posted Mon, 08/25/2025 - 08:50
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Review my Cruising/TRT plan (please)
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Planning to start in January. First time getting on TRT, long time lifter.
- Bloodwork baseline through Labcorp - November
- Order Test C (200 mg / ml), Insulin syringes (off Amazon / 27 ga / 1/2”), sterilizing pads/alcohol - December
- Begin every other day injections (alternating shoulders), .28 ml per injection for 200 mg a week for 4 weeks - January
- Increase injections / dosage to ~.39 ml per injection for 275 mg a week for 4 weeks - February. (Highly flexible on what to do here)
- Bloodwork through Labcorp - March
Review all progress / bloodwork to understand cruising dosage thereafter.
Any thoughts? Goal is / would be to just stay on permanently.
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You need to reword "Review my Cruising plan (please)" . Nothing TRT about anything you are planning. If you dont want an AI then more like 100-125mg/week and its still not a guarantee depending on your body. Our Hormone reaction is like fingerprints, no one is the same.
You’re like 29 years old, why do you want to put yourself on TRT? What’s the goal of this? Have you been running steroid cycles for years and you’re no longer recovering with PCT or don’t want to deal with pct anymore?
My bio must be off. I turn 40 next year. I want in for the reason most do. I just want to take my workouts and body to the next level.
How do you accidentally put 1996 down? you meant 1986? Glad you dont work a store register lol. You would be overcharging mofos
I would suggest you do this through a clinic. Do you really want to become a criminal and put yourself and your family at risk for some vain goal like that?
Go to a TRT clinic and get a script for it. They’ll give TRT to anyone, even if you aren’t that low. Some of them make the process extremely fast and easy. When I got on TRT I found the place late one week. Bloods that Monday, consult and first shot in my ass that Wednesday as well as my script. They take insurance too so it’s all dirt cheap. It’s good to have a doctor monitoring everything. Legal meds so you can travel with it without worrying about either missing doses or taking illegal drugs with you.
But if your test levels aren’t that low I’d recommend working to increase it naturally before committing to a lifetime of the needle.
So are you doing your own TRT? 200mg or more a week may put you well over the normal limits of testosterone. You will also need an anti estrogen on hand and clomid or hcg to keep your balls from shrinking and fertile.
Yes I am. I’d prefer a dosage that puts me at the very upper limit/just past it of “normal”. I plan to do bloodwork 8 weeks in and adjust. All the research I’ve done shows that < 8% of men on standard TRT dosing require anti estrogens, but again, I plan to have it checked.
Where would you cap cruising dosage if not 250 (the max drs normally prescribe)?
I have my kids and don’t need more, for whatever it’s worth.
Not at your dosage level and plan. You'll be in the 100 percentile.
Where are you doing your "research", TicToc or Facebook?
The "max Dr's normally perscribe"? That's a Max dose that would take a year to reach if needed at all. That is NOT the normal dose.
TRT keeps you in the mid range. The ideal is to peak within normal high range after the injection and taper down to mid range in time for your next dose. That's usually accomplished with only 80 to 125 mg per week.
You are also doing this ass backwards. It'll be harder and more difficult to correct down than up.
Start with 100 and check bloods in 6 weeks just before your next dose. If your low level is 600, within one to two days after your next dose your peak could be around 1000 to 1,200. WHICH IS THE UPPER LIMIT OF NORMAL. Go over that, which is your plan, and you will have a litany of sides you'll be dealing with. Estrogen being the least of your conserns.
This site and AI if I’m being honest. Your proposal of just using 100 mg a week, by all accounts, would “only” put me around 600-800. My natural testosterone years ago was 900. It is lower now but I will have it checked in November. I know you’re much more well versed than I am, but disagree on 100 mg being my cruising dosage. I would agree to start there and have it checked, but feels inevitable I’ll be thinking “yup, need to go up”.
Said another way, what is the dosage you truly think will get me to 1,000-1,200?
If you think 275mg is trt/cruise and will put you at 1,000 you better do some more research. 200mg puts me at 2,100. 125mg gets me at 1000 3 days after pin.
You are blind by your YOLO mentality. That 600 is your LOW number with a once a week dose. You'd only be there briefly as your HIGH number peaking a day or 2 after the injection would be in that 1000 to 1200 range then slowly tapering down again to that 600 number.
Right off the bat with your every other day; weekly dose of 200+ mg is going to have you well above normal levels. They'll be off the chart high.
You can level out the "sine wave" by having higher lows with more frequent dosing. But that would look more like 20mg per dose every other day. If you’re going to pin that often you better have more than 2 injection spots. And why use a long esters at that point? A short ester would give faster stasis/saturation.
Too, life happens. Your TRT protocol will get old very quickly and a billion things out of your control can get in your way when trying to keep your pinning schedule.
Last point is your body will be under constant stress. Your vascular load will be higher. Your sleep less restful, metabolism higher than normal etc. All have a toll on how fast you age.
Here's an AI response for you:
I’m trying to gauge whether you’re saying the whole idea is ridiculous or just doing 200-250 mg a week is? If I were to pin 100 mg a week (every other day injections / 28-30 mg per injection) would this suddenly be fine by you? And, to clarify, you think this would put me near max range? I know several men, personally, on Dr prescribed TRT running above 100 mg / week.
Learn about drug half lifes. No doctor is perscribeing every other day injections for test c or e. No doctor is suggesting anyone should stay at the upper limit as a "normal" level.
A week is an arbitrary schedule. Throw that thinking out the window. I said 20mg every other day... there's a difference. And no, that's not ok with me. But that will get you closer to your goals to wreck your body with continuous physical stress (and mental).
So you’re here to recommend no test on eroids? Or do you have a recommendation or what? I’m going to do it, taking all this feedback into account. But if you have no objective recommendation for someone looking to cruise near maximum normal levels, we’re at an impasse.
Im not suggesting anything but a balanced, common sense and safe use.
Starting out at 80mg once each week. See what your levels are. Then up the dose or try 40 2x per week.
Simply pinning 40mg 2x per week could increase your low by 50%. So hypothetically a 1×80mg dose per week can get you a low of say, 400 to 600. 2×40mg per week can up that low level to 600 or 900. 4×20mg per week can make that 900 to 1300.
Notice that the amount per week has not changed. Only the frequency. THERE IS NO IMPASS. Only your lack of understanding on half-lifes and your refusal to acknowledge the stress you'll be putting on your body.
In as clear as I can be, do not start with 200mg per week split into every other day doses. THAT IS INSANE! you are taking a rarely perscribed once a week max dose and basterdizing it.
This is how half-lifes work (simplistic) test c has about a 1 week half-life. Each row is a week, each column is what is in your body at the end of each subsequent week.
200
200 + 100
200 + 100 + 50
200 + 100 + 50 +25
200 + 100 + 50 + 25 +12.5
200 + 100 + 50 + 25 + 12.5 + 6.25
When the first dose is out of your body (as you can see in about 6 weeks with a 7 day half life) you have reached full saturation or stasis. That is when you want to get your bloods checked. That is why perscribed TRT takes so long to dial in. And that is why you want to start low and work your way up.
Got it. And understood. Couldn’t I achieve some of this at a TRT clinic, as others have suggested? Maybe I just get checked there and see if they’ll prescribe similar to this? I didn’t realize sub 250 mg would take me to my desired levels. Let alone the fact around or sub 100 mg may very well, as well.
Or worst case I test in around 500-600, they refuse, then I consider the 80 mg / once a week | 40 mg / twice a week approach on my own?
A men's health clinic only has profit as their motivation. You say the right things and they'll get you what you want and every ancillary drug to boot and bleed you dry monetarily.
Your general practitioner or endo doc ( and insurance) will not perscribe you anything unless you are at or below normal range (roughly 200).
Get your baseline test early morning. If you are at 500-600 that's damn good for your age.
Yes, this is a life choice. No need to rush head long into anything. Start conservatively as your doctor would and work your way up.
You want those levels to be as stable as you can get so a 2x weekly dose is probably best.
If it were me, I would start with 40mg Wed mornings and Sunday mornings for 6 weeks. Then get a blood test. If your levels are near your target range you're good. If they're still around 500 up the dose to 50mg 2x per week. Then test again in 6 weeks.
If your level is, for example, 700, remember that is the low end of a range (e.g. 700-800; 700-950)
There's a point of diminishing returns. You're not going to feel different with those higher numbers but will experience more physical stress.
You can always blast a few time a year then let your levels get back down to the upper middle range for a few months to recover.
You’ve been incredibly helpful. Thank you. I’ll test my baseline in November, so much of this is dependent… but can I just start with 50 mg 2x a week (please)? I don’t want to “know” I’m at a low dosage and figure 50 mg 2x a week won’t send me into the stratosphere. Could check at 6 weeks and adjust.
I like the idea of blasting 2x a year (summer), absolutely. Before returning to 50 mg 2x a week for the other ~40 weeks.
You can do what you want. 100 mg weekly is far better than your original plan
Why the impatience? Why not exercise discipline and restraint to better your understanding and make it easier to dial in your dose. You're only talking 6 extra (productive) weeks out of your life.
You won't be at a "low dosage" at worst your levels would be on par with where you're at. Small incremental adjustments would teach you what you need to do to self correct. It's far better than wildly tossing darts and hoping you hit the mark.
Sounds solid. I’ll plan to get my initial bloodwork done through my PCP/Dr in November. Ask them to run my testosterone levels. From there, in Dec/Jan I’ll order the Test C and run the way you recommend. Checking through labcorp 4-6 weeks in and adjust as needed. Do you think the 27 ga / 1/2” insulin needle method is solid as well?
If you get good quality gear you can pin subQ without discomfort. (I usually find pinning less than ½ mil subQ using UGL gear to be painless)
You can also get 3mil syringes with or without needles (and needles without syringes) on Amazon. BD brand is (IMO) the best needles.
There are some sources on Eroids that sell ancillaries (i.e. syringes).
I'd use a 23 or 25 gage needle, 1 to 1½ inches. That would cover most of your injection sites, (even subQ; at 45° and don't insert the needle to the hilt)
This would be a good time to research injection spots and techniques and drug half-lifes.
Got it. Thanks. I had planned on alternating shoulder shots. I have researched and found videos on it and it seemed the easiest. Not sure if that approach isn’t ideal tho. Sorry, what brand is BD? I don’t see these on Amazon.
https://drugsupplystore.com/products/bd-syringe-3ml-25-gauge-1-5-inch-ne...
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The problem is atrophied testicles have a significantly higher risk of developing cancer compared to healthy testicles. If cancer genetics run in your family, it may be a use em or lose em decision. I’m not on a soapbox, mine are the size of garbanzo beans, but the research has been done and it’s not the healthiest thing. A couple weeks ago after sex my wife said “I was going to play with your balls when I was blowing you but I couldn’t find them.”
Is this going to be the case no matter the cruising dosage? Be it 150 mg or 300 mg? Overall though yes I’m aware there will be shrinkage and will try to just stay at or slightly above the highest “normal” range, tentative goal of 1100-1300.
They’re going to shrink regardless of dose, because you’re shutting them down and basically putting them to sleep. And you’re replacing them with an external source of hormones. Some people suffer from this more than others.
Great question, yes there’s an increased risk in any case. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer as to whether or not that risk grows exponentially with the severity of shrinkage. Bottom line is you don’t want dead glands left hanging around to decay.
Well it depends on your body and how it tolerates testosterone. Usually above 500 closer to 1000 is best for normal T levels. Doctors do not want you going over 1000. I for one feel great when mine is over 2000 and I am using gear. For the dosage it depends on your natural levels, 250 or even 150 may put you well over the normal range.
Would you recommend starting with 150 for 4-6 weeks and checking at that point? Then upping if needed / desire higher levels? Also, thoughts on the insulin needles and everything else.
Yeah start with 100 or 150 a week then get tested after a few weeks. I don't use insulin needles with test, I know they say you can if its cypionate but I always do muscular injections. You most likely won't need to use it but just incase you will want to have some anti estrogen on hand like anastrozole and also clomid you will need to take that some to keep you fertile and balls from shrinking up.
Issue is I need to order the needles off of Amazon, I assume. Also worried 150 mg won’t put me anywhere near 1,000.
150 would almost certainly put you above 1000. Listen to @Greg bro. Start with less, you can bump up later if you need to. Start 100/wk and go by your bloodwork after that. And all of this is assuming you need trt. If your test levels are 900 a couple years ago then why would you castrate yourself just to have about the same levels?
I am here for input and adjustment and will listen. Totally great with starting at 100 mg a week. 900 was 12-15 years ago. I know it’s much lower now. But will have it checked in November ahead of everything and again, check in here.
150mg a week will more than likely put you well over 1000ng/dl If youre injecting EOD and keeping levels very stable. Most people don’t need 150mg a week for TRT. 80-125 is typically where most people end up and that keeps them between 800-1100. Somewhere between 800-1000 is ideal.
I use the same needles with no issues. If I'm injecting over 1 ml I will use a 1" needle. What is your total test now? 125mg a week puts me around 900 with no sides or issues.
Going to get checked in November before I start. And, to clarify, you use the same insulin needles I’m thinking of? 27 ga / 1/2”? Shoulder injections?
Yes 27 gauge 1/2". Delts will be fine since u will only be doing 1-2 injections a week. I use 1/2 everywhere except glutes.