Guys, Im 54 now, I started my first cycle at age 22 which was 15-20mg dbol daily plus 1cc deca durobolin. I gained a few pounds, my friends ,looking at the guys on tv but were too afraid to even think of going on roids were all excited for me to be the new Mr. Muscles of the neighborhood. I had my whole block monitoring me. I couldnt even sleep 8hrs from the anticipation. Honestly, oit was at that moment that I had more hope about life in general than at any time before or since.

See I wasnt going to do the stupid thing and just get big for the sake of getting big, I was going to open my own gym, then make the gym a home base for a distributor or even a mfg. plant of my own protein powders,either with me...or some Mr. Somebody on the bottle. But reality was not kind. After 4 weeks I gained almost nothing and after 8 weeks I think I gained 5 poulnds, mostly in the upper arms and pecxs where all my weight was to begin with! I went 2 more weeks, no more gains, and I just went off, cold.(We didnt have ai's back then.) No side effects. No post cycle symptoms. Nothing. Then 6 months later I try again with 1cc testosterone enanthate and 1cc deca durobolin and this time, this cycle came right from the mouth of a guy who was going up against Arnold in his last competition. I was psyched. How could this guy not give me the map to the gold, right? He even told me to the gram, how much protein to eat, per pund of bodyweight I wanted to end up. How cpould I lose. Same result. I gained this time, 11 punds going from 163 to 174 at 5'9-1/2 fairly small boned and I was very upset I stayed as smooth as before. Not one cube of stomach muscle showed. Again, no post cycle problems. Im now told by many on this and other boards that they dont even think that that was enough to make my body create muscle. Tell you one thing, it may not have done it for me, but if Mr Universe of 197_, started the same way, I am sure it worked for some. And at least it doubled my sex drive. In fact It almost got embarrassing because I always had to leave for work late.

Now we fast forward 20 yrs. Im still the exact weight and almost same size as when I was working out naturally with no gear but now my doctor discovers my thyroid is somewhat low. Do I think roids had anything to do with it? No way.Its genetic. Runs in the family. I will say that even though there is no scientific reason for it, I am still on my first cycle now of 10 weeks after 30 yrs and I was hoping it would correct my low thyroid or at least give me some more energy and drive to even "want" to go back to working out. Ive been horrified that for 7 out of the last 8 yrs, I couldnt get myself to join a gym as I knew I wouldnt stick to it as I was always tired coming home from work. It got worse in the last 3 yrs and so I went back on roids, not just to gain muscle and get ripped, but to get that drive for all things physcial, so I could just WALK into a gym 4 days a week!!! Plus I started martial arts lessons again 3 months ago and Ive missed 90% of my classes. I have no energy. I cannot to this very day get any of my physical drive for any athletics at all, back. And I think its just that we all age differently and IMHO, the rush to get on testosterone replacement is truthfully.......us guys 45 and over are beinjg left out of todays society altogether. They dont build night clubs or dance clubs or even bars with us in mind anymore. I think rap and hip-hop got everything to be about people under 35, so unless you got a serious body, you are invisible. But in my day when I was 22, many,,many guys in their 40's were seen with 20 yr old girls, and they didnt even work out. Do all of you notice how much less of that you see now.

And bars, where a guy our age could put on a nice pair of dress pants(they called them slacks back then. ) and a shirt with a collar, and we could take the focus off the younger guys. Now everyone just dresses like a beach bum as far as Im concerned and when I tried to show some class and actually tuck my shirt in so my belt buckle would actually show, my baby sister of 45 told me I look out of style. Thats when I knew I had to hit the iron again. (smile)

That would make a very interesting thread for one of us to start......."Why did we first want a great body so bad that we even thought of using gear? And why at our age are we still on it or even just pumping at all?

I mean, would any of us even be on this thread or even this board if women were turned on by guys watches and shoes rather than physique? So who is going to lie and tell us they would work out even if they lived on an Island and no one but themselves ever saw them? LOL Truth is guys(for me at least) ,there are so many more fun ways to use your body athletically, I really wonder what Ive missed all thru my 20's and 30's by being in a gym alone, solitary, rather than joining some team, or taking scuba lessons or learning new ways to use my body. I mean we really built a lot of new brain cells by trying different bicep exercises over the years, didnt we?

its typically from 200mgs every 2 WEEKS or 100mgs a week that is prescribed. but once prescribed you can dose it according to your needs obviously without going over the amount given. what i mean is, if you are given 200mgs every 2 weeks and feel 100mgs a week will be better then just do that. but again, from a typical doctor not an online anti aging clinic. 200mgs bi weekly is a norm but have seen 200mgs weekly as well. do NOT get once a month, thats a killer and will do more harm than good.

Hormone levels start to drop off at around age 25 - 1-2% per year. Nearly all men have sub-optimal hormone levels at age 40. The chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis compared to the population 50 years ago is remarkable. Most of these chemicals have unknown effects on the endocrine system. Unfortunately many act as xenoestrogens, bind to the estrogen receptor and inhibit hormone production. The hormone levels of today's young men vs men in the 1970's are surprisingly lower.

We also now know that low hormones contribute to aging and degenerative disease. For example Total Testosterone levels less than 550 mg/dL are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. We also know that lower testosterone levels area associated with a dramatically higher risk of death.

Testosterone administration can impair your hormone axis and reduce natural production. The unfortunate side effect of this is that if done for a long enough period of time, the hormone producing cells die. This lowers your ability to recover.

When you make the decision to start an HRT program, it's typically for life.

I have also noticed a lot of guy who are very young either on TRT or wanting to get on it. I can understand if someone truly needs it because their body does not produce enough testosterone but those just wanting to get on it to be on all the time is not the way to go about it. a lot to get effected by starting young/poor cycling, not follow a good PCT protocol, etc. most important thing is to get blood work done consistently. TRT is great for those that truly need it but for the others that just purposely manipulate the blood tests to get on it and especially if they are young, i do not think that is good. having to take trt for the rest of your life and seeing young guys on it at 22.

no, you do not want to inject once a month. that will do more harm than good. typically they start you off with bi-weekly injections and then go from there. not a huge fan of that and think weekly is where it needs to be to prevent the roller coaster in blood levels. i know guys who are prescribed 200mg's every 2 weeks but split that into 100mgs a week or even 50mgs twice weekly.

For me TRT began late 30's and first cycle was early 40. Never considered cycling until i felt my gains had plateaued. Nice simple, not overly complex, cycles is the way I roll now. Watching BP, constantly tuning diet, and always scanning the worlds most resourceful site for AAS information.

Eroids baby !!!

Same as Hench, due to a motorcycle crash at age 30 and cancer at age 38, been on TRT ever since. Although no previous steriod abuse in my youth,.... I abuse the hell out of em NOW!!!! ;-)

I didn't start AAS until after I was prescribed Test for low T.