Author Topic: How Much Do Variations In Physiological Testosterone Matter To Your Gains?  (Read 4286 times)

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CoolColJ

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Not as much as you think

https://weightology.net/the-members-area/evidence-based-guides/how-much-do-variations-in-physiological-testosterone-matter-to-your-gains/

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TL;DR (but please read the whole review, it's very interesting and it subverts your expectations on multiple occasions as you go through it):

    Your testosterone levels affect how much muscle you carry around, whether you train or not. Then, when you begin to train, your responsiveness to training is mostly similar regardless of whether you have low or high testosterone levels. It may be a bit less with lower testosterone, but the biggest impact is on your baseline.

    For example, let's say you have a baseline lean mass of 50 kg, and you have a testosterone level in the low end (say around 300 ng/dL). You [by training] gain 10% over 6 months, which is 5 kg.

    Now, take this same situation, but the person has a baseline testosterone to 600 ng/dL. Your baseline lean mass now may be 52 kg. You still gain 10% over 6 months, which is 5.2 kg. Thus, the relative gain is similar. However, the starting point, and the absolute gain, is larger because of the higher testosterone. [How larger?] The data suggests that fat-free mass will increase by 0.7 - 1.3 lbs (0.3 - 0.6 kg) for every 100 ng/dL increase in blood levels of testosterone within the physiological range. Thus, if you went from 300 ng/dL to 600 ng/dL, that would be 0.9 - 1.8 kg or about 2.1 - 4 lbs.

    Let's consider another example. Let's say a person goes on some type of testosterone replacement, boosting testosterone from 250 ng/dL to 500 or 600 ng/dL. That person will initially experience some higher-than-normal relative gains, as he moves towards his new baseline for his new testosterone level. It will feel like "newbie" gains. However, once that person has reached his new baseline, his relative gains will be similar to when he had lower testosterone.