Adarq.org

the cure for me, regarding physique, has always been "big legs". If my legs are big, I seem to not care about what's going on with my upper body.. big legs also imply i'm more powerful etc. so it's almost like a primal switch you can flip in your brain.

Interesting! My thighs (and hams/glutes) are my biggest muscles but if in a gym im prob wearing shorts and compression tights and all i will see is my proportionally skinny calves and tiny VMOS lol. Calves and VMOs really need to come up for me. I think if I was leaner i'd look bigger too the way you describe below:

I took several physique selfies when I was dunking, being lean felt good but, knowing my legs were disproportionally big felt even better. I didn't take any physique selfies when I was running... got skinny all over, didn't enjoy it (physique-wise) that much.

Yah theres a sweet spot to aesthetics i think. IF i get my bodyweight up to 95kg i'll look bigger cos i will be bigger but obviously a lot fatter but in clothes you still look huge. Conversely being lean even if you're really light you look bigger because the muscles having definition give the illusion of size.

high rep moderate intensity squatting makes legs big real quick.. plus it's a lighter load on the spine which is cool.. just can't let form break down obviously.

holy shit i think we're on the same page about this, im just not build for heavy squatting. But volume can get me stronger and bigger and that might be the way to go long term. To be honest, even powerlifters etc taper off volume to recover before attempting maxes whereas I think i didnt do that b/c i was autoregging which works fine until it doesn't and you get broken by lifts that should not have tasked you so much.

regardless, some occasional bodybuilding style sessions where you try and pump everything up to the max isn't a bad thing.. it's actually pretty fun and might help.. trick: only look in the mirror after that session..

mirrors everywhere at the gym hard to avoid them. I actually get phsyched out when i use bigger dumbells like 30kg ones cos the image in the mirror looks comically skinny holding those in my hands i just get deflated before the set. but thats ok i shud just work with volume and not covet heavier and heavier, esp when dbs go up by 2.5kg and 5kg from last week and i shud really be mastering a given weight before going up

BW: 83.8kg
Activity:
Misc:
Diet Compliance:

Back feels okay today. On that road to recovery!

Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?

nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.

Quote from: fast does lie on July 30, 2017, 08:56:22 pm

Quote from: Joe on July 30, 2017, 08:48:32 pm

Quote from: maxent on July 30, 2017, 09:58:18 am

Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?

nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.

Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?

they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.

#badadvice

Sleep and stress are testosterone killers. Fucking with your metabolism is too. Increase vitamin D and raising your good cholesterol can increase T as well.

Quote from: Coges on July 30, 2017, 09:22:28 pm

Quote from: Joe on July 30, 2017, 09:03:25 pm

Quote from: fast does lie on July 30, 2017, 08:56:22 pm

Quote from: Joe on July 30, 2017, 08:48:32 pm

Quote from: maxent on July 30, 2017, 09:58:18 am

Looking into improving my testosterone levels. Anyone have any tips?

nothing other than taking steroids makes enough of a difference to matter.

Lifestyle changes definitely can make enough of a difference to matter somewhat, no?

they matter for reasons other than raising testosterone levels.

#badadvice

Sleep and stress are testosterone killers. Fucking with your metabolism is too. Increase vitamin D and raising your good cholesterol can increase T as well.

i agree that sleeping well and managing stress are good things to do. i also agree taht a healthy diet and making sure you have all your micronutrients in order are good. is the main operative reason they are good because they shift you from being, at a given time, like 40%ile but within normal test range to 60%ile but still within normal test range? i highly doubt it. one should definitely do those things anyway, though, because they make a big difference, just likely for other reasons.

Agreed that you should do them just because and that how much of a difference it'll make will obviously vary. I would still do it as any increase should make a difference.

I'm a case in point though. Don't have low T but it was lower than expected. Vit D was also low and I was getting pretty shitty sleep along too. Brought the D up to doctor approved levels (big note here that a lot of people would suggest if you're active and heavily active then dr approved levels are way too low anyway), got the sleep to resemble almost normal levels and started eating eggs, avacado, etc. 20% improvement in my T levels in 8 weeks. It may just be me but these things are easy fixes and I would have taken even 5% difference. This was 3-4 years ago now and I'm sure the levels would be in much better shape now too.

The only caveat here is measuring T levels, free etc, and getting a doctor to do it. I'm due for another round of tests so will get them to include again so I can compare.

Hand wash and t levels? i've never heard of that.

also is vitamin d, vitamin d3?

it was on the news this year. the FDA even came down on these products. Look it up. I prob wash my hands like 30-50 times a day so i wouldn't be surprised it if's affected me hormonally :/

Ive doubled my vitamin D intake now and I think i'll stick to that until the end of winter. I dont eat enough dietary fat i think, my daily intake is around 40-50g a day. Will try eat 4 eggs a day, that will take it up to 20g of dietary fat from egg. Need more perhaps but maybe from a different source. Olive oil? I already use it for cooking eggs. But not like im gna do olive oil shots so idk how to 'eat' more of it. Another change ive made as of today is to stop using handwash. I became somewhat of a hygiene freak a few years ago and i think it may have affected my T levels. Will use a bar of soap even tho it's messier and not as convenient. I have the bases covered for micronutrients already so there isn't much to change on that front. Sleep/ Stress though could improve. Finallly activity levels need to go up, think 6000-8000 units a day minimum and 8000-10,000 on training days. Training every other day also. Maybe even look at 2-a-day training sessions again. i actually found that helped my squat when i tried in may. Any other ideas?

Coconut oil, avacado and nuts are my main sources of fat outside of eggs.