Effect of HRT on recovery questions

[DocSmiley]

Aloha, new here and I'm not sure whether to post this on the HRT or question forum, so apologies in advance if this is the wrong one.

Testosterone info: I'm a 43 y/o male, 6' 220lbs (but not strong, fairly fat, down from a peak of 255). I have been on HRT for about a year, finally getting the right doc and dose about 6 months ago. I'm taking 200 test cyp weekly by injection (wife is RN, shot is in glutes, makes it so much easier). Also 1 mg Arimidex 24 hrs after injection. All my levels are within proper ranges and I'm not having any negative side effects other than a very minor back acne. My doc likes to keep his patients at the high end of range as measured at trough, so I hover around 800-900 total with a ref range of 1100 6 days after injection. Range from 15-25 free. Estradiol is about 15-20.

Lifestyle info: Since we move fairly often for my wife's job and have young kids I am now a stay-home dad. So I have a ton of free time and flexible schedule, and very little physical activity compared to any manual labor. Have an s2 Rack with safeties in the garage, bar, bumper plates, and the wife's elliptical.

On to the question:

I had been sedentary for a long time (6+ years) due to a couple of injuries which have finally been resolved and am working on the Starting Strength novice program. The program calls for only 3 days of work a week. But given that I have very limited physical stress outside of lifting, and I have an artificially high testosterone level, can/should I work more than this? I am uncertain how testosterone impacts the lifting and recovery from it. I'm not looking to do a cycle or that "blast and cruise" as low T was pretty nasty in its effects for me and I don't want to deal with that, so I'm just curious if this level of supplementation has any significant effect, and if so, what is that effect.

Thanks in advance.

[Buster Brown]

You should do well training wise as well as recovering from workouts following a solid diet and training routine. You are going to end up really surprising yourself ....take care

[hawk14dl]

Just follow the program for a while. 3 days of lifting and 2-3 days of cardio will be great as a starter program. I'd say at least 6 months

[Red Bastard]

1mg adex, once a week? Seems like that could yo yo your hormone levels. .25mg every other day is a more typical protocol. That's a fairly high dose, for 200mg/week of test, but, if your Dr is happy with that, I guess ya shouldn't **** with it.

[Honkey_Kong]

Steroids are not a replacement for good diet and proper training. There aren't any shortcuts. If you get serious about your lifting and your diet and put a good couple years in, without any steroids (aside from your hrt), you'll be pleasantly surprised how far you'll come.

Besides, you said yourself that you're still recovering from some bad injuries. You don't want to hurt yourself worse. Take it one day at a time and work on small attainable goals towards recovery for now.

[kelkel]

Three days a week lifting is just fine. Hit it hard and focus on your nutrition. You'll do fine. And your test levels aren't artificial, what you're injecting is the exact same thing your body produces on its own.

[Buster Brown]

Steroids are not a replacement for good diet and proper training. There aren't any shortcuts. If you get serious about your lifting and your diet and put a good couple years in, without any steroids (aside from your hrt), you'll be pleasantly surprised how far you'll come. Besides, you said yourself that you're still recovering from some bad injuries. You don't want to hurt yourself worse. Take it one day at a time and work on small attainable goals towards recovery for now.

This statement sums it up well. Most people ( certainly not meant towards you, speaking in general) seem to think that they are magic beans and this couldn't be further from the truth. You seem to have a good attitude and our diet section could really make those goals attainable......and some hard work. Take care.