You often talk about how natural lifters can’t handle nearly as much volume as enhanced lifters.
However, the term “enhanced” is pretty vague. AAS are a pretty wide spectrum: Being on a mild test cycle is nothing like the stacks pro bodybuilders are on.
My question is: how should “mildly enhanced” (say 500mg test/week) lifters train compared to natural lifters ?
Well, 500mg/week is not “mild” IMHO.
It might seem mild simply because of the downright abuse that some guys are doing, using doses in the multi-grams range per week.
But it is around 7 times more testosterone than a normal male produces weekly. That’s not mild or a small advantage.
Mild would be what some experts (e.g. Broderick Chavez, Alex Kikel) call “sports TRT/HRT” which is around 3mg per kg of body weight. If you are around 90kg that would mean roughly 270-300mg/week.
Anyway, that’s besides the point but it does fit with your chosen alias!
There is no hard rule to how much more volume you should do depending on dosage as other factors come into play too (nutritional status, genetic predispositions, training experience, stress level, etc.).
Can someone taking 500mg/week of testosterone recover from more volume than someone who is natural? Yes. But it is impossible to say exactly how much,
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Thanks for the reply.
From what I read, there is little difference in terms of negative effects between 250 and 500mg/week but a substantial difference in terms of gains. What are your thoughts ?
By the way, I’m not sure If I’m allowed to ask this kind of questions in this forum. If this is out of place then I apologize and feel free to delete the post.
Honestly, it is not my area of expertise. But I strongly doubt that the difference in negative effects is insignificant. Any drug with side effects will have more side effects as you increase the dosages.
In my mind, if a drug has more positive effects as the dosage increases, so does the side effects.
The thing is that you might not notice the side effects, especially not in the short term BUT you do notice the gains. So it is easy to believe that you have no side effects.
Now, some are easy to measure. Things like blood pressure for example. Even water retention might be somewhat noticeable.
But other things likes:
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Blood viscosity/thickness (mostly due to an increase in red blood cells, which testosterone increases in a dose-dependant manner)
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Lipid profile (lowering of HDL, increase in LDL) which is measurable if you get blood tests done, but few do it.
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Conversion to estrogen (which is also dose-dependant, and just because you don’t get gyno doesn’t mean you don’t have an increase in estrogen… although an increase in estrogen isn’t always bad)
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Conversion to DHT (also dose-dependant and not really noticeable until you reach a point where your prostate has grown enough to cause urinary issues)
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Cardiovascular stress/demands (which can be indirectly measured through resting heart rate) which can be somewhat increased in a dose-dependant manner indirectly through an increase in muscle mass (requiring more blood flow) and thicker blood
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Left ventricle hypertrophy, again, not measurable unless you get a scan.
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Calcium deposits or calcification of the arteries
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Kidney damage (steroids both directly and indirectly stress kidneys) which is not noticeable until it’s too late.
And there are more.
Will there be a significant difference between 250 and 500mg in these categories? Maybe not in the short term (12 weeks or less). But the longer that dose is maintained the more likely you have to get side effects that, even though are not noticeable (which lead people who WANT to believe that they are not taking any risk, that there are no side effects) there are there.
The other thing is that, like with all drugs, side effects affect people differently. In fact, one of the characteristics of pro bodybuilders is their tolerance to side effects. Their body is very resilient in that regard, allowing them to use mega doses without dropping dead (for the most of them).
Kinda like the guy who 3 packs a day and drink 10 beers/day for years yet live to be 90+.
But because of that individual difference in both response (amount of positive effects) and resilience (resistance to side effects), it is absolutely incorrect to use the logic that if Pro XYZ uses 3 grams/week then I’m safe at 500mg/week. In fact, in some extreme cases, it can be possible for a person to have more sides from 500mg/week than another one at 2-3x that dosage, depending on individual tolerance.
Just like any other drug, some will have serious side effects from minute doses used for a short time while others will go high doses for fairly long wth less side effects.
My goal is not to tell you what to do or be an alarmist. To quote Broderick Chavez “it’s your body and your drugs, you can do whatever the f**k you want with them”.
But it is erroneous to think that doubling the dose of a drug will not lead to more side effects.
At that point it becomes a matter of risk-to-reward ratio and what YOU deem to be acceptable in that regard. And the same applies to anything… training, dieting, etc.
For example, at 45 years of age with 2 kids (and projecting to have a 3rd one in the near future) and past kidney issues, the risk-to-reward ratio that I am willing to accept is not the same as it was when I was in my late 20s. For that reason, my training is a lot more conservative and safer as is my dieting.
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So if someone is older and on TRT (lower ~150-200 is all) do they still train according to their age since recovery is still a little less optimal as we age? Or do you train like you’re young again?
That’s not a great question.
I’ve trained clients who were in their late 50s up to their mid 60s and they trained harder and more than younger guys (they were not on TRT either).
While it is true that recovery capacity tends to go down as we get older it is not necessarily occurring to the same extent in everyone. So I don’ really like the division of training like an old guy and training like a young guy.
Heck, plenty of young guys have shitty recovery capacities. First, because testosterone levels in the more recent generation is much lower than that of the previous ones. In many cases you will see a 25 years old guy with the same testosterone levels as a 50 year old one.
There is also the issue that the younger generations have not grown up being as physically active (for the most part) as the older generations.
On average the more recent generations are A LOT less fit than the previous generations at the same age. It’s not even comparable (I’m obviously not talking about athletes). The result is a lower work capacity, much lower tolerance for effort/discomfort and slower recovery.
It is not unusual for an older guy who grew up very active and who is still healthy to have better recovery than a younger guy.
THAT HAVING BEEN SAID
As one person gets older their capacity to tolerate and recover from training will decrease compared to their own peak (although they might still be superior in many regards to some younger dudes).
Now, testosterone levels are only one of the variables involved in recovery and response to training.
There are other factors that can impact response to training and recovery, including (but not limited to):
- Growth hormone and IGF-1 levels (decrease with age)
- Stem/satellite cells levels (decrease with age)-
- Muscle fiber type ratio (there is some evidence for a decrease in fast-twitch and an increase in slow-twitch fibers with age)
- Tissue wear and tear/scar tissue build-up
- Neurological efficiency (decreases with age)
- Collagen production (decreases with age)
- Faster central fatigue build-up as we age
TRT addresses like one out of 10-15 key variables. It might have downstream effect on a few, but not all.
So the quick answer is that when you get older, even if you are on TRT you are not likely to be able to train exactly the same way as during your peak years.
The exception being someone who was sedentary and out of shape during his younger years and started training later in life.
Anyway, TRT will mostly allow you to repair muscle tissue faster and handle more training volume.
But connective tissue will be more brittle than in a younger individual and central fatigue builds up faster and lingers longer.
Basically TRT will allow you to keep your volume up during your session but you should not keep lifting as heavy as your younger self and you will need more rest days during your week (I like the 1 on/1 off schedule for older individuals).
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Amazing answer. Thank you sir for the time and detail. I really appreciate it. 
