I have been around these forums looong enough, and I have talked to enough guys in the gym locker room, to know that a huge percentage are running blind. Whether someone is cruising, blasting, or even just deep into a serious natural bulk or cut cycle, there is this weird psychological barrier when it comes to bloodwork. People will drop serious money on gear, high-end supplements, and coach fees, but when it comes to a panel that costs a fraction of that, suddenly it is "I feel fine, so I don't need it." That is absolute roulette.
A couple of years back, I fell into that exact trap myself. I felt great, strength was going up, mirror check was looking solid. No obvious side effects, libido was fine, pumps were insane. I thought I was invincible. But when my coach finally forced me to get a full panel done just as a routine check, the results slapped me right in the face. My lipids were completely wrecked, HDL in the absolute gutter, LDL through the roof, and my liver enzymes were creeping up into a zone that made my doctor raise an eyebrow. Outwardly? I felt like a million bucks. Inwardly? My cardiovascular system was taking a heavy beating in total silence. If I had waited until I actually felt something was wrong, it might have been way too late to fix it easily.
The truth is, we skip it for a few stupid reasons. Mostly it is just ostrich syndrome….. people are genuinely scared of bad numbers and think that if they do not look at the lab report, the problem does not exist. Others use the cost and inconvenience excuse, saying it is a hassle to go to the lab and pay out of pocket, completely ignoring the cost of a major health crash. Then there are guys who get a basic test, see that their total test is high, and think they are good to go, while completely ignoring hematocrit, hemoglobin, estrogen, prolactin, and kidney markers.
Running a cycle, pushing your body to extreme limits, or even running heavy bulks without baseline and mid-point bloodwork is like driving a high-performance car down the highway at 200 kilometers per hour with a blindfold on. You might make it to your destination, or you might slam straight into a wall without ever seeing it coming. If you can afford the lifestyle, you can afford the labs.