Do long-term users still enjoy the ‘process’?

[Survivalism]

I’m curious where people here land on this, especially long-timers.

Do you get more enjoyment from:

1) The physical results
Size, strength, performance, physique, etc.

OR

2) The process itself
Cycle planning, managing sides, bloodwork interpretation, pinning frequency, and leveraging one compound’s mechanism to offset or amplify another.

Personally, I’m finding more appeal in the application and problem-solving side of things. The results are obviously welcome, but they’re not the only draw.

Not asking from a beginner standpoint or looking for advice — more interested in how perspectives shift after multiple cycles and years of use.

 

[adrenalytic]

Long time lifter but not a long time user by any means. Haven't even hit the one year mark yet. But I'll say I love all of it. Everything you mentioned is right up my alley being an analyst by trade.

I also enjoying discussing ideas with others of a similar mindset.

And one thing you didn't mention: the ego part of it. I love looking good and fit. I love the attention I get from it (even the negative kind from they eye-rolling jelly looky-loos). My self-confidence has never been higher.

There's nothing about this hobby I don't like, really.

 

[BigDadd7]

I am results driven. Pinning and planning got old for me years ago

 

[Psy-chonaut]

I am much more 'training/process' focussed (yes a nostalgic/ romantic) it's what I love and always has been, how can I move forward from X with injuries, k!lling my self etc...
But I still use the mirror, and then the scale to see the effect...

Drugs are just a complementary, or a crutch (injuries), for the training I love.... Still fairly new, in the ped world, Went to 'dark side' for approx 4 years ago...

But do I love learning about the individuality of the pharmacology 'between you/me/us' in this 'screwed up world' (both the good and the bad) , HELL Yeah

 

[RockyP]

I enjoy the process of dialing in nutrition and training with recovery and optimizing sleep (which I find to be very challenging). I also enjoy learning more and more about cardiac and other health support, staying way ahead of the curve of modern medicine (like being able to run tren / mast / anavar and have an LDL of 33 with my lipid support regimen).

As much as I like playing around with stuff like pre-workouts, etc., the anticlimactic aspect of the gear you realize fairly quickly (and which professional competitors have been saying for years and years) is that it's the simple shit that works. For bulking, test + anabolic + GH. Cutting, test / mast, maybe some tren, and an oral at the end if you desire. The majority of my time is spent ordering bulk protein, storing it, preparing it, tweaking macros / calories, and perfecting training technique. And I do love all of that process aspect. I've also gone through the learning curve of teaching myself how to train all over again. Many of us don't want to believe it to be true, but ESPECIALLY if you are enhanced, you don't need heavy weights and crazy intensity to make the gains you desire. You do need to have your nutrition dialed in and train properly, which for most of us means slowing down, taking weight off the bar, and isolating the muscles properly (once you have built a base of mass). I enjoy listening to pods / interviews with pro's / competitors / coaches. Never stop learning in this game.

 

[just some dude]

(like being able to run tren / mast / anavar and have an LDL of 33 with my lipid support regimen).

but what about the kidneys and liver?

 

[RockyP]

but what about the kidneys and liver?

All normal with support Supps

 

[Astartes]

Yes. 20+ years.

What you find is you focus much less on the exotics or next best thing for minor or negligible incremental gains.

You stick to your compounds that work. Reduce AI usage to next to nothing and take supplemental supports that actually work.

Diet becomes your obsession. Seeing how your veins pop people’s eyes out of their heads with sheer mass and leanness becomes fun.

A 50 plus year old guy bigger and more lean than 99% of the 20-30 year old lifters in the gym with salt and pepper hair and a salt and pepper beard is head turning.

Then comes the fun… getting to HELP people who ask because proof is obviously in the pudding and they gravitate to you.

Give them what you didn’t have. REAL knowledge. Kindness and patience. The love of the brotherhood and sisterhood of the gym

Diet… diet…. diet… Training.

PEDs just become another supplement

 

[adrenalytic]

you don't need heavy weights and crazy intensity to make the gains you desire.

So true. I get asked all the time what my PRs are on this lift or that lift and I'm just like "I dunno, I don't train like that. I'm a high rep, slow eccentric, pause at the lengthened position and explosive concentric type of guy" and they just look at me cross eyed like "wtf did he just say?"

 

[RockyP]

So true. I get asked all the time what my PRs are on this lift or that lift and I'm just like "I dunno, I don't train like that. I'm a high rep, slow eccentric, pause at the lengthened position and explosive concentric type of guy" and they just look at me cross eyed like "wtf did he just say?"

Absolutely. 70% of muscle is sarcoplasm - so pump chasing is actually quite anabolic. Genetics, PED's, and nutrition determine what we'll look like. Training, sadly, doesn't play as much of a role as we'd like to it. But we all still work as hard as we can. As I've gotten older I've just placed more effort into nailing the nutrition than trying to go nuts in the gym. It's worked thus far.

 

[shredded.lyfe]

Drugs are a chore, I wouldn't do them if it wasn't necessary.

They cost money, health risks, needle fatigue etc.

 

[danny91t]

So true. I get asked all the time what my PRs are on this lift or that lift and I'm just like "I dunno, I don't train like that. I'm a high rep, slow eccentric, pause at the lengthened position and explosive concentric type of guy" and they just look at me cross eyed like "wtf did he just say?"

its almost as if the people asking have no clue of training theory lol. same people to hop on the sauce unfortunately

 

[Survivalism]

Appreciate all the thoughtful replies, this has been a great discussion.

What I’m noticing is that for most people, enjoyment seems to shift over time.

Early on, everything is interesting. The drugs, the planning, the logistics, the results.
Later, the PED side simplifies and almost fades into the background, and the harder puzzles become training execution, nutrition, recovery, sleep, and health.

For me right now, it feels like one big puzzle made up of smaller ones.
Training is a puzzle.
Nutrition is a puzzle.
PEDs are another puzzle.

Fitting all of those together in a way that works for you, in your specific phase, is the bigger challenge.

I’m a software engineer by trade, so the problem-solving aspect probably appeals to me more than it otherwise would.

Definitely wish I had approached health and fitness this way years ago.

 

[juicebro]

Sick of everything but I still do it because I'm great at it and I get paid to do it. 10+ years of constant use. Never been off. Never even done trt. Spend thousands on supplements, gear, gh, peptides, health scans etc. I don't even enjoy training on most days anymore. I treat it like a job. This is all I do.

 

[BigDadd7]

Sick of everything but I still do it because I'm great at it and I get paid to do it. 10+ years of constant use. Never been off. Never even done trt. Spend thousands on supplements, gear, gh, peptides, health scans etc. I don't even enjoy training on most days anymore. I treat it like a job. This is all I do.

Pimpin ain't easy

 

[SmallTitsIRL]

I do not compare to all of these old timers around here, been training for 8 years, enhanced for 2.
I'm data driven, I love looking at data, from time of weigh-in and it's fluctuations, to the amount of weight I gain from increasing calories, I live for that shit. Nothing makes me happier than looking at my table and graphs and see the progress and compare that to the pictures. Let's not forget the water weight from water and MENT which you have to account for.
And I'm curious/scientist at heart (not profession), so running cycles, looking for ancillaries and trying shit is my jam. Then add training to that and you have another variable to take into consideration, stress, sleep, BP, FBG all tracked 3x week.

I'm geeking just think about all those numbers. And the endless possibilities, it's clear that everyone loves this, and each takes his own approach to make it fun for them. If you ever lack motivation or anything, shift your thought process from something you have to do, to something you love, mine was numbers and data, yours might be gamify the experience.

 

[Endeavor Fitness]

I'm driven by the results, which in turn, allow me to experiment more on myself. really didn't start cycling until I was like 40, with really heavy cycles for 5 years, then the next 5 years lighter cycles.

I am lucky enough that I have built my base that I can keep my size, within these last 5 years with just some Test E or C (250-500 depending on time of year), doesn't matter which one. Some Reta, and anavar pre-workout.