ year to figure out what the hell happened. 1.5+ years to rehab and 4 PRP+hyaluronic acid injections in both ends of glute medius and both ends of hamstring. Now, after 6 years, I have surpassed 2019s strength level in squats and deads...

 

[RockyP]

Lol trust me I know, in November of 2019 I pulled my left glute on deadlifts, felt it hard. Took 2 years for the injuries to fully surface. 1+ year to figure out what the hell happened. 1.5+ years to rehab and 4 PRP+hyaluronic acid injections in both ends of glute medius and both ends of hamstring. Now, after 6 years, I have surpassed 2019s strength level in squats and deads...

I love the SBD movements but I also proved to myself why many advanced lifters who are not competitive powerlifters don't do those lifts. Once strength gets to a certain level, the risk to reward really goes to hell. I don't regret a single squat / Pull session though, nothing else builds overall size and strength like those lifts. But after a minor (didn't feel minor at the time) back injury, I said goodbye to heavy pulls from the floor.

 

[cousinmuscles]

I love the SBD movements but I also proved to myself why many advanced lifters who are not competitive powerlifters don't do those lifts. Once strength gets to a certain level, the risk to reward really goes to hell. I don't regret a single squat / Pull session though, nothing else builds overall size and strength like those lifts. But after a minor (didn't feel minor at the time) back injury, I said goodbye to heavy pulls from the floor.

In my case it is because I have one flat foot and one not so flat foot, which changes my mechanics and led to one leg being much stronger than the other. It was a question of time on when my weak leg would get injured (which coincidentally did 20+ years ago snowboarding and 10+ years ago doing martial arts, same leg).

I agree with your post but the big lifts can be done safely, however the time and effort you have to spend to find your own correct technique along with having stability to support that strength makes it obsolete for anyone but a powerlifter.

 

[RockyP]

In my case it is because I have one flat foot and one not so flat foot, which changes my mechanics and led to one leg being much stronger than the other. It was a question of time on when my weak leg would get injured (which coincidentally did 20+ years ago snowboarding and 10+ years ago doing martial arts, same leg).

I agree with your post but the big lifts can be done safely, however the time and effort you have to spend to find your own correct technique along with having stability to support that strength makes it obsolete for anyone but a powerlifter.

Absolutely. SBD lifts done at the limit for advanced strength athletes are a skill set unto themselves

 

[2023rebuild]

Lol trust me I know, in November of 2019 I pulled my left glute on deadlifts, felt it hard. Took 2 years for the injuries to fully surface. 1+ year to figure out what the hell happened. 1.5+ years to rehab and 4 PRP+hyaluronic acid injections in both ends of glute medius and both ends of hamstring. Now, after 6 years, I have surpassed 2019s strength level in squats and deads...

whoa that is quite the arc. I didn't really even think you could pull a glute.