Once you’ve gotten your blood tests done, the next step is to interpret the results. Those who go through their doctor may sit down with the MD to discuss their test results and what the results mean. You should definitely ask the doctor for a copy of your blood work too, rather than taking their word for everything. Many times, a doctor told somebody that their testosterone levels were fine, only for the poor guy to find out that they’re actually very low-normal. And while this might be okay for the average person, it’s not okay for somebody who’s trying to pack on muscle or burn fat.

Assuming you’re not working with an MD, you don’t have to spend four years in medical school to understand a blood test. There is plenty of information about this on the internet, which makes it fairly easy to understand what a normal range is for each hormone. According to LabCorp’s Directory of Services page, acceptable male levels for the hormones are as follows:

Total Testosterone: 348-1197 ng/dl (nanograms per deciliter)
IGF-1 (21-25 years old): 83-344 ng/mL (nanograms per milliliter)
Estradiol: 7.6-42.6 pg/mL (picograms per milliliter)

As you can see, it’s much easier to decipher blood test results when you’ve got a range to reference. It’s obviously better to be at the high end of testosterone and IGF-1 ranges – especially if you are younger and at the very low end of estradiol. So if one doctor tells a 20-year-old that his 350 ng/dl testosterone levels are perfectly fine, you should seek another MD’s opinion.