7 ms·

>- I didn't get huge muscles or less body fat with more testosterone (huge myth that I thought would change for me) The many studies done on this subject show

• gadders 12y ago
  I guess it also depends on what exercises you're doing. Body Pump and Nautilus machines wouldn't cut it. //edit// Or rather would help the OP a lot.
• paganel 12y ago
  > The many studies done on this subject show that testosterone makes a huge impact on muscle growth Genuine question: Why this emphasis on increasing "muscle growth"? What benefits does it bring us (men)?
  • Jimmed 12y ago
    Genuine answer: Feeling better about our self-image / placating the fear that we're "not manly enough".
    • gadders 12y ago
      I also find that being strong(er) is more useful in my daily life than increased aerobic capability i.e. picking my nine year old daughter up and carrying her on my shoulders, moving heavy stuff in the garden etc.
    • GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
      Another reason to dismantle the patriarchy and gender binary.
      • mycroft-holmes 12y ago
        The self image is derived from feedback in society so for straight men, blame other women.
  • gadders 12y ago
    Well, muscle growth normally means being more strong, and being more strong is generally better than being less so.
  • Shivetya 12y ago
    increased metabolism meaning your less likely to get fat.
  • return0 12y ago
    more eyes
  • jcfrei 12y ago
    Strength is significantly correlated with life expectancy. See here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938886/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938886/ and here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/
  • gabemart 12y ago
    "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general."
    • joncrocks 12y ago
      Rip?
  • nailer 12y ago
    Many women find physically strong men more attractive than weaker men. The benefit this brings men is allowing their DNA to replicate.
  • vidarh 12y ago
    I do power lifting (non-competitive), and while I'm noticeably muscular and lift more than most people at my gym (no competitive lifters there, so doesn't say all that much), I'm not nearly at peak muscle volume nor do I look nearly as big as body builders much smaller than me - leanness makes a huge difference to perceived muscle size. Still, from an hour 2-4 times a week (2 times a week at the moment), with no steroids, these are some of the benefits I've noticed that makes the time investment well worth it for me: - More attention from people I'd want to find me attractive (and from some I don't...). E.g. after I started lifting weights I got my first "wow" responses when people saw pictures of me. I also saw a massive difference in how people responded when I went out to bars/nightclubs, ranging from comments to people suddenly opting to slider their hand on my stomach or chest when they wanted to get past me instead of tapping me on the shoulder, as well as getting my butt pinched. For the first time I had a woman pick me up from a club. - Being able to do a lot of movements that I'd struggle with before without thinking about it, and lifting heavy stuff, whether it is sliding that 40kg sever into rails above head height without having to get someone to help me keep it stable, or casually lifting my son up or playing with him in ways that I couldn't have if I didn't have the strength I do (he's nearly 6 - he likes to climb onto my back when I'm sitting on the sofa and stand on my shoulders and jump down; people think both of us are crazy and that he'll hurt me, but it feels nice). - Far fewer situations makes me feel tired or makes my muscles feel fatigured. E.g. I sprint up stairs where I used to walk up slowly (in fact, when I first started exercising, my knees were so weak that it had started to become painful for me to walk up a single flight of stairs, at age 25, because I was sitting all day and used elevators both at work and at home). - Feeling safe in a lot of situations I'd have been scared in before. Just a few weeks ago someone was assaulted near our house, and I felt safe enough to run out and confront the guy while we waited for police (I'm in the UK, guns are not a concern; I was aware of the risk of knives, though, and made sure to keep my distance until I felt sure)
    • gadders 12y ago
      I don't know about your first point, but definitely all the rest apply to me. I don't look like a body builder, but I definitely feel and look more solid at 43. Basically for the cost of a few hours a week you can +1 or +2 you strength and consitution scores.
  • mattlutze 12y ago
    Increasing muscle mass, and maintaining that muscle mass, will/may: - decreases stress on tendons and ligaments - protect delicate or complicated joints from injury - help maintain healthy weight and body fat levels - improve bone density, and help maintain bone density - increase stamina / reduce fatigue - support attention - get up out of the bathtub or off the couch when you're older - improve sleep - improve mental health [1]: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670 http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/st... [2]: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/why/ http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/why/
    • laichzeit0 12y ago
      Not to mention that a large percentage of females find muscle mass attractive when combined with a low body fat percentage in males. Indirectly this can lead to a boost in self-confidence levels in an individual, which has other positive spinoffs.
      • sanoli 12y ago
        This. Times ten. I can't stress this enough to my non-lifting, skinny, geek friends who wish they were more attractive to women. I always tell them that the number one thing they can do is to begin lifting weights. They'll look healthier, more athletic, manlier, and their self-confidence will go up. Oh, actually weights are number two. Number one is to ditch the anti-girlfriend geek t-shirts with programmer's inside jokes (you know, the 'only 10 people who know binary' stuff) ;-)
  • VLM 12y ago
    Benefit to everyone, not just men, is running my back muscles occasionally at 200% percent safe capacity in general daily life, lead to punishing pain though I was still a teen at that time. Under advice and monitoring of the docs, following all the trainer recommendations, good form and trainer approved plans etc, I bulked up to the point that daily life occasionally peaked my back muscles at maybe 50% of safe capacity. You can guess the effect on my quality of life. Sometimes simply not feeling pain anymore is a gift from the gods. I suppose it was either lift, or start a life long opiate addiction. On the other hand, I know most of the guys at the gym with me were just addictive personalities. Rather than wanting that lvl80 in WoW, or feeling the uncontrollable desire to get drunk, they wanted to bench 300. There certainly are worse grind addictions than lifting.
  • brational 12y ago
    There are studies that show an inverse correlation between lean body mass and all cause mortality. So the tongue-in-cheek 'strong people are harder to kill' has some actual data behind. The problem is of course stats 101, correlation =/= causation. It could simply be that genetics or some other factor X increases lean mass and decreases all-cause mortality. Pragmatically speaking though, quality of life in old age is a big deal that benefits from more lean mass. [edit: http://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedFitness/comments/1bo5xm/association_between_muscular_strength_and/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedFitness/comments/1bo5xm/asso... this has a study link and comments and links to previous HN discussion]
  • driverdan 12y ago
    Something others haven't mentioned is better quality of life as you age. One of the biggest causes of decrease in life quality in the elderly is reduced mobility. As you age your muscle mass decreases. By increasing your muscle mass when you're younger (and able) and maintaining physical activity you will have a much better life when you're older.
• raverbashing 12y ago
  Depends on a lot of factors. 1 - Exercise 2 - The dosage. Having a slight amount over the normal dosage won't cause a big gain in muscle mass. (600mg is a significant dosage, see Table 3 on the article for the sorological difference)
  • toolz 12y ago
    I'm not sure I'm understanding your point. Of course exercise changes muscle gains, but the surprising result was that the men who did not exercise had more muscle gains than those on the placebo who did exercise. As for the dosage, yes, this study had really high dosage and reports no negative side effects for the 10 week period it was used.
    • danielbarla 12y ago
      Personally, I'm not very surprised by this (testosterone causing larger increases than exercise). There are plenty of examples in nature of relatively "lazy" animals with large amounts of muscle (e.g. gorillas, lions, etc). Of course, we're comparing animals with large genetic differences to each other, but my point is that exercise does not seem to be the primary cause of muscle, in general. It just happens to be the main parameter we're in control of.
    • raverbashing 12y ago
      Not really surprising, I remember seeing a study with similar results, but I can't find it right now.
• freshfey 12y ago
  I can only answer with my personal experience here: During the intermittent fasting time (age 25), where I went from from 6xx to 1024ng/dl, I didn't gain significant amount of muscle, although I was working out with heavy (free) weights, 3x per week.
  • manmal 12y ago
    Did you also lose bodyfat at that time? Because it's hard to gain mass if you fast and are at a caloric deficit. That's what Leangains' bulking period is all about - eat 10-20% above maintenance so you do gain mass.
    • freshfey 12y ago
      Definitely lost some body fat at the right places and even gained some mass, but not in crazy amounts.
  • atom-morgan 12y ago
    What's the frequency of your fasting how long do you do it?
    • markeroon 12y ago
      I am interested in this also.
    • freshfey 12y ago
      I did do it 6 days per week, although the 7th was naturally a fasting day because I went to bed later and got up later. So you could say almost every day. It gets very easy with time.
      • atom-morgan 12y ago
        6 days per week? How many meals are you skipping?
        • 12y ago
• johnward 12y ago
  The original poster had High T levels to start with. Maybe he didn't notice much of a change. I noticed a significant change going from <120ng/dl to 500ng/dl (still less than OP). I always drop weight when I am on T and get much leaner without changing anything else. Well it does make it easier to work out and diet but even without any changes it makes a big difference. Each time I go off and onto something else like clomiphene I gain 20-30lbs that is not lean at all.
  • freshfey 12y ago
    For a 23 year old, I wouldn't consider 4xx high, to be honest.
    • johnward 12y ago
      I believe he said he got close to 1000ng/dl naturally, which I consider on the high side based on lab ranges. 400ng/dl is actually interpreted by some doctors as low depending on symptoms even though it's "in range".
      • freshfey 12y ago
        Ah yeah, sorry, the 1024 was definitely on the high side for me, but I thought you were referring to the 400
        • johnward 12y ago
          Yeah most of what I read seems to indicate you should be on the high side in your early twenties but ultimately if you are at 400-500ng/dl and you don't have symptoms that is probably normal for that person.