My SHBG varies dramatically. Alcohol really seems to affect it- so trt works for me best when I dont drink at all.
Haven’t got time to dig out bloods right now as I’m heading away for a few days- but I did a log on here early on in my journey- feel free to dig it out.
Sorry too much nonsense in the above post (imo) to bother with but I will say as a former zookeeper who was on the nutritional panel
Speak for yourself.
Smoking also works!
What do you mean. Never smoked - it is good to have some bad habits, so you know what you can improve 
It was in response to this:
Smoking also lowers SHBG, wasn’t saying you smoke or that you should!
Sorry to go off topic, and dialing in TRT will certainly help your goals, but keep in mind activity levels have dropped too.
It sounds like we were involved in different sports but from what I recall we had (unofficially) mandatory weight training early morning, a block of drills the vast majority would consider HIIT mid-day and full on 2-3 hour practice m-f in the late afternoon/evening.
Throw in actual games during weeknights and Saturdays and compare that activity level with working out a few hours per week at the gym. Just food for thought.
Shifting from what appears to be endurance training to strength training alone will make a big change. And as you do so, your body will utilize the test you are injecting. I’d be curious what a blood test looks like at the end of an off week vs during a week of heavy lifting. I personally want my testosterone binding to receptors and doing its job vs floating around.
You are showing classic signs of Gettingolderitis. What worked in the past for you, likely no longer works now as you’re aging. Father Time is undefeated.
You don’t mention anything about your diet specifically. Start there.
Drop all alcohol. If you can’t do that for an extended period, then you aren’t serious about finding the root cause. Be honest with yourself.
And forget drugs for now. Your bloodwork appears fine.
Seems about right, I came to the same conclusion. Just it feels like it came suddenly, as soon as I passed 35 and had one 2-3 months break.
Diet hm, it was always good, I am used to eating a lot (but healthy), since I hardly gain weight. I try to make it diverse and mix it up (meat+little bit of carbs+plants), what I mostly eat:
I think that is mostly fine.
I oscillate between 84-87kg in the past 10-15 years. I am used to eating big meals. I do not count calories, but when I look to see what I have eaten, it is easily 1500Kcal for an breakfast (my favorite), or some other meal.
I do it by feel and activities. I guess I need to drop some BF, and start cleaner…
Here is update after 1.5 months. I did blood tests again, looks like 15% better results overall.
Testosterone 27 ( 8.64 - 29 nmol/L) or 780 ng/dL
Free Testosterone 30 ( 15 - 50 pg/mL)
SHBG 51 ( 18.3 - 54.1 nmol/L)
Estradiol 125 ( 28.00 – 156.0 pmol/L)
Albumin 43.5 (35 - 52 g/L)
IGF-1 367 ng/ml (103-257) * this is little bit above range always
Is this free testosterone ok, healthy? Total is pretty good (I am 38), but I want more FT I guess… Performance wise I feel ok, just body/muscles are not like 5-6 year ago (shoulders, upper chest the most).
No, it is not healthy is going based on newer studies, top 25% of the ranges equals 53% reduced risk of prostate cancer and heart attacks by 30%.
It doesn’t matter if Free T is slightly below this cutoff, risk is the same as very low.
For a 38 year old, it’s underwhelming, but not terrible.
Most men on TRT feel optimized near the top of the ranges or slightly higher.
Thanks, I see, I meant in a sense, how much will more FT help physically, or this level is fine for recovery and to keep improving/working out naturally. Those statistics for mortality are not that telling, my cardio, VO2 max are great. But how to bring FT to the top of ranges naturally, is it possible.
Because Total T is already at top lab range, but Free T is in the middle (converted it is 13.4 ng/dL or 0.4646 nmol/L).
What to do, probably reducing some more body fat, but it is not easy as before in mid 30s, and I am already on leaner side at 15-20% bodyfat…
With all the EDCs bombarding our reproductive system, HPTA axis, lowering sperm and testosterone, 200 known forever/chemicals in the body at any given time, all of which are working against you.
Then you have age related to decline.
What reality, you are taking extreme opinions again, like with Carnivore diet - But I am natural and my Total T and sperm count is at upper level (what chemicals are you talking about). I know SHBG naturally goes higher as we age and lowers FT. I am asking about advice how to improve FT without messing up natural endocrine system and fertility.
Sperm count has been dropping over the last several decades, it’s a well known fact. Testosterone has been declining as well.
EDCs are chemicals or mixtures of chemicals that interfere with the way the body’s hormones work. Some EDCs act like “hormone mimics” and trick our body into thinking that they are hormones, while other EDCs block natural hormones from doing their job. Other EDCs can increase or decrease the levels of hormones in our blood by affecting how they are made, broken down, or stored in our body. Finally, other EDCs can change how sensitive our bodies are to different hormones.
EDCs can disrupt many different hormones, which is why they have been linked to numerous adverse human health outcomes including alterations in sperm quality and fertility, abnormalities in sex organs, endometriosis, early puberty, altered nervous system function, immune function, certain cancers, respiratory problems, metabolic issues, diabetes, obesity, growth, neurological and learning disabilities, and more.
You might as well say your SHBG is at the upper level, because Total T will always follow SHBG.
Total T is a function of SHBG and is not indicative of how much testosterone your body is producing. Higher SHBG, higher Total T, independent of Free T.
An isolated change in SHBG levels, cut your SHBG level in half and your Total T will drop, regardless of your Free T level.
So stating that your Total T is at the upper level isn’t how testosterone status is measured. Free T is what matters, it’s where the rubber meets the road.
Sperm count has declined, by half in the last 40 years. This is the new normal and normal ranges change overtime as normal is redefined.
As for a guy approaching 40 years old, getting your Free T to the top end of the ranges is a pipe-dream.
The only way to accomplish what you want is to disrupt the endocrine system.
This is a huge red flag to me. It is typical for a hard gainer to talk about how much food they eat. My reply is, “Surely you are eating 6 times a day.”
I would have never accomplished anything in competitive bodybuilding eating three times a day. I always ate 6 times a day. Your body is capable of digesting a limited amount of protein each meal. To up your protein intake you must eat more meals.
So, if you have been eating 6 times a day for as long as you have been trying to add muscle, and eating at least 40 grams of protein each meal, you are dieting correctly to gain muscle. Frequent clean food meals function as an insulin management system. So you can stay lean.
This is good catch, I think you are right. I will try to eat more often, not sure what suits me more - I usually have 2-3 meals. Maybe it is easier on body to eat smaller meals and more often, to use nutrition better. I still hit macros/micros this way, but I will try.
Just I like big breakfast and rarely skip one. When I check what I ate in the morning, it is about 1500Kcal or so. But I spend a bit of energy on sports, activities, and my weight is similar my whole life ±2kg.
Ok, but we cannot influence that much, so it does not matter in this scope. Still I think it is not that drastic and that is not a reason to not stay natural, no?
I do not understand this, I thought body produces Total T, and SHBG regulates FT, and over time SHBG raises, so it reduces FT, not other way around. I wonder what my levels were 5-10 years ago, probably just SHBG was lower, no? because last test, total was 24, shbg 54, now total is 27 and shbg 51. So Total went up 15% or so and shbg down.
For sure not possible to have levels like I had in 20s, but still it can be be improved, why not. I will cut alcohol more and see in a few months. I do not want to disrupt the endocrine system just yet, it feels good to be natural, generally I feel stable/good, energy, libido, strength, just I notice everything is getting little bit harder, muscle building the most. (but not the strength, I lift ok, if not more that in early 30s)
I will make few goals, changes, and keep pushing it :). And will see where it goes. Last month was good, I notice a bit of progress and in blood result is little bit better.
Just adding my 2 cents. I drank much like you. I would get pretty tight on the weekends. When I dropped alcohol on the weekends to no more than nursing a single longneck beer on social outings, my physique made a step improvement.
I just made the decision that improving my physique was more important than my weekend social drinking. I do admit it was tougher tolerating drunks when I wasn’t lit also.
Yes, I noticed it helps now not to drink that much, before it did not matter at all. I even like running/swimming after having 2-3 large beers, feels like flying, a lot of energy :). Never had much belly fat, and visible upper abs at least.
Guess I tolerate it pretty well, since I do not get that drunk. But it is a lot of bad calories, like one big meal or more (10-12 0.33L beers for some nights), anyhow I will cut it back.
Now I did 30days off (found good 0% alc beer, had few a week, only Bavaria has acceptable taste to me ), I wonder if SHBG/FT will improve more over time like this.
No, the body produced Free T, then SHBG binds Free T → Total T. Once the SHBG is fully saturated, Free T is the leftovers, in circulation. So the Free T shows how much Free T is being produced.
Free T declines 50% between ages 40-80, completely independent of SHBG. In some cases the rise in SHBG is a direct result of Free T dropping, because androgens suppress SHBG.
Lower levels of androgen, less suppression effect. Guy goes on TRT, his Free T goes up, SHBG is expected to drop, in most cases.
A member on EM recently posted his labs, 20 year old, not on hormone therapy, his Total T level is 1200+, Free T slightly above the normal ranges, SHBG 65, killing the idea higher SHBG lowers Free T on it’s own.