tea are tea plus
Registered
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2025
- Messages
- 349
- Reaction score
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Stats: Dude, 33yo, 330lbs (down from 405 in January 
), 5'10"
Goals: Lose fat and gain muscle (I am not like other girls). Specifically just want to take hard training to its natural endpoint, whatever that means for my body. Kind of just want general input from any and everyone.
Gear: Tough one, because I am technically on TRT+ but its a weird case. 2022 I went to doctor for unusual fatigue, ran all the numbers, my test was 25 ng/dl. Prolactin was sky-high, as was estrogen. They suspected a tumor on pituitary. Finally ruled that out, but out of an abundance of caution, they prescribed Clomid. I was to take 25mg every day, no end point. It worked, my test climbed up to 350-400. Then my right eye went blurry, I stopped being able to hold my pee very well, and suspecting Clomid was the cause, i stopped clomid. a year passes, test dips again, I start clomid again. Vision gets blurrier, I stop again. another year passes, I start clomid again, and instead of vision blurring I just feel like DEATH all the time. This was around June 2025. I requested to stop the clomid and start trt, they said "ok we can do androgel" I say "i live with 4 ladies, 3 of which are children, I'd rather do injections," they respond, "you need a cpap to start testosterone injections." I HAVE A CPAP. "We need to reevaluate to see if you still need it before we start" WTF. I schedule the sleep study CONSULTATION for defuckingcember. so facing down the prospect of losing my weightloss progress to the fatigue of incredibly low test (it was 39 ng/dl in december 2024), I searched for a more proactive solution, found this very forum and handled it. Figured I'd aromatize a lot, so I went with a higher dose of 245-260mg per week, administered every other day shallowish IM, ai as needed. Oh I was also anemic through all of this.
Tl;dr test was 39 ng/dl in december 24, given clomid, clomid sucks for long term use, denied trt from endocrinologist and pcp, bought it myself. 245-260mg test E/week. 300 mg/ml 10 ml vial (janoshik tested at 281 mg/ml), 0.25ml administered every other day, shallow IM. arimidex as needed for estrogen sides. started shots 8/7/25, took first ai dose 8/25/25 (nips were getting spicy and i felt fluid building up in my face and bp was slightly elevated and I was generally more emotional than usual)
Training:
block 1: [started january 13th] doing MWF full body, a steve shaw program from muscle and strength website. 5x5 classic barbell movements with supporting accessories. did this for 16 weeks.
block 2: [started may 5th] then I built my own upper/lower 4x a week program. it was based around vertical push vertical pull, horizontal push horizontal pull movemements. for example, upper 1 was flat or incline bench (rotated every 2 weeks) then barbell rows, then seated dumbell ohp and pull downs. upper 2 was barbell ohp and assisted pull ups, and machine chest press and cable rows. cycling the intensity with each movement pattern. 7ish accessories on all days, lower days were squat/deadlift on lower 1, and front squat+leg press and good mornings on lower 2. ran this for 14ish weeks.
block 3: [started august 11 - current] returning to my roots with a classic 4x week bro split.
Monday [chest&bicep]:
5x5 barbell bench. 200lbs for 5, usually losing a rep around 4th set.
3x10 incline dumbell bench. 65lbs for 10 usually losing a rep or dropping 5 lbs by last set
4x15 pec dec (switching this for cables next week, permanent change) 120lbs
4x5 alternating db curl 40lbs for 5 last set ill drop 5 lbs and do a rest pause set
3x10-12 machine preacher curl 60lbs for 12, 11, 11
3x15 hammer curl. 25lbs. I get the 15 no matter what, as long as i dont use body english. kinda looks like rest pause, but more like a quick breather
10 minute LISS cardio warmup, 20 minute MISS cardio after lift
Tuesday [back&abs]:
10 minute assisted pull ups. Today I did 7 sets in the 10 minutes. 6 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps, 4 reps. 150lb assistance.
4x10 t-bar row (landmine) 150ish lbs (dont really know how much the landmine bar weighs) for 10, 12, 13, 13. idk why but horizontal pulls take me a minute to get into. almost always write off the first set as a really intense warm up, but have decided to start logging it
3x8-12 unilateral lat pulldown 75lbs for 8, 60 bs for 10, 60lbs for 12 (first day trying these, used to be wide grip pull down)
4x15 reverse fly [0, 1 count hold at top) 100lbs for 20, 17, 15, 15 on the pec dec/reverse fly machine
2x12-15 superset of shoulder health stuff. not very heavy, i have a bad-ish left shoulder. face pulls, and a weird shrugging movement (kinda like standing rope-cable kelso shrugs...idfk)
3xamrap decline bench "hanging" leg raise. 10, 14, 10 reps
3xamrap cable crunch 120lbs for 15, 140 lbs for 20, then 15. I am committed to figuring this movement out. its responsible for nearly 15 years of confusion for me.
10 minute LISS cardio warmup, 20 minute MISS cardio post lift
Wednesday: I rest completely.
Thursday [shoulders and tricep]:
4x5-7 seated dumbell ohp 65lbs for 5, 5, 6, 7 (last set is 1 past failure with spot assistance + alap iso hold)
4x12 dumbell lateral raise 25lbs for 12 reps. rest-pausing as needed to get all 12 each set. last set is kind of ugly past 8
3x15 cable upright row 100lbs for 15, rest-pausing as needed to get all 15
3x15 rear delt cross-body cable sweep (no idea what this is actually called) 25lbs 15, 15, then 20 for 14
2xamrap palm up dumbell front raise - only here bc i love it so much 20lbs for 15 both sets
3x10 dynamic v-bar cable pushdown 170 for 13, 180 for 10, 180 for 10 (the machine says pounds, but idk i doubt it)
3x12 dumbell skull crushers (my gym has one ez bar and i dont wanna fight over it) 25lbs for 12, 11, 10
superset cable kickback&overhead extension, both unilateral. 20lbs amrap 2 sets each movement
4xamrap decline crunch 10, 9, 10, 6
Friday [legs]:
5x5 barbell back squats 225 for 5 first 3 sets, drop to 205 on 4th set, 205 5th set to 1 rir (im scared to go to failure its a weird rack)
4x12 machine leg extension 225lbs for 12, very often needing rest pause last 2 sets due to lactic acid pain.
3x10 dumbell rdl 80lbs. my hamstrings are massive, and incredibly flexible. its very tough to train them outside of unilateral leg curls.
3x10 unilateral seated leg curl 100lbs for 12. squeeze at peak contraction, leaning forward at the end to try and get a stretch but it never works
3xamrap barbell calf raise 205lbs for 15 all the way thru
3xamrap seated dumbell calf raise. awkward movement, open to ditching it. soleus is massive bc im fat. 45lb dumbell until i get bored.
superset hip ab/ad. 1 set amrap+rest pause. 160lbs ab, 120lbs ad.
I have a decent amount of experience in general with lifting. super long hiatus, and honestly a lot of the "accepted knowledge" had changed a ton upon my return. Lifted for a collective idk 6-7 years, but only seriously and with intention from 18-22, all the other stuff was ancillary to other physical activities, or just to get a lift in. wrestler, football, boxer (i attribute boxing to why i have to absolutely murder my delts for them to respond even a little bit). i have accrued a fuckload of fat, but seem to have retained a relatively high work capacity. I almost never gas out, and always recover in time for the next lift. don't get me wrong im still mega out of shape, but idk i see a lot of stuff online about how you gotta manage fatigue and/or take time to recover and maybe bc I have experienced incredibly high workloads in the past I just dont register a lifting regimen as something to be tiptoed around? this is getting away from me, i swear im not trying to project some weird macho bs, pls trust.
NUT-ri-tion: I tracked so incredibly diligently for 6ish months. to the fucking GRAM of everything I ate. found a decent groove. I still weigh ambiguous stuff like rice and high risk stuff like oil, but almost nothing else. oh I'll weigh some protein sources too, just to make sure.
breakfast: shooting for 50g protein, 30-40g carbohydrates, often biggest fat meal of the day. 6-700 total calories. almost always involves 3 eggs with 2 servings of egg whites, 1 cup of fairlife skim milk, and 1 cup of danon light n fit yogurt with 5 grams of 90% dark chocolate in it. the carb will either be 80g white rice, 1 piece of toast, or something equivalent. as well as a single serving of fruit. i often need to add a very small amount of meat or an extra half serving of milk to hit the protein.
i lift from 8:45am to 11am. intra workout I have a bottle with 25g dextrose, 6g EAA, 1 scoop electrolyte powder, and that all goes into water, or grape juice if i didnt get my carbs in with breakfast (very rare occurence)
post workout: 24g whey protein, 24g casein protein, 4 glucose tablets (15g carb) 1-1.5 servings psilium husk fiber, 7.5g creatine.
lunch-ish (3 hours after shake): 4-6oz meat. chicken breast, 95/5 ground venison, 93/7 ground beef, flounder filet, strip steak, and even potentially raw egg whites. 2 servings veggies or 1 serving fruit 1 serving veggies. small amount of carbs. limiting fat this meal. shooting for under 400 calories. often falling slightly north of 500.
dinner: something with 150g of rice. 5/7 days its either chicken or steak, with white rice. 2 servings of veggies. canned green beans, steamed broccoli, steamed cauliflower, steamed asparagus. rarely will have some brussel sprouts or a salad. biggest meal of the day. up to 1000 calories, usually falling around 800. 40g protein goal.
bedtime: 24g casein protein with 1 serving psilium husk fiber (it generic metamucil im just trying to sound cool)
I drink 24-32 oz of unsweetened (cold) gold peak brand black tea every day. thoroughly addicted to the cold leaf water. i do not usually have a sweet tooth, but if i do, a single yasso bar (100 calories) will satisfy it.
SUPPS: with breakfast i take
- 1000 iu vitamin d3
- cal/mag/zinc (carbonate 333mg, oxide 133mg, sulfate 5mg) [also includes 200 iu vit d3]
- culturelle "daily digestive probiotic" (200 mg inulin [prebiotic] 40mg lactob rhamnosus GG)
- centrum ADULTS multivitamin
before bed i take
- 200 mg magnesium glycinate
- 5mg melatonin as needed to placebo myself to sleep. rare-ish occurence. maybe 5% of nights.
SLEEP: I am most proud of this one. In bed by 10pm on all nights preceding a training day. up by 6:30 all week days. tuesday night ill go as late as midnight, but usually 11pm. weekends can be weird, but 90% of nights im getting at LEAST 7.5 hours (according to my cpap), and i fall asleep quickly (box breathing definitely works).
Hope this isnt insane for a first log. I asked in another thread what I should include and I think I hit all the highlights. I am definitely coping about the gear, but for some reason my natural test has been completely shot for many years, and i feel it was a medical decision and not a "i need trt wink wink decision". but make no mistake as soon as I feel it's relatively safe ill add whatever i feel is reasonable to get wherever i canreasonably be.
Relevant pharmaceuticals: TIRZEPATIDE 10mg weekly, lisinopril 20mg, currently eod. suboxone 8/2mg daily.
), 5'10"Goals: Lose fat and gain muscle (I am not like other girls). Specifically just want to take hard training to its natural endpoint, whatever that means for my body. Kind of just want general input from any and everyone.
Gear: Tough one, because I am technically on TRT+ but its a weird case. 2022 I went to doctor for unusual fatigue, ran all the numbers, my test was 25 ng/dl. Prolactin was sky-high, as was estrogen. They suspected a tumor on pituitary. Finally ruled that out, but out of an abundance of caution, they prescribed Clomid. I was to take 25mg every day, no end point. It worked, my test climbed up to 350-400. Then my right eye went blurry, I stopped being able to hold my pee very well, and suspecting Clomid was the cause, i stopped clomid. a year passes, test dips again, I start clomid again. Vision gets blurrier, I stop again. another year passes, I start clomid again, and instead of vision blurring I just feel like DEATH all the time. This was around June 2025. I requested to stop the clomid and start trt, they said "ok we can do androgel" I say "i live with 4 ladies, 3 of which are children, I'd rather do injections," they respond, "you need a cpap to start testosterone injections." I HAVE A CPAP. "We need to reevaluate to see if you still need it before we start" WTF. I schedule the sleep study CONSULTATION for defuckingcember. so facing down the prospect of losing my weightloss progress to the fatigue of incredibly low test (it was 39 ng/dl in december 2024), I searched for a more proactive solution, found this very forum and handled it. Figured I'd aromatize a lot, so I went with a higher dose of 245-260mg per week, administered every other day shallowish IM, ai as needed. Oh I was also anemic through all of this.
Tl;dr test was 39 ng/dl in december 24, given clomid, clomid sucks for long term use, denied trt from endocrinologist and pcp, bought it myself. 245-260mg test E/week. 300 mg/ml 10 ml vial (janoshik tested at 281 mg/ml), 0.25ml administered every other day, shallow IM. arimidex as needed for estrogen sides. started shots 8/7/25, took first ai dose 8/25/25 (nips were getting spicy and i felt fluid building up in my face and bp was slightly elevated and I was generally more emotional than usual)
Training:
block 1: [started january 13th] doing MWF full body, a steve shaw program from muscle and strength website. 5x5 classic barbell movements with supporting accessories. did this for 16 weeks.
block 2: [started may 5th] then I built my own upper/lower 4x a week program. it was based around vertical push vertical pull, horizontal push horizontal pull movemements. for example, upper 1 was flat or incline bench (rotated every 2 weeks) then barbell rows, then seated dumbell ohp and pull downs. upper 2 was barbell ohp and assisted pull ups, and machine chest press and cable rows. cycling the intensity with each movement pattern. 7ish accessories on all days, lower days were squat/deadlift on lower 1, and front squat+leg press and good mornings on lower 2. ran this for 14ish weeks.
block 3: [started august 11 - current] returning to my roots with a classic 4x week bro split.
Monday [chest&bicep]:
5x5 barbell bench. 200lbs for 5, usually losing a rep around 4th set.
3x10 incline dumbell bench. 65lbs for 10 usually losing a rep or dropping 5 lbs by last set
4x15 pec dec (switching this for cables next week, permanent change) 120lbs
4x5 alternating db curl 40lbs for 5 last set ill drop 5 lbs and do a rest pause set
3x10-12 machine preacher curl 60lbs for 12, 11, 11
3x15 hammer curl. 25lbs. I get the 15 no matter what, as long as i dont use body english. kinda looks like rest pause, but more like a quick breather
10 minute LISS cardio warmup, 20 minute MISS cardio after lift
Tuesday [back&abs]:
10 minute assisted pull ups. Today I did 7 sets in the 10 minutes. 6 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps, 4 reps. 150lb assistance.
4x10 t-bar row (landmine) 150ish lbs (dont really know how much the landmine bar weighs) for 10, 12, 13, 13. idk why but horizontal pulls take me a minute to get into. almost always write off the first set as a really intense warm up, but have decided to start logging it
3x8-12 unilateral lat pulldown 75lbs for 8, 60 bs for 10, 60lbs for 12 (first day trying these, used to be wide grip pull down)
4x15 reverse fly [0, 1 count hold at top) 100lbs for 20, 17, 15, 15 on the pec dec/reverse fly machine
2x12-15 superset of shoulder health stuff. not very heavy, i have a bad-ish left shoulder. face pulls, and a weird shrugging movement (kinda like standing rope-cable kelso shrugs...idfk)
3xamrap decline bench "hanging" leg raise. 10, 14, 10 reps
3xamrap cable crunch 120lbs for 15, 140 lbs for 20, then 15. I am committed to figuring this movement out. its responsible for nearly 15 years of confusion for me.
10 minute LISS cardio warmup, 20 minute MISS cardio post lift
Wednesday: I rest completely.
Thursday [shoulders and tricep]:
4x5-7 seated dumbell ohp 65lbs for 5, 5, 6, 7 (last set is 1 past failure with spot assistance + alap iso hold)
4x12 dumbell lateral raise 25lbs for 12 reps. rest-pausing as needed to get all 12 each set. last set is kind of ugly past 8
3x15 cable upright row 100lbs for 15, rest-pausing as needed to get all 15
3x15 rear delt cross-body cable sweep (no idea what this is actually called) 25lbs 15, 15, then 20 for 14
2xamrap palm up dumbell front raise - only here bc i love it so much 20lbs for 15 both sets
3x10 dynamic v-bar cable pushdown 170 for 13, 180 for 10, 180 for 10 (the machine says pounds, but idk i doubt it)
3x12 dumbell skull crushers (my gym has one ez bar and i dont wanna fight over it) 25lbs for 12, 11, 10
superset cable kickback&overhead extension, both unilateral. 20lbs amrap 2 sets each movement
4xamrap decline crunch 10, 9, 10, 6
Friday [legs]:
5x5 barbell back squats 225 for 5 first 3 sets, drop to 205 on 4th set, 205 5th set to 1 rir (im scared to go to failure its a weird rack)
4x12 machine leg extension 225lbs for 12, very often needing rest pause last 2 sets due to lactic acid pain.
3x10 dumbell rdl 80lbs. my hamstrings are massive, and incredibly flexible. its very tough to train them outside of unilateral leg curls.
3x10 unilateral seated leg curl 100lbs for 12. squeeze at peak contraction, leaning forward at the end to try and get a stretch but it never works
3xamrap barbell calf raise 205lbs for 15 all the way thru
3xamrap seated dumbell calf raise. awkward movement, open to ditching it. soleus is massive bc im fat. 45lb dumbell until i get bored.
superset hip ab/ad. 1 set amrap+rest pause. 160lbs ab, 120lbs ad.
I have a decent amount of experience in general with lifting. super long hiatus, and honestly a lot of the "accepted knowledge" had changed a ton upon my return. Lifted for a collective idk 6-7 years, but only seriously and with intention from 18-22, all the other stuff was ancillary to other physical activities, or just to get a lift in. wrestler, football, boxer (i attribute boxing to why i have to absolutely murder my delts for them to respond even a little bit). i have accrued a fuckload of fat, but seem to have retained a relatively high work capacity. I almost never gas out, and always recover in time for the next lift. don't get me wrong im still mega out of shape, but idk i see a lot of stuff online about how you gotta manage fatigue and/or take time to recover and maybe bc I have experienced incredibly high workloads in the past I just dont register a lifting regimen as something to be tiptoed around? this is getting away from me, i swear im not trying to project some weird macho bs, pls trust.
NUT-ri-tion: I tracked so incredibly diligently for 6ish months. to the fucking GRAM of everything I ate. found a decent groove. I still weigh ambiguous stuff like rice and high risk stuff like oil, but almost nothing else. oh I'll weigh some protein sources too, just to make sure.
breakfast: shooting for 50g protein, 30-40g carbohydrates, often biggest fat meal of the day. 6-700 total calories. almost always involves 3 eggs with 2 servings of egg whites, 1 cup of fairlife skim milk, and 1 cup of danon light n fit yogurt with 5 grams of 90% dark chocolate in it. the carb will either be 80g white rice, 1 piece of toast, or something equivalent. as well as a single serving of fruit. i often need to add a very small amount of meat or an extra half serving of milk to hit the protein.
i lift from 8:45am to 11am. intra workout I have a bottle with 25g dextrose, 6g EAA, 1 scoop electrolyte powder, and that all goes into water, or grape juice if i didnt get my carbs in with breakfast (very rare occurence)
post workout: 24g whey protein, 24g casein protein, 4 glucose tablets (15g carb) 1-1.5 servings psilium husk fiber, 7.5g creatine.
lunch-ish (3 hours after shake): 4-6oz meat. chicken breast, 95/5 ground venison, 93/7 ground beef, flounder filet, strip steak, and even potentially raw egg whites. 2 servings veggies or 1 serving fruit 1 serving veggies. small amount of carbs. limiting fat this meal. shooting for under 400 calories. often falling slightly north of 500.
dinner: something with 150g of rice. 5/7 days its either chicken or steak, with white rice. 2 servings of veggies. canned green beans, steamed broccoli, steamed cauliflower, steamed asparagus. rarely will have some brussel sprouts or a salad. biggest meal of the day. up to 1000 calories, usually falling around 800. 40g protein goal.
bedtime: 24g casein protein with 1 serving psilium husk fiber (it generic metamucil im just trying to sound cool)
I drink 24-32 oz of unsweetened (cold) gold peak brand black tea every day. thoroughly addicted to the cold leaf water. i do not usually have a sweet tooth, but if i do, a single yasso bar (100 calories) will satisfy it.
SUPPS: with breakfast i take
- 1000 iu vitamin d3
- cal/mag/zinc (carbonate 333mg, oxide 133mg, sulfate 5mg) [also includes 200 iu vit d3]
- culturelle "daily digestive probiotic" (200 mg inulin [prebiotic] 40mg lactob rhamnosus GG)
- centrum ADULTS multivitamin
before bed i take
- 200 mg magnesium glycinate
- 5mg melatonin as needed to placebo myself to sleep. rare-ish occurence. maybe 5% of nights.
SLEEP: I am most proud of this one. In bed by 10pm on all nights preceding a training day. up by 6:30 all week days. tuesday night ill go as late as midnight, but usually 11pm. weekends can be weird, but 90% of nights im getting at LEAST 7.5 hours (according to my cpap), and i fall asleep quickly (box breathing definitely works).
Hope this isnt insane for a first log. I asked in another thread what I should include and I think I hit all the highlights. I am definitely coping about the gear, but for some reason my natural test has been completely shot for many years, and i feel it was a medical decision and not a "i need trt wink wink decision". but make no mistake as soon as I feel it's relatively safe ill add whatever i feel is reasonable to get wherever i canreasonably be.
Relevant pharmaceuticals: TIRZEPATIDE 10mg weekly, lisinopril 20mg, currently eod. suboxone 8/2mg daily.
