Yet Another Testosterone Question

[raedatoui]

"You haven't done the program, and you're not doing the program now. The program is here: Practical Programming for Strength Training, 3rd edition – The Aasgaard Company

Read it. Do the program."

so what do you think I am doing when I pay an SS coach $650 for 8 weeks, and another $650 for another 8 weeks? and the coach is there, watching every set, correcting me, giving the right cues, doing all the programming for me?
Child's play? BUT OK, ill read the book and educate myself. FINE

[Ericw]

wrong link?

Nope

[CommanderFun]

you are grilling me to death, which I guess is something I deserve given how poorly I am explaining myself.
Point taken on the calories, I guestimated 4000 calories, I eat a lot , I really do. 3 meals and I eat in between meals.
Am i super consistent? probably not. Could I eat even more protein? Sure could. Is it enjoyable to eat even more to the point of vomiting? I'll let you grill me on your next reply
I guess what you are saying is that consistent and somewhat precise nutrition is a big factor and i know that most people just do whatever with nutrition. Point taken!
My coach also said the same, "getting bigger is a nutrition thing". I just sorta went down the testosterone route out of curiosity and just wanted to know what my levels were and ask for some guidance.

I shared 1RMs, the type of thing we do at the end of some SS cycles, testing out some maxes for fun. I can fax you my entire training log if you want
Here are my first working sets 3x5 (Jan 6 2020)
SQ 3x5 @ 155
OP 3x5 @ 65
BP 3x5 @ 95
DL 1x 5 @ 160

This week
SQ 4x4 @ 260 on monday, this friday 5,5@280,265
OP 3x5 @ 97.5
BP 3x5 @ 147.5
DL 1x5 @ 385
My coach is programming an advanced novice LP hence the squat numbers. Also doing pause squat and pause DLs on other days.

And yeah, my overhead progression is weird because i didnt press from March 2020 until Jan 2021.
No training (Lock down) from mid March 2020 until Mid July 2020
Then i only had access to a "powerlifting" gym and just went along and did their program. No overhead pressing at all, just Squat, Bench, DL accessories and variations.

I have done an SS cycle from Jan 6 2021 - Feb 26, and now in the middle of another one that started on March 8.

I hope that paints a clearer picture. And i truly appreciated your responses.

Thank you!!



agreed, this entire thread has been very informative and I am sorry to hear about your situation, i hope it improves! good luck!

The better info is appreciated. It does look to me like your pressing movements are lagging a bit, just based on my own experience. If you're not really laying out your diet and taking a look at it, you can't be sure what you're getting in. I don't know if it's the best approach, but what I do now is basically rigidly control all meals of my day but one, both when I am trying to cut and when I'm trying to bulk. This gives me a degree of reliable, controlled nutrition, but also the ability to set aside a "social meal", typically dinner, that isn't quite so rigidly planned. I still try to estimate in terms of getting what I want from that meal, but it's not always reliable and exact like the rest. I have found this approach to work for both bulking and cutting. Last year I bulked pretty hard, just to see how beneficial it was to my lifts (it was, though I probably ended up overdoing it a bit, especially toward the end), and was able to get something to the tune of 5000 calories daily across 5 meals by the end of it. The past 3 months, I've been cutting instead, and found this again to be a good overall approach, and it's allowed me to cut off 40 pounds of weight, and my strength doesn't seem to have died out TOO much.

Other than that, do the program and stick to it. From what you say, you haven't really spent a significant period of time doing it. Give it time and stick to it.

[Frank_B]

BUT OK, ill read the book and educate myself. FINE

Definitely low.

[raedatoui]

The better info is appreciated. It does look to me like your pressing movements are lagging a bit, just based on my own experience. If you're not really laying out your diet and taking a look at it, you can't be sure what you're getting in. I don't know if it's the best approach, but what I do now is basically rigidly control all meals of my day but one, both when I am trying to cut and when I'm trying to bulk. This gives me a degree of reliable, controlled nutrition, but also the ability to set aside a "social meal", typically dinner, that isn't quite so rigidly planned. I still try to estimate in terms of getting what I want from that meal, but it's not always reliable and exact like the rest. I have found this approach to work for both bulking and cutting. Last year I bulked pretty hard, just to see how beneficial it was to my lifts (it was, though I probably ended up overdoing it a bit, especially toward the end), and was able to get something to the tune of 5000 calories daily across 5 meals by the end of it. The past 3 months, I've been cutting instead, and found this again to be a good overall approach, and it's allowed me to cut off 40 pounds of weight, and my strength doesn't seem to have died out TOO much.

Other than that, do the program and stick to it. From what you say, you haven't really spent a significant period of time doing it. Give it time and stick to it.

thanks for sharing, it's good advice. much appreciated