I got hit with an autoimmune disorder during the pandemic that was basically misdiagnosed/undiagnosed for about 2 years.
During that period I lost 30, maybe 40lbs of muscle.
I’ll post up some pictures when I get on my desktop.
I did finally get a doctor who figured out the disease and the right treatment. She approved me to get back in the gym about a month ago, and after a shaky start things are going pretty good! I see progress all ready.
I still am pretty weak though. I for sure cant lift heavy like I used to.
Goal is to come back better than ever. Diet is dialed in, workout is solid.
Here’s the question. Does it make sense to do blasting since i just can’t lift heavy yet?
My HRT dose is 1ml test cyp every week. I divide it in half, and inject a 1/2 ml on Mon and Thurs.
I was considering doing something like 1.5 ml a week to help me get this muscle back.
But I am so ignorant about this stuff. Should I wait until i get stronger and can lift heavier first?
Was editing previous post, but this is what I was intending to say:
Your claim of losing 30-40lbs of muscle is highly unlikely, unless you were already at or above your genetic limit. Most people will carry not more than 30lbs of lean muscle, however some can carry more than others.
Given your age, I think the smartest course of action for you is to keep on progressing with your diet and exercise with TRT. If and when you reclaim your lost muscle, then it is up to you to decide if blasting is the right course of action. Ultimately, you would be making the choice to sacrifice health in the name of aesthetics that will be ever-decreasing in returns and maintainability (this applies to everyone who blasts, regardless of age).
You’re welcome.
I’m also just one guy who has avoided steroids for 12+ years of lifting so my point of view is biased. There are others on this forum that could give advice/perspective on the matter, but general concensus is not to blast unless you are okay with the health for aethetics tradeoff that comes with it.
If you were to do a blast, there are ways to do so with relative safety if that is what you wish to do, but I think most will recommend you getting back into the groove for a bit before hitting the turbo button.
To help you recover (if you aren’t already there), this might give some good insight:
I don’t have near enough specifics to give my opinion, but I will say that IMO blasting is a total waste. Your body will attempt to put back on the muscle you lost naturally. It is a well know fact called “muscle memory” (This is depending on what type of autoimmune disease you had. If the majority of muscle loss is attributed to the autoimmune disease, there could be some constraints difficult to overcome.)
You can “blast” if you wish once you recoup your lost muscle naturally.
Unless I see blood work I am guessing the OP is blasting at 200 mg/week. Ok, by today’s standards today’s cruise is yesteryear’s BLAST.
I still get a kick out of this dude (I believe he’s referring to 250 mg/week of testosterone ester below):
I used testosterone undeconate injectable for many years. I injected 750mg every 12 weeks. People thought i was nuts when I told them I had a serum level of 921 at the end of a 12 week cycle. How could this be? When I was a competitive world class powerlifter I also only used 250mg of testosterone enanthate and was one of the tops’ in the world in two different weight classes. More recently my doctor prescribed me 200mg of testosterone cypionate every 10 days and I again tested and had a 2103 serum level. I was kind of shocked to say the least. But could it be that some of us genetically metabolize drugs quite differently that others.
My injuries did not come from bodybuilding rather 27 years of powerlifting competition at a world class level. I ended my career with a 2275lb total in the 275’s. I ended up with a 950 squat, 800 deadlift and 525 bench press at 48 years old. I kept competing until I was 55 when I tore my quads. So I put my body through a lot of trauma, including the 3 ruptured quad tendons. Not to mention the other numerous sports I competed in before my powerlifting career including collegiate football.
Many dudes don’t understand what 200 mg/week of Test ester means for their serum levels in relation to human reference range.
Great article. I got into lifting for health benefits, the aesthetics are honestly just gravy. Thanks for being the voice of reason.
I’m a man so that means I want instant results lol. I will definitely put in the hard work and do it without messing around w pharma other than my hrt regimen
the diagnosis is Spondyloarthropathy, either the enteric one or undifferentiated. The treatment is Humira and methotrexate. It takes about 16 weeks for Humira to take full effect.
Unfortunately this isnt my first rodeo with autoimmune. I’m in remission from autoimmune hepatitis, and poly myalgia rheumatica. Also have type II diabetes.
One of my docs initial thoughts was that I had a muscle wasting disease so there you have it. Going to post a couple front pics which might show what happened a little better
I’m skinny fat now as Docs told me i had to gain weight or else. In 32 inch jeans so it isn’t too bad. And definitely starting to come back after the gym time and diet so far
Keep up the hard work. Post that blood work and unless you are a mutant eliminator of free T then you should be testing at trough (blood work right before next injection) well above 1000 ng/dl TT. Given your age the probability of being a 2.5%tile eliminator is remote.
