Low Testosterone Levels

Yo, good to hear you got it checked out and at least know what’s up.

i would be VERY careful taking anything that fucks with your T levels if you are young-ish. Generally speaking, once you start, you will need to continue for life. That can be a dangerous thing if you’re young 

I definitely think it’s worth calibrating your lifestyle with all of the well documented nutrition / exercise habits that coralate to natural T boost, if you go that route and it still isn’t where it should be you could probably consider supplements as a last option... but I would be very cautious with starting there

Can you elaborate on the piece around needing to take it for life etc 

the idea that was discussed with me was a combination of typical testosterone therapy shots combined with HCG. The testosterone is basically a short term injection to force the levels to be where they should be while the HCG helps facilitate your body starting to produce more on its own 

remember me asking about your T levels in the keto topic?

I'd add back some carbs into your diet for a while at least. Are you in a bigger calorie deficit? How's your sleep? Your exercise? I assume you manage stress fairly well...

I did a lot of things to increase my T level to increase my libido and desire for women. It turned out I didn't have low levels, it's more of a psychological thing. Anyways, I did everything naturally, putting my overall health first (some things are contradictional eg. green tea is proven to be healthy, not the best for T.) 

How low is low btw? Both free and total?  Feel free to reach out if you don't want to share certain things.

interesting, full transparency I’m not familiar with that method. What I mean about needing it for life though is many guys start taking all of the name brand testosterone boosters that they advertise on tv (not actually t boosters for lifting, the ones for daily life). The issue is that those are not geared toward guys in their 20s, the target market is 50-60 yr olds. When they get the benefit of test production increase they have to continue to supplement that for the rest of their life. That’s not really an issue for a guy in his 50s, but in your 20s... that’s potentially 40-50 years you would have to take it for, not good 

If if there is a way you can somehow jump start it without needing permanent supplementation, that’s solid  

You taking zinc? How sedentary are you

What made you think that something wasn't right? You know there are clinics that specialize in this sort of thing. Try doing a search for, "Men's clinic". They'll check your PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) levels as well and they really seem to give a fuck if these issues are resolved for you. I had mine checked too recently and my testosterone is in the lower end of normal levels if I remember correctly, but my PSA was "not normal" by their standards. They said they would not begin testosterone treatment unless it was below the normal range. If it is that much of a concern, I would drop whatever money I needed to in order to get the treatment. I mean you might also want to do your own research too though. Especially if you are decades away from being in your fifties. Hell one time I had my testosterone checked a few years back and my levels were normal, but they still had me try some stuff that I don't think worked at all. Perhaps they were just trying to push more drugs.

Usually the testosterone boosters out there are Vitamin B6. People will also recommend,

1. Exercise/strength training
2. Good sleep
3. No alcohol or cigarettes
4. Tongkat Ali, Horny goat weed, etc.
5. Cold showers
6. Yoga/meditation
7. Basically anything healthy that makes you feel good.

Personally I don't drink or smoke anymore. I work out 5+ times a week on the trike and strength train at the gym and go to yoga about once per week. No fancy supplements. I sleep and/or stay in bed till around anywhere between noon and 3 usually. I hate cold showers. I try to eat healthy too, but I eat out a lot. Either at Village Inn or sandwich shop, but I will still cook a steak or some chicken at the house. I have a co worker that's probably healthier than I am and he is not focused on women at all. It's all about the health and wealth right now. But I think he's really just looking for a good woman for a long term relationship. People would sometimes give me shit for not ever being seen with girls, but now that I am more focused on success with women, it's pretty much the opposite at this point haha Even though all I get are stupid fucking make outs, I'm still getting my ass out there!

Man I was at the gym recently and this old ass looking dude was with this fine ass skinny woman with big breasts in the steam room. You'd wonder, "What the fuck is she doing with HIM?" After talking to her for a little while turns out they have dogs and kids.

To me I see this as just another thing to put in your list of goals or to do list. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Weight, sleep and alcohol are main factors. Did you get your FSH and LH tested? Is it balls-related or brain-related? Are you having sleep problems? 

 yeah my sleeps been fucked for like 3 or 4 months - I used to wake up on the dot at like 6am without my alarm but over the past couple months I've needed like 2 or 3 alarms and I gained prob 20-30 pounds over the last two years cause I'm mostly sedentary during the day and had a pretty long stretch where I wasn't working out but I've lost a bunch of that recently.

Not sure about the FSH vs. LH but I think if I remember it correctly it's balls related - pretty sure I remember them saying that the Brain part was fine but she did mention something about a lot of this starting with the Brain first so I kinda forget. 

skeep in until noon or 3? Damn bruh that's like most of the day yeah?

Did your testosterone levels change at all? Like did they go back to normal?

When you said they were lower level of normal do you remember what the number was? 

My free testosterone was in normal range it's my total testosterone levels that were all out of whack

 "yeah my sleeps been fucked for like 3 or 4 months - I used to wake up on the dot at like 6am without my alarm but over the past couple months I've needed like 2 or 3 alarms and I gained prob 20-30 pounds over the last two years cause I'm mostly sedentary during the day and had a pretty long stretch where I wasn't working out but I've lost a bunch of that recently."

What has changed in your sleep btw? Is it stress? I guess you've also moved?

yeah I moved  recently which has helped. My sleep has gotten better with that piece. 

Last quarter was just stressful with a couple big deals coming down to the wire so late nights working and then I'd have a ton of leftover adrenaline so wouldn't go to sleep until 1 or 2.

Once that was wrapped up things have been settling back down. But basically my sleep varies based on the work I have. Typically get good sleep at beginning of quarter and then it gets worse as the quarter goes on and deals get more tense 

I sleep in late because I work until 3 or 4 a.m. pretty much every day and I get tired as fuck.

I think my T level was at 421 ng/DL. I haven't been back to check it out again, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone up.

Lift some weights and eat some steaks bro. Make sure to cook that shit in lots of butter. No carbs. 

If if you want a supplement check out red-pct from redsupplements.com

I swear by their shit

You putting in the sleeping hours but having poor quality of sleep? Or just not enough of it 

MW beat me to my question

not all sleep is created equal. I’ll try and find the study, but essentially there was one done on sleep quality and about of REM between a normal group and a control group sleeping the exact same amount. 

Control group was introduced to sleep masks, was in a pitch black room, slept normal hours( not like 5am to 3pm or some shit) and also did a few other things such as not being on their phone prior to sleep, limited caffeine, etc. 

anyways, the control group REM was off the charts better than the other group and was essentially twice as rested (even though they slept the same hours. 

Also, in regards to carbs. How strict are you on Keto? Biggest mistake you can make is to have a few carb out cheat meals. If you do that consistently your body won’t target fat as fuel and will instead go into carb starvation mode and your energy / t levels will plummet. Also happens at the start of cutting diets.

Either go super low / no carbs OR have steady carbs, but going back and forth will fvck with you hardcore 

not sure about the quality but absolutely not enough hours. Go to sleep at like 2 sometimes even later and wake up at 6 with like 4 alarms going offf.

id imagine the quality isn't great but don't really know for sure  

i do absolutely no carbs. Only thing might be stuff like cheese or vegetables but I'm super low on carbs and don't cheat

Body fat turns testosterone to estrogen. Which can also cause sleep apnea, which also kills t. Actually any sleeping problems majorly disrupts t production. So you've got the fully double whammy scenario of "let's kill my own levels of testosterone!" 

Look mang there's no other way around it.. you cannot sacrifice physical fitness or you are just digging your own grave. Physical fitness staves off the effects of old age, mental cognitive decline, keeps your body working efficiently. You're stagnating with worry over bullshit beause you don't have a grounding physical fitness regimen. Dumb. Unhealthy, not sexy. 

Here are 2 LEGIT resources on bumping up your testosterone. A good friend of patrick bateman's too.

https://www.anabolicmen.com/

https://www.truthnutra.com/pages/about

What makes ^ these legit? 

Insomnia is a cunt.

Really? Wtf you got insomnia about, makeout boy. 

Sir, yes sir.

One other thing i thought of....

Just because a diet is popular does not mean its right for you. In regards to Keto, i have always felt it was not a sustainable lifestyle adjustment and it was more of a fad diet and a bit unrealistic for every day life. I have tried high carb diets and low carb, i find that i operate best on fairly low carb, high fat, high protein, nutrient dense diets. 

It takes experimenting with how your body responds for you to know that though, so i would recommend spending some time thinking about if Keto is right for you. Where i finally hit the “sweet spot” for myself with diet and exercise was when i got serious about tracking my macros and also examining my micronutrients. Most people roll their eyes at that, but it really does not take much effort to learn. I started juicing once a day (4 parts vegetables, 1 part fruit) in the mornings along with breakfast. Combining that with the gym, trackicking macros, doing some yoga / meditation and a ton of the mental health / positive reinforcement exercises has caused my overall energy level to be the highest its ever been. I am due for a yearly checkup soon so i will be interested to see my test levels, but i feel like they will be sky high. 

Yeah I've gone back and forth - low/no carb is where I 100% feel best. It's night and day. The doctor who was going through my test even said that low carb is better as well.

What Manwhore said is prob the simplest answer here. I'm not taking care of my body - sleep and physical fitness routine. I'm focusing on those two areas and in the meantime am getting monthly blood tests to track how I'm trending.

Im  naturally a big guy so even when I don't lift at all I still look pretty big so for me the focus has always been on cutting down. 

So so I've just been doing a bunch of cardio. Like people say lifting can help weight loss but in my experience whenever I lift I lose less weight. Any thoughts or advice on this piece? Is it okay to just do cardio... are there ways to do weight lifting where it will actually help with weight loss?

weight loss is based on a calorie deficit. Lifting burns calories, walking burns calories, so do cardio, sex or almost everthing etc.

Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you eat. 

You also don't want to lose too much too fast considering test is something you want to increase. 15% deficit on average till you get there then maintenance.

Yes, I should've clarified. The guy's name is Christopher Walker, studied Nueorsicen at Duke, his story is that he had a tumor in his pituitary gland that was effectively killing his testosterone. Put him in the female category. Surgery and injections weren't helping him so he essentially took matters into his own hand and used diet, exercise, and sleep to fix himself. He now has a 1000+nd/gl for his testosterone which is fucking nuts.

Sounds very cliche and rags to riches but he preaches diet, exercise, and sleep. Now he has a nootropic supplement company but that's separate. I have his program that him and Patrick Bateman worked on - Testosterone X - Or something like that. 

It advocates against low carb diets. Instead it preaches 40% carb 30% Protein & 30% fat - Which is the only kind of diet I've found that works for me and keeps my hormone, energy and sanity in check.

I got my testosterone checked when I was 16-17 because I was obsessed with my body image and grew up being skinny fat. I was on crash diets then with low carb and lengthy periods of dieting. My testosterone was in the 200-255ng/dl range - Fucking weak sauce. I was feeling weak and down all the time.

I adoped principles from the program and while I haven't gotten my testosterone measured in years I can already feel the difference after I changed my diet and exercise regimen as well as sleep.

I'm saying these are legit because that's the bedrock of their message and we all know the hormonal benefits to eating better and we're also aware of the downsides of low carb. Also intermittent fasting is recommended.

That being said, everbody does function differently. So if you guys are saying low carb works for you then more power to you.

I would find a plan that combines lifting with HIIT.  Not all cardio is created the same.... HIIT is far superior to steady state in most cases.

You can can also do cutting plans that incorporate cardio exceleration between sets (40 seconds of jumping jacks, or step ups, etc) which would be your HIIT. If you’re out of shape you may want to hold off on those at first though as they are advanced and very challenging. Find a nice 3 day split that focuses on compound lifts and HIIT to end the workout... or that does HIIT on non lifting days. And as someone else said, calorie deficit  

Geeze, how the fuck did you have so low test with 17 Jihad?  I followed anabolicman and increased my test just to add to the credibility. Basically, just researched and translated studies into plain English and made a good biz out of it :)

Pretty good advice overall, love seeing how you guys step up in other areas of life as well. 

-

Eh just a whole bunch a shit i don't want to get into on a public forum haha

Been hitting the gym consistently. Went 3 days last week and went again yesterday. 

Goal is to get to the gym 3x/week but I'm all about overachieving :)

i didnt realize how good the gym is at at getting rid of some of the access adrenaline. Been doing wind sprints rather than steady state. 

So like all out sprint for a minute or two and then rest and then go again and repeat that for like 15-20 minutes.

been hitting my max heart rate consistently on the sprints and then basically rest until my hr is back around 140ish and then sprint again 

Solid man, whatever split you decide on, just stick to it. Most common mistake most people make is choosing a plan and only going 2/3 of the days each week so they miss muscle groups. Going 3 Days is fine if you go all 3, same with 4 or 5.  

If it works for you, why not? Just be careful, if your body isn't mechanically sound and you start sprinting hard you  might be asking for an injury. Weights can help fix muscular imbalances caused from sitting (tight hip flexors, weak glutemous maximus, nerd neck) 

You might be interested in combining weights with some cardio... There is 'eustress training' which involves doing a 50 rep workout of a single full body lift. So pick rows, deadlift, squat and 60-75% of your one rep max to push out 50 reps. Take however long is needed and however many reps in a set, next time try to improve in at least one of the factors (weight, time finished) 

Or something from a program I used to follow - EDT Escalated Density Training. On the last lifting day of the week, towards the end of the workout you take 10 minutes and one lift (for instance goblet squats or DB row) and do as many as possible while keeping strict form. Sets/reps don't matter but overall volume does. Next week you'll do the same thing but try to top what you did last week. 

And loaded carries. Farmers walk, waiters walk.

They all work cardio like a motherlover. In general whenver I am lifting I try to keep my heartrate between 130-150 using nose breathing as a marker, unless I am lifting super heavy and need lots of times between sets. Which is pretty much doing light cardio for entire length of my workout, save for warm up. 

If it works for you, why not? Just be careful, if your body isn't mechanically sound and you start sprinting hard you  might be asking for an injury. Weights can help fix muscular imbalances caused from sitting (tight hip flexors, weak glutemous maximus, nerd neck) 

You might be interested in combining weights with some cardio... There is 'eustress training' which involves doing a 50 rep workout of a single full body lift. So pick rows, deadlift, squat and 60-75% of your one rep max to push out 50 reps. Take however long is needed and however many reps in a set, next time try to improve in at least one of the factors (weight, time finished) 

Or something from a program I used to follow - EDT Escalated Density Training. On the last lifting day of the week, towards the end of the workout you take 10 minutes and one lift (for instance goblet squats or DB row) and do as many as possible while keeping strict form. Sets/reps don't matter but overall volume does. Next week you'll do the same thing but try to top what you did last week. 

And loaded carries. Farmers walk, waiters walk.

5-1 Breathing ladders. So say chin ups. 5 chin ups, 5 deep long breaths. 4 chin ups, 4 breaths. 3, 2, 1. Repeat for 45 reps total. You'll be gassed by the end and struggling to maintain your breathing patterns. Great for elevated heartrate while lifting and overall fitness. 

They all work cardio like a motherlover. In general whenver I am lifting I try to keep my heartrate between 130-150 using nose breathing as a marker, unless I am lifting super heavy and need lots of times between sets. Which is pretty much doing light cardio for entire length of my workout, save for warm up. 

no need to split, you can do full body workout 3x a week.

And yeah, be careful with the injuries if you have imbalances as I've already told you.

You'll feel fantastic soon ;)

Yep sounds good, Buddha, but yes Icewahine brings up a good point you can pretty easily semi-wreck yourself going from zero to sprinting. It's a high-stress high-tension exercise you can tweak your ankles, your knees, even your groin. 

You should definitely be lifting though, bruh. This is called picking up chicks, not Usain Bolting them. I could not do the job I do without muskulls.

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