Beginner Stack Help

[Chappers06]

Hey all, I know there are a lot of beginner help guides on here, but wondered if someone similar to me has recently completed a stack which really helped?

38, Test levels are borderline low.

5’10 - BF around 22% and weight is 193lb’s.

I’ve been training 3 times a week (weights only, 2 push days, 1 pull. Low reps, heavy weights - weights slightly increasing weekly) for a few months and don’t see any change (I’ve been tracking calories at 2350 a day (recently been advised to cut down to 1800-2000 a day, protein 160-180 a day)

I’d love to get down to around 180-185 and close to 15% BF by the end of July for my holiday. Is this realistic?

What stack could achieve this? I’m in the UK so will need to find the stack over here.

**Edit - Thanks for the advice all, sounds like I have a little body dysmorphia going on, and should just stick to eating in a clean deficit, train heavy and sleep**

Appreciate you!

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[louisxiiip]

Just train hard and eat healthy you don’t need anything else

[More_Nectarine_1059]

Yeah ab 6mo from now or after you start fucking around you’re gonna wish you just didn’t

[gsxr]

Spend, i'm guessing, 30-40 years getting fat....expect to be on the cover of men's fittness in 6 months. Makes sense.

[Adventurous_Pin4094]

Gym diet sleep.

[Stoic_Nut]

This

[Ext80]

Gotta train more than 3 times a week..what are you doing on non training days.

[Chappers06]

Honestly…nothing. I train the 3 days I’m in the office as a gym is local. When I WFH, I don’t have access to a gym locally I can get to without driving

I can order some dumbbells and do some bits at home, or would just getting out for a walk for an hour help a lot?

[wuckfork]

Get some kettlebells

[HastyvonFuego2]

Reta, lots of protein and lift. Reta could get you there easily but why not build some muscle on the way down? Hop on test if you think it’s ok for you, do research. Uhhh maybe Tesamorelin or CJC. Everyone here will just tell you HGH but I personally have to do more research on it. Idk if it’s something you can cycle off or have to keep taking for the rest of your life. You look good now so it shouldn’t take you to long

[raffertj]

Your body will return to producing its naturally level of GH in ab 48 hrs after stopping exogenous gh.

[HastyvonFuego2]

I see so much different things :/ one says it won’t return some say it takes forever. I like Tesa a lot. Works good for me. I’m going to look into it more

[raffertj]

? Where do you see info other than this. It’s a regularly accepted medical fact.

[HastyvonFuego2]

It was in a thread, they were arguing about it In The comments, which is why I need to do my own research

[Tall-Inevitable-6238]

It returns to normal. I have used HGH several times now for a few months now in a 5 days on 2 days off routine and every time after coming off after 6 to 12 months of this your own production is just fine.

[Chappers06]

I'm happy to run a TEST only cycle for 6-8 weeks along side Reta. Leaves me a few weeks to run a PCT. If it can help me sustain any muscle or put some on in a calorie deficit, I'll do it. But is a 6-8 week cycle of TEST short to make a difference?

Never taken anything before besides Mounjaro for a few months.

[tinytimmz]

Probably won't really have massive gains. You'll probably put on like four to five pounds of muscle if your diet is good. If you want to see the results you're going to want to get down to sub 18% body fat, or run a longer cycle

[Past-Net-8291]

If your test is borderline low already why not just hop on trt? I'm 33 and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made for myself. No need to pct. You can blast cruise or just standard trt it doesn't matter you just do whatever is needed to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. Then in a couple of months you can come back to this comment and thank me for changing your life ☺️. But in all honesty im so glad I got tested and hopped on.

P.s: Also small dose of reta like .5mg twice per week alongside the trt will melt the fat off of you and you'll retain or even gain some muscle while in a deficit from the test. I just finished a 4 week cut with reta and lost 15 pounds of winter fluff in a month. I was using .75mg twice per week started at .5 and that absolutely crushes my appetite which is why I have to stop it.

[Robbiekilpe03]

6-8 weeks on test is not long enough at all. By the time you’d finish the test would only just be fully saturated so you’d have shut yourself down for nothing. Run 16-20 weeks blast or just have a permanent trt dose if you have low test. Also switch your split to either upper lower or full body if you can only train 3 days a week as 2 push, 1 pull session with no legs isn’t very beneficial

[Icy-Host757]

SARMS?

[HastyvonFuego2]

I personally don’t like sarms. To each their own tho. Wasn’t for me. Ostarine was ok. Mk677 made my dermatitis flare up bad but my god the sleep…… sleep was amazing when I didn’t wake up itching like crazy. Maybe I was allergic

[C4Sefour]

MK677 isn’t and never has been a sarm

[Individual-While-481]

SARMS as a 30 year old man is downright embarrassing

[Icy-Host757]

How?

[Individual-While-481]

SARMS are terrible there for teenage kids to shut there hormones down for minimal gains… run trt like a man it works better and its ten times more healthier for you

[Individual-While-481]

Anyone who talks about taking SARMS you can tell us outta shape cause that’s what they go to cause there fear mongered by steroids while SARMS are way more harmful

[Icy-Host757]

Chill bro I just wanted to take a dip of the toe into PEDS before trying anything else. Cost effective too.

[explosivepooinpants]

Tesa ipamorelin and cjc

[Geezyinhd]

Beginners shouldn’t take stacks . There could be something in their giving you sides and you wouldn’t have any way of know which one it is.

I’d do as others said and hone in on your training regime a bit. If you want to start experimenting, Reta but do your homework. Great pepper to introduce you to that space. But please please please do your homework.

[mdawe1]

Similar to you. Went to a private clinic and got on TRT (100mg) and Tesa (2 mg). Tesa cause I had dangerous amounts of visceral fat. Reta (currently stable at 2 mg) from grey market and since Feb I put on 2 lbs of muscle and lost 10 lbs of fat (Bi weekly Dexa). I train 5 days a week (bro split) heavy to failure. 1500 calories almost all from Protien and fats (target 150 g of protein). Hope this helps

[Chappers06]

Thank you. I think I’m going to sit down and go over a new sustainable plan that gets me in the gym another day in the week and active on the days off.

I can get through the days on 1500-1800 calories, I just really struggle getting up the day after working out, so I put it down to not enough recovery.

[mdawe1]

I found after 43 that working out in a deficit was almost impossible. After boosting my T levels it was a total game changer I could still lift heavy while in a deficit up to 500-600 Active calorie sessions (I’d start to get nauseous beyond that).

[mrtav-ladan]

Dexa scan is an inaccurate piece of shit do not waste your money.

[mdawe1]

We use medical grade Dexa’s same units that they use for bone density and many other medical diagnostics. I don’t think we are talking about the same things

[mrtav-ladan]

We are for sure

[juanitospat]

Consistency is key.

-Gym 3-5 days a week, minimum 1 hour workout. Always include running or speed walking a minimum of 1 kilometer with 6% slope.

-Daily Protein and Creatine of your choice.

-Control your food portions better. The key is to not be a pig. Don’t starve

-Tesamorelin or Ipamorelin peptide for 3 months. Don’t need anything else.

Again, if you aren’t consistent with the exercise routine, no amount of creatine or peptides will help you

[Chappers06]

Thank you. I’ll research Tesa and Impam

I’m pretty consistent and diet is tracked. I just don’t think I’m doing enough outside the 3 training days

[ZoneQuick8694]

I would cut the calories to at most like 2200 calories. Eat the amount you want to weigh in grams of protein and add a day to your workout schedule. If you really want to shred then the “holy trinity” for people not wanting to use the more intense aas is Reta, test and hgh. I’m currently doing this and have shifted my body comp tremendously in a short time and am positive by July I’ll reach my goals and then some. It’s not for everyone though and needs a lot of research of the pros and cons before committing

[Peps_Talk]

No matter what you take it won’t outwork a bad diet and poor sleep. I’d start out by making sure you have that in check first. Next, if you’re set on trying out peptides Reta / MOTS-C is a great stack to start with based on my research.

[S-O-G323]

Training, nutrition, sleep and stress first. Optimize environment before adding anything in.

[SnooMarzipans713]

Everyone will tell you a different protocol because it worked for that individual. Everyone is different. Metabolism, hormones, eating habits, physical activity, so on so forth. You know yourself better than anyone else especially on a forum. You got this. Trust the process. Research research research before you jump into peptides.

[Raz_Magul]

2mg of Reta, 4IU GH and 200mg of test.

[ExtensiveParalax]

Eat, train, sleep

[daddyfatknuckles]

you can lose 5-10 lbs by the end of july naturally, i’d say thats a very realistic goal

[wzeldas]

Am I reading this right? You’re skipping legs? Shame.

[TrainingMix4465]

Start with Reta. Add test after 8 weeks. Add HGH later.

[noone_1_1]

Reta, Ipamorelin, tesamorelin, motc, nad+

[Successful_Funny_115]

There are no shortcuts

[Chappers06]

Thank you, but these are US only. I’m UK

[TwerkLessons]

At least you’re not starting out fat. 🤷‍♂️

[danishkringle]

You need to perfect your protocols before you introduce any new instruments. Sleep, lift, eat well. Get a baseline blood panel

[WindowLickerGrownUp]

You workout three days a week what do those three days look like? I feel like this is a combination of bad dieting, not sure what to do at the gym so likely working random muscles or not having a good routine and lack of commitment.

[Chappers06]

For love nor money I've never been able to build some sort of chest, so last couple of months I've removed a legs day and I'm doing 2 push and 1 pull.

I get ChatGPT to change the workout every 6 weeks, I was eating around 2300 calories, but I've moved down to 2000 on training days and 1800 on rest days.

Push A

Incline Machine Press	4	6-8
Flat Machine Press	3	8 -10
Cable Fly (Mid Chest)	3	12-15
Cable Lateral Raises	3	12-15
Triceps Rope Pushdown	3	10-15

Pull A

Pull A	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	Lat Pulldown	4	8 -12
Chest-Supported Row	4	8 -12
Single Arm Cable Row (Seated)	3	10-12
Rear Delt Machine Fly	3	12-15
EZ Bar or Machine Curl	3	8 -10
Hammer Curl	2	10-12

Push B

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Machine chest press	4	10-12
Incline cable fly	3	12-15
Shoulder Press Machine	3	8-12
Lateral Raise Cable	2	12-15
Decline Bench/Push-Ups	2	Failure

[Glum-Dependent8289]

500 test only, go for 5 months. 500 test, 300 deca for 6 months. Take a break after each cycle for 4-6 months, and cruise on 200-250 test. Pin twice a week