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On October 2nd I began testosterone replacement therapy to boost my testosterone levels. Part one is here. I've been on TRT for three weeks now, and here are my experiences so far. The tl;dr is that I have noticed no major differences yet (though have seen some minor ones) and that I'm still getting used to the entire routine.
-By Caleb Jones
I shall repeat my warning whenever I make a post about anything health or fitness related: I will completely ignore any comments from fitness nerd know-it-alls who say I'm doing this completely wrong, since I've researched this topic for months and am proceeding under the close guidance of a doctor.
My Current Supplements and Exercise Routine
I am currently injecting:
100mg/ml of testosterone cypionate twice a week
.25ml of HCG twice a week
1ML of a vitamin B compound twice a week
I am currently taking the following vitamins daily:
Vitamin C: 1000mg
Vitamin E: 400iu
Beta Carrotine: 25,000iu
B Complex (I may discontinue this soon because I'm injecting the same thing)
Vitamin D: 4000iu
Fish Oil: 1000mg
Magnesium: 400mg
Garlic: 350mg
Chelated Zinc: 15mg
Ginko Biloba: 120mg (I'm discontinuing this as soon as the bottle runs out)
CoQ10: 100mg
I also take an additional 1000mg of C and 1000mg of fish oil whenever I eat, usually an additional two times a day.
My current exercise routine is as follows:
1. Five days a week, a vigorous 30 minutes on an exercise bike first thing in the morning, as always.
2. Sometimes also I walk for 30-60 minutes in the evening on days when I have the time, which I usually do not.
3. Sex at least three times a week, as always, with my current group of active FBs and MLTRs. In the last two months or so, I've made a conscious effort to make my sex more vigorous and long-lasting in order to burn more calories. Multitasking, baby.
4. Weight lifting at the gym twice a week. Why only twice a week? I'm at a caloric deficit and time management is my primary goal, not muscle gain. At the moment, I am doing the following:
Tuesdays
3x5 Squats
3x5 Bent Over Barbell Rows
3x5 Bench Press
Planks, 3 sets @ 45 seconds each
Fridays
3x5 Standing Military Press
3x5 Deadlifts
3x5 Chin Ups (assisted in my case, since my arms are disproportionately weak from my torso and I'm still overweight)
Planks, 3 sets @ 45 seconds each
I follow up every weight lifting session with 15-20 minutes on the elliptical machine to burn more calories for fat loss, and 10 minutes in the sauna to get rid of some extra sweat.
As I said, I am operating at a caloric deficit (tracking everything I eat with the LoseIt! app) so I don't expect huge gains, though since starting this weight lifting two months ago (even before I started TRT) I am still adding weight most days and getting bigger muscles (the one and only benefit of being an endomorph). Prior to this, I was only doing a very light, high-rep, low-weights routine with dumbbells.
I'm sure I'll plateau soon and get pissed, but for the moment the small-but-noticeable newbie gains are fun. I always try to push the 5th rep to failure or close to it, and immediately add weight if this is not the case.
Since I see some of you fitness know-it-alls poised over your keyboards about to tell me I'm doing this all wrong, I will say again that I will ignore any of these types of comments, and I will gleefully delete any comments that cross the line into drama-zone. I know it's hard for some of you, but control yourselves. Helpful advice is fine. Telling me I'm doing all this completely wrong is not.
My Current Supplements and Exercise Routine
I am currently injecting:
100mg/ml of testosterone cypionate twice a week
.25ml of HCG twice a week
1ML of a vitamin B compound twice a week
I am currently taking the following vitamins daily:
Vitamin C: 1000mg
Vitamin E: 400iu
Beta Carrotine: 25,000iu
B Complex (I may discontinue this soon because I'm injecting the same thing)
Vitamin D: 4000iu
Fish Oil: 1000mg
Magnesium: 400mg
Garlic: 350mg
Chelated Zinc: 15mg
Ginko Biloba: 120mg (I'm discontinuing this as soon as the bottle runs out)
CoQ10: 100mg
I also take an additional 1000mg of C and 1000mg of fish oil whenever I eat, usually an additional two times a day.
My current exercise routine is as follows:
1. Five days a week, a vigorous 30 minutes on an exercise bike first thing in the morning, as always.
2. Sometimes also I walk for 30-60 minutes in the evening on days when I have the time, which I usually do not.
3. Sex at least three times a week, as always, with my current group of active FBs and MLTRs. In the last two months or so, I've made a conscious effort to make my sex more vigorous and long-lasting in order to burn more calories. Multitasking, baby.
4. Weight lifting at the gym twice a week. Why only twice a week? I'm at a caloric deficit and time management is my primary goal, not muscle gain. At the moment, I am doing the following:
Tuesdays
3x5 Squats
3x5 Bent Over Barbell Rows
3x5 Bench Press
Planks, 3 sets @ 45 seconds each
Fridays
3x5 Standing Military Press
3x5 Deadlifts
3x5 Chin Ups (assisted in my case, since my arms are disproportionately weak from my torso and I'm still overweight)
Planks, 3 sets @ 45 seconds each
I follow up every weight lifting session with 15-20 minutes on the elliptical machine to burn more calories for fat loss, and 10 minutes in the sauna to get rid of some extra sweat.
As I said, I am operating at a caloric deficit (tracking everything I eat with the LoseIt! app) so I don't expect huge gains, though since starting this weight lifting two months ago (even before I started TRT) I am still adding weight most days and getting bigger muscles (the one and only benefit of being an endomorph). Prior to this, I was only doing a very light, high-rep, low-weights routine with dumbbells.
I'm sure I'll plateau soon and get pissed, but for the moment the small-but-noticeable newbie gains are fun. I always try to push the 5th rep to failure or close to it, and immediately add weight if this is not the case.
Since I see some of you fitness know-it-alls poised over your keyboards about to tell me I'm doing this all wrong, I will say again that I will ignore any of these types of comments, and I will gleefully delete any comments that cross the line into drama-zone. I know it's hard for some of you, but control yourselves. Helpful advice is fine. Telling me I'm doing all this completely wrong is not.
I plan on doing this routine more or less until I'm completely done losing the fat I want to lose. Several more months at least. As always, fat loss is my biggest challenge, both with my body and my life, though finally I see the end of this problem arriving very soon.
Things I've Noticed So Far
I'm only just starting the TRT program, so honestly I haven't noticed much. But here are the things I have noticed:
1. Bigger-than-normal morning wood.
This is definitely the first thing I noticed. Most mornings I wake up with a boner like most men who have decent testosterone levels, but within about two weeks of TRT, my morning boners were like the damn Burj Kalifa. It's actually a little irritating. I'm trying to relax and roll over only to have Big Red stab my mattress and make me groan in pain. I have to adjust my equipment in the morning just to stay comfortable.
Sadly, at the moment I'm at an usual status where I have no MLTR who qualifies for the honor of spending the night with me. This is unusual for me but it does sometimes happen. So I have not yet had a chance to test drive my new and improved morning Iron Tower for some enhanced morning sex. I'm about to schedule someone for a sleepover next week so that will be fun.
Honestly, my sexual function during normal nighttime sex really hasn't changed (yet). I think there is a slight increase in performance down there, but that might just be my imagination, excitement, or placebo effect. But as I said in part one, this has never been a problem for me. It's possible that if I had low testosterone to begin with (which I did not at a total testosterone level of 584), I would have probably seen an improvement by now. I may have to wait a few more weeks for something really noticeable in my case. I guess we'll see.
2. Waking up earlier than normal.
This might be related to item number one, but I don't think so. Usually I'm in a dead sleep in the morning until my alarm wakes me up. After about two weeks on TRT, I started waking up about 10-15 minutes earlier than my alarm went off.
When I wake up, I'm still sleepy, but I have no desire to go back to sleep. Usually I just lay cozy and fantasize about my goals until my alarm goes off, then I get up.
One of the many benefits of TRT is that it improves your sleep. I wonder if I'm now sleeping better/deeper at night and thus am waking up earlier because of it. Interesting. If this keeps improving, and I'm able to wake up 30 minutes or so earlier and rested every morning, I'm going to be very happy. We'll see how this progresses. So far, those are the only changes I've noticed. I will keep you all updated. My Experience With the TRT Program So Far
Mixing hormones, screwing around with needles, and injecting yourself with fluids, if you've never done it before, is difficult. I have the hang of it now, but for first week or two I really screwed it up and had lots of trouble. I had to call the doctor several times, watch many YouTube videos, and finally had to have a comprehensive Skype video call with the doc to get it all straight.
Problems I had, all of which were my fault because I'm a dumbass, included:
Needlessly hurting myself because I was injecting the wrong places on my thigh.
Getting too many air bubbles in the fluids because of improper syringe technique.
Sometimes forgetting to alcohol swab the injection area.
Sometimes forgetting to aspirate before injecting, which means slightly pulling on the needle once it's injected to make sure you're not in a blood vessel.
Squirting excess fluid back into the vial after injection, which is a big no-no, in an attempt to save money and cleverly (i.e. stupidly) avoid bubbles.
Like I said, I've got a handle on everything now, but it was definitely a learning process. But that's the great thing about this. Notice all the things I did wrong, and yet I still didn't seriously hurt myself in any way nor disrupt the program. TRT is very safe, even if you're a dumbass about it like I was the first few weeks. That's it so far. I'll keep updating you as time goes on.
Want over 35 hours of how-to podcasts on how to improve your woman life and financial life? Want to be able to coach with me twice a month? Want access to hours of technique-based video and audio? The SMIC Program is a monthly podcast and coaching program where you get access to massive amounts of exclusive, members-only Alpha 2.0 content as soon as you sign up, and you can cancel whenever you want. Click here for the details.
Things I've Noticed So Far
I'm only just starting the TRT program, so honestly I haven't noticed much. But here are the things I have noticed:
1. Bigger-than-normal morning wood.
This is definitely the first thing I noticed. Most mornings I wake up with a boner like most men who have decent testosterone levels, but within about two weeks of TRT, my morning boners were like the damn Burj Kalifa. It's actually a little irritating. I'm trying to relax and roll over only to have Big Red stab my mattress and make me groan in pain. I have to adjust my equipment in the morning just to stay comfortable.
Sadly, at the moment I'm at an usual status where I have no MLTR who qualifies for the honor of spending the night with me. This is unusual for me but it does sometimes happen. So I have not yet had a chance to test drive my new and improved morning Iron Tower for some enhanced morning sex. I'm about to schedule someone for a sleepover next week so that will be fun.
Honestly, my sexual function during normal nighttime sex really hasn't changed (yet). I think there is a slight increase in performance down there, but that might just be my imagination, excitement, or placebo effect. But as I said in part one, this has never been a problem for me. It's possible that if I had low testosterone to begin with (which I did not at a total testosterone level of 584), I would have probably seen an improvement by now. I may have to wait a few more weeks for something really noticeable in my case. I guess we'll see.
2. Waking up earlier than normal.
This might be related to item number one, but I don't think so. Usually I'm in a dead sleep in the morning until my alarm wakes me up. After about two weeks on TRT, I started waking up about 10-15 minutes earlier than my alarm went off.
When I wake up, I'm still sleepy, but I have no desire to go back to sleep. Usually I just lay cozy and fantasize about my goals until my alarm goes off, then I get up.
One of the many benefits of TRT is that it improves your sleep. I wonder if I'm now sleeping better/deeper at night and thus am waking up earlier because of it. Interesting. If this keeps improving, and I'm able to wake up 30 minutes or so earlier and rested every morning, I'm going to be very happy. We'll see how this progresses. So far, those are the only changes I've noticed. I will keep you all updated. My Experience With the TRT Program So Far
Mixing hormones, screwing around with needles, and injecting yourself with fluids, if you've never done it before, is difficult. I have the hang of it now, but for first week or two I really screwed it up and had lots of trouble. I had to call the doctor several times, watch many YouTube videos, and finally had to have a comprehensive Skype video call with the doc to get it all straight.
Problems I had, all of which were my fault because I'm a dumbass, included:
Needlessly hurting myself because I was injecting the wrong places on my thigh.
Getting too many air bubbles in the fluids because of improper syringe technique.
Sometimes forgetting to alcohol swab the injection area.
Sometimes forgetting to aspirate before injecting, which means slightly pulling on the needle once it's injected to make sure you're not in a blood vessel.
Squirting excess fluid back into the vial after injection, which is a big no-no, in an attempt to save money and cleverly (i.e. stupidly) avoid bubbles.
Like I said, I've got a handle on everything now, but it was definitely a learning process. But that's the great thing about this. Notice all the things I did wrong, and yet I still didn't seriously hurt myself in any way nor disrupt the program. TRT is very safe, even if you're a dumbass about it like I was the first few weeks. That's it so far. I'll keep updating you as time goes on.
Want over 35 hours of how-to podcasts on how to improve your woman life and financial life? Want to be able to coach with me twice a month? Want access to hours of technique-based video and audio? The SMIC Program is a monthly podcast and coaching program where you get access to massive amounts of exclusive, members-only Alpha 2.0 content as soon as you sign up, and you can cancel whenever you want. Click here for the details.