Changed to catabolic instead of anabolic
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I often wonder if I could have avoided the autoimmune disease had I been taking sufficient D3. I didn’t understand the benefit to the immune system that D3 had to normalizing it. Maybe mine wouldn’t have gone haywire.
Sure
But you enjoyed it tremendously no?
I remember one day I was on this obstacle course in the water. There were these monkey bars you had to manoeuvre over, but shaped like a pyramid going up, then down.
I decided to give it a shot knowing at the time I had multiple tears in my shoulder. Halfway through my body twisted to the side and my shoulder came out of it’s socket (one of many). But this was a particularly bad dislocation that I believe led to a fracture at the back of my humerous (was picked up on imaging, I’m not sure which one of the many dislocations caused it)
I fell into the water, swam to the shore… pulled on my arm, the shoulder slid back into place however pain radiated down my arm.
Later that day I went to boxing, then to gym to overhead press and bench heavy.
My point is, when we are so enthralled in our hobbies we don’t think about the risks nor do we wish to believe anything is seriously wrong.
Was it stupid? Absolutely! Do I regret it? No
Am I a little bit “off”? Yes
I have received a lot of criticism for the way I was treating my body. Even my boxing coach at the time told me “I train professional boxers who train less than you do. Why are you doing this to yourself? It’s too much”
Couple that with being injury prone and it’s a recipe for disaster. But for me exercise covers up symptomatology associated with unipolar/major depressive disorder.
I don’t suffer severe depressive episodes when I can exercise like that no matter how bad my circumstances are. So if it saves my life even though it exacerbates a lifetime of physical pain I say the juice is worth the squeeze
People will come up with any excuse to keep pursuing what makes them feel good
This is my excuse.
Without the exercise I risk having these episodes again. I have had one recently. The lifetime suicide risk for a male with this disorder is roughly 15% (less than 1% for general population)
As specified
If it saves my life, which I think it has. I’m willing to accept that I’ll be crippled in the future
I don’t enjoy the pain, I enjoy the rush/endorphins. Nothing can replicate it, and it’s pointless to try. Say I found a vice, like a drug that could replicate this effect… it’d be a disaster
I’m willing to try healthy alternatives. Music (have absolute pitch), therapy, antidepressants, socialisation, putting work into my studies etc.
Nothing distracts me enough to keep me out of my head. The exercise was the only constant that really worked.
Its like being a prisoner, trapped inside your own thoughts and the additive physical pain equates to torture.
Having certain talents usually come with huge tradeoffs. I know that I’m reasonably intelligent, very good with music to the point I hardly have to practice yet have a leg up on others who practice day in and day out.
The trade off is chronic pain, a mind that doesn’t function normally leading to a sense of feeling cast out from society at large and psychiatric aberrations.
I’m sure you can relate. You’re clearly intelligent, but with analytical skills comes anxiety and crippling uncertainty @anon18050987
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My thought is that your immune system needs the support before it fails.
Plus, it might just be a genetic fault.
I’d say most gym rats who know the downsides would still do it. Me and a few of the more read guys in my gym do/would/will all do it even though every one knows the risks.
It’s sad, but that’s a reality.
The problem I see is that most guys that do it don’t have a clue what they are taking or why and get nothing out of it. I know a lot of guys now who are apparently taking roids and have nothing to show for it.
In my friends group the general mantra is “If you take roids there should not be a debate if you are taking roids”
Do you take steroids?
I thought you were waiting until you were 25 and/or hit a certain criteria for exercise capacity.
Or are you older than 25, therefore it’s only a matter of time.
I’m willing to use them, but i’m not willing to use dosages of 300-350mg+. Haven’t taken in a long time though, and as my interests revolve more around prospects that are more cardio intensive the only reason I still wish to use sparingly is to avoid injury (for me more muscle mass = less injury). Every time I’ve sustained serious injury has been during ‘off’ periods (most of the time)
Which limits how effective they can be. Still, 300mg vs what I take for trt is still 3x more.
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Correct
You don’t really need all 3, it’s not like you’re aiming for competition
Testosterone in itself is a very potent anabolic.
But you do you
Tren and orals are particularly bad for you.
19-nors in general aren’t great, tend to cause psychiatric side effects
I can’t tell you what to use/not use… but testosterone and dht based injectables tend to be easier to handle and appear to be less risky
Are you on trt? If you cycle and PCT 19 nors in general are notoriously difficult to recover from. The progestogenic (and with tren androgenic) qualities of these drugs make them very suppressive.
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Exactly. So we have the OP that has pissed away two cycles with poor lifestyle habits. This equates to risking health for no reward. We have subpar body composition and strength. The request is ‘should I?’ while listing some aggressive compounds. The answer is “you should not” but @Farmergruff there is nobody stopping you and my guess is you partake in the sauce regardless.
I see no reason why you need to throw in some dicey compounds. Stick with the basic solo test game. Hell, even though you’re relatively young you may be TRT ready due to prior abuse. While I would prefer to see guys wait for TRT as long as possible I certainly think its a better route in this scenario than trying the original plan.
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Also potential alcoholism!
Imagine if he starts taking orals and slumps into heavy drinking
Unfortunately we are also seeing more and more young guys show up with low T.
There was a guy in my class who told me his friend, at around 18 (like me) had very, VERY low testosterone levels and wound up getting on trt.
Not the first time I’ve heard of this either. Data also backs this claim… I have a vague hypothesis as to why this is occuring
But another part of me is still questioning “why the fuck is this happening to young guys?”
You’re looking at a number as high as 2-5% now for young people re low T. That’s insane
5% is 1 in 20
Pathologically low T like mine probably closer to 2%, but that’s still 1 in 50. The vast majority won’t seek treatment or have access to treatment until they’re way older which is a problem as untreated hypogonadism causes serious problems.
My BMD was around that of someone with osteopenia before I was put on TRT! It’s better now, but osteopenia is the precursor to osteoporosis
Hypogonadism left unchecked causes osteoporosis, metabolic issues, psychiatric issues, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, sexual dysfunction, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction.
It’s a serious issue, even if self inflicted. It’s not be a short term death sentence, like high blood pressure it’s a ‘silent killer’.
I’ve seen (within specific literature) 1/3 men over 55 now meet the criteria for hypogonadism, that’s insane
If OP has a history of alcohol abuse, excessive endurance training and AAS use entailing ultra suppressive compounds like deca, NPP and tren he should get his test checked out. That’s a very solid recommendation that I honestly didn’t even think about.
TRT will equate to a night and day difference with proper diet and exercise if T is say below 300-350 and he gets up to 600-800ng/dl.
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Thats what I was thinking too. Obesity, alcohol, prior anabolics. I’m betting based on current training results that this is a subpar testosterone situation already. If it is, and he cycles, all will be lost within a few months of cessation post PCT.
He would also feel absolutely awful coming off if he has hypogonadism/borderline low T at baseline as there wouldn’t be much in the way of natural testosterone production to recover
It might be the cycle that tips the scales towards protracted, irreversible hypogonadism.
In which case you’d feel like crap and be more likely to revert back to bad habits.
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I get what you’re saying but I felt pretty good coming off last cycle. Still think my natural levels might be low, got medical to order me blood tests, should have answer Monday. Unfortunately they only did test estrogen and prolactin. Won’t be adding oral if drinking is a habit.
So you’ve got bloods, but they aren’t checking your test levels?
Can you afford one round of private bloods. If test level is all you want to know FT/TT shouldn’t even be particularly expensive.
You still enlisted, my dude? You mentioned selection and everything, i assumed that meant you were out…
Also, if you have a clearance - IDK if I’d risk losing it for temporary gains… that can be the difference between getting top-tier jobs and not.
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Im gonna disagree and say that when people say “steroids” they mostly think of look that is not possible to get from just test, no matter the dose.
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My mistake, they’re doing test/estrogen/prolactin