How can a 54-year-old man build muscle without using steroids?

DO NOT FORGET to get blood drawn and a DEXA scan before you start (EKG wouldn't be bad either) as a baseline; having this information will be priceless in tracking your progress. Get an entire endocrine panel that includes, at a minimum, serum, free and total testosterone, and sex hormone binding globulin. Ideally, the person ordering the tests will include LH and FSH as well, again, at a minimum. It would be nice to include E1, E2, and E3 levels as well as HCG (no, you are not pregnant, however, if you have testicular cancer, it would be nice to know before you embark on this work, don’t you think?) and TSH, T3, T4, and rT3 because good thyroid function is essential for success. You will need the best insulin sensitivity possible so a HOMA:IR and a Glucose tolerance test —even if you are skinny and someone says “oh, you do not need that” because you need the information for your baseline and to track your progress. Generally, as you get older, insulin sensitivity goes down, in your case, if you are doing everything right, it should go up long before you start to notice muscle mass gains. Your hematocrit and hemoglobin WILL GO UP and stay up for some time because this is the body’s easiest way to adapt to exercise; seeing it start to trend down —assuming you would not be suffering from the wide range of potential anemias— is, like the aforementioned insulin sensitivity matter, a great sign. Incidentally, note that one can speak about insulin resistance as well as sensitivity because, while they are two sides of a coin, the causes of variation are distinct and wide-ranging. As much as you can see a decrease from a reduction in testosterone production during overreaching (read Tudor Bompa or Fleck and Kramer) you can see an increase due to a mass gain and observe a net zero change even though both pieces of information can be inferred through other means in combination with the analysis of serum.

One last thing: everything gets written down. Take a notebook to the gym, plan your lifting and lift your plan. Gather data like a squirrel gathers nuts and learn everything you can. When someone says anything, repeat after me “cite your source” regardless of who they are —I would ask Per Astrand to cite his sources!— I don’t care if they hold an MD from Harvard and a PhD from Stanford, CITE YOUR SOURCE! Too many people want to tell people what to do without actually knowing themselves anything about exercise. I am confident that you can find everything I have written in the primary literature and that it stands as current today. Some might have argument with the creatine schedule, however, while 5g per day for 30 days “works” it is only the 20 for 5 that has a ton of work behind it. MUSCLE SHAPE IS GENETIC, YOU CANNOT SHAPE MUSCLE BY DOING BICEP CURLS THIS WAY OR THAT, PERIOD. Be patient with yourself, your arms will grow, don't waste your time, same with chest flies, same with whatever is not rowing for back. Between the snatch grip high pulls and the bent over rows, when the time comes to do pull-ups, because someone asks more than likely, you will have no problem.

OOPS again: If your bloodwork indicates that you need hormone replacement, be prepared for an uphill climb. There are physicians that specialize in providing the treatment to those who need it and the journey is not so uphill as much as it is costly. From my perspective, an endocrinologist will provide the treatment only if there is a gun to their head, otherwise, they are certain —until one day when they will attempt to convince everyone that they never had any doubt— that you will not only die, you will have multiple heart attacks and your cholesterol will shoot through the roof and you will have no testicular tissue left and you will go on a blind rage and beat everyone you meet, etc…. All of these things have been shown to be either false or amenable to simple treatment and they very well know it. The package insert in Testosterone cypionate (US) and Enanthate (generally most commonly used in Europe) was changed recently to remove precisely all the outdated belief based information. The current “worry” concerns hypertension and they had to say something lest they end up having to say that the medication is probably one of the safest medications in the market. This is stupid. The average American consumes 11 grams of sodium a day, you need TWO! Taken together with the pathological deficiency of potassium, you can see just how bad it can be. Just writing that raised MY blood pressure because it is that stupid to eat 11g of sodium and less than 1g of potassium. It is even tragic when one considers the absurd lack of fiber in the diet —I say “lack” because 5g when the expected is 35, defines stupid— particularly of males. Regarding that safety of which I spoke of earlier, it may well be safer for women to inject testosterone and have their body convert it to estrogen than to take the estrogen directly on a daily basis; the jury is still out.

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OOPS: really, one last thing: much has been made about belts, there is plenty of information in the primary literature. The gist is that you wear one within 10% of your max for overhead lifts. For other lifts, your max with the belt may well exceed what you are actually capable of doing safely. If you are training that hard, you missed my point entirely. Having said that, shoes are the foundation with which you contact the ground and the last thing you need is cushioning. I love my Nike Romaleos II and I love my Gold’s “look like basketball shoes” with a wooden midsole. I use the first to pull and the second for when I do not have to pull. Shoes are an investment, the Romaleos are already a decade old and the Golds may well be approaching 30 years. At that kind of timespan, the sticker is pretty much irrelevant. I like wearing full gloves whenever I am not chalking up because people are disgusting at the gym; it seems that every bad habit comes out. When you do buy a belt, that is a big investment so ask the powerlifters in the gym where to go get one, they wear a lot of equipment, even the “raw” people, and their training methods can help inform yours. Just remember, you are after the bone density that comes with that kind of weight so you can gain muscle mass, they just want more weight on the bar and that is not always the answer. When it comes to the gym, even my underwear and socks are distinct so that I can do a gym clothes wash without worry. Day to day clothes are hardly dirty by comparison and synthetics stand up to gym use well but need serious washing to keep the stink at bay. The fatter you are, the more likely they are to stink. Incidentally, particularly initially, you might even gain some fat as you get stronger and that is ok, you know where you are headed. Welcome to the journey.

Incidentally, regardless of how sore you get, and without a ton of protein and citrulline maleate, you are gonna, no NSAIDS. I know that it hurts and it sucks and yes, you might find yourself having to train while it hurts, for at least a year, that’s the breaks. You might not believe me, however, time will come when you will miss getting sore.

Beyond the aforementioned references, A Practical Approach to Strength Training by Brizycki and The Encyclopedia Of Muscle And Strength by stoppani are recommended as is The Weightlifting Encyclopedia by Drechler. If you can find it, Michael Yessis wrote an excellent book on the fine details of performing a large number of strength training exercises, particularly, those with athletic applications and, in my opinion, far exceeds the work of Deladier. Having said that, those books are also worthy of consideration. The work by Schoenfeld is academically rigorous while also being eminently accessible and it is highly recommended. There are other books to consider, however, reading these will place you heads and shoulders above the crowd all by themselves.

Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support. I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized. he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that. he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened. he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence. i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction. after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly. things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it. we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe … our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far? this has upset me so much its hard to even function.

Let’s make something very clear here: you ARE using steroids. Steroids are a class of molecules with a specific structure that the body derives from cholesterol because it is chemically expedient. Cholesterol is a single molecule that is essential for the ability of multicellular organisms to maintain their structural integrity and function through a wide range of temperatures. Apolipoproteins are what is made in your liver as a vehicle to transport cholesterol throughout the body. It is the oxidation of specific residues on these molecules that causes them to spend an extended period of time in the circulation that makes for pathology. In reality, were a person to consume enough fiber and enough omega 3 fatty acids on a daily basis, the process of the interchange between apolipoproteins and bile salts would never spill over into the circulation. It is important that you consume sufficient choline and reduce your intake of saturated fats to as close to zero as you are able . The body can make all the synovial fluid etc… it needs from other fatty acids, it does not need saturated fats to make anything in spite of what you might have heard or what some might believe and might pass on under the guise of an appeal to authority. Lastly, estrogens are a class of molecules and you cannot improve your muscle mass without them. Testosterone is only one single molecule, one which your body needs and will continue to need even if you cannot produce it in sufficient quantities. At this point, there simply is no excuse any longer, the TRAVERSE study was a sufficiently high powered RCT with exceptional controls that has made it clear that the therapeutic use of testosterone for hormone replacement is safe for your heart, PERIOD. It did not say anything that the evidence had not been pointing to for decades, however, beliefs backed by confirmation bias and groupthink die a hard death. There are a myriad of benefits to maintaining the optimal testosterone levels and there are mountains of documentation, however, all was ignored due to the aforementioned confirmation bias for decades.

Ok, having said all that, your training must reflect the limitations you face (without data, one can only guess at these) so that your training must be very intense, last less than 45 minutes, and will be centered around heavy weights and compound movements. It might make people happy to have variety and play with a variety of implements or work on “core” directly, however, that is (insert legionnaire’s lament from Roman times here) because you do not have the time. Your diet will be centered around protein, fiber, and healthy fats and will be nearly devoid of carbohydrates before a workout while having the majority of the carbohydrates that you will consume for the day at the tail end of and following your workout. These last will be accompanied by a 90% or better whey protein ISOLATE (not “predigested” or “fractionated” etc… if you are not paying at least 45 dollars for something that says exactly that, it almost certainly isn’t). You will consume a separate serving of whey protein ISOLATE mixed in water during your workout. You will consume 20 grams of creatine for 5 days and, depending on your weight and body fat percentage, between 5 and 10 grams of creatine monohydrate in a dose that is divided between after workout and before bed. Before bed, you will consume a serving of 100% micellar casein protein and the aforementioned creatine and you will work up to two grams of magnesium glycinate. You will wake up to consume a serving of whey protein ISOLATE at 5 am and continue to sleep immediately thereafter until a minimum of 10 hours of sleep have accumulated. From the time you wake up to the time of your workout, at not time will more than 3 hours pass under any circumstances without a meal. Each such meal can be liquid or solid but will be accompanied by 5 grams of glutamine and between 2 and 5 grams of citrulline (it can be 2g of each, citrulline and citrulline maleate). While your workouts will involve your whole body, the focus will be on a specific lift (squat, clean, push press/jerk, bench press, and deadlift) each day. The research demonstrates that beginners do best on a whole body per workout split. Initially, there will be two days between workouts, however, eventually, you will want to move to a daily workout. To accomplish this, everything after workout must be, certainly, initially and for at least 9 months to a year, all about recovery. There will be a great deal of breathing exercises and meditation at first. There are more advanced recovery techniques and some require the willing participation of a sexual partner, however, initially, breathing deeply enough to reduce the period of excess post exercise consumption will be needed. The problem is that your muscles need the extra oxygen to recover, however, it isn’t just your muscles that must adapt to this new regime, your whole body, your gastrointestinal tract is of particular concern because this is where your experience will be most visible to you. It takes 8 weeks for muscle to adapt and that is distributed all over your body so it will be nearly a year before there is visible adaptation in the muscle —that does not mean that you will not lose bodyfat or that you will not “look” bigger to others, just that reality takes time to catch up. Initially, the weight you lift may even go down before it goes up, tale your blood pressure three times a day and keep going. One last thing: creatine and caffeine DO NOT MIX. So, for the first year at least, no caffeine. Most powerlifters use smelling salts before a lift, unfortunately, ephedra is no longer available. Drink lots of water, to lean on an old military adage (or truism) if you do not have to go, you are not drinking enough.

(disclaimer, also, read this) I am not your physician or your trainer or your mother and this is provided as is and for informational purposes only (if you do not like it, blame amoral lawyers). Training with weights can be very rewarding (Weightlifting is a sport —that reminds me, get yourself some solid lifting shoes and do not let them see the outside of a gym, ever) however, it is inherently risky and it is a risk that you have to choose to undertake of your own free will. If you want to do something else, do something else. If you chose to do this, go in with your eyes wide open.

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Now that all that is out of the way: you need to get data to work with. You will need a series of morning blood draws —they are morning blood draws to satisfy people that think that there is anything but a mountain of negative effects between 400ng/dl and 300 ng/dl who also seem unable to understand that a level of serum testosterone of 1200 ng/dl was considered normal when the standards were promulgated using a method that is so old that I doubt that one could find the capability to perform the test by this method at any modern medical laboratory. Currently, the upper limit is at 800 ng/dl and, as you might imagine, I think it is idiotic to pretend —unlike anywhere else in medicine— that a 14 year old is the same as a 70 year old. The improvement in detection should have resulted in a narrowing of the range that is acceptable as optimal (what you are loioking for is between 600 and 700 ng/dl) and free from pathology. Instead, because of ignorance, egos, and a poverty of understanding, the upper boundary is lowered beyond reason while the lower boundary is maintained at an unreasonable level that is completely incompatible with current research. That is, research done by scientists; your physician, as much as they would like to pretend otherwise, is NOT a scientist. Scientist investigate fundamental principles of function and a clinical scientist (that is, someone with an MD AND a PhD) will tell you that they investigate methods and clinical applications. In other words, while a scientist finds something, the clinical scientist figures out how to use it for best clinical effect, then, a physician might look to compare two different methods to see which is more cost effective, etc…. There is a 20 year gap between the first and the last and it can be as many as 30 before something becomes standard enough to appear in Current Diagnosis and Treatment.

Now, everything I have presented here is backed up by consistency and convergence of the evidence in the primary literature. The beliefs out there are boundless, however, it should be noted that whatever I do or someone else does is inconsequential, you are seeking things that can be found in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, The Journal Physiology, and, at a more specialized, cell and molecular biology level, elsewhere. When something appears in The Physician and Sports Medicine, it is already old but reliable. Oddly, JAMA and New England are, at best, when it comes to exercise, sources of misinformation through the prevalence of belief, appeals to authority, or simply arguments from ignorance. In my entire life, I can count on one hand the number of physicians that could be said to have been well read in this area and have fingers left over —that should be terrifying.

Is there more that you could do? Yes, there are things on the bleeding edge. However, as a beginner, this is more than most people could handle with dedication and discipline already. Focus on working your rear delts, and prehabbing your shoulders (on your own time, after the recovery work is done; never before workout) and on doing CORRECT bent over rows (vs. the style popularized by Dorian Yates) and the correct volume of deadlifts (various types, disperse them through the weeks) and the speed of your pulls (high pulls can be substituted for cleans and snatches); CONTROL YOUR BENCH PRESS, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LIKE IN THE SQUAT, BOUNCE FOR ANY REASON, PERIOD! and a year or two from now, you will be admiring the results. CARELESSNESS EQUALS INJURY.

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So, to reiterate, you ARE using “steroids” —the paranoia is beyond the pale concerning scientific illiteracy— to build muscle. The only question is where it is coming from and how often. In theory, a very dedicated person that needed it could inject methyl testosterone into a medport (to avoid turning any part of the body into a pin cushion —it interferes with mass gains) and simulate the pulsatile secretion that occurs normally. Total overkill, the technology for male hormone replacement is, compared to female hormone replacement —and, again, estrogens are steroids—, 19th century/ turn of the 20th century technology. In computer terms, it is comparing a Hollerith Tabulator with the latest MacBook Pro!