# "Insert cool name here" Journal - Bodybuilding / Working in healthcare



## AcidTears (Jul 12, 2022)

Decided I might as well use this forum as a journal for keeping track of my lifting, supplement/gear usage and challenges that working in healthcare bring to table. Might benefit someone or atleast give you guys a way to tell me I'm retarded for doing things the way I do 

*About:*
Fulltime nurse at the cardiology department, Dutch, married, father of one (for now!), used to work in IT. Life's all about pivoting between family life, lifting, friends/social life, hobbies and work and I would not have it any other way. Been lifting since about 18 y.o. but never got to see the results I expected, mostly because of shitty food, shitty training and eventually being diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism. Could get lean but didn't have the muscle on my frame to support a good look. Hopped on TRT (Dr. perscribed) and fell in love with lifting all over again. 

My job as a nurse is pretty intense, meaning irregular hours (early, late and night shifts), constant high stress levels (compared to  a regular desk job) and being on top of your game all the time because people can die if I fuck up. My department specializes in initial care for people that have heart attacks, lung oedema, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, etc. I do my lifting and working out as much as possible even if this means getting up at 4:30AM to get a workout it.

*Gear:*
Allthough my effective training age is probably too low for most of you to consider using gear it's been a godsent for me in combining all that I do and still recover fast.
I see steroids, hormones and all compounds in general as tools for your toolbox. PED's can be used as a way to optimize life, get to  goals faster while still being able to take care of the responsibilities I have at work in taking care of others. It allows me to workout hard, recover hard/fast, take care of my family and do my job to a better degree than my colleagues. Could I get to my goals without the use of PED's and only on HRT? Hell yes! Would it allow me to live my life the way I do now and not let either my family/friends, job or workouts suffer? nope.. 

Being a nurse and having contacts at the hospital lab allows me to run a full  panel 4 times a year to keep an eye on my health. Combine that with a periodic
echocardiogram and ECG's twice a year (perks of working in the cardiology department and a cardiologist who's in the know), weekly blood pressure monitoring and a continuous blood glucose monitor I can definitely say I'm keeping a good eye on my health (more than some others) and have only gotten healthier the longer I've been working towards my goals. 

*Goals:*

Daily activities with family, friends and at work without pain or issues - meaning strength, control and mobility are on point
105-110kg with 8-12% BF (means I got a lot more work to be done) and then just maintain
Bech: 1.25x my bodyweight
Squat: 1.5x my bodyweight
Deadlift: 1.5-2x my bodyweight
Sub 45 minute 10K run
Swim 2km in open water and not drown 

*Body stats* as per 12th of july 2022:

Height: 185,5cm (about 6"1')
Weight: 98.8kg (213lbs)
BF%: 15.8
*Lifts* (I never do 1RM lifts, I lift alone and have a big job responsibility .. so yeah I'm a weak ass B*tch for sure compared to all of you monsters):

Bench: 3x90kg (198lbs)
Squat: 4x100kg (220lbs)
Deadlift: 2x140kg (308lbs) <-- I used to focus a lot more on deadlifting to fix posture
*Steroids / Gear:*

Dr. perscribed TRT 125mg every 5 days
Current athletic HRT: 250mg Test-E + 50mg DHB every week split into two administrations (mon-fr) + 2IU's of GH on workout days & 12.5mg of MK667 daily
Blasted twice in the past; had to cancel my first one because of family reasons, second one put on a solid 5-6kg's of muscle/glycogen in about 18 weeks
Currently on athletic HRT and doing a mini cut to get ready to blast again end of August

*Workout:*

PPL (3 workouts a week) with abs hit every workout (will post current workout in future post) - focussing on building/maintaining strength currently
Boxing HIIT workout 1-2x a week (10 rounds of full on boxing, 30 sec recovery, repeat) either seperate or at the end of my lifting workouts
Easy 4-6K runs 1-3x a week (depending on recovery and time) while focussing on nasal breathing and keeping HR under 150BPM
Incidental bicycling to work (70Km a day) when the weather and my shifts allows it (once or twice a month)
Daily walks 8-12K outside with my family - sometimes do 25-35k steps at work
Daily mobility work, be it a yoga/mobility routine, foam rolling, etc.


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## DLTBB (Jul 12, 2022)

Good luck. A 70KM cycle to work is some commute.


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## AcidTears (Jul 12, 2022)

DLTBB said:


> Good luck. A 70KM cycle to work is some commute.



Haha this is to and from work (so 35km each, which is about an hour of cycling a decent pace) and I’m usually doing this by either motorcycle or car 


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## AcidTears (Jul 12, 2022)

*Current macro's (as per 12-07-2022) on mini cut:*

Workout days:
244gr protein
280gr carbs
49gr fat

Rest days:
244gr protein
200gr carbs
49gr fats


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## AcidTears (Jul 24, 2022)

Finally have a weekend with some time on my hands to work-out, update my log and do some stuff around the house.

Current weight: 94.2kg (208lbs)

12 days since last post. A few things have changed:

Dropped carbs on workout days to 225 and lowered insulin to 8IU's pre and post workout
Changed meals to a modified protein sparing fast style, meaning I do eat protein during the day but nothing else. This keeps my blood glucose levels stable while keeping my head clear being able to focus on doing me job. It's stupid busy and this strategy enables me to "stuff" myself at the end of the day and veg out on the sofa.
Introduced Injectable choline (100mg/day) and this seems to take away most of my interest in food during the day and even seems to help me focus a bit better (might be placebo).
Changed my runs to early morning runs (fasted) - had to supplement with electrolytes because of cramps and lower salt intake during the day.
New 3 mile record run (took my time from 21 to 19 minutes) - less weight helps a ton
GH 2IU's now only on weightlifting days in the AM
Dropped MK667 due to exsessive hunger during the night.
Wife set a new deadline for me to look my "best" - we're going to spain for a beach holliday in 6 weeks and I'm fluffier than I'd like, plus also would like to reverse diet a bit before leaving. Introduced a low dose (125mg in the PM) of DNP (have dieted both with and without DNP) as an extra fat burning aid - near to zero heat issues during the day bit nice and toasty at night. 

Fat has been coming off nicely, I'm flat as a pancake which is demotivating sometimes but with the insulin I'm able to dump those carbs right where I want them. Post workout I'm  able to see my abs again and I look full for about 2 hours before deflating haha.

Workouts are still PPL with emphisis on my abs, delts, bicep/tricep and chest. My legs seem to grow without much effort, as do my calves (yep I'm that asshole) due to my job.
Morning (fasted runs) 2-3 times a week - steady pace 110-140 bpm for about 3-5 miles.
HIIT boxing (bag) - 10 rounds all out until failure, 30 second recovery, repeat


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## Stickler (Jul 24, 2022)

Man with a plan. Very precise actions. You seem to know what your body responds to.  Have you done this regimen before with known results or is this an experiment in the works?


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## AcidTears (Jul 24, 2022)

Stickler said:


> Man with a plan. Very precise actions. You seem to know what your body responds to. Have you done this regimen before with known results or is this an experiment in the works?



Thanks brother!

Ive been getting to know my body over the last 15 years of working out, fixing health problems (have ADD, no ACL in my left knee, peri-myocarditis, etc), experimenting, etc.

The injectable choline is an experiment with promising results so far but let’s give it another few weeks! The rest is stuff I already have experience with 

Did my “anabolic mapping” over the past 3.5 years of some blasting and cruising. Touching HGH for the first time, using insulin for recovery and even further fat loss, etc. 

Touched a lot of the more common compounds, not so much peptides and sarms, etc. Did a lot of experimenting to get my nutrition down (low carb, keto, carnivore, high carb, IIFYM, etc).

I tend to see all compounds and nutrition strategies, etc. As tools in my toolbox. 


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## AcidTears (Aug 2, 2022)

Another update.
Weight as per this morning: 92.2kg (long live DNP) and looking flatter than a pancake!
Training and fat loss has been going especially well concidering I added and since upped a low dose of DNP about 2 weeks ago. Heat is very manageable and i'm able to offset some of the lethargy nicely.


Source decided to take a vacation so ended up homebrewing my inj. L-Carnitine and Choline and will be doing so from now on (very easy and very cheap this way). Made enough to last me about 6 months in one sitting.
Carbs are still in place (225 on workout days) with 8IU's insulin pre and post
Had another bout of nightshifts so weight dropped quickly (I don't eat much during my nightshifts and sometimes even have trouble getting my protein in)
Upped DNP to 250mg a day
Nightshifts combined with DNP is known for me to fuck up my thyroid pretty quickly (low T3)
Brittle hair, dry skin and a bit of hand edema 
All fixed within a few days by adding 25ug of T3 combined with 125ug of T4
Have used thyroid meds in the past and my thyroid bounces back in about 1 to 1.5 weeks after stopping (confirmed using labs)


Injectable choline combined with injectable L-Carnitine has been awesome in getting rid / mitigating some of the lethargy that's part of using DNP - definitely not placebo anymore! (N=1 looks promising!)
Hunger also seems to have deminished quite a bit despite being on lower Kcal and DNP + thyroid hormones.

GH (2IU on training days) is still in place
Sports TRT (250 test + 50 DHB / week) is still in place
Training currently set up like this:
Monday: Morning cardio (running) - Evening weightlifting
Tuesday: HIIT boxing - 30 minutes LISS during the day (walking outside for vit. D)
Wednesday: Morning weightlifting - evening cardio (running)
Thursday: HIIT boxing - 30-45 minutes of LISS during the day
Friday: Morning cardio (running/cycling) - Evening weightlifting
Saturday: 45-60 minutes of LISS outside + Yoga / mobility work
Sunday: 45-60 minutes of LISS outside + Yoga / mobility work

But the training times / configuration can change pretty quickly because of my ever changing shifts. Morning workouts and cardio means getting up at 4:30AM on work days (FML - but results are very much worth it!)

Plan: Monitor fat loss and adjust kcal / cardio accordingly - not adding any more chemical signalling (DNP or thyroid) but will further adjust either output or intake to lean down a bit more. Guestimate is dropping about 2-2.5% of BF in less than a month which is very much a win, so time to stay the course. End of cut will be 29th of august.


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## AcidTears (Aug 11, 2022)

Time for another update - It's f*cking hot out here and I'm dead tired!
Like almost everywhere in the world temps have been crazy high these last few days. Living in Holland means high temps = high humidity = sweating by the bucketload, especially at work when all you wear is a nylon (non-breathing) shirt that works as well as those infomercial sweat suits!

Work has been crazy (double shifts due to sickness amoung personel) and my fuse has been short when it comes to colleagues giving me BS about why they're not giving 100% on their job which has been causing a bit of friction with some of the team.

Weight: 90.6kg with a shit load of waterweight and zero muscle glycogen.

Changes:

Dropped the DNP as per yesterday - Was waking up in puddles every night, sleep went to shit because of it and had to change t-shirts 3 times per shift.
Lost a  few kg's and expecting the water to drop over the coming week

Upped water and electrolyte intake due to massive sweating and in hopes of flushing the excess water quicker
Systemic fatigue is high - bloated, shitcanned energy levels, etc. so focussing on recovering hard on my days off.
Upped GH to 2IU morning and evening to speed up recovery.
Keeping the injectable L-Carnitine at 1gr/day on workout days and 500mg on non-lifting days
Keeping the thyroid in for 1.5 to 2 weeks while the DNP flushes out of my system, then I'll drop the T3 and keep in the T4 for a bit longer albeit at a lower dose.
Dialing slightly back on my cardio this week - single run and one HIIT session in hopes of speeding up recovery
Keeping carbs and insulin in place
Thinking about adding a ECAY in place once my recovery is back on track - should aid just that bit more.
Slowly going to start planning my next blast after I do labs in about 2 weeks   Thinking about base test with DHB as I respond good to both.


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## IronSoul (Aug 11, 2022)

Following along man. Awesome that you are able to get all those work ups done so easily and free. I would absolutely take advantage of it too. I think you’ll enjoy this forum a lot and looking forward to your log. 


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## IronSoul (Aug 11, 2022)

Very interesting combination in your split. M sure you are able to stay pretty lean with all of that.


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## AcidTears (Aug 11, 2022)

IronSoul said:


> Very interesting combination in your split. M sure you are able to stay pretty lean with all of that.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Anything specific you find interesting or would like elaboration on? Here to learn so any feedback is welcome - also: thanks!


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## AcidTears (Aug 19, 2022)

Another week another update.
Shit's been hitting the fan hard at work so a lot of double shifts, crazy situations and very sick patients. All resulting in me being under recovered due to lack of sleep, despite my best efforts. It's a home stretch (just one more week of night shifts to get through!) until my 2.5 week vacation in hopes we don't get work orders sent out because of sick personell.
Training is steady but has suffered a bit - energy in the gym is lackluster and pumps have been deminished - as has libido which is a clear indicator for me I'm burning the candle at both ends and need to be carefull.

Dropping the DNP has been the right choice. Almost everything is unchanged for now.
Lifts have not progressed nor have they decressed so with everything going on it's a win for now!
Upped my carb intake to keep up with the demands at work (15 - 35K steps a day) and to maybe fill out a bit more.
Weight has been stable at 89.2 for the last week.

Happy with where I am from a body composition point, will probably do a marinade here for a week and then up kcal in hopes of dropping the water I'm still holding and reveal some of my work!


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## JuiceTrain (Aug 19, 2022)

AssTears a.k.a MuddButt


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## AcidTears (Sep 12, 2022)

Allright! Back from vacation so time to change training and change gear(s). Decompressed hard and ready to kick training back into gear now!

Added a bit of fluff back to my frame fucking up a calculation and doing 1.5x my weekly test dosage in one shot and doing fuck all training wise except some mild band/pump work, the occasional rolling around with the wife and running twice a week.

Water weight was cut with 12.5mg of a diazide and 10mg of aromasin after my blood work came back and my E2 was way to high. Shed over 3.8kg's in two days and felt a whole lot better! Rest of the blood work was perfect. Took my ECG/EKG yesterday evening at work and everything is looking mighty fine, doc looked over with a echo and ejection fraction is even over baseline (improved!) compared to 9 months ago, so definite win. No signs of valve problems, scarring, hypertrophy, etc.

Current weight: 91.2kg - can still see a bit of ab outline but holding some fluff and fluid in my lower back (sucks because it hides the little bit of ass I still have left hahaha)

Plan:

Training: 5/3/1+ template with Boring But Big accessoiry work (3x a week)
Going to do incline bench to develop my upper chest and assist in keeping shoulders in alignment
Wife asked me to focus more on the beefcakes when squatting because she's like me to still have an ass next time I get lean   
If short on time I will do a WaLRUS workout (got a kid and an unpredicable job)
Daily reps for abs, arms and shoulders (light pump style) to widen and thicken my look a bit (got a big back but weak shoulders and arms)
Running twice a week (both slow long runs) early morning (love early morning winter runs)
Boxing / HIIT (jump rope or bicycle) once or twice a week depending on recovery
Supps:

GH 2IU AM on training days - I will add in some MK667 on non training days once my kcal get back over 2900 because I'll eat whatever in sight otherwise. 
Test-e 250mg / week devided in two shots
DHB 150mg / week to start and going to working this one up if I need more chemical signalling
Inj. Choline 200mg/day for energy benefits and mental benefits (Loving this stuff)
Inj. L-Carnitine 500mg AM/PM daily, either pre-workout or pre-run - to bump up nutrient turnover, help with beta-oxidation and prevent lactate buildup.
8IU's novorapid s.c. about 10 minutes before I start my warming up / training
10IU's novorapid i.m. with my post workout meal.
Optional: 2IU's novorapid pre morning cardio (fasted) to lower blood glucose and force fat oxidation.
Goal is to go until the end of December, check progress every one or two weeks and adjust accordingly. Hoping the cardio work combined with the strength work will keep my conditioning good while packing on strength and muscle - If anything my goals is to become strong this winter and add a few kg of muscle if possible. 

Might also put up some pics after I gained a bit of size back just because my "leaned down" look just looks pathetic compared to some of the stuff you guys put up here.


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