Good attitude! Protect yourself from misinformation and androgen peddlers if that’s not what you are really interested in (i.e., androgen abuse).
Height? Age? Yeah the tapering up thing doesnt make a lot of sense. Test tapering at the end has its place. I don’t think bench press is a good metric of overall strength. There are a lot of one trick ponies out there. Do your other lifts match in relative strength?
You don’t visually appear low T as @RT_Nomad stated. The pic makes it hard to tell with a shirt on and no legs visible. I don’t think you are down to 16% by the lack of upper body striations/definition but you do have a healthy amount of size to you. I guess its too late to convince you to stay natty so I’ll enjoy the log if you continue it.
I would keep a stable dose for at least 6 weeks instead of jumping up and down weekly and tossing your hormone level all over the place.
What are your goals? Just want to feel good and look good nekkid?
Also, if you are truly in need of TRT - there is no point in tapering away from a TRT dose unless you are blasting and then tapering down back to the baseline of TRT.
But I would agree with him - stay natural if you can for as long as you can.
Jumping into AA’s passed a certain point will grant you a lifelong forced love affair with the needle.
May I make a different suggestion?
The situation you describe sounds familiar. Not that my GF ever complained because I forced myself to still go, but my drive is sometimes also really low. I know what is causing it:
l got too much stress, either physical from training, or mental from work or both from being underslept.
You are saying your effort and progression don’t line up which indicates to me that you are really pushing it in the gym.
Could it be that you are doing too much? (Volume, frequency, intensity) Or that you are not recovering adequately? Don’t get me wrong, at a certain point it’s not the recovering but just doing too much.
Overtraining wrecks testosterone and wrecks havoc on sex drive and libido. Just something to consider.
All in all I don’t like your cycle plan from the layout, but that does not seem to be your concern for why you need more T.
Yes it does, good point!
Me either. I feel if OP is legitimately concerned about low T then a proper TRT treatment should be sought out via more labs and an appt with a knowledgeable doc. I have a feeling from the language used he’s in the NHS though which would be problematic.
I am not actually against tapering up or down (especially for blast and cruise guys), but the amounts you are adjusting are peanuts in the cycling / blast world (not a dig, I thought the same way a few years ago, experience showed that upping by 50 mg, will likely not be perceptible). For example, a guy worried about sides might start out at 400 mg for 6 weeks, then if all is good try out 600 mg for the next 6 weeks.
Tapering up and down is the norm for most folks, but not on a weekly basis haha and jumping doses up and down week to week.
Especially as you pointed out with such small doses to begin with.
IMO if you are taking such small doses in such a sporadic fashion, you shouldn’t take anything at all.
I know I made a few dumb mistakes with gear in my initial foray, so please don’t take any advice or comments from me as me being a prick.
This is exactly what I wanted to get out of making posts like these… really appreciate the comments and I’ll be reading that paper tonight. Thanks
185cm. 26 y/o.
I am a one trick pony. Pushing movements is all I got haha.
This wasn’t an overnight decision to take gear, I thought about it for many of years and the positives outweighed the negatives.
Cheers for the comment bro
Weeks 4 to 10 I’m on the same dosage… 300mg. The change in dosages was just at the start and at the end of the cycle to taper on/off. Obviously yes I’m on very low dosages but I just wanted to do everything by the book.
Point taken about tapering… I’ll definitely implement what you’ve said for the next one. Thanks
Yes I think you could be right.
I have caught myself from time to time just getting too caught up in thinking I need to train nearly every day and that I need more & more volume etc…
It’s a hard process when you don’t see the results you think you should be making… you then train more & harder and it’s just not linear, as you said I’m probably going backwards by doing this.
Did you find there was a sweet spot for you? Amount of workouts per week / hours in the gym?
What language is that? In the NHS? Hahah completely wrong country my guy. Just a bloke looking for a bit of advice. Not trying to be a know it all on here ya know
Yeah no worries man - point taken!
Next cycle I’ll test & adjust and see how the body reacts.
Cheers
None taken! All a learning process.
Cheers bro
That was my thought. How big is he wanting to be to think this isn’t decent size
“Cheers”, “Bloke” “Mate”.
Just thought maybe your were in the English NHS (health care) as it’s notoriously hard to get TRT.
That’s ok, but imagine if you focused some attention to a more rounded physique with some attention to pulling and the wheels. 225lbs is stout for 6’ and you avatar definitely looks leaner than your first photo. So you’re pretty lean. I bet you could add a lot of muscular body weight with proper training.
Yes great point. Legs are definitely my weakest point which I have been working on for the past 12 months to bring up and I’ll continue to work on.
The avatar was from 2 and a half years ago… and since that cut I have been on a bulk ever since…
From Australia so the language is a little different that’s forsure haha.
Thanks for the comment anyway, good to chat ![]()
Read these, I think they will greatly help you get the “more is always better” mindset out of your head:
There are other coaches who say this, but CT right now is one of the biggest voices in that direction.
