Endogenous testosterone vs Exogenous testosterone - Athletic results

[macmathews]

A little background..
I started weight training at the age of 17 and never missed more than 2 weeks at any given point..
I started noticing big results at about 23 and was told by friends and other gym goers that they suspected me of not being natural.. I took only Creatine and L-glutamine..
I got only moderately strong , but my work ethic was GREAT and had alot of drive.. Long story short years later at about 37 things weren't the same.. I wasn't training as much , looking back it was likely that I was too tired and unrecovered..

At that point I did 100-120mg of Test-E weekly for about 14 months.. within that timeframe my total and Free T always came back about middle or just above middle range.
But my strength came back better than even when I was 25.. Also for sport I was FAR more explosive than I ever noticed.. And I was 38 or so.. I stopped TRT in hopes of recovering since I believed I became low due to a tough stretch of my life ( it really started when my son was diagnosed with Autism )
My theory is this.. Exogenous T levels are much harder to deplete with overtraining and stay elevated throughout a given time.. Say my trough was 500.. Well likely my natural trough was much lower especially since I believe my natural T levels have always been mediocre (although I have no bloods to prove it )
When I was on TRT my libido was stronger than ever before, and since my wife is so HOT .. I punished her for it

Just some thoughts from anything but an expert

[RaginCajun]

What does your blood work tell you?

[macmathews]

Working on getting bodyfat and diet dialed and ONLY then will get bloods.. (plan on a 2 draws within about 2-3 months of 1 another)
to make sure all is good and will have no excuse as to what MAY be going on.. Good diet , low body fat, good sleep..
I will keep posting

Mac

[Youthful55guy]

yes, your observation is correct. When you over train and you are not taking exogenous hormones, the body reacts by shutting down endogenous production of a number of hormones (T, HGH, Thyroid). When taking exogenous hormones you override the system and there is no shut down. This is good and bad, because the over training eventually catches up to you in injuries, but hormonally, the T stays in range.