[[[The 2022 Gym Rats Thread]]] ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

MikeTheNative said:
@tom_e when you got a private blood test did someone go though the results with you or did they just give you a sheet of paper and send you on the way?
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It depends where you get it done. Most of them give you the option of waiting for drs review to be done but it'll be very generic in most cases, some places you can pay a little extra for them to go through in more detail.

This is for online places like medichecks, I imagine if you go to a private clinic you'd get more personalized in depth reviews but then you're looking at about 3 times the cost from my research.
 
tom_e said:
Legal to own although there is a grey area as black market stuff could be classed as counterfeit medication and therefore not technically legal to own but no ones going to get into hot water for a couple of bottles of test.

It's very hard to get here on the NHS, almost impossible unless you're producing no testosterone what so ever.
From your levels you posted earlier in the thread you're only a couple of points off being eligible if you had supporting symptoms according to the BSSM guidelines which are what private TRT providers follow so it is easyish to get over here if you're prepared to pay as well.

It's definitely something the NHS should take more seriously though. I went to the drs mid last year with all the symptoms of low test but their first avenue is depression, it took some pushing to get them to agree to look at my test levels which I already knew were low from private tests. If I hadn't of been aware that it could have been that I'd probably be on happy pills pushing my hormones even more out of whack right now.

Unfortunately even then they only focus on Total test which is a poor marker of deficiency which meant I was out at the first hurdle with them, although that may have been a blessing in disguise as they use very outdated protocols compared to private clinics.

Since Oct last year I've been on private TRT and feel a million times more human, it is a lifetime commitment but better than being numbed up on anti depressants for the rest of your days masking and worsening the real issue.
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Interesting that my positive levels would be considered boderline! That said, I'm not in a rush to explore this at the moment as I don't think I have any symptoms - not sure where to find them? Anyway, definitely not suffering depression or anything like that (at least not at the moment!).

That said, I completely agree, it's something the UK doesn't seem interested in - but they won't endorse anything until there's closer study of the long term impact. That said depression and anti depressants aren't good things either - though anti d's have their place. Sorry to hear you went through a rough time and glad this is helping you. :) And thanks for your honesty! Must be a relief to feel better now though?

As you say there is a grey area, which is why I've kept away from that sort of stuff - I can't afford anything that may impact a DBS check! I also give blood so don't want to compromise that. I've actually dropped a lot of supplements and don't even take protein shakes anymore. I find I'm not feeling any worse for it, and my blood work is also reflecting that. Mentally also good, though the restrictions did cause a bit of stress, but I largely ignored them and travelled to see family and friends.
 
Freefaller said:
Interesting that my positive levels would be considered boderline! That said, I'm not in a rush to explore this at the moment as I don't think I have any symptoms - not sure where to find them? Anyway, definitely not suffering depression or anything like that (at least not at the moment!).

That said, I completely agree, it's something the UK doesn't seem interested in - but they won't endorse anything until there's closer study of the long term impact. That said depression and anti depressants aren't good things either - though anti d's have their place. Sorry to hear you went through a rough time and glad this is helping you. :) And thanks for your honesty! Must be a relief to feel better now though?
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You'd definitely be aware if you were having the symptoms, it's not a great place to be! :o

It's a massive relief to be honest, I'm still in the initial tweaking stages to get everything in the best place but I'm night and day compared to how I was feeling.
 
tom_e said:
You'd definitely be aware if you were having the symptoms, it's not a great place to be! :o

It's a massive relief to be honest, I'm still in the initial tweaking stages to get everything in the best place but I'm night and day compared to how I was feeling.
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Having suffered from depression and anxiety before (not for many years now), that on top of hormonal issues must have been quite a car crash. Glad you're doing ok! Long may it continue - heck you might feel like a 20 year old again! :D
 
heh - just teasing, squats are such a massive exercise that taxes your whole body... good to see you were bracing, but don't forget to breathe either! :D

Just wait for the DOMS to kick in tomorrow!
 
Freefaller said:
heh - just teasing, squats are such a massive exercise that taxes your whole body... good to see you were bracing, but don't forget to breathe either! :D

Just wait for the DOMS to kick in tomorrow!
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They’ve started kicking in now :D I’ll have to power through it as I’m going running this evening. :(
 
My ability to do weights seems to be disappearing by the session and it's something i've never had before so turning to you lot to see whether it's an issue in itself to continue or whether lightening the weights a little to really try and focus on form will fix it.

I seem to have a slight pelvic shift. Went to see a sports therapist who did some work and suggested some exercises to resolve it and strengthen my obliques and from a pure hip level point of view it's not fairly minimal. However when squatting my left quad is higher than the right one. So not quite in balance. I'm also recovering from an ankle injury and so ankle mobility isn't back to 100% so unsure if that's part of the issue there.

However recently i've noticed that on deadlifts, when standing up straight the bar isn't level. There's an inch or 2 drop. I'm trying to work out whether that's not an issue or whether i should play with hand placement to use the weight to "balance" it out. I can still do the movement fine, although do stop short of dropping the weights to the floor as that creates a twist to get both sides down.

I'm working on ankle mobility work and it is very slowly returning, but not sure whether to go to an actual physio who's got some weights to be able to demonstrate better.

(Appreciate if this is leaning too much towards medical advice, so keep things easy :))
 
Most physios and osteopaths aren't particularly knowledgeable with lifting techniques, but what they are good at is helping to get you back in "balance".

Without knowing exactly what's up (and whilst it's not overly suitable for a forum person to help) I'd focus on fixing your posture, training your core to enable you to brace properly, but also any tilt/imbalance is your body's way of compensating. Your body wants to do the minimal resistance / effort, so that's why you get tilts, imbalances, etc... it's your body's way of minimising discomfort etc...

More often than not your body can be split into 4 quadrants. If your bottom left is imbalanced it'll reflect in your top right, and so on.

Personally I'd focus on a few weeks of rehab, mobility, once you know from your physio where the imbalance is.
 
Still cracking on with training and excluding a week of Covid over Christmas I'm pretty pleased I've kept up 4 lifting sessions per week throughout.

Just on a rebuilding phase after to much time not training. Focus mainly on relearning form rather then pushing weights as quickly as possible, and keeping the movements slow.

Doing an upper lower split program at the moment and I'm actively looking forward to workouts. Spent a fair bit of time adding insulation to the garage roof, and door and I've got a couple of other bits to do to hopefully stop the water seepage in heavy rain and give me some more equipment storage.

New cable fully adjustable pulley tower and bench leg attachment have really opened up variability. Got rid of my GHR and the space saving is great.

Still focusing on weight loss and probably will be for another 3 months or so, lets see. I hate the fact I really have to cut cals low. I wish I could cut on 2.3k per day but no, 1.8k cals and weight is only really really slowly coming off.
 
Absolute unit I was sharing one of the cable stations with today with - Masters level pro BB’er - was just dialling back down from being on 900g carbs a day. 9 0 0 g. RIP toilet bowl.
 
Indeed. It’s crazy how when you see vids of him on stage he looks quite a bit smaller than he does IRL - I guess as there’s no frame of reference. It was the same with Luke Sandoe (and James Hollingshead when he trained at MuscleWorks), they looked big on video but in the flesh they were enormous.

 
I suppose you also mainly see them onstage with other body builders who are also huge.
Similar happens when seeing rugby players on TV. They don't stand out from one another on the field but if you see them in person they look massive.
I know a pro player who doesn't look that big on tv but he's 6'4 and 19 stone so in real life he's a bit of a unit.
 
11-month-transformation-feb21-to-Jan-22.jpg


I stuck this in the weight loss thread but I guess it can go here too.

11 months transformation done with a 3 month cut starting 1st April.

Squat - 170kg
Bench - 120kg
Deadlift - 240kg

I'm training 3 times a week - Monday, Wed and Friday

Monday Push day
Wednesday Leg day
Friday Pull day

Protein around 180g per day

Sat and Sun I eat and drink what I want, no tracking calories those days. Then weekdays, I track what I eat and I'm around 2300 calories per day.
Macro breakdown of 40% protein, 30% fats and 30% carbs


46 years old next month
 
Is there any benefit lengthy sessions?

I'm in the process of cancelling my gym membership to buy a bench and adjustable dumbells (possibly a rack/barbell too) and sticking it in my home office. Normally i'll go to the gym twice a week for ~30 minutes for strength based work. I'm wondering whether it's an idea to stick to that routine, or possibly whether it would be as beneficial to just be doing 5-10 minutes a few times a day throughout the week in between meetings etc?
 
I'm not sure about 5-10 minutes at a time. Takes me that long to warm up a muscle group. :p
Depends on what your goals are to be honest. I know people who take powerlifting reasonably seriously are in the gym 1 and a half hours at least a few times at week.
I used to go an hour a day for 5 days a week but have changed to 40/45 minutes 6/7 days a week (on a 2 day split) and feel I've found better results.
 
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