Ive been on TRT (Testosterone Cypionate) for about 3 years. Cruising on 140mg/wk for the past year. I inject intramuscular every 3.5 days.
I’m overweight but have decent muscle mass. Thinking of starting back up powerlifting and hitting the gym hard again and moving to 200mg/wk for a couple months.
My T levels are 792 (normal range of 300 to 1150) on the morning on injection day prior to the next dose.
Anything to look out for? Bad idea or good idea? Thanks!
Personally, I would not expect much for muscle or strength gains just from the dose change. It isn’t a big delta between your doses. Over a year, I think you would notice it, over a couple months, it just isn’t enough to be a big deal.
Powerlifting and weight loss don’t really go well together. I can cut while training powerlifting style, but I am not really making great strength progress while doing so. It is what I am doing right now actually.
I walk on an incline before lifting. After is more optimal, but I will not do it if I put it at the end, so I do it up front.
You just have to decide, do you want to lose weight, or do you want to get stronger? If you used to be stronger than now, perhaps you can do both, but it will not be as much strength as compared to being in a caloric surplus. What would make you the most happy?
Bad idea. You’ll wind up with supraphysiological levels, making it no longer TRT. So it is bad for TRT.
Why are you increasing it if you have normal T values?
If you you said, “I want supranormal values and juice for powerlifting,”I suppose it wouldn’t be bad for that.
Is your doc gonna go ahead with this?
I’ve been out of the gym for quite some time, and though I blame the kids…I’ve just been a lazy ass. My diet has gone to hell and beer doesn’t help either. The general goal right now is to get a little stronger and cut some fat in the process. I’m not going all in on power lifting but there will be a lot more lifting than cardio.
I’ve got a little stockpile saved up so was thinking a couple 3 months would bump me up to high normal levels and help accelerate mass gain and maybe decrease a little fat…while improving recovery times. Kind of a jumpstart.
Since I’m at 792, which is a very good “normal” in my opinion…I was hoping to get it closer to 1200 or so for a while to speed up the “lifestyle do-over”.
So your average levels are probably excellent (assuming you measure at trough). You just won’t see much going from 800 ng/dL trough to 1200 ng/dL trough.
It would be like a guy with awesome testosterone levels natty, doing a 3 month cycle at 200 mg/wk. There is a reason that isn’t common to do. For quick gains, you need to be way above natural levels (what a cycle or a blast does in general), be a newb, or have muscle memory gains, or combo of these things.
I don’t see a point. You are going to make newb gains anyways since you are returning to the gym (might be better than newb gains actually). Muscle memory is a real thing.
If you want to do this, get your muscle memory gains (or at least 90% of them). Should take you a few months. Then, if it was me, then I would use at least 350 mg/wk if it is only going to be a couple of months.
@mnben87 I was at trough, exactly 3.5D after injection.
I’ve never been in the gym during TRT, so was thinking the little extra extra would be good from a recovery standpoint, not exactly a cycle for gains.
You only need to be at a normal level.
200 mg for you Isnt TRT.
What does your doctor say?
Some men are hyper metabolizers and need quite a bit more than your standard dosing. I think the levels, not the dosing dictates what’s TRT.
Yes but he stated he’s doing this to do better in lifting, not normal functioning.
His level is also in the 700s at the end of the week.
So this is for an edge, not health.
Yep. This is a little above and beyond TRT and I get that. For TRT alone I feel I’m pretty dialed in.
Let me phrase this question another way. If I was to increase the weekly dosage from my normal 140mg per week to 200mg per week, what should I expect?
Nothing? Slightly faster gains? Faster recovery? Even better libido? Lower BMI? Better/worse health? At the moment this is just an academic discussion, taking a normal T level to borderline or just a bit over the 1200 end of the range.
This is definitely for an edge, albeit a brief one.
Nothing much. @mnben87 nailed it with his explanation
Forcing your body, receptors to operate outside of normal can have unintended consequences.
Just my .02 - if you are in the 700’s at trough, not in the gym, bumping to 200 is a waste. What would be more effective is getting in the gym.
Try training before bumping your dose.
Horse, cart.
Thank you for the replies everyone! Sounds like it isn’t worth it or it may carry more risks than reward. What this conversation has done is make me want to get my numbers checked at PEAK and TROUGH. Just as a data point to go by.
Trough is easy, Day 3.5 right before my next pin. Peak? Would that be 24 hours after an injection? Halfway between two injections?
And I’d prefer not to go too overboard on labs as I just had a physical. What would be good in this situation? Total T, Free T, LH, SHGB, Estrogen? Anything else?
If you already have/get comprehensive labs for your TRT and just want to see what trough vs peak looks like, I’d personally only pull total and free. Of course if you want to see more, than test for more
I had a physical 3 weeks ago. Normal cbc, lipid panel, thyroid, Total T, Free T, SHGB and Albumin. My GP didnt check estrogen, though i dont suspect its a problem.
For the sake of argument, when is the best time to test peak values on a E3.5D schedule?
I’m sure that would work. @tareload has posted numerous papers and study’s on this stuff. Click his name and look back through some of his posts. He has fancy charts and acronyms.
LOL boy does he ever!
I wouldn’t expect much, honestly. Going from TT of 800ng to TT of 1300ng isn’t gonna mean loads of new muscle or strength, I don’t think. But give it a go, we’re all different