You will never look as good off gear as you will when you are on. Thats just a reality of life. The problem today is that social media would have you believe that everyone is walking around ripped to the bone with veins in their abs all year long. There are always going to be a few genetic outliers that will be able to pull this off more or less but the reality is, your body cant look “on” when you are off. That said, if you make the foundation of your program VERY HARD TRAINING and tune your diet like the engine of a race car, you can look very good while you are off cycle. I always say that the diet and training are the foundation. This is why. I’ve seen guys who’s ego gets the best of them. They never come off. They run into health issues as a result. For us older guys, hrt and for you younger guys taking time off to recovery completely is still going to be the best way to ensure that you can keep playing this game for decades to come. You wont be quite as strong. You wont look quite as good. But mark my word. If you put the focus on getting everything you can out of your muscle in the gym and feeding your body the materials it needs to be its best, your “off” look in a couple years, might be as good or better than your “on” look now!