PEDmaxxing 101 #1: Testosterone: Overrated, overused and "side-effect"-ridden

[Deleted member 23219]

Disclaimer: This is not medical advice, and therefore shouldn't be interpreted as such. I neither condone nor recommend taking PEDs or recreational drugs, since the usage of those drugs is illegal, harmful and potentially life threatening. I am a complete medical/pharmacological layman and my content is exclusivly intended for entertainment purposes and for possible harm reduction. If you are suffering from any medical conditions, please consult a registered healthcare professional and refrain from any kind of self-diagnosis or self-medication.


Testosterone: Overrated, overused and "side-effect"-ridden​

Introduction:
If you have lurked in any PSL/Looksmaxxing forums for a decently long time, you sure have heard about testosterone being the preferable "beginner roid".
It is said to be possibly be the safest anabolic androgenic steroid that exists, produce the most predictable outcomes and have almost no side effects compared to other AAS. It is also stated that testosterone is possibly able to pass through certain PED tests while other compounds would be much more easily detectable. Being one of the most important sex hormones in the human body and being highly anabolic at the same time the hype around testosterone is understandable, but it unfortunately is heavily abused and vastly misunderstood at the same time. In this thead i, to the best of my ability, want to shed some light on the common misconception around it being the ideal AAS.

General facts (skip this if you want):

chemical structure
Testosterone, first synthesized in 1935, is the primary male sex hormone in most mammalians. It is produced in the leydig-cells out of cholesterol/pregnenolon/etc. (see steroidgenesis) in the male testes with trace amounts being synthesized in the adrenal glands. Testosterone converts intro Estradiol and Dihydrotestosterone through aromatization/5-a-reduction.
The so called "hypothalamus-pituary gland-testes hormone axis" "begins" with the pulsative secretion of GnRH(Gonadotropin-releasing-hormone from the hypothalamus, which ultimately binds in the pituary gland. The pituary gland as a response releases the two gonadotropins LH and FSH in order to initiate testosterone biosynthesis/spermatogenesis in males.
Estradiol and Testosterone in turn are able to supress GnRH secretion by binding to androgen/estrogen receptors in the hypothalamus (this is why roids supress you btw)

HPTA axis visualized.
Testosterone has about a 1/1 anabolic to androgenic ratio, which means that it has about similar androgenic properties compared to anabolic properties.
It therefore is non-selective compared to other androgens.


Why testosterone is a suboptimal compound in regards to roidmaxxing:

-It heavily aromatizes into estradiol. Self explanatory tbh. Taking AIs to avoid estrogenic side effects will often lead to an array serious side effects like
chronic inflammation, bone wasting/tendinopathies/arthrosis... , mood swings, depression, adhedonia, erectile disfunction and impotence, neurotoxicity etc.

-It 5-a-reduces into DHT. Finasteride/Dutasteride or norwood reaper. Self explanatory, water is wet.

-It provides suboptimal gains. It neither has a strong binding affinity, nor does it have many anabolic properties. Compared to most synthetic androgens, it is weak and ineffective.

-It comes with an array of unwanted effects. I am not talking about it's aromatization/5-a-reduction this time. Testosterone all by itself is highly androgenic and non-selective compared to other AAS.
What i'm meaning is:

1: that testosterone is able to bind to for example corticoid receptors, and estrogen receptors by itself through "cross-binding" causing emotional instability, water retention, gynocomastia, cardiomegaly, weak bones/tendons/ligaments...
2: that testosterone is highly androgenic by itself, and therefore is able to cause androgenic "side effects" without necessarily needing to be 5-a-reduced.

-It is terrible for your tendons, ligaments, cartilage and skin in supraphysiological dosages. It reduces collagen synthesis by ~90%, it disrupts collagen turnover and tendon repair.

-in supraphysiological dosages, it can turn you into an asshole and potentially ruin your relationships and friendships (not saying that being high-T by itself is bad and causes "toxic masculinity", i'm not a soycuck). It depends on the individual, but some people just become dark triad assholes when they roid.

-it makes you hypogonadal, meaning that, even when taking SERMs, you most likely will lose all your gains and then some after the cycle.
All AAS do that, so if you are not okay with either losing your gains or being on TRT for life, DON'T TAKE THEM!

Do's and Don'ts:

-You don't need to blast over 250mg/week at max! You are already doing supraphysiological dosages, so anything more would only provide marginally more gains, while at the same time causing the severity of the unwanted effects to increase exponentially, plus you will be forced to abuse high dosages of AIs, SERMS and Fin/Dut. Choose more selective compounds instead.

-Use as little AIs, SERMs and 5-a reductase inhibitors as possible. As i said, AIs and SERMs have some heavy side effects that you don't want to experience.

-Do mostly light weights/high reps on the machines and avoid heavy compound lifts while on cycle. You might permanently weaken your joints/tendons/ligaments and be crippled for life.

-Be mentally prepared to lose your gains and feel like shit OR go on TRT after the cycle. Goes for all roids. Water is wet.

-Don't do it if you're fat! Dont bulk up heavily while on it! You have more adipose tissue, therefore you have more aromatization occuring, and if you don't want bitch tits this will force you to take ridiculous amounts of AIs/SERMs

-Don't do it if someone in your family has androgenic alopexia. Hair is life.

-Don't do it if someone in your family had prostate cancer/testicular cancer/etc.

-Don't do it if you are prone to heart disease

-Do your blood work! At the bare minimum you should test your sex hormones (E2,test,DHT,gonadotropins,GNrH) and your blood lipids/cholesterol and your corticoids


That being said:
Testosterone is an overall suboptimal PED and should not be taken in large amounts.
Don't get me wrong, if you want to use androgens, you probably should use a test base for obvious reasons.

If you decide to go down that path (which i don't recommend to anyone, roids are an incelizing looksmin in most cases), you in theory can only use TRT dosages as a base and add a more selective compound on top of that.
That way you theoretically can avoid most of the negative implications that are expected with testosterone use while still getting the gains you desire.

 

[NerdcelThundercok]

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