6 Months on TRT, Observations

[andrewBwinter]

@Guided_by_Voices we are on the same path. I follow Stu and have three of his books.

I am still training at sub-max numbers with a max test once in a while and don't do more than a set of 8. I suppose I am impatient with the time it's taking to catch-up my tendons and ligaments compared to my musculature.

 

[D0UG]

• Ligaments and tendons don't seem to recover like muscle. While muscles seem to recover extremally quickly after an intense workout using compound movements, i have been battling biceps and elbow tendonitis since before my TRT journey. It doesn't seem to have an affect on tissue with poor blood flow like tendons.

When I was being treated for cancer and my T was 18-20, I had a lot of problems with ligaments and tendons. Joint pains - especially in my thumbs were much worse too. Muscles just turned to fat but the ligaments got so bad that I had to have shoulder surgery. I had torn rotator cuff for many years but was living with it until my T went away. Then it became unbearable.

 

[[email protected]]

I have a bug for powerlifting and have been training in that style for 4+ years now. I'm 57 in May. DOMS is never an issue now I'm on TRT but I am taking the advice of Christian Thibodeau and using 2 warm up sets and one work set. He believes we should strive to look better vs. being the strongest in the gym. This is a challenge but it is becoming my new reality. I'll still throw in some powerlifting but minimal at best. Last night I hit 315 for a double on bench. 6 months ago I did cluster single at 225. How times have changed on TRT, but tendons and ligaments haven't.

Power lifting has also become an addictive hobby. I'm 65 and I'm training for a July competition. My goal is to break the world record of 363 pounds for my age and weight group which is 65 years old and 220 lb. Trt has created a solid foundation on which to build an extraordinary body for a 65-year-old ... hell for a 35-year-old. It's not a simple shoot and get ripped but does require lots and lots of work. This work would have been unsustainable without trt. Looking forward to the July meet!

 

[andrewBwinter]

Power lifting has also become an addictive hobby. I'm 65 and I'm training for a July competition. My goal is to break the world record of 363 pounds for my age and weight group which is 65 years old and 220 lb. Trt has created a solid foundation on which to build an extraordinary body for a 65-year-old ... hell for a 35-year-old. It's not a simple shoot and get ripped but does require lots and lots of work. This work would have been unsustainable without trt. Looking forward to the July meet!

Good luck with the meet and glad that you chimed in with your story.

How have you been managing tendonitis and ligament issues if any? Lots of good input from lots of different posts but I always like to hear as much as possible.

 

[andrewBwinter]

Morning.

So six months in to this adventure and beyond the numbers associated with blood panels, I wanted to share some things related to chasing the subjective notion of "feeling better".

• Strength gains in the gym are massive and the knock-on effect is greater confidence in my performance and overall esthetic improvements in appearance. This for me is one of the top results at 120mg/wk (2xe3.5d). Just last night at the gym I repped 185 in OHP and a 21 year old commented, "you're pretty big for an old guy" I'll take it.
• More energy during the day and general outlook on life, but it is tempered with dissatisfaction with work. One thing that most long-term men on therapy will agree is that TRT is not a magic bullet and it won't fix a bad relationship, work status or relationship with your children and friends. It will change your outlook on a day to day basis which in turn helps you cope with any adverse affects of said relationships. Still looking to really "shine' during the day and for me, that relates to finding work that I love.

UPDATE: At the end of May I started a new job working on the inside for a personal health company. By working on the inside I mean project management and marketing vs. my career in sales to the very same type of companies I work for now. Less stress, less money but more rewarding. I credit the travel commercial that talks about what's more important when you die, wishing you got that new flat screen TV or going places you never went?

• Sleep is not necessarily better because I continue to snore while on TRT and visit the john at 3:30 each morning. I have been snoring for the past 3-4 years and recently went for a sleep study to rule out OSA.

ABW

UPDATE: It's official, OSA. My sleep study came back as 50 "gasping events" in a 4.5 hour sleep sample (the wires kept me up and I had to go to the John at 3:00) I go back next weekend for a fitting and overnight study with my Bane apparatus. "Let's not stand on formalities Mr. Wayne" Trepidation about having to use CPAP but looking forward to feeling better.