So the weather got dryer and bouldering season proper started for me. In the UK, climate change has had a significant effect on humidity levels throughout the year. Whereas when I started climbing, autumn and spring were both great times to climb on rock, now it’s really only spring that’s any good. So any interest in training went out the window while I focused on a frustratingly short window to do the thing I’ve been training to do. I’m in Scotland and I started in earnest: falling off Sandstone in Torridon, gneiss in Strathnairn, and granite in Inchbae. I decided I was going to resume the controlled testing of different substances, as laid out in my previous post, once temperatures and humidity increased and conditions became less ideal.
…and then, just as I was getting into the swing, before I even got round to falling off schist in Laggan, it started raining. It’s been raining ever since and the forecast shows it’s going to be raining for evermore. So unless the expected dry conditions of spring suddenly return and my climbing practice is re-ignited, I’ll return to training and resume the experiments into orally active/strength inducing/short-term use compounds. So while I get on with the first of these, and before I have anything to report, here’s an update on my continuing long-term strategy.
If you remember from my previous post on the subject, my total testosterone levels were a touch lower than I wanted so I planned to up my total intake slightly by sprinkling in 50mg of nandrolone decanoate to my weekly injections. 50mg really is a pretty low dose and I didn’t expect it to have much effect other than a little lubrication of the joints; I was wrong.
Over the course of about 12 weeks (wow! Has it really been that long?), I’ve put on a considerable amount of mass and people at work are asking me what I’m doing in the gym to progress so quickly. This as I’ve mentioned multiple times is not conducive to being a strong climber. Not only do the extra kilos caused by muscle and water retention weigh me down, but larger muscles can mean less mobility in the shoulders. I want to be strong and slender, not weak and pretty like a bodybuilder.
On the flipside I loved being on nandrolone. Even at such a low dose it really ignited the testosterone (probably by tying up SHBG but that’s a story for another post). My mood was excellent, constantly. My sex drive was through the roof and I was generally in a great place. Any worries regarding depression and anxiety were utterly unfounded although I’m still sure this would be a potential issue at higher doses.
The one side effect that I did notice is that I sensed the beginnings of erectile dysfunction creep in when I tried raising the dose a touch above 50mg. It was transient, only for a couple of days after the injection, and very mild but I felt that this would become an issue if I pushed the ratio between testosterone and nandrolone further in the direction of nandrolone. This by the way is a commonly known side effect referred to as “Deca dick”, and is due to a fascinating mechanism whereby dihydronandrolone has a stronger binding affinity, but weaker action than dihydrotestosterone at the androgen receptors responsible for sexual function – but that too is a story for another post.
So seeing as I was already planning to drop the nandrolone experiment and return to taking testosterone only, I decided to get my levels tested and to put it politely I got a fucking shock. My total testosterone came back at “greater than 52nmol/L” (where 52nmol/L is presumably the sensitively cutoff and the test isn’t able to detect levels any higher).
Seeing as I tested 26.6nmol/L total testosterone while I was taking 250mg a week I was expecting something in the region of 32nmol/L combined nandrolone and testosterone on the new protocol which is right where I want to be. However if you remember I also suspected a number of variables leading to significantly lower than expected levels for the given dose.
So now I’m in a situation I knew was possible and I did in fact have the foresight to mention in my previous post on the subject. I’ve changed many variables at the same time so I don’t know where to go from here. I suspect that one of more of the following might be the case:
- I was previously purchasing testosterone from a less reputable lab which was probably under-dosed. Now I’m administering correctly dosed gear from a more trustworthy source, I’m taking quite a bit more each week and my levels have shot up accordingly.
- Previously my administration protocol wasn’t optimal for absorption of the weekly doses and now I’ve standardised it my levels have gone up. Although I do think it’s unlikely that this could make such a dramatic difference to my levels.
- Based on knowing that the ECLIA test I’m getting can’t differentiate between nandrolone and testosterone, I made the assumption that my results would reflect the cumulate level of both compounds in my system. Maybe instead of that the nandrolone just skews the readings resulting in unreliable nonsense.
So. Taking these factors into account I need to ask, is it really the 50mg of nandrolone a week causing all that unwanted hypertrophy? Or is it that my levels of total androgens were a lot higher than I was planning for? I suspect it’s both and I also suspect that all three of the points above contribute to receiving such unexpected test results.
Based on this conclusion, I’m planning on the following course of action:
- Take out the nandrolone until I’ve got a better insight into what testosterone dose I require to reach levels of 32-35nmol/L.
- Drop my testosterone dose to 200mg per week and try to lose some of the mass I’ve put on in the past months.
- Get my levels tested 8 weeks after I’ve made the changes and then again at 15 weeks.
- Based on these results I can calibrate the appropriate dose of testosterone I need to reach the levels I want, given the fact that I’ll continue to use the same testosterone product from the same supplier.
- In the future, once my levels are dialled in, I can replace 50mg of the testosterone I’m taking with nandrolone and see if I can avoid the mass gain I’ve been experiencing so far.
Doping For Climbers 