EQ or Deca for off-season mass gains?

[Odysseus]

Hi Prae,

I have used Deca in the past for off season cycles, which normally look something like this:

500mg Test C/E
300mg Deca

The results are always good. However, Deca always makes me feel extremely lethargic/tired and shut down. I am curious as to whether EQ would be a viable replacement for Deca. Assuming that everything else stays the same (diet, training, etc.), would EQ give comparable gains to Deca?

I started the Test/EQ cycle 3 weeks ago (500mg Test and 400mg EQ) and I was wondering if I should get more EQ to run it for the full 12-16 weeks, or if I should stop it after next week and replace it with Deca. I realize that EQ is a very long ester and many say that it would take a while to notice effects. But personally, I used to always notice gains from Deca as early as 2-3 weeks in despite Deca also being a long ester. So far EQ does not feel any different than running the 500mg of Test alone. I am also not getting the anecdotal hunger increase that most people report.

Also, I am trying to eat as clean as possible but it's difficult to get the calories in without eating junk. I'm only trying to eat clean due to the difficulty I always encounter when cutting. I want to save myself some work and not get too far from contest shape. Looking to gain 15-25 lbs in the next 3-4 months or so. Is that realistic? My diet right now looks something like this:

Meal 1 - 6 whole omega 3 eggs with 3 additional egg whites.

Meal 2 - 12 oz ground beef with 1 cup brown rice.

Meal 3 - 12 oz chicken breast with 1 cup brown rice

Meal 4 - Protein shake with 50g protein powder and 2 teaspoons of natural peanut butter.

Meal 5 - 8 oz steak and 4 pancakes.

Meal 6 - 12 oz ground beef with 1 cup brown rice.

Meal 7 - Not really a "meal," but I drink 2 glasses of organic, low sugar chocolate milk before bed. I'm lactose intolerant but this particular brand adds enzymes to it and is also low in sugar and has double the protein. Yummy way to get in extra calories.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, as well as suggestions for different kinds of food!

[HeavyD]

For me personally...

Deca for mass off season.... Eq for athleticism....

No one will agree about being "shut down harder" but I do....

Most all my cycles are testE/deca/dbol... And at least for my body I was shit down much longer than just test alone... Is it the ester or nandrolone alone???

I've never ran npp but have heard the same...

I find eq must be run at 600mg a week to see what your looking for. Cardio goes way up and endurance is better word...

Personally off season deca. Cutting use eq....

I normally run testE @ 600-750/ week with deca at 450-600/week.... And dbol to kick start from anywhere 4-6 weeks... But watch long hauls with dbol on organ

I switch it up maybe once. A year with almost same dose but substitute eq @600 and Tbol or anavar, Super drol...

Now I think this question is a lot based on personal opinion.

O and on long hauls on eq... Good idea to donate blood as cell count goes through the roof. Hence the endurance.

[Praetorian]

EQ is much weaker then Deca and you wont get as much fluid retention in the joints so strength doesnt go up as much as deca. Personally I also do not get any hunger from EQ and vascularity is also not increased...maybe because I am vascular all the time anyway. I prefer deca off season and first half of precontest prep then switch to EQ. EQ is great off season because of the tendon benefits it provides but you dont need much for that 300 weekly is enough. For mass would run 750mg test plus 400mg deca weekly. Orals are not necessary and front loading with an oral is a waste...if you are going to use one use it week 5 when most long ester have high enough blood levels.

As for diet 120z is a huge amount of meat to eat unless you are around 330lbs off season...if not 8oz is more then enough. Just add more meals...bigger meals leads to distended abdomen.

P