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The Long Game

Montego

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So, many of you saw the posts about one of our brothers passing recently with what was called heart complications.

Every time we've lost someone, it's obviously hard and unexpected but, this one hit home pretty hard given my relationship with that individual.

I worked with this individual for over 5 years so I know exactly what he was doing the entire time. (The best a coach knows what any client is going)

When we started, he was already in his 40s, just a regular guy who wanted to get into good shape and that transformed into him wanting to compete for the fun and competition aspect of it. No thoughts of being a pro, or a high level national competitor, just to do something hard that actually has a reward you could see and feel.

Health wise, everything was good for the most part. No issues with blood pressure, no blood sugar concerns, liver, kidneys, all in good working order and, regular bloodwork showed this was all consistent the entire time. The one "red flag" he usually had was elevated hematocrit. He lived at elevation, and this is very common for people who live at elevation which, his primary Dr, also said, given the circumstance wasn't uncommon and wasn't concerned about the issue especially since blood pressure was always in good range.

The doses this individual used, duration of cycles, and compounds, were what most would consider low to moderate. Even during a prep, this didn't change. Test doses that never got over 600mg, Deca doses no more then 300mg, ran tren twice at 300mg, orals at no more then 50mg a day for most compounds, less for stronger orals. These examples were never run together, if a test dose was "higher" for the individual, everything else was lower then I listed and vice versa.

The time off was the VAST majority of the year... I'm not talking 27 out of 52 weeks, I mean 34 weeks a year some years. Some a bit shorter but he was off way more then on.

Diet was a struggle for him. He had a CRAZY metabolism so there were huge amounts of food needed to get him to grow or not lose too quickly. Sometimes the food choices were not "clean" , bread mainly, or cereal post training, but 90% was basic rice, chicken, beef, potato, egg, fruit, healthy fats ECT, it was just A LOT. He would have a weekly free meal that his wife would make at home at first, then this turned into a daily dinner they would have at home, not only for the added calories but, for the bonding time they would have in the kitchen and table together.

He didn't do cardio. He had a labor intensive job that peeled weight off of him and kept him so active it didn't seem necessary. Also, given never having any concerns with blood pressure, it seemed fine. We had multiple conversations about how I needed him to sit the fuck down at work and let his helpers work more so he wasn't burning through the calories but, this guy just couldn't do it, a sign of how hard he worked and how dedicated he was with his work.

This individual did everything correct. Of course, now, I go back and nitpick about something here and there. The cardio or the hct despite knowing we did it all right and had his health best interest at heart as I always try to do.

The only thing I would do, if I could go back in time, would be to tell this guy to never touch AAS..... That seems like it's the correct answer but then you think, what if he hadn't chose this journey and ate like a normal American, didn't train with weights, didn't dedicate himself to becoming a better physical version of himself? Would things have turned out differently? I dunno.

This is a very real consequence we all face, even though we will all justify why it won't be us because "I do my cardio", "I get bloodwork done", "I eat healthy", "I run low doses", "I take time off", "I'm still young", "I take this and this for this side effect"... Got anything else? Any other bright ideas? I'm sure some dumb cunt will have something or, the inevitable "I'm ok with whatever happens".....

This isn't a post to demonize anabolics, or to say you shouldn't do what you want with your life. It's not to justify our choices and, at the end of the day, you can do it all right and still have something terrible happen so why care?

This post is intended to simply give some insight, as someone who was as close to this person as you can be from a "coaches" view and, explain just how little control we have over outcome of our life choices then we expect we do.
 
@Montego everything you said is correct, and everything that I'm about to say is also correct. Brother, you cant bare any responsibility for the unfortunate passing of Cdub. None of us truly know what caused his untimely and unfortunate death. You say that its a "consequence," but the fact of the matter is, it could be completely unrelated to AAS or anything else that you are aware of. Unfortunately, people pass of heart related conditions that never touch AAS.

You're a good dude and everyone here has the utmost trust and respect for you and so did Cdub. The way I see it, you probably helped extend his life and helped him stay motivated to fight the good fight, and if not for that, he may have passed long before we ever had the blessing of even knowing him.

You're right. We have zero control. None. We can do everything that we think is right, but at some point, we will all be faced with our own mortality regardless.

Brother, I think if Cdub could say it, he'd probably thank you for all your help, and getting him as far as you did.

We all love you, brother. Keep doing what you're doing because what you are doing is caring about people, and dedicating your time to help them. Although we all lost a friend, you were in the fight with him, and he'd want you to keep fighting.
 
Thank you for posting this. This is the type of sincere and meaningful discourse that I look for when I log into ASF. I have been completely off PED's for almost four months now, and the desire to jump back on has been gnawing at me pretty badly. Actually, it's been excruciating. Just a total mind fuck. But reading about Cdub's untimely passing definitely shook me a bit, as these things always do each time I read this sort of unfortunate news.

AAS use is so normalized now. Whether it's with people who openly show their names and faces on YouTube discussing cycles and whatnot, to folks casually discussing blasting this and that on forums, social media, etc. (I've done this, too, obviously.) However, what isn't emphasized enough are the very real dangers to health and potential LE troubles that can transpire even when the end user seems to be doing everything correctly. (At least it's always appeared this way from my foxhole.) And you're right, the question of "Would this have happened anyway?" is something we'll never know the answer to, but it certainly does raise concern.

Will I jump back on? Probably? Maybe? I still don't know. Call me a pussy, paranoid, or whatever, but it seems like every time I feel like I'm ready to do so, I get some sort of warning sign sent out from the cosmos to stay away. I wrestle with this daily.

Anyway, just my two cents. And to be clear, I am definitely not trying to make this about me, just speaking from the heart. Thank you once again for sharing this.
 
Everything seems like harm mitigation when it comes to AAS, rather than total harm elimination. Although I'm certainly no expert, having just been on TRT for the past 15 months or so and still not having ever done a cycle of any sort, save for the 2IU of daily GH I do coupled with my weekly test c scrip. Technically I suppose that counts. I don't think anyone could make the argument that they are healthier ON steroids than if they were 100% NOT ON steroids. Every newbie that comes along wanting to know what cycle to run gets told "just train hard and eat, and 9 times outta 10 that will be enough to do 90% of what you wanna accomplish". Always seems pretty hypocritical to see that suggested and then to see the same poster who just gave out that advice going on about their newest 5-compound cycle they're running, or how SUPER CRAZY TREN MAKES THEM (but they're starting on it again soon), but probably if most were to be 100% honest they probably never would've got started down the AAS road either. It sure seems like one hell of a Pandora's box
 
So sorry for your loss Monte. Hope you can find peace. I hope you don't take blame.
So the rest of us can make good decisions i have a few questions if it's ok. If not, no worries.
How high was his crit? What were his lipids like? Had he ever had a calcium score or any type of heart related checkups done? What was his bodyweight and height?

I had my heart stop twice from low potassium caused by high T3 so I get a little PTSD and paranoid when i see this type of stuff. Hence the questions. Thanks
 
I hope nobody took this post as me trying to justify our approach or looking for any type of vindication.

This is just a very rare, and very awful, chance to describe exactly what was happening in a situation like this. We see these things happen and have a million questions or will never know the truth of the matter, this was just an opportunity to be open and honest about this situation in particular.
 
So sorry for your loss Monte. Hope you can find peace. I hope you don't take blame.
So the rest of us can make good decisions i have a few questions if it's ok. If not, no worries.
How high was his crit? What were his lipids like? Had he ever had a calcium score or any type of heart related checkups done? What was his bodyweight and height?

I had my heart stop twice from low potassium caused by high T3 so I get a little PTSD and paranoid when i see this type of stuff. Hence the questions. Thanks

His HCT levels were typically in the 53-55 range. Yes, that is high, but also understand the elevation aspect of his situation. I have other clients who live at similarly high elevations and they all have similar results.

The highest I remember his HCT getting was 58. This was at the beginning of our time and he was "on' at that point. We immediately pulled back, worked on hydration and supplementation but, even after long periods of trt dosing (real trt, 150mg), blood donation and time off, the levels never reduced to "normal" range. This is when he started frequently asking his Dr at my request about the HCT.

Lipids were never much out of normal range. Even at the end of prep when orals were used, they looked good, not perfect but, nothing to even suggest he was on anything, much less there was any issue there.

He never had a calcium score or echo done. Partly due to expense but, also, to my fault, I never thought I'm my wildest dreams he would have any issue there.

He was 6'4 around 240. Didn't carry much fat, what I did consider a swimmers body that was over 45 years old. The waist would get soft but no belly. Very long limbs.
 
His HCT levels were typically in the 53-55 range. Yes, that is high, but also understand the elevation aspect of his situation. I have other clients who live at similarly high elevations and they all have similar results.

The highest I remember his HCT getting was 58. This was at the beginning of our time and he was "on' at that point. We immediately pulled back, worked on hydration and supplementation but, even after long periods of trt dosing (real trt, 150mg), blood donation and time off, the levels never reduced to "normal" range. This is when he started frequently asking his Dr at my request about the HCT.

Lipids were never much out of normal range. Even at the end of prep when orals were used, they looked good, not perfect but, nothing to even suggest he was on anything, much less there was any issue there.

He never had a calcium score or echo done. Partly due to expense but, also, to my fault, I never thought I'm my wildest dreams he would have any issue there.

He was 6'4 around 240. Didn't carry much fat, what I did consider a swimmers body that was over 45 years old. The waist would get soft but no belly. Very long limbs.
thanks for that Monte.
man, none of that seems crazy. My crit is usually in the lower 50s and i live at elevation. And 6'4" at 240 is definitely not carrying too much weight. Must have had something genetic.

Again, sorry for your loss
 
Assuming he never had a nuclear vein scan, sonogram or CT to check his arteries? If he had they probably would of found the clogged arteries and been able to fix it.
I’ve had all three, just last week had a full body CT and they found a thoracic artery blockage, waiting to see my cardiologist to see what he wants to do.
I’ve had a dozen sonograms and one nuclear vein study that checked veins in my entire body and it was all clean. This new CT I had last week was the first time they’ve found a blockage.

Clogged arteries in combination with polycythemia(thick blood) is most likely what caused his heart attack.
Running gear causes thick blood, thick blood exacerbates clogged arteries which can turn into a heart attack. Running gear has a negative impact on cholesterol which causes clogged arteries overtime. If your running gear you should be getting your veins checked!
 
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Assuming he never had a nuclear vein scan, sonogram or CT to check his arteries? If he had they probably would of found the clogged arteries and been able to fix it.

Clogged arteries in combination with polycythemia(thick blood) is most likely what caused his heart attack.
Also the recent loss of his wife, which he seemed to love dearly based on the fact coach @Montego incorporated his daily dinner into his routine.
Id imagine losing that part of his daily hurt tremendously.

We lost a real good one.
 
Assuming he never had a nuclear vein scan, sonogram or CT to check his arteries? If he had they probably would of found the clogged arteries and been able to fix it.
I’ve had all three, just last week had a full body CT and they found a thoracic artery blockage, waiting to see my cardiologist to see what he wants to do.
I’ve had a dozen sonograms and one nuclear vein study that checked veins in my entire body and it was all clean. This new CT I had last week was the first time they’ve found a blockage.

Clogged arteries in combination with polycythemia(thick blood) is most likely what caused his heart attack.
Running gear causes thick blood, thick blood exacerbates clogged arteries which can turn into a heart attack. Running gear has a negative impact on cholesterol which causes clogged arteries overtime. If your running gear you should be getting your veins checked!
how does a calcium score play into these other scans?
 
Also the recent loss of his wife, which he seemed to love dearly based on the fact coach @Montego incorporated his daily dinner into his routine.
Id imagine losing that part of his daily hurt tremendously.

We lost a real good one.
He had recently lost his wife?
 
Assuming he never had a nuclear vein scan, sonogram or CT to check his arteries?

This sounds like a great idea but I've got a question: how did you get your PCM to sign off on this? It sounds like this is a procedure that would cost a lot more to pay for out of pocket than basic lab work.

The reason I ask is because my doctor / insurance are not at all into authorizing preventative medical procedures aside from the basic stuff like a colonoscopy every five years. No way they'd give me a green light for a nuclear vein scan or whatnot without a real justification.

Curious how you worked this, assuming you didn't pay out of pocket, of course.
 
This sounds like a great idea but I've got a question: how did you get your PCM to sign off on this? It sounds like this is a procedure that would cost a lot more to pay for out of pocket than basic lab work.

The reason I ask is because my doctor / insurance are not at all into authorizing preventative medical procedures aside from the basic stuff like a colonoscopy every five years. No way they'd give me a green light for a nuclear vein scan or whatnot without a real justification.

Curious how you worked this, assuming you didn't pay out of pocket, of course.

No insurance paid part of it. Your right that if your healthy and have no symptoms or injury then insurance won’t pay from a pure preventative standpoint. There are some low cost options to pay out of pocket tho, I know people who have had these scans for way less money then you see . For instance my GP charges my insurance around 1500.00 for bloods that I can get myself for 150.00; similarly you can get out of pocket procedures for way less.
yeah mine were partially covered by insurance because of conditions or symptoms but if you have a Dr that wants to work with you symptoms can easily be discovered if you know what I mean.
Show up at the hospital complaining of tightness in your chest and hard to breath and I bet you’ll get all kinds of tests and scans done lol.
 
Very informative post. I appreciate it. Im just curious, he had high hematocrit levels. Im assuming he was well hydrated prior to doing labs. Im wondering if going in super hydrated is skewing test results in a way where it might be just more beneficial to go in normal and not be drinking a gallon of water prior to getting labs.
 
Very informative post. I appreciate it. Im just curious, he had high hematocrit levels. Im assuming he was well hydrated prior to doing labs. Im wondering if going in super hydrated is skewing test results in a way where it might be just more beneficial to go in normal and not be drinking a gallon of water prior to getting labs.
He wasn't drinking any differently then normal before bloods were drawn. If you go in and test at what would be your typical daily intake of water, then it won't matter how much you drink during the day unless you're drinking all your water when you wake up and then very little the rest of the day.

I recommend a liter upon waking with all morning supps and at least 1 gallon throughout the day with all my guys unless they have a more labor intensive job, then the water intake needs to increase accordingly.
 
He wasn't drinking any differently then normal before bloods were drawn. If you go in and test at what would be your typical daily intake of water, then it won't matter how much you drink during the day unless you're drinking all your water when you wake up and then very little the rest of the day.

I recommend a liter upon waking with all morning supps and at least 1 gallon throughout the day with all my guys unless they have a more labor intensive job, then the water intake needs to increase accordingly.

He’s talking about what guys are posting on the forum where they know their hematocrit and hemoglobin are already elevated so what they do is drink an abnormal amount of water before the blood draw to skew the test results. Guys do this to fake their own test results to justify their cycle as safe in their head.
“Hey bro drink 3 gallons of water before your blood test and your thick blood will test out good even tho it really isn’t”
 
I don't know if we can really predict who is going to suffer such a fate and who isn't. I have seen a pretty strong uptick in cardiac deaths in BBers the last 5 years or so. I just saw a good friend pass at 47. He was a picture of health. Strong as an ox. Former military. Bench press 500 just out of high school. Same with his brother. Extreme natural strength. Could run forever. Regular blood work. Highly intelligent. He used PEDs but not very much. He took time completely off.

On the other end of this, I just watched Shawn Ray's interview of former Mr. California winners. Some are in their late 50s and early 60s apparently healthy and still working out. Most were downsized. Absolutely these guys hit it hard in all respects. I just watched an interview with Boyer Coe. I think he's 80. Men are risk takers. We walk headlong into it on the regular.
 
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I don't know if we can really predict who is going to suffer such a fate and who isn't. I have seen a pretty strong uptick in cardiac deaths in BBers the last 5 years or so. I just saw a good friend pass at 47. He was a picture of health. Strong as an ox. Former military. Bench press 500 just out of high school. Same with his brother. Extreme natural strength. Could run forever. Regular blood work. Highly intelligent. He used PEDs but not very much. He took time completely off.

On the other end of this, I just watched Shawn Ray's interview of former Mr. California winners. Some are in their late 50s and early 60s apparently healthy and still working out. Most were downsized. Absolutely these guys hit it hard in all respects. I just watched an interview with Boyer Coe. I think he's 80. Men are risk takers. We walk headlong into it on the regular.
I think you are correct that we can’t really predict it. You can mitigate the risk. It’s scary to think but the amount of people that die from heart attacks and strokes around the 50 year mark is a lot higher than anyone wants to believe. I always think that you don’t want to be totally reckless but also you need to enjoy your life doing what you like as well.

We have been a bit brainwashed into thinking midlife is 50 but it’s actually closer to mid 30s. I believe we can thank corporations for that for wanting us to work 40-60 hour weeks well into our 50s. That’s a whole other topic though.
 
He’s talking about what guys are posting on the forum where they know their hematocrit and hemoglobin are already elevated so what they do is drink an abnormal amount of water before the blood draw to skew the test results. Guys do this to fake their own test results to justify their cycle as safe in their head.
“Hey bro drink 3 gallons of water before your blood test and your thick blood will test out good even tho it really isn’t”

Yeah I commented on this in another thread. This isn't about the other threads, but it's relevant so, again, no that's stupid.
 
Very informative post. I appreciate it. Im just curious, he had high hematocrit levels. Im assuming he was well hydrated prior to doing labs. Im wondering if going in super hydrated is skewing test results in a way where it might be just more beneficial to go in normal and not be drinking a gallon of water prior to getting labs.
U want to be hydrated but not diluted to skew numbers. There is absolutely no point in cheating a blood test.
 
He’s talking about what guys are posting on the forum where they know their hematocrit and hemoglobin are already elevated so what they do is drink an abnormal amount of water before the blood draw to skew the test results. Guys do this to fake their own test results to justify their cycle as safe in their head.
“Hey bro drink 3 gallons of water before your blood test and your thick blood will test out good even tho it really isn’t”
Exactly! Temporary dilution is not a solution!
 
I think you are correct that we can’t really predict it. You can mitigate the risk. It’s scary to think but the amount of people that die from heart attacks and strokes around the 50 year mark is a lot higher than anyone wants to believe. I always think that you don’t want to be totally reckless but also you need to enjoy your life doing what you like as well.

We have been a bit brainwashed into thinking midlife is 50 but it’s actually closer to mid 30s. I believe we can thank corporations for that for wanting us to work 40-60 hour weeks well into our 50s. That’s a whole other topic though.
A little off topic but good for perspective. Before there was Social Security almost no one retired. Contrary to popularity demonizing modern medicine, life expectancy has increased pretty dramatically since the 1920s. Basically prior to Social Security in the 1930s everyone worked until the wheels fell off.

  • 1920 — Around 54–56 years (post-1918 flu recovery; e.g., 1919–1921 period ~56.4 years total)
  • 1930 — Around 59–60 years (e.g., 1929–1931 period ~59.2 years)
  • 1940 — Around 63 years (e.g., 1939–1941 period ~63.6 years)
  • 1950 — Around 68 years (e.g., 1949–1951 period ~68.1 years)
  • 1960 — Around 70 years (e.g., 1959–1961 period ~69.9 years)
  • 1970 — Around 71 years (e.g., 1969–1971 period ~70.8 years)
  • 1980 — Around 74 years (e.g., 1979–1981 period ~73.9 years)
  • 1990 — Around 75 years (e.g., 1989–1991 period ~75.4 years)
  • 2000 — Around 77 years (e.g., late 1990s ~76.7 years)
  • 2010 — Around 78–79 years (peaking near 78.8 years in 2019 pre-pandemic)
  • 2020 — Around 77 years (e.g., ~76.98 years, reflecting early COVID impact; down from 78.8 in 2019)
 
U want to be hydrated but not diluted to skew numbers. There is absolutely no point in cheating a blood test.
The point is to not get your TRT cut in half like an endocrinologist tried to do to me. But if you're concerned about high hematocrit take good long breaks at a true TRT level after taking a month completely off. If you have that problem, you will likely go from ~56% down to under 50% and then drop even more if you stay under 800 ng/dL. At least it works for me and others I have advised. Take 8 weeks off and you might go down to 47% or lower and start from there. I think it's almost a requirement if you are going to cycle after 40 years of age. just my opinion but what I have seen.
 
The point is to not get your TRT cut in half like an endocrinologist tried to do to me. But if you're concerned about high hematocrit take good long breaks at a true TRT level after taking a month completely off. If you have that problem, you will likely go from ~56% down to under 50% and then drop even more if you stay under 800 ng/dL. At least it works for me and others I have advised. Take 8 weeks off and you might go down to 47% or lower and start from there. I think it's almost a requirement if you are going to cycle after 40 years of age. just my opinion but what I have seen.
I am more referring to the guys on big cycles being told to drink 2-3gallons of water just prior to giving blood.
 
BB may not have had anything to do with it... Many people just have inherited / unknown issues.
Sad stuff... I know many (I'm at that age) where they had perfect bloods, low lipids, and had a widow-maker bypass. (Or death).
I only do 10mg a day of TRT (70 mg's a week) and it still raises my hematocrit out of range a bit.

You just dont know... RIP to him..
 
Sad to hear about this, too young to go for sure. Im on 100mg a week trt under the care of my pcp. Just saw her Monday to refill script and do bloodwork, etc. So back in Dec I had some testing done on my heart and they say im healthy. How do we really know though? I just had a CT scan and calcium test and all came back good. I don't have a history of heart disease in my family. I do tho have a history of unhealthy living..Smoked cigarettes for years and have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and cholesterol is low end of high. My doc says really its just dumb luck more or less..Someone like me appears to be healthy. My father in-law never smoked a day in his life, isn't over weight and lives a healthy life style had his chest cracked open last year for blockage. Im sure steroids don't help our equations at all. Seems tho that maybe a lot of other factors at work as well. Thanks for posting about this situation. Food for thought for everyone of us for sure
 
Don’t know if this was brought up yet or not, apologies if it was. Was there a family history of heart problems that you know of ?
 

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