Hi guys, new here and figured I’d introduce myself with my TRT story. I’ve been lurking around for a bit and hope to continue my time on this forum.
I have no background in steroids but I’ve learnt a lot in the last 3 months. It all started over a year ago when I felt like I needed to get my testosterone checked at my routine labs. It came back with a total of 327ng/dL. I was 33 and had been lifting fairly regularly for half a year. My goal was to lose body fat and gain muscle. Basically attempting to recomp. With my total T being so low I decided I’d do what I could to raise it. I looked into natural T boosters and stumbled upon herbs like Tongkat Ali, Fadogia Agrestis and Ashwagandha. I started taking these herbs and was hoping for an improvement. For a couple months after being on the herbs I can say I felt some improvements in energy. Nothing really life changing though. Unfortunately I never got blood work done to evaluate if the herbs were really moving the needle.
During this time I also started incorporating some of Bryan Johnson’s blueprint protocol and was happy with the lower body fat and improved over all health I was experiencing.
Around the fall there were a lot of family birthdays and my diet got off the rails. By thanksgiving I had gained some weight back but my overall muscle mass hadn’t really improved. I was training anywhere from 3-5 days a week depending on the program. My main lifts always involved squat, bench and over head press. I had moved up a bit in weight on my accessories but my main lifts hadn’t budged much for over a year. For example my bench went from 135-185lbs in a year and half with a 1RM of around 195lbs.
By the way I’m currently 5’10 and 245lbs with a fairly even distribution of body fat at around 28%. I favor more strength lifts and strongman exercises over plain bodybuilding. My goal has always been to move more weight vs building a shredded IFBB physique.
So after Thanksgiving I was back home again and wanted to get back into my exercise and diet routine. However I felt like crap. For over a week I was feeling lethargic and miserable and couldn’t get out of bed. No drive or motivation to do anything. So the end of November I decided to get labs and see my PCP. I was sure something was amiss.
A week before labs I discontinued all my herbs and had considered dabbling in some mild SARMs to try help me. During this time I also stumbled upon some influencers who were warning about side effects of ashwagandha and the other herbs I was taking. That made me really curious about my labs.
The day I went to see my Dr and go over my labs I had already told myself that if my T came back low and I was offered TRT that I’d do it. Anything to get out of this slum I was feeling. Well my Dr asked questions about what I’m taking and how I was feeling. He first inquired about me having depression of which I told him no. I didn’t feel mentally depressed and had never really suffered with depression when younger. It just felt like a strong physical lack of drive. The Dr then continued and said that according to my labs my testosterone was really low and that would explain my experience. I then asked what we can do about it and he immediately said well we need to start you on TRT. I said ok. Mind you my levels at this point were 233ng/dL.
So went and filled my Rx and came back and the nurse walked me through self injection and the rest is history. Well not quite.
I soon realized the protocol he put me on was an outdated approach. He thought a low dose every 14 days was what I should start on with follow up labs in 3 months. This was not a good protocol. After the first few days I felt great! Full of life and energy but I could feel the effect going away. So then I changed things up and started doing micro dosing with more frequent injections and felt pretty stable. I titrated up and did a lot of research. I eventually settled on daily micro dosing for a total of like 200mg a week.
Flash forward to my follow up and a new Dr was there and he discontinued my TRT and stated he doesn’t prescribe TRT for people my age.
So now I’m back at square one with the option to self manage or Dr shop to find one who’s Pro-TRT. I like the idea of self managing for the cost and being in control of my protocol but some UGLs seem really sketch and so many use EO as a solvent in their brews. I could always go with a TRT clinic and be done but they’re so costly.
As far as my fitness on TRT I’ve had a great experience. My bench is now over 225lbs in less than 3 months. Squats I’ve added over 100lbs to 315lbs and I’ve lost body fat and gained more lean tissue. These results have made me consider running a cycle to see what happens. Or even throw in a TRT supplement compound like Primo or NPP.
These last 3 months on TRT have been great. I tried different dosing and injection frequencies and settled on daily injections for now. My pharma supply was running out and that lead me here and to the UGL scene.
I think if I found a good quality source that’s close to pharma grade I’d be more inclined to just self manage and do my own labs.
Not sure what any of you would do in this situation?
See ya around!
I have no background in steroids but I’ve learnt a lot in the last 3 months. It all started over a year ago when I felt like I needed to get my testosterone checked at my routine labs. It came back with a total of 327ng/dL. I was 33 and had been lifting fairly regularly for half a year. My goal was to lose body fat and gain muscle. Basically attempting to recomp. With my total T being so low I decided I’d do what I could to raise it. I looked into natural T boosters and stumbled upon herbs like Tongkat Ali, Fadogia Agrestis and Ashwagandha. I started taking these herbs and was hoping for an improvement. For a couple months after being on the herbs I can say I felt some improvements in energy. Nothing really life changing though. Unfortunately I never got blood work done to evaluate if the herbs were really moving the needle.
During this time I also started incorporating some of Bryan Johnson’s blueprint protocol and was happy with the lower body fat and improved over all health I was experiencing.
Around the fall there were a lot of family birthdays and my diet got off the rails. By thanksgiving I had gained some weight back but my overall muscle mass hadn’t really improved. I was training anywhere from 3-5 days a week depending on the program. My main lifts always involved squat, bench and over head press. I had moved up a bit in weight on my accessories but my main lifts hadn’t budged much for over a year. For example my bench went from 135-185lbs in a year and half with a 1RM of around 195lbs.
By the way I’m currently 5’10 and 245lbs with a fairly even distribution of body fat at around 28%. I favor more strength lifts and strongman exercises over plain bodybuilding. My goal has always been to move more weight vs building a shredded IFBB physique.
So after Thanksgiving I was back home again and wanted to get back into my exercise and diet routine. However I felt like crap. For over a week I was feeling lethargic and miserable and couldn’t get out of bed. No drive or motivation to do anything. So the end of November I decided to get labs and see my PCP. I was sure something was amiss.
A week before labs I discontinued all my herbs and had considered dabbling in some mild SARMs to try help me. During this time I also stumbled upon some influencers who were warning about side effects of ashwagandha and the other herbs I was taking. That made me really curious about my labs.
The day I went to see my Dr and go over my labs I had already told myself that if my T came back low and I was offered TRT that I’d do it. Anything to get out of this slum I was feeling. Well my Dr asked questions about what I’m taking and how I was feeling. He first inquired about me having depression of which I told him no. I didn’t feel mentally depressed and had never really suffered with depression when younger. It just felt like a strong physical lack of drive. The Dr then continued and said that according to my labs my testosterone was really low and that would explain my experience. I then asked what we can do about it and he immediately said well we need to start you on TRT. I said ok. Mind you my levels at this point were 233ng/dL.
So went and filled my Rx and came back and the nurse walked me through self injection and the rest is history. Well not quite.
I soon realized the protocol he put me on was an outdated approach. He thought a low dose every 14 days was what I should start on with follow up labs in 3 months. This was not a good protocol. After the first few days I felt great! Full of life and energy but I could feel the effect going away. So then I changed things up and started doing micro dosing with more frequent injections and felt pretty stable. I titrated up and did a lot of research. I eventually settled on daily micro dosing for a total of like 200mg a week.
Flash forward to my follow up and a new Dr was there and he discontinued my TRT and stated he doesn’t prescribe TRT for people my age.
So now I’m back at square one with the option to self manage or Dr shop to find one who’s Pro-TRT. I like the idea of self managing for the cost and being in control of my protocol but some UGLs seem really sketch and so many use EO as a solvent in their brews. I could always go with a TRT clinic and be done but they’re so costly.
As far as my fitness on TRT I’ve had a great experience. My bench is now over 225lbs in less than 3 months. Squats I’ve added over 100lbs to 315lbs and I’ve lost body fat and gained more lean tissue. These results have made me consider running a cycle to see what happens. Or even throw in a TRT supplement compound like Primo or NPP.
These last 3 months on TRT have been great. I tried different dosing and injection frequencies and settled on daily injections for now. My pharma supply was running out and that lead me here and to the UGL scene.
I think if I found a good quality source that’s close to pharma grade I’d be more inclined to just self manage and do my own labs.
Not sure what any of you would do in this situation?
See ya around!
