So, somebody’s opinion. I actually have a background in competitive strength sports, and know plenty of bodybuilders as well. BBing is not a strength sport, and most of them are in fact not very strong - not a slight, as it’s not really the goal of BBing. (That’s in response to the "string as fuk "(sic) comment from @sublimeprince32)
The popularity of something amongst some in a given community of people is evidence only of commonality of belief. It is commonly held in Latin American countries that washing your hands after ironing causes arthritis. That doesn’t make it a reality. Estrogen is absolutely necessary for health as well as building muscle. BBers will also commonly be taking a less than intelligent dose of AI, so they are in fact simply adding back pharmaceautically what they take away pharmaceutically. Stupid? Yes. Evidence of anything else? Nope. Is the estrogen itself causing hypertrophy? Maybe up to a certain level, but that is actally doubtful. Is increased body mass and greater water and ATP resources contributing anything? Uh, absolutely. That’s how creatine works. If you weight more, you lift more. Greater stores of glycogen and other necessities permit greater volume of training and recovery. Is it the estrogen? Not really, at least not directly. 20 years ago it was “Stomp that E2 into the ground, as close to zero as possible”, now we know better than that. Some have now swung the other way, in time the evidence will be there that that isn’t any better or brighter.
I have never advocated low E2. My former training partner got a pacemaker at 27, we were pretty sure then that it was the AI overuse that caused that, and I’m even more sure of it now. However, that doesn’t mean more is always better and there is an upper limit. Risk versus reward. If you want to tell yourself that no amount is counterproductive and more is better, I feel for the pain that you are going to cause yourself. E2 is an androgen, so by definition it is androgenic. It is not MORE androgenic than other things, especially not test, especially not in men.
1 Like