I know it's a cliche for millenial aged men to be looking for internet dads. But Justin Harris is my e-dad even though he's only like 8 or 9 years older than me.

I think it's a step up from JP or AMS.

Just don't take Syndrome to Thailand, or else he will crush ladyboys all day with that new T. Seriously, what do you think he raging at? 1500 ng/dl? He says he feels nothing at 2000 ng/dl, he was probably estrogen infested.

What is he waiting for?

Yeah, that was the only detail that was mentioned, but ED from hormonal issues is a pretty way way down there situation. It is like people with beetus losing a foot or something.

Regardless, I'd def be interested whether this was a straight hormonal issue or just a side effect or who knows. Case studies are relatively interesting, but from the little I'm gleaning from this it sounds like his hormones were super ****ed before and now they are atleast not ****ed.

This is also why I'm somewhat reticent about starting TRT. I still can manage a boner and the actual side effects (aside from issues with travel etc assuming I could shop a progressive doctor to get me on TRT) are rather negative. Don't really see the upside except can work out more and have bigger muscles (less small mebbe?). Maybe it would clear up the shoulder issue, but pretty sure surgery is almost totally effective and that is a bridge too far atm.

Hard to be too deeply miserable when rich, 6/10 wife (or fiancee?), and still get boners.

Okay I asked and he said it was fine

ED is such a fickle thing because it can be psychosomatic by definition almost. It can be from so many different causes even with normal t levels so using trt to fix it is always a risky proposition since it'll be so hard to diagnose as being from low testosterone. He's already posted about some of his porn consumption habits that started early and any of you who've been in LTRs or marriages know that is a quick way for your libido to be evaporated. So he's been living for a few years with his gf and now wife having fairly low frequency and just attributed it to those things. Previous attempts at TRT didn't seem to improve and in fact made the situation worse. Libido doesn't have a linear response to ng/dl of testosterone levels even if you hypothetically could isolate the problem to being from low T and not something else. There's lots of other factors with rates of DHT conversion, aromatization, diet, and lifestyle factors and it's definitely possible for libido to be lower at higher T levels even if all of the above are relatively optimal.

So what did we acutlaly do? More frequent dosing empircally seems to cause less aromatization per milligram. Syndrome's bodyfat is also much lower than it used to be and his training has much less of a strength component and more of an endurance/conditioning component. So just doing the same thing he did before but with a smaller total weekly dose and spreading that weekly dose out over more injections seems to have yielded completely different results where his libido has responded much more positively than previous attempts, despite the fact that his wife just gave birth to their child which I think is usually a time when male libido is slightly diminished because that woman is now a mommmy (I can't verify this, just what i've heard from male friends).

I'm not going to pretend to be a genius here. n=1 and


Thremp, if you're not having any problems and don't really want to perform at a higher level, then don't start trt. It was any easy choice for me being as neurotic/emo as I was around age 24 and having big strength/aesthetics goals. But if your libido, mood, and energy are all fine and you don't have such goals, then I don't really see much need for trt.


Why has syndrome not started hgh? Because MK677 is very cheap and freely available in China on our amazon equivalent for around $20 for a 6 week's supply. This drug has a lot of clinical data and human trials and seems to provide most of the benefits of hgh through stimulating endogenous production but with also more potential side effects. The most important side effect seems to be a larger elevation in blood glucose levels for a given elevation in blood IGF1 levels relative to GH and accompanying potential for insulin insensitivity. But if you are not slamming calories and leading a mostly sedentary 5k steps per day offseason bodybuilder lifestyle and don't seem to display any symptoms of insulin insensitivity, it's definitely a better choice. Sydrome is in the low mid 90kg bodyweight range at 6'4ish and trains crossfit; with how high the energy demands are, insulin insensitivity is super unlikely. But for an enhanced 100kg+ 5'11 bodybuilder, insulin insensitivity might be more of a concern with higher caloric intake. But my job and lifestyle are comparatively more active than most bodybuilders and you can very likely offset insulin sensitivity issues via usage of OTC pharmaceutical interventions like berberine and metformin unless you are a really big dude eating truly enormous amounts of carbohydrates while training in a low volume style while also using abusive doses of exogenous insulin. Periodic cessation of mk677/growth hormone/exogenous insulin also works well to resensitize. That's exactly why they probably should be cycled even in high level bodybuilding because being insulin insensitive for long periods of time is obviously going to have a detrimental impact on the physique and there's some evidence to suggest this contributes to the "palumboism" bubble gut+smalller limb musculature appearance that was prevalent in bodybuilding up until the mid 2010s. It's a lot less prevelant now because people became more aware of their blood glucose and how to manage it.

Having experimented with both, I like mk677 a bit more because it seems to also have an awesome impact on sleep quality I never got from hgh. If bodybuilding were my life and career, I'd definitely commit the money to hgh instead but I'm just a hobbyist classic physique guy, not trying to be a men's open mass monster professional.

I'd love to see real data on summary statistics of ejaculatory frequency. Ideally not self reported but i can see why that's problematic, so even self reported would be great. Just doing some googling, I still have no idea what is "normal". My naieve antecdotal "ask ur friends lol" number comes up with about 10/wk for men under 40 (with plenty of freakazoids like myself around double that), and falls to maybe 3-5 in middle age.

Re: psychosomatic stuff affecting stuff down there, when I was providing marriage counseling it was standard to tell the couple to do daily physical intimacy stuff* but that they were under no circumstances allowed to **** before the next session. Usually they would come in for the next session and apologize for accidentally ****ing.

*We'd give detailed instructions

If it's simply ED, it would seem like the easy fix would be just to do viagra or something similar. Obviously that's not going to help with libido. But I'm a little surprised our pharmacist wouldn't just throw some in the regimen.

Did you consider that also?

"simply ED" is the same as "dick ain't working." It does not imply a cause or a treatment.

ED caused by vascular issues would indicate that Viagra may be appropriate. ED caused by anxiety, or wifey not being as hot after a kid crawled out of her crotch, or sleep deprivation, etc. does indicate that Viagra would be an effective treatment. Beer is the treatment for those things.

Exactly what I wanted to say. Arousal and attraction function on different but sometimes overlapping mechanisms. Testosterone is funny because it can kinda improve both. One thing I noticed was that my threshold of what I found attractive went way down while my capacity for arousal stayed about the same but it was already high.

I think his wife is still very hot. Elite yoga athlete and all that. Not my type and looks very SEA, but objectively attractive to be sure.

PDE5 inhibitors aren't side effect free. Although we can get them cheaply OTC here delivered to our house, head-aches, low BP，insomnia, and feeling like you need to accompany monte on the fainting couch (but not to **** him) are all possible. I don't know about long-term side effects though, but I do know they haven't found much evidence for physiological dependency but have found some for psychological dependency. Feel free to correct me on this if I'm mis-remembering.

Not remotely surprised by that. In fact it's a bit surprising it had to be offered as advice in the first place. Always end up with a mega-rager when sitting next to a gf on a long plane or train ride.

I wasn't suggesting it as a single therapy. You are correct that in that case it would not work. I was suggesting it in addition to everything else. Obviously it is not going to do anything for arousal, libido, etc.

Even if he has no vascular issues at all (which I'm nearly certain is the case), Viagra would make him harder for longer, which I assume is in line with his goals.

I think the main reason not to do it would be along the lines of the dependency issue that Emoken mentioned (i.e. probably more mental than anything physical). So if that was the reason, I guess it makes sense. Side effects are possible, but generally one would try it first to see if any of those things happen.

Just sitting there? Damn. 20x/week seems to make a lot more sense now.

Generally trying one thing at a time is best. If you throw the entirety of the medicine cabinet at a problem and you have a positive outcome, what is your next step? Take everything forever? Drop one at a time while freaking out that your dick might not work tonight? What if you have side effects that are not drug specific? What if the cause is not medical at all and the dick works entirely due to placebo of taking 23 treatments when one treatment would have worked just as well?

Sure that's fine advice in general, but given the context of this thread, it doesn't really apply. Being on PEDs more or less forever is exactly what Evoken advocates for. This would just be another PED. And I assume Synbro intends to stay T forever.

Also, don't get me wrong. I can think of plenty of understandable reasons why one might not choose to just throw in some Viagra. I was curious about Evoken's specific reason.

Whether you're using PEDs to get more muscles, get stronger, or have a better sex life, err on the side of using as little pharmaceutical intervention as possible for the desired result.


I am not a doctor.

Of all the people I've coached in the last ~4 years (maybe 40?), only 2 have used exogenous hormones. Mostly natty plers and high school football.

Well, I guess I'm surprised mainly because I didn't think that was your general philosophy. It seems at odds with your other view that pretty much every dude should be on T (and at a pretty young age, if I remember correctly).

He is allowed to evolve his thoughts and opinions over time, I think. He is also allowed to be more nuanced than a cartoon character, I think. He is also allowed to change as his self-esteem gets up to normal levels.

I don't remember him saying that everyone should be taking dnp starting at 5 years of age, so I assume that he has thought that:

T = good != Kitchen sink pharma = good

Yeah, sure that's all fine. I'm not even sure his opinions have changed much over the last 5ish years. I think it's more a case of me not knowing exactly what they are. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Your guesses are cool and all (there is nothing particularly objectionable about them), but it's probably more efficient to, you know, just ask him.

Evo,

Here's maybe a different way to tease out what I'm curious about. It seems to me that you think natty muscles just aren't good enough, so you go on T to get bigger, better ones. So, why do you think natty boners are good and long-lasting enough? Or if not natty (as in Synbro's case), at least less than what you could get with a relatively benign drug. Is T often so good, that viagra wouldn't feel like it's doing anything? Or maybe there is a difference, but your already way past significantly diminishing marginal returns? Or is it something else?

Bro, I'm just a high school economics teacher/part time fitness professional in a corrupt 3rd world autocratic hellhole willing to sell my soul. Why does anyone care about my opinions about what should and shouldn't be? If you want help with PEDs/diet/training/trt, I'm your guy and will probably do as well as most doctors but at a lower cost.


But if you're curious: Yes I think society would be a lot better off if more men had healthy hormones and more active lifestyles. And probably trt (along with actually making those lifestle changes) is going to be the best pharmaceutical intervention toward this end. Is that even a controversial opinion? The same could be said for women.
And in light of test levels falling over the past decades as a consequence of our modern lifestyles, yes I think a lot of men could start fairly young.

But that does not indicate that every individual male should be on trt. Those are two different positions. Human biodiversity.

Melk, with regard to your viagra question: Go buy a 100mg tab of viagra or a kamagra jelly satchet and take one. You will immediately understand why this is not the same as testosterone and it is probably not something you want to mess with frequently. A 20mg tab of cialis might be less harsh so you could try that too, but right away you'll realize that at ED fixing diamond-cutter boner doses these drugs are very powerful and riddled with side effects.


Anyway tomorrow gyms are re-opening. Just got the news today. I've been going out and doing very light pullup training and rehabbing my shoulder by hanging from a bar lately. I literally haven't been as excited for anything in the past few years as I am gyms re-opening. This was the longest break I've taken from training probably since i started back in 2008.

New split
Monday
Hams+glutes+delts (will be doing conventional deads here b/c f*ck you that's why) Prob only machine pressing for delts so I'm not fatigued for chest day.

Tuesday
Back and biceps (no direct lower back loading, just pullups/pulldowns/chest supported row variations)

Wednesday
Chest and triceps

Thursday
Quad focused legs (just hamstring curls then 2-3 quad movements)

Friday
Arms



I've been on the ball with mobility and cardio the entire break. Doing the stairs in my apartment building+static stretching ankles+hips+air squat holds regularly. Ready to start up a cycle and facking slay some weights and eat some food.

I don't think I'm a guy who should continuously bulk for a very long time. This just didn't work well or feel comfortable. I think it'll be 12 week bulks followed by 4-6 weeks of pulling back to give digestive system a break+resensitize to insulin+strip off some bf so i don't start my next contest prep too fat. Ideally I want to start a prep in spring 2024 and start from fairly lean which should be easier if I'm regularly stripping back with minicuts several times per year. Obviously that depends on covid situation and what country I'll be living in at that time. That's all up in the air still.

Gonna go with tens on DL. For whatever reason i feel more beat up from high rep squats than low rep squats for for deadlifts its the exact opposite; I can hit some volume on DLs and feel mostly okay the next day but feel trashed if I hit a top triple and one or 2 backoff sets.

Exercise selection is up in the air and subject to what hurts and what doesn't after a few weeks of training. I'll probably try to squat weekly like a ****ing addict. Given how much time off I've had and how dilligently I've been MOBBING, maybe this time I can handle it without getting wrecked if I can be smart with load+volume management.

First pic early in prep maybe 3 weeks into the diet, second pic was like 2 weeks out from show but really dysfunctional sleeping 12 hours a day exhausted all the time, third pic was deep in offseason at my heaviest bw at around 101kg with a "stuck' appetite where I just couldn't eat anymore. Hit a 240kg dl with straps that day tho.

I'm just super curious. I am not trying to make some sort of point about whether what you are doing is right or wrong, I'm just interested in your reasoning. That's pretty much it.

I don't know anyone IRL like you at all. Nor have I even met anyone like you. Maybe I have encountered people who use PEDs, but none who would talk about it or know about it as much as you do. This is is fascinating. And just asking you questions is a whole lot easier than looking everything up (which I do from time to time, but I'm lazy AF).

As far as your suggestion, I've tried viagra once. Zero side effects and it worked exactly as advertised. I wouldn't be surprised if a time will come when I use it on the reg. T, however, I'm not sure about (and I've never tried it). My philosophy on pharmaceuticals is not that different from yours: take as little as possible. Right now I'm content with my PED free life, but I don't know how long that will last. That's probably when I'll get off my ass and study this stuff in depth.

I was just curious about your curiosity and trying to draw out info about this curiosity.. I didn't find it at all surprising that he didn't push Viagra. This is mostly because I didn't have enough info to even venture a guess, and could easily imagine him being for or against or neutral on Viagra. I would also not be surprised upon learning his favorite color.

That you were surprised is surprising though.

His concerns about Viagra were somewhat surprising to me. One of the reasons why it is (and other PDE5 inhibitors) such a massively successful drug is that for most people it is extremely well tolerated and the side-effects are mostly a non-issue. Sure they can happen, but often they are mild. In fact, the only thing he posted that I actually disagree with is the characterization that it's "riddled with side-effects".