Advice about intense workout!!

Therapeutic Efforts Supplements & Lifestyle
#1

Hi guys,

I want to start in the gym again. I have always liked to “pump iron” and it makes me feel great.

The thing is that I want to start training just like before; 4 days a week, cardio in the morning and weightlifting in the afternoon/evening. It has worked for me before and I need to do it because I´m a bit overweighted now (I don´t go to the gym since I started experiencing the negative effects of Propecia).

The thing is that it´s a very extreme workout program, I mean that you end up exhausted…and I have read the post “exercise-induced hypogonadism” and I´m a bit worried now, since I don´t know if working out so hard could be bad for my endocrine health (I know that working out raises your testosterone levels, but I don´t want to do the opposite by working out very hard).

I have been treating myself with testosterone gel for a month more or less and I was feeling quite well. I experienced some nocturnal/morning erections, spontaneous erections during the day that refused to go away for some minutes, I even got erections just by watching a porno movie or just by thinking about sex. This wasn´t happening all the time, but as I said, It was only a month and before I started, my testosterone levels were below minimal.

I think that working out can help me raise testosterone levels, as well as helping me feeling more active, etc, but I´m afraid about what the post “exercise-induced hypogonadism” said.

What do you guys think?

Sorry for my English, I´m Spanish :unamused:

Thanks guys.

#2

well, also I have to follow a diet, staying away from fat stuff and eating as healthy as possible.

#3

I’d suggest getting into things slowly to start… work out maybe 2x a week with no cardio to begin for 2-3 weeks, then 3x a week (Monday, Wed, Friday) for another 2-3 weeks before you consider adding in cardio. Either do full body workouts or upper body/lower body split… ie week 1 Upper, Lower, Upper… week 2 lower, upper, lower… then repeat.

After 6 weeks or so, add in Cardio on your off days, ie Tues, Thurs… and maybe Saturday if you want to do Cardio 3x a week. Cardio should be no more than 30 minutes. Every 8 weeks, switch up your excerises for the same body parts (the body adapts and thus cannot grow if you keep using the same excercises).

But to do Cardio + Workout in the same day as you suggested is too much, you will just exhaust yourself. Your body needs a day in between to recover from workouts. Ideally you should also keep your workouts to under 1 hour, 45 minutes preferrable, as after that time cortisol levels begin to rise and promote a catabolic state (muscle eating).

Be sure to take a Whey protein shake after workign out along with some grape juice to aid with protein uptake into the cells. Your post-workout meal 1 hour after protein shake should consist of a large portion of protein and simple carbs. All other meals during the day should be protein with complex carbs. DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST.

Ideally you should be taking in 5-6 small meals a day every 2.5/3 hours, to maintain blood sugar levels and promote an anabolic state for feeding and building muscle.

Before you go to bed snack on a bowl of light cottage cheese and green apple, to feed your muscles overnight (cottage cheese is casein whey, is slowly digested/released into the bloodstream and thus provides nutrition for your muscles while you sleep).

Good luck with your endeavours.

#4

Thanks for your advice Mew.

So do you think that working out is positive or negative for my endocrine health? will it make the synthoms that I got from Propecia use worse?

The post “exercise-induced hypogonadism” got me scared about starting to workout again. That´s why I´m asking.

Thanks again.

#5

the post “exercise-induce hypogonadism” was not meant to scare anybody off of working out. i’m sorry if it did that. i think there are plenty of studies showing that high-intensity short duration exercise can be of great benefit to the endocrine system, especially raising output of growth hormone and testosterone.

the post was a warning against low-intensity high duration exercise such as long distance running and cycling which has been found to supress testosterone in endurance athletes and even cause hypogonadism in some cases. again, please read the studies (links at the bottom of that page) for further information.

i think mew is giving you some good advice on high-intensity workouts.

also people might want to check out these books on “natural hormonal enhancement” and “hormonally intelligent exercise” by rob faigin. you can get them on amazon. i’ve just finished reading them. they are packed with well-researched info and footnoted studies. i’m just starting back exercising with these programs. i’ll post back from time to time to let people know how it’s going.

#6

Thanks gethealthy!

I´ll start again in the gym now. I´ll keep it soft the first weeks,and after that I´ll start with what I always liked the most: short times of workout (40-50 minutes) but very intense.

Thanks again guys.

#7

Cepo,
I’ve only been off six weeks, but my endo has already prescribed be Androgel. Probably similar to what you are taking. I haven’t decided whether to take it or not yet because the urologist I just saw the day before said some people just have lower T levels and that maybe fin just pushed me over below the “normal” just for a bit, so he wanted to give it a few more weeks to see if it gets any better on its own.
My question for you is, is this something you will have to be taking for the rest of your life?
Who else knows about TRT therapy?
Should I start it sooner rather than later to just try to jumpstart my system, because I am still having trouble with erections. It sucks. And I am worried that the muscles and vessels down there will get too used to this problem.
And I know i should probably be posting this in the hormone section.

Thanks guys.

#8

Hi Boston,

I don´t know what to tell you because many of the questions that you are asking me are the kind of questions that I´m asking to myself and that I want to ask my andrologist the next time I see him.

I will let you know as son as I know anything.