Thread: Testosterone

Hi everyone,
I have never used or really considered using supplements before...I'm not a bodybuilder, just a normal guy, and I've never really wanted to be "huge" or anything. However, I recently got my test. levels checked and they were ridiculously low..so my doctor put me on androderm, which is basically a patch that supplies testosterone. He upped my dose yesterday to 2 patches a day, which will (hopefully) boost my levels into the upper range of normal. As I understand it, what I am getting from the "patch" is basically what many bodybuilders do with supplements, albeit at a much lower level. But I have read studies (I've been looking on medline) that showed that people on TRT using only 1 patch (half my dose) were able to simultaneously lose fat and build muscle. I'm not new to lifting weights, and I understand the importance of proper nutrition for building muscle. I guess what I want to know is, is there anything I should do differently now since I'm going to be using this supplement? Like for instance, I was planning on slowly trying to put on weight (like .5 to 1 pound a week) because hopefully less of it would be fat and I tend to gain fat easily. Should I try to gain more quickly because of the test supps? Or do the same basic bodybuilding "rules" apply? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'ts just hard to get good information. Oh yeah, BTW, I'm in my twenties if that's at all important. Thanks for the help.

Luke

If you are on 2 patches to get you up into the upper range of normal for a male your age, you aren't going to see the effects that someone on 500mg's/week of test would see, but proper diet and training are important to gaining lean mass whether your on a heavy dose cycle or just wanting to put on a little lean mass, but elevated testosterone levels do increase protein synthesis, so in theory your body will be able to synthesize protein at a more efficient rate than previously.