TRT Optimization Dosing: Once or Twice a Week?

Looking for some advice. I know there are a lot of people injecting daily on here. As of now that’s not really an option for me. I can do once or twice a week atm. If you had to choose between 100mg cyp x2 or 200 a week what do you consider would be the best bang for buck to optimize, as well as yield the highest returns.
I also have .5 AI. I try not to take it unless I feel like I am retaining water or overly moody.

I personally would go twice a week but you may very well feel okay on once a week. Its up to you if you want to try it. Almost everyone retains water when they start so I wouldn’t take an AI then either. Give your self sometime to adjust and water retention will likely go away on its own. Only take an AI if labs show elevated, you have symptoms and you have no alternatives (dosage adjustments etc).

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Depending on other factors some as pre-TRT labs, neither may be optimal. The 200mg weekly total dosage is at the upper limit for therapeutic doses and may produce supraphysiological levels.

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That is here. In the real world, almost 100% of the guys taking underground TRT use between 150 to 200mg once a week, with most at 200mg once a week. Of those seeing TRT practices, around 85% take once weekly dosing at 150-200mg. Of those seeing PCPs, GPs, endocrinologists, or urologists, it’s about 90% taking 200mg once every two weeks. That is a lot more than seen on an internet forum. These guys are happy with the results they have seen.

Good call.

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Curious as to your thoughts.

What is wrong with “supraphysiological” levels? If we tell a guy with free testosterone at 50pg/mL (35-155) and feels like crap that his testosterone level is unacceptable, even though he is in “range”, why is it bad for a guy feeling great to be at 200pg/mL because he is “supraphysiological” based on the same flawed range?

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I didn’t interpret his response to mean it was necessarily a bad thing personally. Though, it’s certainly possible that’s what was intended

(And… nothing is wrong with it in my view assuming your body handles it well enough)

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I have a Doctor. Basically told me I can take 100x2. Just wasn’t sure if 200 all at once would produce better results. So if you’re not a high converter it looks like 200 a week is a pretty sweet spot to be at. At 160mg a week I was sitting at 39 Estrogen and 700 testosterone. Don’t remember my exact free T but Doc was happy. Not sure why Doc offered 100x2, estrogen control perhaps.

My guess would be to get test up to 900-1000, but keep E2 closer to where it is.

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As long as the guy’s other biomarkers are healthy, whether normal or supraphysiological, it doesn’t matter, only staying healthy matters.

If a guy needs supraphysiological levels to feel normal, then he must have resistance on the cellular level.

Would twice a week produce just as high numbers as an initial shot of 200mg. Would your returns and strength gains be just as good or better? Or are you saying twice a week for more stability with estrogen and other conversion. I was on 160mg, then my doc moved me to 100x2. 100x2 didn’t feel as good as 160mg. He then told me to do 160mg and then 40mg. LOL. This sounds bizarre I know. I was feeling pretty sluggish lately, no morning wood or nighttime erections, more water weight than usual etc. It was time to take my shot. I went ahead and took 200mg with .5 Anastrozol. Erections were back last night and this morning.
Really just want to find the best dose to optimize and feel good. Last labs had my e2 at 39, SHBG 28, test at 700 and freeT was pretty good, can’t remember the number but doc was happy. This was on my previous dose of 160mg.

The problem with this large once per weeks dosing is you probably will need some AI which has many negative aide effects in the long run

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Yea, I’ve seen several videos and read up on it some. Scary stuff. Gonna try to keep it as low as possible. .5 every two weeks if I can. Worked like magic last night though. Felt pretty good this morning. Thanks!

If all things were equal with the weekly dosage being 200mg, I think twice a week may create slightly higher numbers after you have stabilized. Twice a week may help with conversion as you won’t have as large of peak, but there are no guarantees on that. Once a week will have larger swings that you may or not be sensitive to **(Edit:after rereading what you wrote you seemed to be doing fine on once a week) **. Level wise I do believe it is more stable at twice a week.

I’m not too clear on when you made the dosage change, but if it was recent that could be the cause of the symptoms you are having.

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Actually, most do not need AIs.

I guess, but there are many on these forums that need and seems the author of the post does not tolerate well once per week dosing

Start with the path of least resistance. Start with once a week after enough time assess how you’re feeling. If it’s not enough then do twice a week and so on. No one needs to start with something like daily injections without first trying easier routes. Same with an AI. No one should start with an AI without knowing how they do without one. I have several friends on 200mg once a week that have no clue what estrogen is or anything like that. They are crushing life. The negative side of forums like this is that some folks are especially susceptible to being paranoid and mentally adopt others issues as their own.

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Maybe he posted elsewhere where he stated that, but in this thread he hasn’t said any such thing from what I understood. From what I read he did not seem to be complaining at 160 once a week. His doc changed his dose and scheduling of injections and that is where the issues stemmed from. If he just recently changed that is probably the issue, just the change in general. If it is recent he should ride it out and see where it takes him after 6-8 weeks has passed.

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@dextermorgan the numbers you posted of 1999 ng/dl test results, was that on the 28.6 mg daily injection?

@sublimeprince32
That was actually on 185mg daily sub-q, 24 hours after last injection. I now rotate between 185-200mg IM every few weeks so doing daily injections.

Hi. Honestly it was my Doctor that triggered me to Estrogen. When I was learning how to inject they were making me take my AI right then. They are hyper paranoid about estrogen control. In a way I am more aware of it then I should be. The second I start to bloat or have a feeling I assume my estrogen is spiking. Once I started injecting myself I was able to take my AI as needed.I’m going to ride this out and try to stay consistent. Thank you