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Thread: What level of tt will produce good gains?

  1. #1
    Boomerang123 is offline New Member
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    Exclamation What level of tt will produce good gains?

    While thinking about trt and my goals I have started to wonder what level of testosterone is required to gain lots of muscle?

    I am currently waiting on second bw, but my first bw revealed that I had a tt level of 236. They are shooting me with 110 mg a week of cyp.I kind of feel like that isn’t going to do shit to help me gain muscle.

    What number of tt is getting into real muscle building territory? 700,800,900,1000,1100???

    I know its different for everyone but there has got to be a point where you’re going to gain a lot of muscle with weight training and proper diet if your levels are high enough.

    I am 26 and have cycled before using sustanon at 250 mg per week for 10weeks and gained 30 lbs. of muscle and water.

  2. #2
    kelkel's Avatar
    kelkel is offline HRT Specialist ~ AR-Platinum Elite-Hall of Famer ~ No Source Checks
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    First, what is your doctors diagnosis? Meaning, what put you on TRT? Not looking for low T as the answer here.
    Going from a 236 TT level to where 110mg per week will bring you should show a substantial difference. It takes time to feel the difference.
    Free T is what's important here, not total T.
    Where you land at 110mg per week is individual, but that is a normal dosage level.
    Real muscle building level? Well, having an optimized test level via TRT will help build muscle as compared to a level in the toilet, but only to a point. Nutrition and training are what builds muscle. If it was simply anabolics we'd all be Arnold.
    Shoot for a healthy T level where your Free T is optimized, total T doesn't matter.

    Still want to know what caused your low T.
    How long ago was your last cycle as compared to your recent BW?
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  3. #3
    Bonaparte's Avatar
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    Anything around physiological range is going to yield, well...physiological gains. To gain muscle like you're "on steroids ", you need cycle doses, not an HRT dose. We're talking 3000+ ng/dl.
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  4. #4
    jomamma007 is offline Member
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    110mgs/week puts me around 1000 test level, with free at the top of the range.

    Don't knock it until you get your bw back.

  5. #5
    Boomerang123 is offline New Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by jomamma007 View Post
    110mgs/week puts me around 1000 test level, with free at the top of the range.

    Don't knock it until you get your bw back.

    jomamma: thank you for the strait forward answer!

    Thank You all! Great advice!

  6. #6
    jomamma007 is offline Member
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    You should split your injection into twice weekly pins.
    Less estrogen, more stable T serum levels.

    Get your bloods 2-3 days after injection, if you wait till your next injection on once a week your levels would probably have half lived.

  7. #7
    LFH40's Avatar
    LFH40 is offline Associate Member
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    Here's an honest answer. Been on TRt since mid-October. Starting level was 192ng/dl. I'm on 100mg per week (split in two doses). I sit at 870ng/dl.

    That being said, I had shoulder surgery and have been out of the gym since October. I'm actually retaining almost all my gains since being out of the gym. Now two years ago, pre-trt, had the other shoulder operated on. Last time I gained a lot of body fat and lost definition because of being out of the gym. My diet has been basically the same throughout. The only variable in this is trt. So that being said, I believe my own dr prescribed protocol of 100mg per week is good enough to keep me maintaining the gains I made over the last toe years since the other surgery.

    I don't think I made any gains on top of what I had already and that is part and parcel to the fact that I haven't even had the opportunity to hit the weights at the gym since starting trt (due it current rehab of arm and bicep.

    I'm excited to see where I can take my 40 year old body with trt once I get clearance to lift weights again. Diet being on point is a must for expecting anything with relation to muscle gain and trt. I'm doing well with that, but I need to work the muscles to go any farther.

  8. #8
    Boomerang123 is offline New Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by jomamma007 View Post
    You should split your injection into twice weekly pins.
    Less estrogen, more stable T serum levels.

    Get your bloods 2-3 days after injection, if you wait till your next injection on once a week your levels would probably have half lived.
    So will that make it show a higher or lower test level if I wait till the injection day, after it half life's?

    Thank you

  9. #9
    jomamma007 is offline Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boomerang123 View Post
    So will that make it show a higher or lower test level if I wait till the injection day, after it half life's?

    Thank you
    Lower...

  10. #10
    Boomerang123 is offline New Member
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    In theory that would be a good thing if I wanted them to up the dose right?

  11. #11
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    It doesn’t work this way. If you're a candidate for TRT your first concern should be getting dialed-in. Not worrying about what test level or dosage will provide superior gains. Once you’re dialed-in you can then concentrate on developing a viable work-out & nutritional plan that will maximize everything. Correct nutrition & correct weight training on only 100 mgs/week will provide you greater gains than taking 200 mgs/week with a half-ass approach to nutrition & training...
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  12. #12
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    ^^^^ You're primary concern should be hitting your sweet spot for you, less really is more for trt. Once dialed in, you can blast to get the higher gains but, if your diet and training, especially diet isn't right, you'll never get what you should out of your blast or trt.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beethoven View Post
    ^^^^ You're primary concern should be hitting your sweet spot for you, less really is more for trt. Once dialed in, you can blast to get the higher gains but, if your diet and training, especially diet isn't right, you'll never get what you should out of your blast or trt.
    I have mine dialed in for about a year now. Could you be more specific about "diet" & "blasting"?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bonaparte View Post
    Anything around physiological range is going to yield, well...physiological gains. To gain muscle like you're "on steroids", you need cycle doses, not an HRT dose. We're talking 3000+ ng/dl.
    ^^^This. The purpose of TRT is to help bring low T levels up into normal ranges. It is NOT for the purpose of building large amounts of muscle. Its called testosterone THERAPY for a reason. Your doctor would not be practicing medicine in your better interest if he endorsed using TRT for supraphysiological gains.
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  15. #15
    LFH40's Avatar
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    I'm sure you can certainly look and feel great on trt levels do testosterone . If you're looking to get hulk-like huge, you may be looking fir something else other than trt, which is for us guys who are deficient for medical reasons. Not condoning or knocking cycles, but hell, I'd be really happy to get normal levels of test and see where a good diet and exercise can get me.

  16. #16
    Beethoven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by suprarob View Post
    I have mine dialed in for about a year now. Could you be more specific about "diet" & "blasting"?
    Diet is obvious. You have to eat clean as to not get fat. "Blast" is basically doing a cycle, then resume trt levels. No PCT required.
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  17. #17
    SEOINAGE's Avatar
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    Always wait for blood work. But seriously, like it has been said, even elevating your levels slightly will assist in building muscle. Even with lowt and a good diet and training program you can build muscle, it just obviously isn't optimal and you won't get quite as far. See what your levels are and get the free t in the upper part of the range, see how you feel etc. The whole mindset of taking trt and not liking your dose because it won't be enough to build muscle is silly.

  18. #18
    sfgiantsfan55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boomerang123 View Post
    While thinking about trt and my goals I have started to wonder what level of testosterone is required to gain lots of muscle?

    I am currently waiting on second bw, but my first bw revealed that I had a tt level of 236. They are shooting me with 110 mg a week of cyp.I kind of feel like that isn’t going to do shit to help me gain muscle.

    What number of tt is getting into real muscle building territory? 700,800,900,1000,1100???

    I know its different for everyone but there has got to be a point where you’re going to gain a lot of muscle with weight training and proper diet if your levels are high enough.

    I am 26 and have cycled before using sustanon at 250 mg per week for 10weeks and gained 30 lbs. of muscle and water.
    just my two cents:
    im 43... love to hit the gym.. body weight was 195 ish at 15.x % before i started trt (total t was i think like 140 ish when i was diagnosed) ... yes thats outta shape even for me.. after 1 year trt , my last blood work my total t was like 680, which still isnt crazy high but much closer to where it SHOULD be... thing with me is my free t is like 22 ... so total t isnt that high, but free t gets too high (so my dr says).. anyway.. last week i did body fat% and i was 215 at 10.9% (thats very lean for me btw).. so thats what... 195@ 15% compared to 215 at 11 basically.. my math might be off... but thats 165.5 lbs lean mass vs 191.35 ...... do i look like a body builder? hell no... but physique wise , i look better now than i can ever recall ...so to answer your original question, it doesnt seem that your Total test has to be through the roof high to get significant gains.. course significant depends on what your goals are... if it is to look like kelkel's av... ha, you might need a truckload more! good luck.


    btw does anyone else feel like "crap i was cheated" for going all these years working out and doing sports with low t? guess its like doing all that with an anchor tied to you. o well, no point complaining.

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