Recently I got T test done and results were a bit surprising, considering the fact that I look like a pregnant dog with terrible proportions. I'm on the upper end of T levels which basically implies that it should be easier for me to build muscle but that's not the case. Meanwhile, one guy that I know has borderline hypogonadism yet has a lean, athletic build. Muh t levels.
It seems like androgen receptor density is more important.
>>77189775ever since i stopped squatting im not getting morning woods anymore
>>77189776On the upper end for me as well. I specifically got SHBG and free testosterone bloodwork to rule out the possibilities.
>>77189779unironically tickle your prostate every couple of days. just a few light pokes until you feel a tingle in your penis tip.don't tell anyone because it's kind of gay but it works for erection health.wash your hands before and after.
>>77189776Sorta this, there is a lot to it and admittedly I don't know the specifics but...>>77189775The gist is that aside from T levels, some people seem to either be very sensitive or practically unresponsive to your own endogenous hormones. There is also some evidence that some peoples muscles simply don't respond to typical training. I have known people who simply didn't respond to strength training and basically could only "raise the floor" with muscular endurance stuff, for whatever reason his body wasn't letting him develop on the extreme end of his ability.
>>77189816>Albumin 59 g/l>SHBG 21,67 nmol/l>TEST 24,58 nmol/l>Free TEST 0,588 nmol/lI look like a pregnant dog with barely any muscle mass despite training for 1.5 years (tracking protein in take like an autist too with heckin' supplements like whey). What's wrong with me?
>>77189853Who knows. What I would do is...1) See your doc, ask for new bloodwork, and screen for genetic abnormalities, no one sees this shit unless they specific look for it and there are multitudes of conditions that might be affecting you. 2) try some new training modalities. I have always told people to trust the pump, atleast for hypertrophy, but its a good rule of thumb. Can you finish an earnest high effort session, but feel zero pump when you're finished, you might be one that doesnt respond typically. Try doing lower weight, high rep. Forget big numbers and just chase the pump wherever it leads you.
>>77189868Pump is a meme, I get it every time. I mainly do weighted calisthenics with a 30kg vest. I just wonder whether I had low T levels during my puberty because I have every feature of a low T male i.e. narrow frame, small wrists, wide hips, no body hair, gyno yet my T levels are on the higher end. Can't make this shit up. The only reason why I got my T levels measured is because I thought they would be low enough so that I could get TRT prescribed but alas, that wasn't the case.
>>77189881Did you see any strength gains? That's what matters for muscle growth along eating on a surplus
>>77189881>Pump is a memeIt physiologically isn't & is literally a required process, but ok.>>77189881>mainly do weighted calisthenics with a 30kg vestMayhaps, you're a wee little fella and you plain ol haven't been getting enough stimulus. Not to shit on calisthenics but you're bitching about not seeing any changes when you're using a training method with one of the slowest progressions. Do you have any idea how much you have to lift before you start seeing visible changes? Very few guys that look good got there with only calisthenics.
>>77189897Yeah but it's a bit irrelevant desu. My body composition progress for 1.5 years is abysmal compared to what /fit/izens post. Minimal mass gained in lats and that's about it. My gyno and love handles got worse lmao. I'll spend more money on tests, will try to get checked for klinefelter's.
>>77189899Checked.>you're a wee little fella and you plain ol haven't been getting enough stimulusHeard that shit million times. Plenty of people with normal genetics that have athletic builds with calisthenics alone. I bought into the copes of heckin' progressive overload and protein. Bought 2 different weighted vests so that I could keep adding more weight to my pull ups and dips. As soon I reached 10 bw pull ups, I started using weighted vests. I weigh 76kg and can do 17 bw pull ups (proper ones, don't count the ones where I lose my form). Fail to see how me shifting to regular barbell training would make magically gain muscle.
>>77189775What are your free T levels?
>>77189776This + free t + dietThe rest is pseudoscience to hook you on some sort of scam
Same. My total T is in the 700's, free T near the upper limit of the reference range, very low E, all other hormones (including thyroid hormones) normal, and I look like a skinny faggot with 4 hair on my chest in my 30's. Meanwhile, my good buddy has subclinical hypogonadism, doesn't even lift, and he's built like a hair covered tank.I don't accumulate fat easily, so I got that going on for me at least, I guess.
>>77190393Check here >>77189853
>>77190447Igf-1, insulin, pituitary and thyroid hormones are more important than test for body composition since they're always in play.
>>77189779>>77189791There's an app you can use to get a dude to do this with his fist too
>>77190806
>>77189775T-levels are not the end all be all. There's things like androgen sensitivity and other hormones that control the availability of testosterone to your tissues or will bind to androgen receptors not allowing testosterone to do so. Get all of your sex hormones checked. Free test levels really don't tell you much.
>>77190827I'll spend another 100 for Igf-1, insulin, E2 estradiol. T levels are such a shitskin cope lmao.
>>77189790You got AR density tested? How?
>>77189923You sure act like a know it all despite seeking help for making no gains.>76kg>17 pull upsYou're no more advanced than a 16 year old who's been fucking around for like half a year assuming that you're not a midget. Try actually lifting and try eating.>>77191396There's a good few other markers you'd want to check if looking pregnant and bloated is what's bothering you, but I'm not going to help you because I don't like your attitude.
>>77189775Whats your body fat %? You need to be somewhere around 15% or less to look decent regardless of what your build and frame are like.
>>77191729I'm 188cm and I can do 5 30kg pull ups. That should mean something idk.>>77191712This is what I tested >>77189853. I'll get more tests done.
>>77191802that has fuck-all to do with AR density (or sensitivity, which is more relevant 2bh)
>>77189776That's an adapted trait, if I train arms for 10yrs then hop on juice guess what is gonna get massive in a few weeks? You're confusing disorders with the reality of someone with real tren or whatever queer shit 1:1 vs someone else. This phenomena you bring up is like trying to discuss chromosome differences as if there's a gray area. You're talking about literal klinefelters or some shut where a person is literally half woman, you're at the very least misled.
>>77190827Bro that's a straight up disorder, if you took 2 random dudes and they honest to god took the same cycle they'd look very similar given equivalent training(biggest discrepancy). Even a sedentary nerd like zyzz or an african can get huge on roids indistinguishable from the average instagram gearhead.
>>77191824What's the point for shilling T levels then. Biggest meme in the lifting industry. Also, idk if you can test sensitivity of AR.>>77191886Not true, especially if your starting point is like pic related.
>>77189881>pump is a meme>does strength traininggo and do some cable flies and tricep pushdowns and tell me you don't grow.
>>77191907>What's the point for shilling T levels then.well to put it bluntly, most men have acceptable (albeit not optimized) levels of androgen sensitivity. in which case it makes sense to focus on the androgens themselves. also, low androgen sensitivity usually becomes quite apparent by puberty
>>77191907the high test meme it’s mostly just a simplified truth but it’s not really black and whiteoverall genetics play a big role maybe thats your bodies max proportions even on good levelsmost realistic is that you probably had bad test levels during puberty or even already in your moms bellyif you are stunned in any way during your growing up face that could lead to disproportional growth these are called formative years for a reasonyou also seem to have some kind of underlying skin condition im no doctor so i can’t really say anything for certain but that might indicate some health issue your good test levels might come from starting strength training while before you were not physically active a lot but now it’s kind of too late for bone growth that would come from optimal test levelsoverall you can’t just look at one metric and have a clear picture of everything going on in your body that’s for sure
>>77189853your SHBG is very low for some reason, which frees up testosterone but it could also mean you have something affecting you that might not be benign.
>>77192072no, that's a very normal SHBG.
>>77189775Probably. I was shocked when i had mine tested at 950. I have a weak chin, look like a boy, cant grow facial hair, and am not some alpha male at all. But I do put on muscle very easily.
>>77192059Interesting theory which makes sense since I was an utter weakling when I was a teen. Zero muscle mass, gyno. It's a weird that somehow my T levels got to a normal level in my 20s.>>77192059>>77191997>>77192072Also, the progress is in this pic. 1.5 years and yes, I have gyno.https://litter.catbox.moe/1nnr0a0z9e62kg5p.png
>>77192100i mean, it's definitely not great progress given the timeframe... but i've seen worse. you DID have a pregnant dog physique (a term i will be stealing) 1.5 years ago, right now you just look like an average 20-something with decent lats and some unfortunate love handle fat distribution. gyno looks better now too from what i can tell from the shitty pics.
>>77192196I don't know why my body is that fucked up. Rn I'm sitting at 188cm 75kg. I started from zero pull ups to now doing 30kg 5x3 pull ups. Same applies to dips which I do 3x7. I'll try adding more reps/weight in the future but still, having this body is a bit discouraging. Some say that it's because muh calisthenics suck ass but I doubt that me doing regular barbell training would have made a difference. Most healthy males who start lifting even with shitty work out plans make way more progress than me. They have visible abs, delts, lats, you name it. Meanwhile, in my case there has been minimal progress and I still have a lot of fat on my body despite only weighing 75kg. The sole reason why I got my T levels checked is because I thought I was just low T, considering how my physique looks. Turns out, my T levels are on the higher end which goes to show that T meme is really overblown. I'll do get a dexa, some other bloodwork done. Just want to know what's really wrong with my body, that's all.>gyno looks better now too from what i canIt's not, just frauded pictures. When it's colder in the room, your nipples become smaller.
>>77192245you weigh too little and you train only for strength Up the calories a bit and add some volume you can still have strength daysI wouldn’t say your body is extremely fucked upget some trap and shoulder muscles to get some width on top
>>77192293Even getting to 80kg is pain. I was considering just cutting to 65kg just so that I could truly get rid of that stubborn fat by just rotting at auschwitz tier level weight but I have barely any muscle desu so it's a bit counterintuitive. Maybe, I'm not "pushing" myself hard enough but the strength gains are there.>Up the calories a bit and add some volume you can still have strength daysI used to cope with 100 pull up/dip days but I thought it was just junk volume so I switched to doing 5 sets of both exercises, with all the sets taken to failure. I train every other day too. Funniest shit is that my parents are ex-military/ex-athlete and I'm such a weakling. Even amongst my peers, they have leaner, better physiques though I have more strength than them.
>>77189775Watch the King of the Hill episode where Peggy drugs Hank with testosterone pills. That episode is the most salient commentary on the subject you'll find.
>>77189775free testosterone > total testosterone, total T means nothing if your SHBG is binding most of it. free T is what actually hits the androgen receptor
>>77192100>>77192196>body dysmorphia: episode 423
