Getting lean on retatrutide before blasting, how many of you are doing a proper GLP-1 phase first now?

Did a 12-week retatrutide phase before starting my blast this year - 1mg twice weekly, dropped from 19% to around 13% body fat, then started the full cycle. The response was noticeably better starting lean. More sensitive to the compounds, less water masking the results, cleaner look throughout. Is this becoming standard practice here or are people still going straight into a surplus regardless of starting body fat? Curious how many are now doing a GLP-1 cut first before a proper blast.

This is becoming standard in the serious US competitive community. Starting a blast at 19% body fat versus 13% makes a real difference to how the compounds work - better insulin sensitivity, less aromatization, cleaner response overall. I ran retatrutide for 10 weeks before my last blast, dropped from 17% to 12%, and the cycle was the best I've run in years. The overlap of Reta into the first 4-6 weeks of the blast for appetite management while in a controlled surplus is the next step a lot of guys are trying.

Started doing a GLP-1 phase first after reading threads like this one. Ran reta for 8 weeks before my last blast, got down to around 14% from 18%, and the results on cycle were noticeably better than my previous run at similar doses. Leaner start point means the muscle-to-fat gain ratio is better throughout. Makes sense when you think about it but took me a while to actually do it rather than just going straight to the blast.

This is the pattern now for anyone paying attention. GLP-1 cut to a lean starting point, then blast from there. The insulin sensitivity at lower body fat makes the anabolics more effective. Anyone still starting a bulk at 20% plus body fat is leaving results on the table. The community adoption of this approach is ahead of mainstream bodybuilding by several years - we've always been early adopters on compounds that end up proven useful.

Interesting approach. I'm nowhere near needing a GLP-1 phase but the logic of starting leaner makes sense even at my level. Better insulin sensitivity, cleaner response to compounds. Will keep this in mind for down the road.

The leaner starting point logic makes complete sense from an endocrinology standpoint. Better insulin sensitivity at lower body fat means better partitioning of nutrients toward muscle versus fat during the blast. I've been researching this approach and intend to do a 10-week retatrutide phase before my next cycle specifically for this reason.

Started a GLP-1 phase before my last blast after reading threads like this. Dropped about 6kg over 10 weeks on reta before starting. The blast felt more productive from the start - leaner base point made the visual progress clearer from week one. Going to make this standard practice going forward.

Did a retatrutide phase before my last blast and the difference in how I responded was noticeable. Started at roughly 17% body fat and got to around 12% before pinning. Better visual progress from week one of the blast and kept condition much tighter throughout. Will do a GLP-1 phase before every blast from now on.