it depends, if one doesnt care what he looks like when off, yeah, can go off half a year.
guy who plans long term and is buildiung up his post natural foundation, theres no going off, onc a crtain lean mass is reached, then one should start thinking on how to go on.
i think 1-2 months off gear yearly and maybe even feew weeks off training do the body well, if its been put under real training stress, not the half ass stuff of the 90%.
but while not happy with the mass thats on the skeleton, going off isnt an option.
besides its the best time in life, strong like orangutan, eating recklessly and growing like popcorn.
do it once non stop and there will be no need anymore for bulking in the future.
ofc flex and levrone could and had to come off at that time and get back in very little time, but they been way past their foundation, they already had it since long time.
so yeah depends, this one bulk where the final mass is built, is best done in 1 go and then never again.
and as soon as posible, as young as possible, the joints and muscles wont play along very well with this after certain age.
I think too the amounts they took in order to carry that level of myscularity played a role in necessitating having to come off. if one was to stay on that much gear year round I wouldn't even want to think of what it might do to your body. also I'd be willing to warrant a good majority of the size they carried was built years prior when they stayed on year round. I honestly don't think it's possible to achieve a level of muscularity like that unless you have used bigger doses year round for some time even as an amature. once you get the size I think it entirely feasible to go off everything like levrone did and hop back on and grow into shape cause that muscle doesn't disappear it will respond as the amounts of anabolics are increased that built it.
I guess it all depends on the 'look' you want. if you need to look like a bro bber then at some point your going to have to push an envelope here or there early on in your career dosage and duration wise. once you get the muscle it's easy to maintain it. much harder to create it.
and like flintstones said they came back better. I have no doubt just the rest the body had, not from anabolics but from training completely played a huge role in their look the following year. I doubt they even had to up the dose at all to improve over previous years just cause of how rested they were.
imo if you want to look great year round not push any envelopes and stay healthy running a base of test at <3-400mg 52 weeks a year then adding in different compounds for different effects at different times of the year will yield you some very good results- esp after having done it for a number of years you'll be able to have a beyond respectable physique year round on what is same near close to HRT doses of test.
but first you have to get there. the road you take depends on the risk vs reward. the shorter road = longer duration of heavy cycles if not using heavy mgs year round. high risk of burnout and health complication w this route. ever notice how all the big dose pros look like shit (fux, ronnie, kamali etc etc) and all the lower dose pros still look great (labrada gaspari benefatto)? there's something to that. the longer road is low dose test year round add in here and there when needed look good all the time and stay healthy and do it for decades.
at the end of the day it depends what you want from it.