Originally Posted by dvdslw

Good morning all, I was inspired to ask a few questions to the 41 after reading a thread started today about weight lifting. For background, I'm a mid 40's male, 6'5, 225lbs, and consider myself to be in decent shape for my age compared to just about every other guy I know or see in my age group thanks in part to cycling and watching what I eat. At this point in my life I'm beginning to feel what I believe to be the decline of my muscle mass, energy levels, and other age related declines of a man my age so back in November I decided to start weight lifting to see if that would help get me back to feeling normal again.

I went out and bought a complete home gym system plus free weights to begin a weight lifting program and stuck to it for 4 solid months doing a high weight/low rep routine with little to no improvements in strength or size. I was on a high protein low fat diet, took the full array of supplements, vitamins, and protein shakes timed as recommended by a nutritionist but all I ended up with was sore muscles and a hard time sleeping because of them. So what gives? I remember as a young man working out with some friends and it seemed we could just eat pizza, half ass work out for a while and see results almost immediately. What's changed?

I started doing some online research and came to the conclusion that my testosterone levels may be low and made an appointment to see my physician with special instructions to get a full blood panel to see what my levels were. Come to find out I'm normal for my age group so no worries but I still wanted some answers and kept digging which led me to research local Bioidentical Hormone Doctors and see what they have to offer. That opened up a new door to re-evaluate what is considered a normal testosterone level for a particular age group and my "normal" is half that of a 20 year old male and the bottom of normal for an 80 year old male so according to them I'm low and replacement therapy is a viable option for me but there's trade offs with doing it.

So it seems Testosterone replacement is a magic shot that will make me feel younger, increase my muscle mass, increase my libido, strengthen my bones, the extra weight around my mid section will just melt away, so why not go out today and get started? The main reason to consider NOT doing it is once you start replacing testosterone by way of injections, creme's, or the patch, your body will see that as a reason to stop producing it naturally and once it stops producing the hormone it doesn't start back up again. So anyone opting for replacement should be prepared to take it for the rest of their life. It's quite costly especially without insurance so I just can't see beginning such a treatment plan unless my levels were completely gone. That leaves me wanting more for myself although reluctant to do anything about it.

Here's the kicker, endurance athletes like runners, swimmers, and cyclists tend to have lower T levels because the strain of the endurance activity actually depletes it plus for males turns some of the testosterone into estrogen that creates a whole different array of side effects like man boobs. So logging some long miles on the bike every week is counterproductive to anyone looking to bulk up in the gym or even keep what muscle size they have now and could lead to weaker bones earlier in life than those who don't partake in such activities. Those looking to size up should keep their rides short and hard.

Anyway, this is what's on my mind this morning and was hoping to hear from anyone else who may have come to the same or different conclusions. At the end of the day, I'm hoping to improve my quality of life from here on out and keep up with my two young boys (9 and 12) who keep me busy. My doctor says I'm normal so I guess I'll just make due with what I've got for now. I know this might be a sensitive topic for some but would appreciate anyone sharing their experiences if any on this topic.