This is highly debatable, but I can give you my opinion on it.
There is only one way to gain strength on AAS and that is to gain some weight. If you try to take weak compounds thinking it will maintain your weight and make you stronger, you are misled. That is why in my original post I mentioned that you will be moving up weight classes if you use steroids. There really is no way around gaining weight if you want real strength.
You could take Anavar by itself and add like 20 pounds to your lifts, but what use is that? You really cannot get around the gaining weight issue. If you want to be big and strong you are going to need to gain weight. My strength was always relative to my bodyweight. Most of the 181 and 198 lifters i know started off as 155 or so and grew into the higher weight classes as their strength increased. I started as a 198 and after 2 years of using AAS I was competing as a 242 and my lifts were nearly 100 pounds higher, but the competition was high as well.
I know what you want and i assure you every single power lifter wants to gain strength without moving up weight classes. The only way to do this is to cut massive water weight before a meet, but this can kill your strength if you don't have enough time to rehydrate. Some weigh ins are the night before the meet and others are a few hours before the meet. I used to walk around at about 250 pounds and i would cut down to 220 the week leading up to the meet, but this is a risky subject. So, you could gain some weight and then cut water the week before, but again this isn't the best option. The ideal weight to be at is about 10 pounds above your competition class weight, that way you can easily drop 10 pounds of water a few days before the meet and have your full strength.
Winstrol is a terrible drug for Power lifting IMO. Short esters aren't going to matter that much, but if you don't mind every day injections it's fine. In the end it's your training that makes a huge difference. I added 80 pounds to my bench in 6 months just by learning the proper power lifting technique for benching with long arms. I also added 110 pounds to my deadlift just by learning how to sit back on my heels and drive with my legs, this gives you better leverage.
Yes, Test/Drol will easily make you gain 20 pounds, but you need to decide if this is right for you. You can run some weak compounds and gain a few pounds on your lifts, but if you want to make some serious gains, you will need to gain some weight.
As far as peaking, it all depends on where you are with your weight, but typically i would setup my cycles to where my competitions were at the tail end of them. So if you run a 12 week cycle, you probably want the meet to fall around the 10 week mark. Use Anadrol the first few weeks and see how you respond, if it makes you gain too much weight you might want to cut it out. The two weeks leading up to the meet is where i always added Drol/Halo. Again, a lot of this depends on where you are with your training and body weight, Anadrol can make a huge difference in your body weight and your strength. Just like in bodybuilding you will need to make changes as you get closer to the meet.
The best compounds to limit weight gain is Test/Tren/Halo, but since you are new to AAS i wouldn't recommend you jump right into this. In fact 750mg of Test EW and 100mg Anadrol ED will make you strong as hell, but you will be gaining weight.
I could write a book on this stuff. I competed for over 10 years and i was a judge for the USAPL and WPA/APA for many years, so i know all the inside stuff.
I hope i didn't confuse you as i rambled a bit, but i think you get the jest of what I'm saying.
Ask as many questions as you wish, i will try to respond when i can.
