Whats your biggest regret with starting/using gear?

[first blood]

In terms of how we learn more as we go and we can look back and see maybe we started too young or used too many compounds or we ran a cycle a bit too long.To maybe not doing PCT or having a girl break up with us or lost a friend because we took it too far and let the tren makes us intolerable ....

Not trying to be negative or make people rehash the past but instead trying to use this as a way for new guys to learn from others mistakes.

For me I started using gear at 34 which is considered late but I wish I started TRT first and maybe started when I was 32 when I found out I had low T. Instead I tried all the supplements and all the "natural" alternatives like test boosters and extra zinc to no avail . Then at 34 I started blasting and didnt go on TRT till I turned 40. Blasting was great but I had significant trouble keeping gains afterward.
I feel like I wasted about 4 or 5 years fighting an uphill battle with testosterone levels of a 60 yr old. If I started TRT I would have made solid gains because I had the work ethic and the training and diet in place. Then when I started blasting I would have achieved so much more. Of course Im speculating and all regrets are is would've , should've , could've at the end of the day. So lets take this post with a grain of salt! But if you can do things different or better looking back how would you have changed your approach?

 

[Presser]

My biggest regret is the condition of my knees , yes BOTH! I need knee replacements and the only thing holding them together now is the muscle lol, So i would have trained smarter, meaning I wouldnt have gone so damn heavy in my early 20's , hell looking back, i should have skipped the powerlifting and just did bodybuilding. As i think powerlifting training for meets, and shit destroyed my knees. And I wouldnt have done so much winstrol when i first got into bodybuilding!

Another regret is , my hair line is creeping back, and i dont know that its genetic or not, but i would have payed more attention to DHT and my hair!

Great topic by the way First Blood

 

[first blood]

Sucks when the hairline goes. Stay away from using Finasteride..... I used it for a short time and it did weird shit to me...
I started receding in my late teens and use aas nowadays and although it is going at 43 I'm still holding on somehow, as long as your head is shaped like a nice coconut shaving it is g2g!

 

[drtbear1967]

If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of my body. Knees, back, shoulder are all thrashed. Haven't been able to do legs for years. Look like a boxer pup, all shoulders and no ass. LOL Oh well, I will be 50 next year and still in the gym 4 to 5 days a week. Walking around at 255 lbs. at 6'3" at about 15% body fat.. still have a little fight left in me.

 

[KngShisa]

My biggest regret is the condition of my knees , yes BOTH! I need knee replacements and the only thing holding them together now is the muscle lol, So i would have trained smarter, meaning I wouldnt have gone so damn heavy in my early 20's , hell looking back, i should have skipped the powerlifting and just did bodybuilding. As i think powerlifting training for meets, and shit destroyed my knees. And I wouldnt have done so much winstrol when i first got into bodybuilding!

Another regret is , my hair line is creeping back, and i dont know that its genetic or not, but i would have payed more attention to DHT and my hair!

Great topic by the way First Blood

See that's the great thing about this subject, everything really is a catch 22. You're thinking you shouldn't have lifted so heavy in your youth and I'm thinking the opposite! You can make the argument that your joints are the worse for it, but would you be as well developed if you hadn't? I'd also count you lucky that your hairline is JUST starting to recede. Mine started to quit in my early 20's so I fired it (and at 140 lbs. immediately realized I seriously need to put on size to make it work), but like first blood said, as long as you have a decently shaped head, it's no big deal at all.

 

[trekrider215]

My only regret is not having spent more time cruising.

 

[MightyJohn]

Not training smarter to be injury free

Not using more gear sooner...did same dosages while on cycle for while on for 10-12yrs....should have blasted higher/cruised sooner in life not to miss that window of growth in My prime(I yo-yo'd for years instead)

 

[Muscle mechanic]

I am bald on top. Hairline been narrowed before 20. Head shape good I shave it but get huge zits on blast behind neck and on head. I managed to have kids but I am definitely sterile now at 40. It wasn't steroids I regretted it other drugs I used until 30 I can't believe I used to do all that stuff. I partied too much and my life got delayed.
I guess what I regret about steroids is that I let my emotions get best of me. I started nothing with anyone but when I have enough I don't back down or let something go until I am satisfied. My steroid use has allowed people to point and say look he is on steroids look how mad he gets! It's not the steroids my dad is same way he never used a steroid. I guess I wish I can be calmer and let things go
And if I can go back I would have never let wife know near as much can't stand the way she uses it against me.

 

[Iron Game]

Nutrition, I didn't eat nowhere near the calories needed to optimize my gains. I needed twice the calories I was taking in. I have never had a huge appetite. My first several cycles sucked because of it.

 

[first blood]

Some great responses so far! As we can see everyone has something that they wish they can re-do . Nothing wrong with that either. It's part of it.

 

[Muscle mechanic]

Nutrition, I didn't eat nowhere near the calories needed to optimize my gains. I needed twice the calories I was taking in. I have never had a huge appetite. My first several cycles sucked because of it.

I am in boat, still don't eat enough good calories. I crave sweets and eat them and don't gain fat but I lack the ability to eat large enough and often enough

 

[BigZ]

I regret that I hadn't started earlier (and this really refers to HRT), and then when I did start, I wish I could have done the whole 9 yards and embraced the entire lifestyle with more dedication. I'm too laid back and procrastinate too much. I knew something was wrong and I needed to be on HRT but put it off. Was 30 when I finally got it. Should have done it more like when I was 22.

 

[first blood]

I regret that I hadn't started earlier (and this really refers to HRT), and then when I did start, I wish I could have done the whole 9 yards and embraced the entire lifestyle with more dedication. I'm too laid back and procrastinate too much. I knew something was wrong and I needed to be on HRT but put it off. Was 30 when I finally got it. Should have done it more like when I was 22.

30 is on the younger side...how old are u now?

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[BigZ]

I'm turning 48 next week. Been on HRT now for 17.5 years. Thing is, I was suffering from low T far before age 30, real medical need for it.

 

[yellow snow]

See that's the great thing about this subject, everything really is a catch 22. You're thinking you shouldn't have lifted so heavy in your youth and I'm thinking the opposite! You can make the argument that your joints are the worse for it, but would you be as well developed if you hadn't? I'd also count you lucky that your hairline is JUST starting to recede. Mine started to quit in my early 20's so I fired it (and at 140 lbs. immediately realized I seriously need to put on size to make it work), but like first blood said, as long as you have a decently shaped head, it's no big deal at all.

I wish I would have lifted heavier but with better form. I was naturally blessed with great genetic for deadlift, but after doing it with "f'd" up form I can't dead lift at all now.

What I tell all the young guys in the gym is lift as heavy as possible when you are young, because as you get older you body just won't take it. You then develope what you started in your 20's and early 30's and start to mold it into a work of art in your late 30's and early 40's!!

I wish I knew more about PCT, I really screwed up some great gains and hard work in the gym due to pure ignorance!

 

[Muscle mechanic]

I wish I would have lifted heavier but with better form. I was naturally blessed with great genetic for deadlift, but after doing it with "f'd" up form I can't dead lift at all now.

What I tell all the young guys in the gym is lift as heavy as possible when you are young, because as you get older you body just won't take it. You then develope what you started in your 20's and early 30's and start to mold it into a work of art in your late 30's and early 40's!!

I wish I knew more about PCT, I really screwed up some great gains and hard work in the gym due to pure ignorance!

I can't dead lift either. I think I just went too heavy for knees hips and lower back.
But when I started didn't know what pct was. We used to take tribulus lol!

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[LeatherHead]

Nutrition, I didn't eat nowhere near the calories needed to optimize my gains. I needed twice the calories I was taking in. I have never had a huge appetite. My first several cycles sucked because of it.

That's what I was going to say, too. If I could have been more strict and kept my diet in check, I'd have been on the stage a long time ago. My sweet tooth is the devil.

 

[Muscle mechanic]

That's what I was going to say, too. If I could have been more strict and kept my diet in check, I'd have been on the stage a long time ago. My sweet tooth is the devil.

I still have that sweet tooth that I crave. I go all day at work but get home eat supper and start eating sweets. I go into the night doing it. I even grab handfuls of M&M's when I go take a leak. Have to be more self disaplined!

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[LeatherHead]

I still have that sweet tooth that I crave. I go all day at work but get home eat supper and start eating sweets. I go into the night doing it. I even grab handfuls of M&M's when I go take a leak. Have to be more self disaplined!

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You sounds almost as bad as me!! LOL I'll bake some brownies with walnuts in a 9"x13" pan, and I'll eat half a pan one night and the rest the next night, after dinner. I'll kill a half gallon of ice cream in 3 sittings. People ask why I train so hard... if I didn't, I'd be 350lbs, and not in the good way!

 

[Muscle mechanic]

I am same way. Lol! If I watch diet I can get lower in body fat but I don't get above around 13% and it amazes me and other people the food is can eat.
I think that my metabolic rate just became high because of consistency of working out training and anabolic use. They say that our bodies adapt to be more efficient and I believe this is the case.
Now trust me I gotta kick the sweets because spring is coming and then summer. But I can see changes that have occurred in body and metabolic rate over the past 10 years. I have been training for 20. But when I train I really push the pace after my heavy sets

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