Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat (2015)

I have all the classic symptoms of low testosterone, with the exception of decent strength and the ability to add muscle.

Low T guys who go on TRT report a night and day change. Libido, boners, energy, sleep, mood, well-being, attitude all come back. There's a big difference between being normal and having low T. Huge difference.

Earlier this year, yes, I believe I took some Arimidex here and there while dabbling. The cycle lasted maybe 7 weeks? I've been like this for over 10 years. Has nothing to do with steroids, which I only began experimenting with this year. It was the propecia/proscar/finesteride. Never take it.

Correction: it was everything to do with steroids. Propecia is an anti-androgen. 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor. Anyway, yes, the low T is a result of steroid use (propecia).

 

Can't believe you mentioned Bob Paris, classic physique. My training has gone full circle. I started off in my parents garage when I was 15, moved on to various Gyms including Larry Pacifico's which was pretty hardcore. I even competed in my late teens, early twenties. Now I am back to training at home using just barbells and dumbbells with the basic lifts centered around squat, bench and deadlift and I love it. I try to keep my muscles guessing with the rep scheme and it seems to be working. You can still make gains at any age I believe.

 

I just discovered this thread today/now....51 pages...wow... :eek:

Bodybuilding is relatively easy. I was so into it in my teen and early/mid 20's. and had good results...got lots of compliments.

The first thing you want to do is eat like 6 meals per day...Small meals...divided equally. to keep your metabolism steady and good. drink plenty of water...try a gallon/day.
(no candy, soda, fried foods, junk food, fast food at all.)

Supplement with creatine, whey protein, vitamins, amino acid tablets...and even possibly testosterone booster.

workout 3 days/week. about an hour or hour and a half with weights. workout 2 or 3 body parts/muscles per workout session. 2 exercises per body part/muscle. 10 reps each.
and throw in an equal amount of cardio exercises to remain agile and flexible and have stamina.

...it's not rocket science...you'll have a buff, defined, sculpted body in no time.

 

Based on your previous post, I assume that you are at least in your 50s (as am I). I may have misunderstood, but are you saying you've been working out your whole life and are still making gains? Or were you implicitly referring to people who may have started working out later in life? I ask because, although I've worked out pretty much my whole life and take it fairly seriously, I'm not as strong as I was at my peak which I think I hit in my 30s and which ~seemed to have lasted well into my 40s.

 

Maybe he means making gains after a protracted layoff. This has been the case with me. Now in my mid 60's I am making gains from where I was 5 years ago, which was pretty bad. That said, I'm no where near as strong as I was when I was 40, and the 20's? Lets not even go there or I'll start to cry.

 

No argument there.

 

I wasn't sufficiently clear with my question. My apologies. I realize that submaximal sets have some value on their own and presumable with some volume. What I wanted to home in on is whether submaximal sets have any meaningful incremental value if you subsequently do a maximal set of the same exercise immediately thereafter. If you do a maximal set (failure), do you think there is any strength or hypertrophy benefit to be attributable to the submaximal set(s) that preceded it?

 

Did you have your testosterone level checked before you began using finasteride to arrive at this conclusion?