Pre cycle blood work done.... am i ready to go?

[protein_fiend]

Got my pre cycle blood work done. Never done a cycle before

My test result come back as:
Testosterone - 13.9 nmol/l (401 ng/dl)

I have been feeling crappy last 2 months no libido etc. put it down to being at a low body fat natty and on a calorie deficit kept the fats up at 90grams cals were at 2600 so wasn't a stupid cut. Felt completely fine until about 2 months into my cut. Was hoping it was low e levels making me feel shit rather than low t.

Am i ok to cycle now as i have everything ready or should i bump up cals and get retested in 6-8 weeks?

Full results attached below:

View attachment 562317

View attachment 562318

 

[clman8585]

Damn brother you are on the low side of everything. Just understand that doing a cycle will only make it worse.

 

[protein_fiend]

Been cutting since march. long ass time to hold a calorie deficit natty and about 10ish bf.

Read a case study re: a natural bodybuilder and the effects dieting for a comp had on him -> test dropped from 922 to 225 3 months out from comp when he was at 9% bf and remained at that level up until his comp. Recovered afterwards

naspspa.org/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/18Rossow%2020120293_582-592_ej.pdf

I know thats a sample size of 1 but some parallels.

Would eating my planned bulking diet for 2 months and getting retested be a better idea (see my cycle blog in the "my cycle forum" ? Or should i up the fats to more than 10% of total calories


Im 99.99% sure its down to my diet. Can nail down a week that i woke up feeling not myself about 2 months ago.

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

What measuring tool did you use to check your bf?

At 10%bf your test levels shouldn't be this low from dieting alone.
You've completely misread that study since the individual actually got down from 14.6 > 4.5%bf by the end of his prep - hence the dramatic fall in test and other hormones.
There is a MASSIVE difference between 10% and 4.5%bf when it comes to the hormonal impact of dieting - massive.

I suggest eating at maintenance or slightly above (10% or so) to help upregulate everything and the get retested in 6-8 weeks as you were planning. If everything is still low then that suggests other factors are at play here.

 

[protein_fiend]

Havnt misread the study from the results table 3 months prior to comp his test dropped into the 200s and 3 months prior to comp his bf was at 9%.

Regardless thanks for the advice. Bit annoying as I've got everything ready for cycle but hopefully I recover eating above Maintenece

 

[protein_fiend]

Bf is a visual thing. Posted up pics of my condition in my cycle blog won't repost here

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

Havnt misread the study from the results table 3 months prior to comp his test dropped into the 200s and 3 months prior to comp his bf was at 9%.

Regardless thanks for the advice. Bit annoying as I've got everything ready for cycle but hopefully I recover eating above Maintenece

Yes you have misread the results.

Table 2 on page 6 CLEARLY shows that the guy went from 14.8%bf > 4.5% for the contest and then recovered to 14.6%. These results were taken via dexa scans (read the methodology of the paper), which are much more accurate than skinfold measurements.
Table 4 on page 7 CLEARLY shows test levels dropping from 9.22 > 2.27ng/ml for the contest and then recovered to 9.91.

You stated that he was 9%bf and stayed at that level - no, no he didn't.
This study also has close to zero relevance to you because a) his test levels were low pre-dieting & you don't have pre-dieting bloodowork, b) your not even close to 4.5%bf.

I don't mean to bite your head off about this but it annoys me when someone uses a study under the false belief that it supports their view when, had they actually read the thing properly in the first place, they would realise that it has very little relevance for their scenario.

 

[protein_fiend]

The table shows that at 3 months before competition his test levels were CLEARLY 2.25.

The table also shows that at 3 months prior to competition his body fat was CLEARLY 8.9%

Below are pictures to confirm this.


View attachment 562320

View attachment 562321

I didn't say his body fat levels remained at this level i said his testosterone levels remained at this level from 3 months prior until his comp.

His test levels for a natty at 922ng/ml are also not low for his age according to Simon (1996) this puts him close to the 95th percentile.

View attachment 562322

I do not believe that this totally supports my view.

1. Its a case study of 1 person

2. like u said i do not know my pre diet bloodwork

I merly sought advice regarding the situation and used this to argue (optimistically) that diet may be to blame.

Like i said thanks for your advice it is much appreciated i won't be starting my cycle until i hopefully get this sorted.

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

I misconstrued your "and remained at that level until the comp" comment - I thought you were talking about his bf% when you were actually referring to the test levels.

No harm done

 

[protein_fiend]

ha no worries. Didn't mean to come across like a dick, just annoyed had to postpone the cycle. Today was 1st pin day