CommunityTraining & Muscle

Feedback on a 5-month workout outline while using reta

25 replies5 peopleMay 19, 2026☆ Follow
Summary

Will this gradual exercise ramp-up work well alongside reta for fat loss while preserving muscle?

The original poster shared a month-by-month plan starting at low dose with light cardio, then adding endurance work and weights while staying at the lowest effective dose. Several users noted the low dose already produced big early weight loss for that person. Others debated whether high-rep light training is optimal versus building strength first, and whether under-1000 calories is sustainable. The thread ends with side comments on TRT and extreme compounds.

What this discussion establishesWhere people disagree

Whether 15-rep sets imply light weights and if that approach is the best route to endurance versus first building a strength base

Still open

Long-term muscle retention on the planned calorie intake and whether the half-marathon or Tough Mudder goal will be realistic

Nothing here is advice.

25 replies · 5 people
WryThistle17archiveopening postMay 19

Looking for thoughts from people who have done this before. Here is the rough schedule I have in mind for the coming five months. Late April start: begin at 0.3 twice a week plus walking or easy jogging three or more days. May: stay at the same dose unless it stops working, shift toward more running and work on breathing and lung capacity. Add push-ups, crunches and planks. June: expect to raise the dose but keep it to the smallest amount that still works, introduce weights at fifteen-plus reps aiming for endurance rather than size, keep cardio but ease off the intensity. July: adjust dose only when needed, maybe add tesamorelin, hold the same training pattern. August: same dosing approach, keep lifting and running, maybe sign up for a half or an obstacle race. Any opinions?

IronLantern24archiveMay 20

I do far less activity than what you laid out early on and still drop fat while holding muscle, so this should go well for you.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @WryThistle17 (opening post)

Is that 0.3 of a 1 mg pen? Sounds like the micro-dosing some people talk about on social media. Why not begin at 3 mg? What is the goal here?

WryThistle17archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

I took 0.3 first to test tolerance. It worked and quieted the constant thoughts about food for roughly five days. On day six I switched to twice a week. Some said it was just placebo, but I wish that placebo would keep working longer. Started at 262 and hit 238 this morning. Not chasing heavy lifts, just adding some resistance work.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @WryThistle17

I was asking specifically about the thinking behind the weight-training part.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

If you really dropped twenty-four pounds on less than a third of a milligram you are either performing a miracle or the dose is higher than stated. Either way, impressive.

WryThistle17archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

I think mixing in weights instead of only cardio makes sense, and I have read that resistance work can reduce visceral fat. I am eating under a thousand calories most days, usually around eight hundred, plus the walking and jogging. It is actually 0.6 mg per week total since I split the dose. So nothing miraculous.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

I have never seen a salute delivered with more disdain. I was actually wondering why the plan uses light weights for fifteen reps.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

Never heard of higher reps with lighter loads?

PlainQuill53archiveMay 20

I think the overall mindset and structure will take you a long way instead of just increasing the dose. If the goal is muscle endurance, getting stronger first is usually the quickest path. Being able to do fifteen body-weight squats is fine, but once you can squat a heavy barbell you will knock out body-weight reps all day without effort. Extra muscle also raises daily calorie burn, which helps the deficit, and it can limit muscle loss during big weight drops even on this compound.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

Exactly what I was going to say, and the other person said it with more style.

WryThistle17archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

I never said I planned to use light weights for fifteen reps. That was your assumption.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @WryThistle17

No hard feelings. If the low dose works then it works, and the results so far are solid. Are you comfortable staying under a thousand calories? That intake seems quite low even once someone is down to one-fifty.

PlainQuill53archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

Training responses vary a lot, just like responses to these compounds. Some people never get very strong yet have great endurance because of how their muscles handle lactic acid. Others lift for decades and still look like beginners while newer trainees surpass them quickly. The plan shows a lot of thought already and seems fine as written.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @WryThistle17

Right, doing fifteen reps across multiple sets usually means the load is light unless there are special circumstances. That is why I asked whether the aim is a certain type of muscle growth or something else.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @PlainQuill53

Run 350 mg of testosterone weekly for sixteen weeks and the traps and shoulders will grow fast.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @PlainQuill53

That is the point. Phelps was an endurance athlete with limited muscle mass who could still produce force without much anaerobic buildup. His abundance of slow-twitch fibers suited his sport perfectly.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the side effects.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

Thy compound and its staff comfort me.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

My compound is not going to comfort or lead you anywhere. I do not swing that way. Since the topic came up, have you looked into dimethyltrienolone?

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

Only on rare occasions, and not really. Is that the same as dmht or dmt? I have seen the name but know little about it. I do know orals are hard on the liver.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

It is the extreme version some call giga-test. It is claimed to be a hundred times more anabolic than testosterone and far harsher on the liver than a simple tax; more like a massive blast.

PlainQuill53archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @SlowSignal40

He also had a trait that let lactic acid clear almost as fast as it formed, plus body proportions that favored swimming. I am planning to look into TRT later this year. My levels have sat around three hundred for years and regular doctors call it normal, but a clinic will probably prescribe it. I will keep up with blood work either way.

ClearHarbour45archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @PlainQuill53

Clinics are getting cheaper. You still need blood work at least twice a year and should watch hemoglobin, hematocrit, prostate and lipids.

SlowSignal40archiveMay 20
↳ replying to @PlainQuill53

If anyone has earned testosterone it is you. If a doctor refuses I will help you obtain it through creative means and we will clear out their entire supply in short order.

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Feedback on a 5-month workout outline while using reta · ZyraTrack Community