Here’s an example of what a standard offseason blast protocol for someone who’s at the national level and knocking on the door of a pro card might look like.
1,500mg Testosterone Enanthate
1,000mg Primobolan
500mg Deca durabolin
5iu GH every morning
20iu novolog in meal 1, pre workout, and post workout meals
Please don’t copy this if you’re a novice, and don’t just copy this and expect to be knocking on the door of a pro card in 12 weeks.
I could post a hundred example cycles….but they’re all going to look pretty much the same. The “formula” has been known for 25 years. All the fancy SARMS and peptides in the world can come along, but if you sit back and look at the bodybuilding world you’ll see a few distinct “eras” of progress:
Era 1 (early years): gear starts being used
Ear 2 (1980s): higher doses come into play
Era 3: (1990s): GH and insulin come into play in higher doses
The bodybuilders of the 1970s were much smaller than those of the 1980s. The 1980s were smaller than the 1990s….BUT, I don’t believe there has been a major advance in the sport since that time. The “freaks” of the 1990s would still be freaks of today (show me a freakier pose than a 1997 Nasser front double bi, or a 1999 Marcus Ruhl most muscular). That tells me that all the “new” products like SARMs, peptides, etc have done very little to increase the size of bodybuilders.
In summary, the formula is known.
For MOST cases….that means
2-3g of gear per week at peak blasts
- Higher doses just amplify side effects, minimize appetite, and don’t necessarily lead to greater growth
Plenty of GH
- Above 10iu per day (give or take) and you’ll again run into more side effects like loss of insulin sensitivity, and potentially “Palumboism” symptoms with long term use
Proper insulin use
- Multiple timed doses on days when glycogen storage is intended to be amplified.
Justin would you implement metformin on a regular basis with someone who utilizes a higher carb approach diet and a gear protocol similar to what you have posted here except 60-75% of the doses listed i.e. 750-1000 test, 600-800 primo, 6iu gh/day, and 5-10iu humalog 3xday on high carb days? Or is metformin something you’d only implement if blood glucose levels were an issue? Could you do a post or video on how you implement metformin/berberine with your clients with the potential positives and negatives to its use and how you best recommend its usage?
I would use it based on the dose of 6 iu growth, and utilizing a higher carb diet. I think its best used to help prevent BG issues/insulin sensitivity issues from happening in the first place.
We will try to get a video up for your question soon.
-Brad
If there’s any concern about insulin sensitivity I will usually recommend metformin or Berberine usage, but most people seem to be pretty safe from decreased insulin sensitivity at lower doses (5iu or less) and diets that aren’t insanely high in carbohydrates.
There was a time where I would recommend metformin as a standard addition to an offseason plan that included GH, but I never noticed any dramatic trend change in A1C readings or fasted glucose readings in people who weren’t blasting high dose GH. Combine that with the potential for stomach issues from metformin and now I tend to recommend it only if the client is older (40+, has elevated A1C readings, or is using >5iu GH per day).
And if the client has elevated A1c readings, I will probably recommend not using GH in the offseason until that is under control anyway.
Thank you Brad and Justin for your answers really appreciate them. Really look forward to a video covering the drug if you’d guys be willing to do one. If I can one last question do you think metformin and or berberine can help minimize or at least lessen fat gain and increase skeletal muscle glucose uptake when utilized in the offseason with a higher carb based diet given that it doesn’t give the user digestive issues? I understand it’s probably a 1-2% difference at best and what’s most important is that someone is training hard and not eating like an asshole but given that the individual is eating and training “correctly,” can metformin/berberine be a valuable addition to ones drug stack along with test, anabolics, and GH? Again thank you guys for the great info
You answered the metformin thing yourself. How much weight you store is dependent on Calories. If you eat more calories than you burn, you’ll store that energy in the body. Proper blood sugar management can help ensure that a small portion of excess calories that would have stored as body fat are able to be stored as glycogen, and vice versa, help ensure that when training, energy is pulled from stored glycogen rather than created from the breakdown of proteins.
when looking for every advantage possible, you don’t want to miss out on that 1-2%….but you still have to consider what 1-2% actually is. If you’re a 200lb man, 1% is a 2lb difference. There’s no one out there training his ass off who wants to carry 2lbs less muscle on purpose, but there’s also no one out there who is going to look like a different person with 2lbs of extra muscle.
So, still see the forest for the trees……it’s the 98% that brings about major physique changes (proper cycles, eating meat and rice every 2-3 hours of every day without fail, and training hard and heavy in a purposeful manner). Assuming all of those things are met without fail day in and day out, then utilizing GDAs to control insulin sensitivity will help push your growth a little bit faster—but only if that 98% is done first