How lean should you be before starting a cycle?

Intro

In this post I’ll discuss just how lean you should be before starting a cycle and go into detail as to why.

I had a few comments on a video of mine that were basically saying that they were overweight and they wanted to do a cycle.

A misconception that some people seem to have is that steroids are fat burners.

STEROIDS ARE NOT FAT BURNERS, THEY ARE MUSCLE BUILDERS!

Yes, it’s true that some steroids have fat burning properties (anavar, trenbolone) but this is by no means their primary mechanism of action. Such effects should be thought of as nothing more than welcome and added benefits.

Using them primarily as a fat loss tool is like using a fork to eat soup, it might help a little bit but it’s the wrong tool for the job – you would be better off using a spoon or in this case, a fat burner, a calculated calorie deficit and adding in cardio.

How lean should you be before starting a steroid cycle?

The leaner the better.

I think you should have visible abs. They don’t need to be completely chiselled out of stone, a vague outline is adequate.

In terms of bodyfat percentage, this is probably 12-14% for most guys.

That’s what I would really say is the cut off point, any higher than that and I would hold off on doing a cycle and get yourself leaner first.

But WHY?

You’re probably pretty disapointed with that, but let me explain…

What are steroids for?

If you answered building muscle – You’re correct!

So with that being said, they should be used as a force multiplier in a phase where you want to maximise muscle growth.

To optimize muscle growth you need a calorie surplus, which means some degree of bodyfat gain will be part of the package.

So really the leaner you are at the beginning of this phase, the more runway you have to bulk and build muscle before too much bodyfat is accumilated to where you need to pull the calories back.

Not only that, but there’s plenty of health benefits to starting a cycle leaner. These include…

Lower blood pressure

Generally the more body fat you have the higher your blood is going to be. Fat tissue requires oxygen and nutrients, so the body forms more blood vessels, increasing the total blood volume and forcing the heart to pump harder than it would need to otherwise. Stacking anabolics on top of this that are known to increase blood pressure could be a recipe for disaster.

Easier estrogen management

Having less body fat reduces aromatization rates. The majority of aromatize enyzmes that facilitate testosterones conversion into estrogen are in the adipose tissue – So the less fat you have, the less aromatization you will get.

This makes estrogen easier to manage and may be the difference between some guys needing an AI or not.

Improved insulin sensitivity

A leaner physique is more responsive to anabolism, and having lower body fat improves nutrient partitioning – this means more of the calories you consume go towards muscle growth rather than fat storage.

There’s also less risk of diabetes and metabolic issues, improving long-term health and performance.

Excess body fat leads to insulin resistance, reducing the ability to efficiently burn fat for fuel.

Improved workout endurance

Being leaner improves stamina, meaning you’ll be able to workout for longer. This is key when trying to build muscle with steroids as it’s often more advantagous to use lower weight and put more of a focus on time under tension and use volume, extra reps and extra sets as the primary drivers of overload as opposed to just piling more weight on the bar.

I go into detail as to why this is beneficial in the enhanced section of this video @ 07:16

Reduced Oxygen Efficiency (VO₂ Max Decline)

Higher body fat lowers VO₂ max, meaning the body becomes less efficient at delivering oxygen to muscles during prolonged activity.

Also excess fat reduces mitochondrial efficiency meaning more fat can make it harder for muscles to sustain endurance efforts.

Increased Inflammation (Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation)

Excess fat, especially visceral fat, releases pro-inflammatory cytokines. Chronic inflammation disrupts mitochondrial function, leading to oxidative stress and reduced ATP (energy) production. Damaged mitochondria become less efficient at using oxygen for energy further impairing endurance.

Easier follow up cutting phase

If a cut is needed later, it will be shorter and less extreme allowing you to potentially preserve more muscle as opposed to a long drawn out cut where you maybe have to lose more than 10% body.

Something else to consider here is that if you’ve spend your bulk blasting gear then you’ll ideally want some off time following that to give you body a break and focus on health – whether that’s pulling back to a cruise/TRT or doing a PCT.

Lowering the dose or dropping the gear entirely is cutting out a major factor of anabolic signalling via the androgen receptor, and the liberation of the glucocorticoid receptor which increase cortisol levels.

That’s two additional catabolic factor as well as the caloric deficit.

So minimising this period is crucial in order to maintain as much mass gained from the bulking cycle as possible.

It’s much easier & quicker to cut to 8% BF from 15% BF than it is from 20% BF if you’d have started your bulk with more bodyfat.

Final thoughts

With the above in mind, I’d highly recommend being as lean as possible before you start a cycle both from a results and health standpoint.

Give the above information some consideration, this is just my take and what’s worked for me and some of the guys that I work with.