Testosterone Level & Muscle Building Relationship

[trtnoobie]

Just how much does testosterone matter for building muscle? I know that guys who use AAS get themselves up to ~1500-2000 total testosterone. If I go from 350 to 700, does that mean I'll build muscle twice as fast as I was before? Assuming eating enough and getting enough rest.

 

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

As a general rule, doubling your testosterone dosage will enable you to build 50% more, due to diminishing returns. So if you go from 100mg weekly to 200mg weekly, in theory you'll be able to build 50% more muscle, although the effect is less pronounced in therapeutic amounts. As far total testosterone levels, I don't think there have been any studies done specifically addressing how anabolic certain ranges are. The 1500-2000 range is actually quite low for steroid users, as inexperienced users often start with 500mg cycles, putting them close to 3000 if their gear is good. Experienced users use 750-1200mg, putting them God knows where. So someone on a gram of testosterone will gain 50% more than someone on 500mg. That said, being on trt gives you an advantage compared to a natural lifter even if peak levels are the same, due to the fact that someone on a long chain testosterone ester has their levels peaked for days at a time, whereas a natural lifter experiences a circadian rhythm, peaking in the morning and troughing at night. Also, typical anti-androgenic lifestyle factors such as stress and loss of sleep have no effect on someone who's injecting. This actually has been studied, where patients on testosterone built more muscle even when their total levels were the same as their natural counterparts' peak levels. No matter what, injecting testosterone and increasing your levels even a marginal amount is going to give you some muscle-building advantage. It's hard to measure what sort of results you'll get though. There was also a very interesting study done where experienced natural weightlifters took somewhere between 50-600mg of testosterone, and were told to stop lifting weights (the control group stayed natural but continued to lift weights). After 20 weeks, the 300mg and 600mg group built 11lbs and 17lbs of muscle without lifting any weights, and both gained more muscle than the control group, even though they stopped working out all together.

 

[ERO]

A great deal depends upon your individual genetics and SHBG levels as well.

 

[trtnoobie]

A great deal depends upon your individual genetics and SHBG levels as well.

Because I'm on TRT, I happen to know my SHBG right now is ~18.9, free test ~14.7, total test ~720 (blood work last week).

 

[madman]

A great deal depends upon your individual genetics and SHBG levels as well.

Exactly. Going from low t to the upper end of the normal physiological range will allow one to attain muscle tissue as long as one is lifting weights/eating properly and of course genetics play a big role. When is comes to dosage increases say if you research the literature muscle growth even though one would see good improvements at 100mg/week once you start using 200mg/300mg/500-600mg/week you will see that there is a linear increase in muscle growth with higher dosages but eventually one would reach a point where side effects would outweigh the risks. Once one starts pursuing supra physiological levels of testosterone than muscle growth will always be better compared to physiological levels. Mind you genetics play a significant role regardless of test levels as some can attain amazing growth from 200-250mg/week where as others may need 500mg/week to attain the same results!

 

[Mountain Man]

Anybody got any ideas or experience about how an older guy like myself, age 63, might respond to increasing the dose? I do 100 of test cyp, once per week. What might I expect if I bump it up a bit?

 

[madman]

Anybody got any ideas or experience about how an older guy like myself, age 63, might respond to increasing the dose? I do 100 of test cyp, once per week. What might I expect if I bump it up a bit?

If your total t is 800-1000 and free t levels are near the upper end with good e2 and you are feeling good overall I would not change anything. As far as adding more muscle going from 100-150mg will not make a drastic difference and you are taking a chance increasing your e2/dht/hematocrit/hemoglobin/-hdl/+ldl levels let alone chances of acne/water retention and so on. Going from 100-200mg/week than you would definitely see improved strength/muscle gains but the chance of sides increases. My two cents MM you look great at your age just keep at it maybe tweak calories gradually and you will add a little more muscle. Just remember more is not always better, hope this helps!

 

[Mountain Man]

If your total t is 800-1000 and free t levels are near the upper end with good e2 and you are feeling good overall I would not change anything. As far as adding more muscle going from 100-150mg will not make a drastic difference and you are taking a chance increasing your e2/dht/hematocrit/hemoglobin/-hdl/+ldl levels let alone chances of acne/water retention and so on. Going from 100-200mg/week than you would definitely see improved strength/muscle gains but the chance of sides increases. My two cents MM you look great at your age just keep at it maybe tweak calories gradually and you will add a little more muscle. Just remember more is not always better, hope this helps!

Thanks madman. You are probably right.

Tough to hear "at your age" but the truth hurts...