We continue to share useful information from the blog of our team member @DriadaRoids.

And today's question for discussion is "How long should the cycle be?" 

When you ask me to help to make a cycle for you, as you can see, you have to fill out a questionnaire. One of the questionnaire question is duration of the desired cycle. Now I will try to explain to you why each cycle should have a duration and what it depends on.

So, let’s start with the fact that any PED is a tool for your transformation. When you resort to the use of such substances, you set yourself certain tasks, for example, gaining muscle mass. It means that for some time you plan to intensively gain muscle mass and, accordingly, create all the necessary conditions for this. Such conditions include:

Targeted training to stimulate muscle growth.

A certain way of nutrition with increased calorie content and the correct distribution of BJU.

Daily routine, good sleep, and recovery procedures.

And finally, use BADs and PEDs.

Why should all these activities be combined? Separately, none of these points will work, and only the combination of all these factors will give you an adequate result. It follows from this that these things are inseparable from each other if you are determined to get a result and reach the goal. During your cycle, none of these factors should be overlooked or considered during the entire duration of the cycle.

Now let’s see why the cycle cannot be infinite. Yes, indeed, if we monitor blood counts and stop all possible side effects – we can take PEDs for a long time, why limit the cycle to 8-12, 16 or 24 weeks? And why are these numbers most often being so popular in building cycles?

There is always a weak link in any process. And since we are dealing with a living organism, which is subject to certain physiological lows, we depend on the coherence of the work of all its systems. We are strong if everything works smoothly and smoothly. If for any reason one of the factors disappears, our system stops working.

What do I mean… To gain muscle mass, your body will work at the limit for a while, because of the development of new muscle cells or the growth of existing ones- the body spends a lot of resources. He is not able to do this endlessly, so you only have a certain period during which you need to create an effort and get the long-awaited result. You will be able to build muscle mass if the weakest link in your body will allow you to do so. After a certain period, one of the systems will get tired, and you will get a plateau. Afterward, you will have to stop and give your body a rest. At this point, you will work in maintenance mode until you recover, and your body is ready to grow again. That is why professional bodybuilders alternate off-season, mass gain, cutting, and reaching the peak of body condition. This whole cycle is subject to the natural processes of each person and is thought out based on the individual characteristics of each athlete, which is obtained by experience. When building muscle mass, there are several important systems that should always work well. Otherwise, you will not be able to train intensively, recover and eat properly. I will now touch on this only briefly:

 

Gastrointestinal tract. While gaining muscle mass, you need to consume a lot of calories, and often your gastrointestinal tract will be a limiting factor for muscle growth. In this case, you need to understand how long you can consume enough calories per day (sometimes 4000-5000 kcal) to provide your body with energy for growth and recovery.

Central nervous system. High-intensity training, especially if you are a beginner and have not yet chosen the correct training scheme for yourself, consumes the resources of your nervous system. The period of high-intensity training, as well as the period of high-calorie nutrition, should be limited. Otherwise, you will end up overtraining, which will impair your sleep, and your recovery, lower your motivation and make you constantly tired.

Articular-ligamentous apparatus. This factor can also limit the duration of your cycle if you perform the exercises technically incorrectly or use too much weight for you. Of course, this is not entirely related to the length of the cycle in experienced athletes, but for beginners, it is usually related to things. If you have not yet fully understood the training approach and do not know how to avoid excessive load, it is better to limit it in advance by limiting the time frame.

Immune system. During a set of muscle mass, your body spends a significant part of the energy on recovery after exercise. If your cycle is too long, then the immune system will also weaken and the most common cold can ruin your meat set.

In addition, there may be other physiological limitations that will overtake you at some point. Sometimes the exact cause is difficult to determine and eliminate by any other method than proper rest to overcome the plateau.

Living conditions. Not only your body can prevent you from growing constantly for a long time. There are many reasons related to your work, family, political situation in the country or any other social factor that can interfere with the regimen, proper exercise, nutrition, and quality sleep. This is one of the reasons why the cycle must be within a certain time frame.

Here I have specified only some of the reasons that can put you out of action. Everyone’s favorite set of muscle mass was taken as an example, but such restrictions exist both for getting rid of fat, and for increasing strength, endurance, and any other progress, even in the field of improving mental productivity.

From all of the above, we conclude that the length of the cycle of using any PEDs will most often be limited by factors that depend on your physiology, the ability to focus on the task at hand, the daily routine, work, etc. It is important to understand this in advance before you decide to use certain substances to achieve a result. Accordingly, drugs will be selected in the same way based on the given length of your cycle.