The truth about steroids and testosterone replacement therapy (TRT)
It’s time we have…. the talk.
Steroids
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT)
Performance enhancing drugs
I think you’ll be surprised with what you learn. Please come with an open mind.
DISCLOSURE: I’m not a medical professional. This is not medical advice, do your own research.
Performance enhancing drugs are the pharmacological boogie monsters
So what’s the story here?
Their terrible reputation always seemed unfair to me. Why should we care what elite athletes choose to do to improve their performance? The average American is overweight or obese, criminally lazy, and eats literal poison every day. These are the big problems on which we should focus.
“Stop being a lazy fat ass, eat with discipline, and exercise frequently” obviously isn’t a winning message for the media. Hence the obsession with steroids and PEDs. It’s a story that sells and gets clicks by the millions.
To super be honest, personally, I always thought I would be on steroids at this point. Going through my bodybuilding and powerlifting stages, I figured I would need the boost by now. I’m 34 years old.
But…
My testosterone has always been high and continues to be exceptional. At least as far as I can tell. Lifting weights, pushing myself, eating well, getting sun, and keeping great lady company works. Yeah buddy!
The most important factor
You can do a cost benefit analysis on taking steroids, just like any other choice in life. While there are clear downsides to taking steroids, there are also lots of clear upside. I always figured steroids were roughly net positive for most people at the right life stage.
Now as I have explored the subject and know plenty of bros who juice, I don’t think that’s true at all. Steroids are probably not a good idea for most young people.
The most important factor is dependency.
It’s really simple actually. As you introduce your body to external testosterone, your body gets accustomed to the external supply and down regulates your own native production of testosterone, or shuts it down altogether. This is what the shriveled testicles are all about. Just like a train, once it stops, it’s really hard to get it started again. Maybe you can’t restart it at all.
This is a really big problem. Quite serious actually.
Taking external testosterone via steroids or testosterone replacement therapy really comes down to short term gain vs long term loss. Unless you are literally getting paid lots of money for having massive muscles or your elite athletic performance, I fail to understand why taking external testosterone is a good idea.
To be super clear — you probably should not take steroids or testosterone replacement therapy unless you have a medical reason to do so, or are older than 50.
What should you do?
There are new companies popping up to help men with testosterone enhancement. They are slick and well branded, and some of you have told me that you are considering them. Literally just had this conversation with a couple different Pointman members last week.
The problem here is these companies are prescribing testosterone replacement therapy, and branding it as harmless, without discussing any of the cost benefit analysis above. They forego any meaningful improvements in lifestyle, exercise, diet, habits, or mindset and jump straight to prescription drugs.
This is a big problem, and to me seems totally detrimental to long term health and strength. Avoid.
There might be another way though.
I first met Dr Cam Sepah a couple years ago. His content on male development is incredible, and he is a clinical psychologist and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCSF School of Medicine.
He’s also an expert on testosterone, and started company called Maximus to help men boost their testosterone, but without all the concerning downsides of steroids and testosterone replacement therapy.
I’m new to this subject, but I’m glad there appears to be a healthy, sustainable, alternative method of proper testosterone optimization.
So to learn more, I had a chat with Dr Cam about all the pros and cons of taking steroids, testosterone replacement therapy, and the newer and safer treatments.
More to come
I think this is a really important topic and surely the start of more discussion to come.
Have you considered steroids or testosterone replacement therapy? Have you heard of Maximus or other alternatives? What have you tried?
Your experience is important data for Pointman, please let me know what you do and how it works out.
I wish you peace and strength.
Nate