Now What? Switching over from Powerlifting to bodybuilding

I was a competitive powerlifter and completed nationals in February. I have suffered several injuries over the past two years of training for that podium. I am now trying to recover from a tendon issue that flared up last fall but had to continue to train through it for nationals. However, I have damaged my tendons so bad right now that I cannot lift 10lbs so I am currently undergoing injections to promote healing so for now I'm must doing cardio. I have decided to to quit powerlifting and would like to focus on bodybuilding (lean out and expose the muscle I have gained through powerlifting). What is the best recommended combination of drugs with the least amount of side effects I can take to help lean down lots and expose, maintain or build some more muscle. I am 49 years old so not sure if age makes a difference but I still want to look like I take care of myself.

First of all, welcome to MuscleChemistry.com and 2nd of all, I started out as a competitive Power lifter as well, and Though I only competed in a hand full of meets/contests , I loved it! LOVED LOVED LOVED it! And when I started feeling joint aches and issues with my knees and shoulders I decided to switch over to Competitive bodybuilding and yeah there was a lot more muscle under that layer of linebacker /fullback type body fat! So im sure you’ll surprise yourself, and even if you already think u look good, just wait til u strip it off!

Although I made the switch over in my mid 20’s lol, so yeah, your being 49 years old is a bit different, but I think most of the compounds you’ll want to use to lean out for bodybuilding look are fine for your age. Your going to feel so much better as well, and the icing on the cake is your going to look 10x as strong as you do now when all that body fat is worked off and your sitting there striated! So good for you !

In terms of compounds, what are you asking exactly? To lose weight, I highly suggest taking an ECA stack, and if you can tolerate clenbuterol, then clen is fine, but I dont like it, and eca stack will get ya lean as hell if you diet and train properly while on it.

In terms of hormones however, its hard to say what a good combo would be for you. What have you use din the past? and where are you now with body fat and such? Height? weight? etc...

BTW, I also moved your thread out of the general forum and into the proper forum for everyone to see, read and respond to.

I also put at the end of your original thread title, “switching from powerlifting to bodybuilding” so everyone would know what the thread is about as I dont think many people will click “so now what?” although it got me intrigued as to what the F your talking about lmao

and again WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY

Welcome Sbdgrl.... if used carefully, you can take Pressers advice and maybe add some winny in there. Just have to watch for virilization.

Welcome to MC. Presser and Leatherhead have good advice but to name compounds we’d need a bit more information and as a powerliftiler as presser has stated I’m sure you covered in muscle and just need to strip it down a bit.


Team MeccaGear!

Thank you all for your comments...I'm 5'3 and weigh 168 (not sure what percentage of body fat that is but its up there). I look very strong with some muscle definition especially in my legs and shoulders and chest...so yes the linebacker (a typical powerlifter physique). I believe that I only have about 15lbs of fat to lose but could be wrong, I have no idea what I look like under it all. As I was in a tested federation, I have never taken any kind of performance enhancing drugs just good old hard work. I took the podium in every competition so I'm not afraid of the hard work but dammit I'm tired of fighting with the bulking and cutting and would like to just cut and stay down for awhile and I believe this will be where I can assess if I need to add more muscle. So basically, I am a virgin to this side of training.

Thank you for your info. You have quite a few options and I’m sure some of will add a few in. My suggestion would be a combination of T3, CLA’s and depending on how you react to that a small dose of var of 5mg a day would really help too. But 15lbs is not a lot to drop really and that can be done in 3 months easy without losing muscle (we are kinda against that here).
Meal prep plans are great to control intake and marco counting is easy but a bit time consuming but necessary when +muscle mass and -bodyfat is the mind set.

But let me also congratulate you on your dedication to Hardwork and success with powerlifting. I’ve never done it (got into this game late in life) but I’ve been to the comps and I’ve trained with y’all and it’s a beast of a sport and fun to watch.


Team MeccaGear!

if you're set on using a ped for fat burning, i'd choose primo. i'm guessing you're a girl and from what i've read you'd want to start with 5 mg to test the waters. you can play around with it up to 20 mg per day. watch for the andro signs and adjust accordingly. along with circuit training it will definitely burn some fat. i burned a lot of fat on primo. if you're at 15% bf you could go with var. either one would do good first time out i think. this is only my opinion on it if you're considering it.

Thank you Pgb, yes you are correct I am a female and 15lbs was a guess because I have no idea my body fat percentage. Never needed to worry about it in competition just weight. I want to lose as much fat as possible to show my muscles. Would var, clen and primo be too much of a combo?

Sbdgirl said:

Thank you Pgb, yes you are correct I am a female and 15lbs was a guess because I have no idea my body fat percentage. Never needed to worry about it in competition just weight. I want to lose as much fat as possible to show my muscles. Would var, clen and primo be too much of a combo?

Click to expand...

my bf% was higher when i used primo and it melted off fairly quick with it.
never used clen and i can't take eca, but if you can tolerate them, go with them at first. then if you need to boost it add var or primo ace. if you do both, you'll really have to watch for signs of andro. my wife has been doing 10 mg var regularly without any problems. she's ready to step up to trying primo.
don't mix a bunch of products all at once. do them singly, so if you have a bad side effect, you'll know what caused it.
my wife is 54, she's not big on exercise, but does walk, which works for her.

havent heard from you sbgirl, how is it going

The training will be a lot different as you will be adding a lot of reps and sets to each body part. All of the other information has been great, so you should be good to go.

pgb said:

my bf% was higher when i used primo and it melted off fairly quick with it.
never used clen and i can't take eca, but if you can tolerate them, go with them at first. then if you need to boost it add var or primo ace. if you do both, you'll really have to watch for signs of andro. my wife has been doing 10 mg var regularly without any problems. she's ready to step up to trying primo.
don't mix a bunch of products all at once. do them singly, so if you have a bad side effect, you'll know what caused it.
my wife is 54, she's not big on exercise, but does walk, which works for her.

Click to expand...

spot on with how to know what is the problem through not stacking a bunch of stuff together.