For those of you without the benefit of a liberal arts education, I’ll clue you into a secret- pretty much every generation in history has looked back to a bygone era as a mythical “golden age.” Just as most rational people view their past relationships through rose colored glasses (the alternative being the weird malice you see all over Facebook), most of the historians in history view previous generations as superior to their own. Clearly, I am no exception to this rule, and make no bones about it.
What follows, however, is hardly the simple musings of an admittedly crotchety old man. This is a serious issue facing humanity and requires a serious solution, rather than just burying our heads in the sand and pretending shit is going to be ok- mankind is devolving at a rather exceptional rate. Whether this is entirely due to our wild-eyed disregard for the state of our environment or nature’s way of curtailing the population growth of the veritable cancer that is the human race, mankind is seeing a precipitous drop in testosterone levels, sperm counts, and sexual activity, a concomitant drop in IQ, and a precipitous rise in disgusting fat-bodiedness (Engber, Harding).
In short, we are becoming less awesome by the fucking minute. Every moment that passes, there are fewer people doing badass things, fewer people discovering cool new concepts, fewer people making pithy comments, and fewer people fucking fewer other people, and when they do it, they do it less well, with limper dicks. It’s not just that we’re descending into the world of Idiocracy– shit, that would be a boon by comparison. More like we’re becoming the amorphous fatbodies in Wall-E, incapable of fucking and unable to articulate our desire to do so even if we had one. And while the world would definitely be better off without humanity, someone’s gotta make sure the Pomeranians of the world don’t starve to death in our absence (the cats will be just fine without us).
The Problem, In Detail
Perhaps you’re of the opinion that my statements above are overblown in some way. If we’ve enough intellect to get off the Earth and into very low Earth orbit, certainly we’re not retarded. And didn’t Hafthor just break a 1000 year old strength record? That’s gotta count for something. And what about the largest gangbangs on record? We’re still kicking ass sex-wise.
Actually, no. The Greeks and Romans certainly outperformed us from a sexual perspective (along with basically every other pre-modern, non-Judeo-Christian people); Hafthor was only able to outperform Orm Storulfsson by making lifting his job, eating far more calories than the Viking did, and likely outweighing him by 1.5 to 2x his bodyweight; and average IQs have dropped five points since 1975. There is no denying it- we are, very quantifiably and indisputably, in a state of pronounced devolution.
You’re Not the Man Your Dad Was, and Not Even a Man Compared to Your Grandpa.
At the risk of sounding like a Boomer, it’s true- none of us are worth a shit from a testosterone standpoint in comparison to our forebears. The least masculine motherfucker in your family line 150 years ago likely had more testosterone pumping through her veins at age 50. Yeah, that’s right- an effeminate woman from the 19th century would stand a fair chance of putting you in the fucking ground if you decided to throw hands with her. Yeah, it sounds like some serious hyperbole, but tragically, I can’t exaggerate something so pronounced.
- a 2007 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed an average yearly decline in testosterone levels since 1980. That means that a 60-year-old man in 2004 had testosterone levels 17% lower than those of a 60-year-old in 1987 (Travison). If that’s not sinking in, that means your natty test levels are now basically half what a guy your age was rocking for natural test levels in 1980. That means your natty does not equal 1980s natty, by any stretch of the fucking imagination– it is almost unspeakably inferior.
- a similar study done in Denmark showed that it goes even deeper than that- dudes born in the 1960s had on average 14 percent lower testosterone levels than males born in the 1920s (Nordal). SHBG (the shit that determines how much test your body can actually use) also increased 26% in the same period, so not only were they producing less test, but they could use less of what little they did produce (Andersson).
- You’re way weaker than your dad was. A 2016 study showed that the average 20- to 34-year-old man could apply 98 pounds of force with a right-handed grip, down from 117 pounds by a man of the same age in 1985. Younger millennials (25-29) are hilariously weak compared to guys the same age when Back to the Future was in theaters- they can exert 25 pounds less force than their forbears. That means that irrespective of test levels, your hand strength as a male is at best 84% of what a dude your age was rocking 30 years ago (Ingraham).
- And ladies, don’t think you’re doing any better- while older millennials are stronger than their forebears, younger millennials and Gen Z women are so weak that they might as well be quadriplegics (Ibid).
If that doesn’t make you sit up and take notice, it’s like nothing can. This isn’t some sort of retarded MGTOW bitch-made “push back against encroachments on masculinity” nonsense, because the dudes promulgating that bullshit that shit are pussies who would lose a fistfight to a damp cardboard cutout of Sylvester Stallone. This is simply a wakeup call that what you think is natty is actually nothing of the sort- it a chemically altered state created by the combined effects of phyto- and xenoestrogens on your system, combined with shitty diet, a disgusting level of adiposity, sloth, and doubtless a number of other environmental factors.
In other words, you’re not “natty” because you’re not on gear- you’re on birth control drugs, which is hardly natty at all. You’re actively pursuing a sex change.
And if you are one of these dumbshits running around with your fucking panties in a twist because a razor commercial told you not to catcall girls (which is the worst conceivable kind of fucking game anyway), but you’re still natty because “you don’t need no steronz” or however you halfwits speak, consider this- not only is your terrible game at fault for the fact you can’t get fucking laid, but the fact you’re a bitch compared to her dad makes it even harder to get in those panties.
“Most American Millennial men report feeling pressured to project a traditional image of manhood characterized by traits like toughness, self-reliance, and hypersexuality—but when asked if they wish to emulate these characteristics themselves, the majority don’t. A separate survey asked men to rate themselves on a scale of “completely masculine” to “completely feminine.” Only 30% of 18- to 29-year-olds chose “completely masculine.” That’s compared to 65% of men over 65. All these social and cultural changes have also left Millennial women in uncharted waters. More face a dating pool where partners of equal education and status are harder to come by, leaving them waiting for men catch up or deciding to go it alone. “They aren’t men,” one young woman told Philadelphia Magazine flatly. “They’re boys.” It’s a sign of a long-term generational reversal: When Boomer women were coming of age, they wanted kinder, gentler men in touch with their feelings. Now Millennial women yearn for guys who can “man up” and take care of business” (Howe).
In short- shit is seriously fucked up. We’ve got birth control meds, psych meds, and estrogenic runoff from pesticides in our water sources, xenoestrogens leached from plastics in our food and beverages (even that BPA-free bullshit) all crushing the shit out of male and female endocrine systems around the developed world (Yang, Bittner). And if that weren’t enough, big agriculture decided to drop high fructose corn syrup in such a preposterous number of foods that unless you’ve made it yourself or it says “sugar free” on the label, it’s damn near a certainty that the chemical slag heap known as high fructose corn syrup is involved in the manufacture of the shit you’re eating. Yeah, it’s not enough that Monsanto’s got you growing bitch tits just from your fucking tap water, but they decided to up the ante and give you metabolic syndrome just to make leaning out for the beach that much fucking harder.
“We confirm prior studies demonstrating that HFCS can induce metabolic dysregulation and add to accumulating data that this can arise in the absence of obesity. Reduced dopamine is associated with obesity and may contribute to compulsive eating. We demonstrate that HFCS can impair dopamine function in the absence of weight gain or increased fat consumption. As reduced dopamine function has been implicated in compulsive behaviors and reduced energy expenditure and insulin dysregulation incurs increased obesity risk, changes in glucose regulation and dopamine function induced by HFCS may precede and contribute to obesity in the long-run. Increased consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks has been associated with increased rates of obesity and metabolic disorder, especially in developed countries that consume a ‘Western’ diet when compared to those countries with lower access” (Meyers).
Think You’re Clever? You Only Think That Because You’re Not As Smart As You Should Be.
This might be a tough nut to swallow, but on top of the fact that our endocrine systems are basically wet dogshit compared to our grandparents’, but our brains are trash as well. Studies in Denmark, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia have all shown that although IQs rose steadily from 1962 to 1975, they’ve been declining precipitously since that year (Smith, Bratsberg). Although the drop has only been five percentage points, I’d imagine few people who read this site are willing to accede to declining IQ scores, and bear in mind that five points can be the difference between average intelligence and borderline retarded.
Though scientists have not yet pinpointed the exact cause, they are certain that the cause is environmental rather than genetic, so once again, you’re being poisoned by your environment.
Set the Stage, the Ambush Begins: Get Ready for the Pro-Gear Spiel
Being natty these days is like fighting a battle of the Alamo against the combined forces of genetics, big agriculture, big oil, and common sense instead of the ragtag Mexican army, except instead of 200 hardened and heavily armed frontiersmen, you’re fighting with soft-as-runny-shit kindergartners armed with paper clips and rubber bands. Seriously, it would be like having the least hard person in your fallout shelter insisting everyone go fight the marauding cannibalistic mutants naked and armed with stale peanut butter sandwiches. It’s about as sensible as eating tide pods, but without any of the concomitant honor that comes with voluntarily ingesting poison so that your death amuses others.
Speaking from the position of someone who was straightedge until he was 27, I have the benefit of having been even more militant than your resident USAPL lifter, only with more logic and better music on my side. I wasn’t natty for the excuse to be weaker- I was natty because I enjoyed proving that I was better than everyone around me without any of the aids of which everyone else availed myself. If I was at a party and saw someone hammered as fuck and having a great time, I didn’t go “yeah, well, that shit’s easy when you’re hammered”- I just whyled out harder. The same went for the gym- in those days, there was none of the excuse manking and hand-wringing and whining of the natty crowd with my crew and I. Instead of whining and bitching and making excuses, we went so much fucking harder than those guys we managed, for the most part, to keep up or beat them. It’s amazing what a little extra effort will do.
It was only when I realized that the satisfaction inherent in that knowledge made me theoretically superior to others in my mind, yet inferior to my actual potential, that I was forced to revise my position. It’s not that I was underperforming by anyone’s standards but my own, and beset on all sides by nonstop accusations of PED use anyway, I figured there was no reason not to use them. After all, I still faced this grand existential question:
Was I actually morally, physically, and spiritually superior to those who used the aids I eschewed, or was I simply afraid that once I completely leveled the playing field by indulging that I would not exceed the performance of others as greatly as I expected?
For me, that was a hell of an existential crisis. I grew up screaming the lyrics to Minor Threat, beating the brakes off kids in the pit to Earth Crisis while screaming “I AM STRAIGHT EDGE,” and brawling with skins after shows. I realized, though, that while the moral superiority I felt was pretty dope, I was pretty much intolerable for my friends to be around outside the gym, and I was passing up on a lot of fun for virtually no reason. Thus, at 27 I broke my edge but still refrained from using any kind of PEDS (though just like the Courage Crew used to end up with their blood all over my fists over me drinking Diet Coke while X’d up because of the caffeine in it, the USAPL would end up in a similar situation over my love of ephedrine and caffeine) until I started using “prohormones” at around 31. Frankly, we were unaware that they were black market steroids at first, and didn’t really give a fuck anyway- legal was legal, and that counted for natty in my book. A couple years later I realized gear is gear and just started using the good shit, which I’ve since used on and off, in wildly unscientific 80s style (but with pretty fucking low doses) since.
The point of this uncharacteristically personal anecdote is that I get the natty argument wholeheartedly, from both a spiritual and a moral perspective. If you’re avoiding gear from a physiological perspective, just stop reading and put your helmet and bib back on, because you’re too fucking stupid to absorb the remainder of this missive. Frankly, if you’re that fearful and sad, I’ve no idea how you ended up here in the first place, but you should consider utilizing another resource- the effects of low to moderate doses of testosterone don’t come with enough negative health effects to justify their avoidance, especially when the alternative is a long, weak, depressed, boring, fearful life lived parked in front of the fucking television, or in the case of the under 25 set, hiding from the sun and a social life in their parents’ basement.
And though I know of no one who’s posited it, the precipitous decline in testosterone in the West seems to coincide with the increase in lifespan, so perhaps that accounts in part for the increase. Frankly, it’s all academic to me, because no matter how rich you are, being old as fuck sucks. I’ll happily shave a few years off the end to pack more awesome into the middle.
I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
We know things are bad — worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’
Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD!
The Solutions, As I See Them
- drink out of glass. As I cited above, even the BPA-free plastic leeches estrogens into whatever it’s storing.
- store your food in glass. Chuck all of the plasticware in your house and get shit like this.
- stop using weed killer on your yard. “These herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals are known as “estrogen mimickers,” “hormone disrupters,“ endocrine disruptors or xenoestrogens. These estrogen-like chemicals bind in estrogen receptor sites which are fat bound. Estrogens and estrogen mimickers from herbicides and other substances, increase vascular patterns and metabolism in the breast. If you have a group of cells that have become abnormal and are growing, or a a cancerous tumor is present, nitric oxide is released from these abnormal cells. If the vascular network has increased in the area of the tumor and the vessels are now dilated due to the release of nitric oxide and the increased availability of oxygen and nutrition, tumor doubling time is likely to become deadly. Tumors set up their own blood flow known as neo-angiogenesis.The medical literature on pesticides/herbicide exposures is clear on the fact that these chemicals harm neurological, reproductive and hormonal systems” (Edstrom).
- take nootropics. Though they were deemed “not nutritional supplements” by the FDA and thus illegal for me to include in Cannibal Genius (which led to us discontinuing it), racetams are the creme de la creme in my mind. I generally avoid amphetamines and wouldn’t really feel comfortable recommending them to anyone, especially given the fact that I’ve never understood how someone could develop an opioid addiction, yet we’re living in a post-apocalyptic heroin-filled wasteland at this point. As a general rule, do not take anything that is chemically habit forming for more than three days in a row– I can say from experience once you pass the three day mark you tend to lose focus on life as a whole.
- take anti-estrogens and testosterone. If no one else is gonna say it, I will. For anyone under 25, this is likely a bad idea, and I’m not a big fan of megadosing gear, so I’m not recommending you go all Michalik/Grymkowski/Piana on the deal. That said, I’m no gear guru and am not going to make any specific recommendations beyond the fact that some arimidex and 300mg of test a week does a body good (and some more could be more gooder). Clearly, ladies, you’d use less than that, but I know of no good resource to use as a guide- I’d ask trainers who help women physique competitors for gear recommendations.
- The natty stuff is not going to get you the 40%-50% increase in test that you’d need to match the test levels of the lifters of the mid-20th Century, so I see no point in fucking around with them. I realize you’re going to ask a lot of specific questions for which I have no answers, because I don’t give a fuck about gear any more than I give a fuck about what kind of hammer I’m using to drive nails.
- If you’re a Redditor/Channer, understand that tren is not some magical substance. How you people got that idea I’ll never know, but it’s fucking stupid. It helps lean you out. No magic required.
- take T3 when leaning out (or just periodically throughout the year). You’ve got HFCS in your system, which means your metabolism is fucked. Women seem to be especially susceptible to metabolic syndrome, and it plays merry hell with everything from their moods to their fat deposition. I wouldn’t run it for more than 6-8 weeks, lest you fuck up your body’s ability to produce T3 naturally, and if you want to run it, here is a guide.
- make your own condiments. Not only will they taste considerably better than the shit you have in your fridge, but they won’t contain high fructose corn syrup or any of the other horrible shit you’ll find in your average bottle of Heinz bullshit. If you suck at cooking, get your shit together and learn, but in the meantime get the shit without HFCS in it.
And there you have it- a detailed, if lengthy, bit of reasoning on why we all need to say fuck the government and start bumping up our PED use. You might disagree with my conclusion, but that would be because you’re wrong, for the reasons I have detailed above, and you’ll come around one you get those racetams and anti-estrogens poppin’. In any event, make your own decisions and choose your own path, because in the end, that’s about the only freedom we really have.
Feel like trolling me in the comments about how you don’t need gear and toxic masculinity and you’re a fucking badass? Feel free. But before you start, know this
- The behavior associated with toxic masculinity is the behavior of bullies, and bullies have far lower testosterone than the people they’re bullying. They’re fearful, weak little bitches who are acting in a manner they thin seems tough because they’ve no idea what toughness is (Vaillancourt). So if you’ve got your panties in a bunch over the concept of toxic masculinity, it’s because you’re a fucking bitch.
Yo, have you chacked out my badass new book yet?
You can also get an actual paper copy, which might seem old-timey but is actually far easier to use as a resource.
Sources:
Andersson AM, Jensen TK, Juul A, Petersen JH, Jørgensen T, Skakkebaek NE. Secular decline in male testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin serum levels in Danish population surveys. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Dec;92(12):4696-705.
Bratsberg B, Rogeberg O. Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jun 26;115(26):6674-6678.
Edstrom, Ingrid. Pesticides, herbicides, chemicals- oh my! ZRT Lab. 28 Apr 2015. Web. 6 Aug 2019. https://www.zrtlab.com/blog/archive/pesticides-herbicides-chemicals-oh-my/
Engber, Daniel. The great endumbening. Slate. 19 Sep 2018. Web. 3 Aug 2019. https://slate.com/technology/2018/09/iq-scores-going-down-research-flynn-effect.html
Ferder L, Ferder MD, Inserra F. The role of high-fructose corn syrup in metabolic syndrome and hypertension. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2010 Apr;12(2):105-12.
Harding, Anne. Men’s testosterone levels declined in last 20 years. Reuters. 19 Jan 2007. Web. 14 Jun 2019. https://uk.reuters.com/article/health-testosterone-levels-dc-idUKKIM16976320061101
Howe, Neil. You’re not the man your father was. Forbes. 2 Oct 2017. Web/ 16 Jun 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2017/10/02/youre-not-the-man-your-father-was/#26916de08b7f
Ingraham, Christopher. Today’s men are not nearly as strong as their dads were, researchers say. The Washington Post. 15 Aug 2016. Web. 14 Jun 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/15/todays-men-are-nowhere-near-as-strong-as-their-dads-were-researchers-say/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.66ccebe8ce81
Kimbrell, Andrew. The big lie: Monsanto and the New York Times. Huffington Post. 16 Dec 2019. Web. 14 Jun 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-big-lie-monsanto-and_b_13654204
Meyers AM. High fructose corn syrup induces metabolic dysregulation and altered dopamine signaling in the absence of obesity. PLoS One. 2017; 12(12): e0190206.
Nordal, Erlingur. Testosterone levels decreasing in Danish men. Ice News. 17 May 2010. Web. 14 Jun 2019. https://www.icenews.is/2010/05/17/testosterone-levels-decreasing-in-danish-men/#axzz4f1HF2xrr
Smith, Rory. IQ scores are falling and have been for decades, new study finds. CNN. 14 Jun 2018. Web. 5 Aug 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html
Travison TG, Araujo AB, O’Donnell AB, Kupelian V, McKinlay JB. A population-level decline in serum testosterone levels in American men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jan;92(1):196-202.
Vaillancourt T, deCatanzaro D, Duku E, Muir C. Androgen dynamics in the context of children’s peer relations: an examination of the links between testosterone and peer victimization. Aggress Behav. 2009 Jan-Feb;35(1):103-13
Yang CZ, Yaniger SI, Jordan VC, Klein DJ, Bittner GD. Most Plastic Products Release Estrogenic Chemicals: A Potential Health Problem That Can Be Solved. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Jul 1; 119(7): 989–996.
When I was 25 I had my test levels checked, they were 402. My doctor wanted to put my on TRT but unfortunately I moved a few times and it fell to the side. About two months ago (I’m 28 now) I had my levels tested again and it was 299. My doctor refused to put me on trt because the range for “normal” is 250-850. I told her to go fuck herself and put myself on trt because I recently found a reliable source to get gear. I started lifting when I was 18 because my parents straight up would not let me workout while I lived with them and i was confined to doing push ups in my room. Both my parents are obese assholes and as a teen I would often forego eating instead of just eating the garbage they slam down. Finally getting my hormones a bit higher than that of a fucking 4 year old has made me feel substantially better not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. My wife said she’s noticed a huge change in me as well.
This article is spot fucking on and my wife and I share this same roughly conversation about weekly about how fucked up this ag industry is, how we are being poisoned, how bitch made everyone is, etc.
Huh, well thankfully I cannot relate that much. I’m 27 yo now and I’m the only male in my family with body hair for the past 3 generations (that includes 2 grandpas, 4 uncles, 1 dad, 1 brother). All of them have like 3 hairs on their torso, meanwhile I have plenty on my chest, belly, shoulders, traps & back. I always wondered why that was and after a lot of observing and thinking the conclusions I came to were: 1) I eat way more protein and fats than all of them. 2) I’m the only one in my family that lifts (for the past 10 years or so) and 3) most important in my opinion, they’re way more stressed/ frustrated/ annoyed than I am because I actually like my job and I’ve never been married and/or had kids.
What I’m trying to say is I’ve never avoided plastics, tap water, etc. and I think that with proper eating and heavy lifting you can cancel out being poisoned pretty easily. I highly doubt that a large percentage of test subjects in these studies were working out seriously or eating lots of protein and fats. Moreover, I personally believe that social factors such as stress, trouble sleeping, depression, a sedentary lifestyle, etc. play a much bigger role in the drop of T levels than the chemical factors.
That being said, I never actually measured my T levels, but I know traps have the most androgen receptors and mine are huge even though I can’t remember ever training them. I don’t know, maybe the fact that I live in Eastern Europe plays a role in this?!
Thank you for the knowledge! Can’t wait for the paperback version of the book to drop!
Any non medical advice for those with hashimoto’s and addison’s. You orally take cortisol and synthroid.
3,5-Diiodo-L-tyrosine is also known as T2- it is about 75% as effective as Synthroid/Cytomel. It’s in Cannibal Claw because I was trying to replicate the T3/albuterol stack.
Absolutely, man. We should have the copy to Amazon today for them to process.
And I’m glad you guys think for yourselves. I am not a guy who expect people to do as I say, or any such nonsense- I just put the information out there and expect you guys to make your own decisions. Seriously, good on ya.
I’m almost 50 and although I’m young enough to be a victim (I hate that word) of this shit. I love reading the science behind so thank you for taking the time to research it but you can fucking see it. Just look around! I’m old enough to see the decline from the people born after me and old enough to see how generally bad-ass previous generations are/were.
Anyway, I’m taking my son to see Slipknot in two weeks. Maybe not hardcore enough for your taste but I can’t wait to get in the mix again. I’m not bragging but most 50 year olds are looking for ED pills and a nap by now.
And speaking of ED… WTF is going on that younger and younger men and more of them are relying on this shit?
Great job as always Jamie.
I always felt that the young men running around acting like bitches were bitches because….they’re just bitches. It’s a character flaw. They lack strong values and integrity. They learned it from their daddy who was a bitch too, and they hang with their bitch friends who support their bitch behavior. Monkey see, monkey do. No amount of steroids, anti-estrogens, and glassware will unbitch a bitch….they’ll just be a bitch on steroids with expensive tupperware. Lol. Cool article though.
That may be, but low T is certainly not going to help them unfuck themselves, haha. Bitches with expensive tupperware… would you expecxt anything less?
Seriously though- if you see a depressed person go on test for the first time, or a chick go on 50mgs of winnie or var for the first time and it’s the coolest eureka moment you’ll ever see.
Fuck, yes… Can’t wait til it’s available!
Thanks Jamie
The Howe article mostly makes me think that a chunk of women don’t know what they want and think everyone else is the problem.
That is not a problem limited to women. That is endemic among every group of people in the US. Hell, you’ve got dudes who ran like little bitches from Walmart screaming about how the good guys need guns, haha.
True.
Jamie, do you still recommend 50-100mg DHEA and 1.5g Vit C? I’ve seen you make the recomendation back in 2013 but wanted thoughts for today. (Am Male, you made the recommendation in context of women, will this still work?)
That was for healing injuries as I recall.
Thoughts on a clomid only cycle? I’m not opposed to gear, but i’ve heard for low dose interests clomid alone does the trick, too. Especially without disrupting own production quite as much.
I would also add that lifestyle factors are relevant for test: live like a bitch, become a bitch biochemically haha
Great article, Jamie
SHBG makes T unavailable, so decreasing SHBG should be a good thing?
Oh shit, nice catch. The SHGB increased- I double-checked the study on it and dropped the citation in. The news article I pulled that from had the right idea and the wrong delivery, haha.
“Serum testosterone levels decreased and SHBG levels increased with increasing age. In addition to this expected age effect, significant secular trends in testosterone and SHBG serum levels were observed in age-matched men with lower levels in the more recently born/studied men. No significant age-independent effect was observed for free testosterone. Adjustment for a concurrent secular increase in body mass index reduced the observed cohort/period-related changes in testosterone, which no longer were significant. The observed cohort/period-related changes in SHBG levels remained significant after adjustment for body mass index.”
Andersson AM, Jensen TK, Juul A, Petersen JH, Jørgensen T, Skakkebaek NE. Secular decline in male testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin serum levels in Danish population surveys. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Dec;92(12):4696-705.
Any recommendations on avoiding all the shit that runs through the water supply? Buy a filter and hope for the best?
Any specific supplements you recommend, other than nootropics? Or is it all just a bunch of snake oil when it comes to stabilizing your hormone levels and are you better off just take a shot of test in the ass once a week.
As an aside, some of this stuff is getting more mainstream though. I bought glass containers and heavily minimized plastic usage (for environmental reasons actually) years ago and most people thought I was weird for not having plastic tupperware. A lot of my coworkers are doing it as well now though, so there does seem to be a shift. Nonetheless I doubt it’ll stem the tide of plummeting testosterone levels, but it’s better than nothing.
Jamie this article was great, but the website’s new format is terrible, a step backwards from what it was before. White text on a red background is awful to read.
We’re working on it- the layout is more navigable, I think. It was hard as fuck to navigate before, even for me. We’ll get it sorted- I don’t do any of the backend shit and Tara is ridiculously overworked at her full time job. I assure you that we’ll have it looking good shortly, including a new logo style (Tara fucking hates the deathcore one and is really pissy I’m having a slam logo made, haha) done by the singer of Enemy Mind in his tagging style.
In other words- hang in there- we are trying to do a lot of things at once, haha.
Great article, except for not having any porn…..
this site is proven loaded with awesomeness once again. i was discussing the Whole thing with my old man years ago and now this article is giving me enough testicule awareness and fortitude to yell yet again and again “fuck this world in the ass without lube”. Thanks jamie. We’ll stand tall among the ruins.
ps. i’d like to hear more about the Courage Crew beef (horrible pun intented)
As much as I wanted to refrain from voicing my opinion i cannot help it anymore. Especially on the topic of weak men and western civilization specifically. I want to add that vaccines are a major contributor to the weakening of men and humanity as a whole. It is a subject I am currently obsessed with and study daily. Before you condemn me and wish disease upon me all I ask is that you simply look up the ingredients of the common injections people blindly, willingly give to the humans that cannot consent to, newborns and children. Straight from .gov websites. Not conspiracy domains.
Sounds like you need a new hobby. May I suggest either excessive masturbation or stamp collecting?
Something weird going on with the formatting. My initial response was in regards to the Anti-Vaxx loon.
You are forgiven, my son. I agree, that is a weird fucking obsession, especially given the fact it takes about 5 minutes to arrive at the conclusion vaccines aren’t poison. Nor do I even remember writing about vaccines, so I’m not even sure what got him all riled up.
Aluminum is neurotoxic over time, but a single small amount shouldn’t cause adverse reactions. Most people on the planet use antiperspirant, and it takes decades of use to cause dementia- I use deoderants and cook out of cast iron, but I will drink soda out of cans. Most people tolerate 1.6mg-13mg of aluminum per kg of bodyweight per day, and vaccines only contain 0.85-0.125 mg/dose. So if that’s causing these kids to shoot up their high school 15 years later, they were gonna turn half a retard anyway. Same with thiomersal- it’s the same amount of mercury you get in a can of tuna.
Man, if you want your kids to die of smallpox, have at it. It’s a weird thing to want, but I don’t like kids anyway. I will say that when your kids start infecting healthy people, expect to have your head cut off, because people aren’t going to tolerate a bunch of Typhoid Marys running around their neighborhood for long.
Great article, as always Jamie delivers.
I no longer miss the old blog and early style, so props to Jamie, this is as good or even better.
The reason I am “straightedge/natty/whatever” is simple: if a small bavarian man a hundred years ago could put 340 pounds overhead (early bars and discs, non rotating, etc…) without anything (even good form, lol), then that is the way FOR ME.
If he could, so do I.
I will not tolerate him being that strong and sickly ripped and with much less than me.
The way he talked about strength being in thought, that will and patience are the key…his death note…the guy was a man, a badass.
His name was Max Sick. It is the first entry of Jamie ever, one that inspired me enormously.
Others: John Young Smith…the ultimate badass.
Again, my way. I respect other people’s path while they don’t lie.
But my way is mine, whoever likes it or not.
Great Jamie, I would love a post with your experiences with test and the likes.
I would write something about my experiences if I had anything exciting to report, but I can’t say I do. I just feel better running gear- I’ve had no major strength increases, no huge mass increases, and no other really outrageous improvements. I just feel like a fucking god on the stuff, and that’s plenty reason for me.
The feeling like a beast is the key, it seems.
Not going through the motions when lifting like most people.
And of course in the rest of life, not going through the fucking motions.
And I definitely respect the attitude, but you really are fighting Maxick with both hands tied behind your back, man.
More than fighting him in the iron lifting departament is bending the weakness inside me to my will.
Think about it: he was dying and accepted it, realized the infinite and wrote it in a paper.
Allowing yourself to succumb to being poisoned is a bit more fatalistic than Maxick was, I think, but everyone’s got their own path. He was definitely a cool individual.
I’m not an anti vaccine loon. I’m pro liberty. If that’s what you wish for your children that is your decision. I expect you to respect mine or any other person who refuses as well. But seeing as Jamie says you types , referring to people such as me, won’t be tolerated for long I expected as much. It’s become an obsession of study because I’ve come across a lot of anti and pro reasoning. If it is such a heated debate especially when people wish death upon others it has my attention. I am certainly not riled up. My conclusion is that it is not good. You trust the government ? No. You trust the FDA? No. You trust the CDC? No except when it comes to vaccines. One size fits all. I believe in an article a few years ago Jamie you said the government wants us weak. Now where is that reasoning in they care so much about us that they have magical cures in the form of aborted fetal tissue, recombinant DNA etc. Here is a link to ingredients because I am immediately dismissed as a loon. Study them. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf
Honestly I do not expect much since most people made up their mind and blindly trust the government on THIS aspect. Nor do I expect any one to read the ingredients. Again I am not riled up. I’m just inputting my belief that these make us weak. The schedule for vaccines has increased drastically since you were born Jamie. Children born today are injected with more than you. I am awaiting in the near future to be murdered for my beliefs. Thanks for your consideration.
Man, I agree that we shouldn’t trust the government, obviously, but people have been inoculated against smallpox since medieval China. That said, you’re hunting for boogeymen that don’t exist when there are plenty in plain sight. Take formaldehyde- it’s naturally occurring in plenty of foods. Aluminum is the most common metal on the planet and I already covered that.
You want polio? I fucking don’t. Same goes for anthrax, Do you think humanity just developed an immunity to polio or something?
You’re free to believe whatever you want, man- I’m all about discussion. I just don’t see a boogeyman there. What ingredient do you think is poisoning people, or whatever you think is happening?
And you won’t be killed for your beliefs- you’ll be killed for contributing to the spread of a plague.
I would also like to add that my household loves and uses cast iron and glass. I’m somewhat also glad that I’ve pissed someone off
I would also like to add that my household loves and uses cast iron and glass. I’m somewhat also glad that I’ve pissed someone off
Good article, good perspective. I would advise giving natty (well i dont consider stims here ) a long run before deciding. I object to roiders competing in tested comps. The rest comes down to personal choice and sense enough to stay safe.
Regarding the gear users in tested comps, I should think that goes without saying, unless we’re discussing the Olympics, which are just a shitshow. And I agree about the natty thing a good run before going darkside. I had a tough time placing a number on the age limit, because I’ve always said 32, but the shit that is in our environment is only getting worse.
If anyone is looking for good condiment recipes, I highly recommend Joshua Weissman on Youtube. Great fermented ketchup and hot sauce recipes on his channel
Good looking out, bro.
I bet a fiver this anti-vax (pro disease) poster here has never seen an elderly person with nonworking legs due to catching polio as a child and believes a better alternative to modern medicine is a mixture of crystals coated with essential oil, hot yoga, and a tincture made from seasoned meats suspended in goats milk.
In short, the patient zero in every zombie film who causes the epidemic to spread.
I appreciate the sentiment, though I’ve gotta say it’s sort of easy to see how anti-vaxxers get to where they are- people seem to have a really hard time differentiating good information from bad these days. There is a great podcast series about the history of the anti-vaxxer movement (which actually dates to the early 1700s) on Endless Thread if you feel like listening to it. Lest you worry, it’s not an anti-vaxxer series, it’s just about how we got to such a weird anti-science position. https://www.wbur.org/inside/2019/04/05/endless-thread-podcast-launches-new-season-with-four-part-series-on-vaccines-and-anti-vaxxers
I also am perturbed by the drop in T, however, other than possible metabolic effects I’ve never seen the effects personally. Although difficult to live up to some of the achievements of my forebears (great-grandfather was a WW2 baddass who survived a gut full of tank-shell shrapnel and whupped ass in 3 continents); I couldn’t claim to be physically inferior in a line-up (taller than each generation, fully maxed out hand dynamometers since age 16)
In regards to IQ, European countries have had their IQ drop due to immigration from low IQ, third world countries (eg. Somalian average IQ – 68)
https://www.photius.com/rankings/national_iq_scores_country_ranks.html
At least in the case of the Denmark study, they did control groups within families- the IQ dropped generationally. The fully study is available online if you want to check it out.
And to your point, no one can claim that the IQ test is in any way biased these days- it has been continually and aggressively tweaked since the 70s to remove any and all traces of bias. Thus, the arguments for the incorrect assessment of say, sub-Saharan Africans, are wholly incorrect. It seems they’re just stupid people. [This conversation aptly illustrates the fine line of just being sensible taht I walk on touchy subjects. Not a day passes that I’m not called a racist and an SJW in the same 24 hour period.
Your point regarding height is well taken- that is a metric I didn’t think to take into account. Off the top of my head, though, we’re only just getting back to our pre-neolithic height. We basically became a race of midgets with the advent of agriculture.
I think there was a mix up somewhere, I too believe that the testing was done accurately,I have no quarrels with the supposed bias of IQ tests, as you say, they have been tweaked. My point to back that up, was that immigration of lower IQ individuals could effect the countries mean IQ (not the case in Denmark at least).
I don’t think you are racist, in fact, the harsh winter hypothesis, along with differing selective pressures for mating (R vs. K method) and nutritional/cultural differences etc over 6000 years, could very well account for the gap in IQ in my opinion.
The point regarding height is also a contentious one I think, as children are developing quicker and differently now, to the point that doctors are considering lowering the agreed upon age of puberty (as record amounts of 8-10 year olds are hitting it fully).
You are correct about returning to pre-neolithic / pre-agriculture height (I enjoy your writing on this subject btw), It’s a shame that the other physical characteristics are not returning as well. (I’m sure as hell not seeing many Cro magnon worthy physiques).
Well, to be fair, our lifestyles are considerably different. The heavy physical labor from an early age and strenuous exercise of the cro-magnons makes it hard to compare us as species from a physical standpoint.
And I didn’t think you thought the testing was inaccurate- I was supporting your hypothesis and just adding extra info.
Jamie,
Do you do labs to check things like hematocrit? I’m currently on TRT and have always had issues. Feel tired alot even on 200mg of test a week. Any suggestions?
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/anabolic-steroids
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/steroids-other-appearance-performance-enhancing-drugs-apeds/what-are-side-effects-anabolic-steroid-misuse
https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/heres-what-steroids-actually-do-your-body/
The most common side effect of steroid use is liver damage, which only comes from orals. Given that most people have a callous disregard or liver health expressed in alcohol use, that is a non-issue. Steroids were only criminalized because they were banned in the Olympics- there is no other reason. The AMA, DEA, FDA, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse opposed criminalization of steroids. Their negative effects are minor in comparison to just about every other pharmaceutical out there.
But good on you for posting that shit- I don’t mind a counterpoint. Would have been cool if you’d made a point rather than just two government sites, who discourage use for political reasons, and one badly researched article (the hip bullshit, for instance, is based on two instances of hip issues in steroid users almost thirty years ago. I know two semi-pro hockey players who have never used the stuff who had hip replacements in their mid thirties.
Isn’t HPTA damage or suppressed / lowered natural test another concern for those not wishing to stay on forever?
Nah- your natural test levels can recover on their own in a few months, or you can use HCG to get them right back up on their own. Your endocrine system is incredibly resilient, which I assume accounts for the reason we can still breed at all given our environment. The water in rivers is fucking up fish to the point that males are mutating into females. https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/environment-fish-changing-sex-gender-chemicals-pollution-rivers-water-charles-tyler-fisheries-a7821086.html
Off the back of this post, I decided to get blood work done and just got my results back yesterday.
404 ng/dl. I’m a 33 year old male.
The lab report states that I’m in the normal range, but that doesn’t seem normal to me. That’s fucking shit, is it not?
Off the back of this post I got my blood work done. I’m a 33 year old male, and apparently my T level is 404ng/dl.
The lab states that as being normal, but that doesn’t seem normal to me.
That’s fucking shit, is it not?
Despite probably having the test levels of a 70 year old(no facial hair, low sex drive, gyno.) I achieved the following lifts at 235lbs:
215 strict press
530 deficit deadlift off a 2 inch plate
315 oly front squat
while these aren’t impressive, given my condition I think they are alright. I could have lifted alot more had I kept hitting the gym but I hit a period of depression and stopped giving a shit about anything. Even now getting back into it years later I can strict press 150×5, dumbell press 90lbs as well as clean and push press a 106lb kettlebell at 220lbs bw. I’m saying all this to show that even low T is not an excuse. My results probably would have been much greater had my levels been average.