Blasting steroids in gear is extremely unhealthy, and I don't recommend that whatsoever. But if you have clinically low testosterone and you can actually get a prescribe from a doctor, I don't see that being an issue. What happens when the quest for the perfect physique meets modern medicine? In the world of fitness influencers, the lines are blurring between health and enhancement, between medical need and personal choice. Today, we're talking about a case study here. We're looking at a fitness influencer, Alex Eubank, and his public journey into testosterone replacement therapy. Let's get started. And so, Alex says he did this for his health, right? To feel better while staying shredded. But does this case meet the clinical definition of a medical necessity? We're going to kind of talk about that. We're going to play in his own clips. Listen to his reasoning and then break down the science, the sociology, and the health implications behind this trend that's going on. So, this isn't just about one influencer, right? It's a cultural shift. It's in men's health, this is everywhere. We're talking about Hormone optimization and testosterone therapy. So, we're going to talk all about that. And I do want to make a note that this is in no way, shape, or form. I'm not talking pretty much at all about Alex here at all and his decisions. That says, I'm just going through like justification, using this as a case study for what I see online. Like, you scroll Reddit, you scroll, YouTube, whatever you see people talking about, doing TRT, very, very young ages now. And so that's what we're going to kind of dive into here. And so the first and most crucial question is: why did Alex, a young guy who is seems to be at his physical peak? I mean, dude's absolutely jacked. Why did he decide to start a lifelong hormone therapy, right? So he's been very open about his reasoning. So let's listen to his words. I actually got my blood drawn a few months ago and my natural test was at 900, right? And I got it drawn later when I was at a leaner body fat and I was at 350. 50. So my stuff fluctuates a lot based on what my body fat percentage is. It's just how my body works. So I want to be at a lower body fat while feeling good. Like I have higher testosterone. I'm doing this so that I can feel better while being a decently 9 to 10%. Healthy body fat. I myself want to be lean and feel better being lean. I'm sick of feeling like when I am lean. That's my decision, bro. And I actually was able to get it prescribed because I actually, in a sense, eat it when I am lean. My test is not as high as it should be. When I'm leaner, like, don't you think you're doing something wrong by harming your body? I don't think taking TRT at all is harming your body. In fact, I think it's more harmful in the long run to have, like. Literally, a very low level of testosterone. I don't think TRT is unhealthy at all. You're literally, in a sense, just replacing your natural production. Give or take, I am taking A little bit more than what my natural body was producing, right? I'll have a little bit more in my system, but I don't see that as being unhealthy, especially when you're getting everything monitored. I get everything in my body monitored more than Your average person by a long shot, because of all the connections I have and my sponsors and everything, I'm able to have the privilege to do that. So I don't think I'm harming my body anyway. In fact, I actually think I'm Healthier than your average person from what I'm doing right now. And so, right here, this is the core of the issue, right? His natural testosterone when he's not at a super shredded, when he's at a reasonable body fat percentage. It's fantastic in the 900s, right? Which is a very, very normal level for a healthy young man. Like, that's for anyone. If you're in the 900s, that's gonna be great, doesn't matter where you are. The problem, though, he says, is that low testosterone hit like 350. Appears only to be when he's under extreme stress or when he's being shredded, is what he says, right? So he's saying, Hey, when I lose all that weight and I'm really shredded and my body fat's really low, I have low testosterone. Clinical research would agree that that's pretty normal, right? This is not a disease, right? So, clinical hypogonism, very, very different from this. This is essentially called functional hypogonism, right? So, this is the body's predictable and reversible response to severe energy deficit. Like what happens when you have extreme training and dieting and whatnot, right? So, people who are training for crazy events or losing lots of weight, you can have this where essentially your body just kind of shuts it down and says, Hey, actually, we don't need this right now. Like, we have other things going on. And so, that is a normal and almost expected thing to happen. The immigrant society guidelines are pretty clear about what actually defines like true hypogonism, right? So, first is like, hey, you need to get these readings. Done multiple times. That's the first thing, right? And they say we want these strict criteria because the first-line treatment is potentially like lifelong hormones. If you have true hypobonism, like that is there. This one is not necessarily the case. We're going to talk about that. But It's something that we have to look for. The first-line treatment, though, in most conditions for low testosterone is not testosterone. Usually, we can adjust lifestyle factors and get that increasing. You know, our body fat if we're super lean, uh, getting more sleep, losing weight if we're too, you know, have too much adiposity. So there's lots of things we can do to get them better as well. And that's something important to know: like, they do not say anything society is not like, hey. You're going to be on this for life guaranteed if you have low testosterone. They say, no, there's lots of things we can do because you're on a medication for life, right? And so, this is a really big and critical distinction, right? This is kind of the inversion of medical logic here: we're instead of changing lifestyle to fix a hormone, we are here using a permanent therapy to sustain an extreme lifestyle. And so, this is the kind of fundamental difference between treating disease and lifestyle enhancement. And he goes on to talk more about that later, right? He says, Hey, this is my job. Like, my job is to be fit in Jacked, and I have sponsors, and I understand that there's pressure there. Once again, I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying this is what we see nowadays: people understand: hey, I want to be ripped and I want my testosterone to be normal. So, like, I'm going to be on testosterone for life. We'll talk about why that. Could be a problematic, but that's at least where he's coming from, understanding, right? I'm doing TRT. I'm doing, some people even argue that I'm doing a high-dose TRT to start. I'm doing 200 milligrams a week for about eight weeks. I'm going to get my blood done. I'm going to see where it puts my testosterone concentration in my. Bloodstream, you should, as a natural human being, be in the range of like 500 to a thousand or whatever at this age I'm at, like 21 to 24. Right? Um, I'm gonna see where it puts me at. Let's say it puts me at 1500, that's a little bit higher than I would want. I'll dial it down and take a hundred and And 80 milligrams a week, right? To put me closer to that, you know, 1,000 to 1,200 range is where I would want to be in my bloodstream, right? Which is not crazy at all. These guys who are on a bunch of gear at four, five, six thousand nanograms per deciliter in the blood. That stuff's crazy, that is unhealthy. And you cannot sustain that for a long time. There's gonna be issues with that. So, don't put me on the same pedestals that I'm never gonna tell people to take steroids. I never will say that. I always spoke against that. Blasting steroids in gear is extremely unhealthy, and I don't recommend that whatsoever. But if you have clinically low testosterone and you can actually get a prescribed from a doctor, I don't see that being an issue. And I think he makes a good point in talking about levels of people who are on anabolic steroids. And so he's differentiating here. He's saying, hey, testosterone is not a steroid, or antibiotic steroids is a different type. Regardless, he's saying, hey, getting up levels in the four or five thousand, very not healthy. And I think that's very accurate. Obviously, there's lots of things that can happen. We'll talk more about what we worry about specifically. But he's recognizing that, hey, like, I'm kind of flirting this line between like High normal versus like we know pathologically high. And so he's once again, seems to be very thoughtful in this whole process. And I think everyone would agree that getting up in the four or five thousand would be very unhealthy long term and not sustainable. And he's saying, hey, I want to try to toe the line here between performance but keeping it sustainable. And I respect that. And he does mention that if you have clinically low testosterone, you can get prescribed by a doctor. Well, that is the whole question here, right? Is this clinically low? Is this saying, hey, if you just don't live at body fat of 7%, like you don't have hypogonadism? And so this is a. Is this kind of caused by him? I mean, definitely by his lifestyle that he wants. And the question is: you know, will a doctor treat that or not? I would say most people probably would not do that in the setting of, like, hey, oh, by the guidelines, they say this. And so. If you are watching this and you're considering it, find someone who will. Find someone who will, like, if you're gonna do this one way or another, like, if someone came up to me and was like, I'm gonna do this one way or another, I'm either imbied illegally or I can get it prescribed. I'd be like, okay, well, let's like, let's work on this. Let's work together so we can do this safely. It's almost like a harm reduction thing, right? If someone's like, hey, I'm going to continue to do some sort of, you know, risky behavior, whether that's for like drug use or something like that. I say, hey, okay, let's check labs and make sure everything's okay. And so We're not going to be like, oh no, I'm not taking care of you. And so that's just something to think about: is finding someone who's willing to do that. If they are willing to do that, understanding they may not know a whole lot. You know, this is not something that the mainstream kind of tells us or talks us about. It just takes a lot of research. Like, for me to learn these things, it's just me learning more about this. There are lots of plenty of people who are very qualified to do this, but you walk into your primary care, this may not be the person for you. You know, there might be niche people, but just something to consider. It has shrunk your body shrunk your balls now. So I'm taking HCG, which is going to be something to help me keep my fertility up and it will also keep my balls there, prevent the testicular atery that Can happen when you take TRT and stuff like that. How long am I going to stay on it? I plan on staying on it my whole life until I like go to have kids and I'll do whatever protocol I got to do to have kids and then get back on it. I'd rather live the rest of my life. Having a very high-performing like life, I want to feel amazing all the time until I'm dead. I don't want to stay at a very low level and have it go lower as I get older and be dragging my ass my whole life. I want to live a Good life of the years that I do have. So I want to perform at a really good level for my whole life. So, yeah. And here he does mention that he's taking something called HCG for his fertility, saying, Hey. Go to my HCG so it maintains my fertility, no problem. And then when I have kids, I might come off it and then come back on it again. Like, first thing he is recognizing that this is a lifelong thing. And he's saying, hey, I want to do this for life. I want to be at this high-level performance. You know, I want to feel good forever. The question is: Is testosterone making you feeling good? Or is there other things, or is testosterone masking other things? I don't know. That's a whole nother question we can talk about, but at least he recognizes this is a lifelong thing. And then he said, Hey, I'll hop off it and get pregnant. It may not be that easy. That's the number one thing I worry about. It's like, you really want to have a family. It's not always slam dunk. Like, oh, I can get off it. I can have kids. Like, sometimes it really affects things. Testosterone. You know, we need a certain amount of testosterone for our testes to make sperm. And if you are getting it exogenously, your body's not normally making it, and then your intra-like testicular testosterone is low and can affect how you make sperm and if they're able to, you know. Fertilize the negative, all those things. And so, this is just the biggest thing. If someone is like young when considering this, it's like this is the thing. Like, you know, you might be 20, 24, and say, hey, this is good. I want to do. 34-year-old you might be like, Why did I do this? And so, once again, not judging and not saying that, but this is for sure when I hear this, like, this is the biggest thing that I worry about because it's not like immediate health things, right? Like, when you're young, you're pretty much invincible and you can handle a lot of things. But, like, long term, this is the biggest thing I worry about. And so, after that decision, he talks about he got his prescription. He said he's doing it the right way, going through a doctor, getting everything measured. And that's wonderful, right? We want to make sure that we are, if we're going to do this. We do it as smart as we possibly can, right? I don't want people just necessarily doing this in the back alley or in their bedroom and not checking labs. We're going to do this. Come find us. Come find me as a clinician, right? That's the thing so we can work together to make sure that we're doing it in the healthiest way possible. But what does his TRT protocol actually look like? And this is where we once again kind of see the difference between replacing what's missing and optimizing for performance, right? And but he's very transparent about starting this before his goals, right? He's like where he wants to go and what he wants to do. Anyways, I got my testosterone results back. Now I know, what was it, four or five months ago, when I decided to start taking testosterone replacement therapy because I've been testing Consistently pretty low for a minute. So I decided to hop on for my health and my well-being. Obviously, that was met with quite a bit of critique, which I understand. 24-year-old getting up to your teeth. It's not genuinely accepted quite yet. Testosterone replacement industry is kind of newer in terms of like modern medicine, but I got my results Back. I did exactly what I said I was gonna do. It's super funny because the last few months, I think my physique has probably looked the best it's ever looked, in my opinion. I'm around probably getting close to single-digit body fat right now, and I weigh 187. Alex before was probably like around 170 to 175 pounds. Now I'm around 185 to 187 pounds with the same level of like leanness. Definitely fuller in my opinion. Just Other than that, feeling a lot better. But if you guys remember, I started taking 200 milligrams of test a week when I started, which Greg said and a lot of the other people said. Was too high of a dose. Now that's the max dose you can get prescribed from a doctor. And I agree now 100% that was too high because I got my testosterone results back three months ago, whatever. It was like two months into taking it, and my testosterone results were way too high. They came back at like 1500 total tests. Which was way higher than I wanted to be at. So I lowered my dose from that to 160 milligrams per week. And then I'm still taking the HCG to help me with fertility. Just got my testosterone results back. I pinned roughly 18 to 24 hours before this draw length of my blood. We are at now 932. Andrograms per deciliter. Now, to put that into context so you guys can understand, the reference range for my clinic is 250 to 1100. Generally, I mean, accepted range is 300 to 900 in terms of what the Natural range should be, and usually, when you're around that 350 and undermark is where you kind of can qualify for like TRP stuff. I did exactly what I said I wanted to do. I wanted to get to the upper end of the reference range. Okay, so let's break down his numbers, right? So he said he's taking 200 to start, right? A standard TRT dose is used to replace testosterone. It's typically. 75 to 100 milligrams a week, or some people do it bi-weekly, so like 200 per you know, for every two weeks or something like that. And you're aiming for levels in the middle of the normal range, so not necessarily 900. His starting dose is massive, right? 200 milligrams is definitely the top end. It's going to exceed standard replacement, right? That's really up there. He said it's as high as the doctor will prescribe. And I think it's, you know, at least that's wise and reasonable saying, hey, if you go above that, like, odds are you're probably going to have some issues. And so. Is pretty big. When he said 200, I was like, Well, that's going to be up there. And sure enough, what did he say? Well, he found a testosterone level of 1500, right? Which is super physiologic, meaning higher than what's naturally possible. And that's way above there. And that's not replacement, right? That is optimization or performance chasing. And he said he didn't want to be there. So he did tweak it down, right? He adjusted his level. So he's down to 932, started scaling back to like 180, 160 per week. And so that's what it is. But It's still getting up to the upper up rain, right? So, this isn't aiming for the middle of the range, right? Like, hey, TRT is like, hey, you're super low, like, super, super low, like, less than 300 to 350 is kind of like the cutoff for the labs. You have to have that. Two separate times on fasting occasions, you know, separated by some time. And so, if you have two of those things below that 350, the goal is: hey, let's replace you to get you back to where we need to be, which is in the middle of the range, which is anywhere from like, I don't know, 500s, maybe four to 600s, something along that line. Certainly, not upper 900s or 1,000. That's definitely kind of getting into the testosterone optimization therapy, which is kind of a newer philosophy, right? A philosophy more common in men's private health clinics. Than in mainstream endocrinology, right? And I'm not saying one is necessarily right or wrong. This is just kind of we're charting a new path here. We have kind of uncharted territory. We don't have a lot of data on what happens when people are on this optimization therapy. Are there long-term issues? Who knows what's going on? But When a young, healthy man uses a dose of 160 to 200 milligram a week to achieve these high-level normals, and they say he's doing it because he wants to gain 10 pounds of lean muscle. There's kind of a line between when has become low-dose anabolic versus purely for health, right? So gaining on 10 pounds of lean muscle. Obviously, that's great. I think that's great to have lean tissue. I think nobody's arguing that. But to say this is replacement, I would say it's definitely not replacement therapy. This is a performance dose. This is an optimization dose. And so it's kind of semantic, breaking down the point there, but I just want to make people understand. What he's doing is very, very different than when you're clinically diagnosed with like clinical hypogones, right? You're trying to replace to get there, so you have a normal level of testosterone. This is, you know, kind of trying to optimize a little bit. And that's kind of the way we're going in the world these days. And so it's just something to mention. But I want to briefly say that there still is a benefit by being on TRT, reason being, is that when you're on TRT, I'm pinning twice a week, right? 80 per shot. my testosterone res uh levels in my body are pretty consistent. I can have a bad night of sleep and still have the same testosterone results or levels the next day. I could have a lot of anxiety and still have basically the same testosterone levels the next day versus when you're not taking any TRT and you're just like Natural, even if your body is at that 900 range. If you have a bad night of sleep, your testosterone is gonna crash the next day. If you have a lot of stress in your life, your testosterone is gonna be lower. So it fluctuates a lot more when you're not taking replacement therapy. That's one of the things that I honestly have loved about it is that I'm at a consistent level. Even being lean, when you're natural and you're really lean and shredded, which is what caused my low test in the first place, your testosterone is going to crash. So, when you're out of healthier body fat, naturally, usually you're going to have higher testosterone. So, what I love about this is that I could still be very, very lean. And this is kind of showing his thought process through going through this. Obviously, he started off 200. We said that was going to be a little high, and it was pretty high. And he said, hey, I made some corrections brought it down to 160. So he's having that higher upper range. He's kind of mentioned once again. He says that 200 is the highest a doctor will prescribe. Like, that's not necessarily true. I think that doctor probably is saying that just because he's like, man, you're young and I don't want to get you too high. And so that's probably where it is. He's kind of trimming it, trying to understand that there. He also talks about the peaks, which is actually interesting, right? So you think about physiologically, you're going to have elevated testosterone. He's right, sleep's going to affect things, all those kinds of feedback markers. But the The question is, like, what does that matter long term? And the answer is we just don't know, right? He's talked about how this industry is kind of newer, modern medicine, it is right. There's tons of optimization clinics out there. As a physician, I've seen this all the time. Where people go out to these clinics, they check a testosterone level once, and they start prescribing testosterone for people, which is literally malpractice. You know, if you're saying, hey, you check it later in the day and it's low, say we start there, you need to be twice in the morning, make sure we're good there. We need to have good follow-up. I've had people who didn't have follow-up. I had people who were prescribed inappropriate hormones. So there's a lot of stuff going on. So, once again, just really have to do it the right way if we are going to do it. And so, he says this is new, and it is new. So, there's a lot of charlatans out there. So, just be aware. We should be checking things and monitoring things. But he did make an interesting point about how, like, when you have testosterone up, like, and you're taking it yourself, you don't have these dips, right? You're kind of constantly doing that. You know, the argument could be made: what does that do long term? You know, because normally your body has this really, really dialed-in feedback system, or if it's low. Kind of start back to the feedback loop and do it again. So your body's just a finely tuned machine, and you're essentially just shutting down the override. You're saying, Hey, I'm going to do this thing. What does that do long-term? I don't know. Nobody really knows. And so, this is one of those Things we kind of look and like shrug and like, ah, it's probably going to be okay, but we're not sure. And so that's really where we are: like uncharted territory. This kind of where we're reaching traditional medicine says only in this situation, you know, and then we have the hyper optimizers say. I need to optimize everything, but we don't know what's going on there. So, like, how do we make sense of that? That's where we live here in the gray zone. That's where I live in the gray zone. How do we take what we know versus like what people want and like kind of give them The safest way of doing things, and so that's kind of where we're coming from. But once again, just a kind of interesting point that he's saying, Hey, I want to feel good all the time. And will he always feel good all the time? Who knows? He's 24, but we'll see. It's an interesting thought there. And of course, it's worth mentioning that taking exogenous testosterone isn't without consequences, right? It creates a cascade of effects in the body that have to be managed. Alex has shared his blood work and it paints a very clear picture of what's happening internally. Going into the red blood cell count stuff, hemoglobin, hematocrit. So when you're on TRT and you have a higher level of testosterone, you're going to have a higher. Like red blood cell count. That's why a lot of people like donate blood. I haven't donated blood yet. I just started taking this supplement called Hemiflow, which was recommended to me in Seattle. So I'm hoping based off that, I'm going to check my next blood work. Maybe the Hemoflow stuff fixes it. If not, then. Autoscope donate blood. Slightly elevated, nothing crazy, and it's not making me feel like I still feel fine. If I start to feel sluggish, maybe I'll just go donate. My LH is low, obviously, because I'm all in TRT. Okay, and so he just talked about his lab markers here. Let's quickly translate these markers. So, first thing he says he has low LH. And this is really important. LH is the signal from your brain to your testes to make testosterone, right? We talked about that a little bit before, but his being low shows that he is actually shutting down his natural system, right? So his body is saying, hey. I have plenty of testosterone, like, I don't need to make more. So, it goes back in a feedback loop saying, I don't need more LH to stimulate making more testosterone. That's not what happens. So, essentially, This is called iatrogenic hypogoinism or medically induced hepogoninism. So LH low being, hey, he's shut down his cycle, his natural cycle. That's what's happening. He also mentioned having a little bit of elevated hematocrit or red blood cells, and this is a pretty serious one, right? So, this is one of the most serious risks we have when taking testosterone. Testosterone boosts red blood cell production and it can thicken the blood and can significantly increase the risk of clots, strokes, heart attacks. That's what we care about a lot. And so. There's certain levels of hematocrit that we care about. Once it starts getting up into the 50s, we start wondering, like, ah, is this going on? He mentions about giving blood in the video. Some people just do that, actually, donate blood to keep their hematocrit normal because they say, Hey, I can't get to the level I want to be. Without getting too high in the hemanocrit, so they can donate blood. So, that is like one thing it's, you know, we're kind of patching holes here a little bit, but that is one thing people can do and they do do. But we do care about that so much because the risk of clots and uh in strokes and heart attacks is the biggest thing we really worry about from an acute perspective. Then he talks about being on HDG. Once again, the fact that he needs HGG to prevent testicular atrophy, or at least that's the goal, and maintain fertility is kind of proof that his natural system is offline. Meaning, like, hey, he is disrupting it. HCG is hopefully. Gonna keep that fertility. HCG mimics the LH signal, so essentially hot wiring the testes to keep them from shutting down completely. And once again, this is not normal, like simple replacement therapy. Simple replacement therapy is just on testosterone. We're not worried about fertility because usually it's later in life when replacing it. But This is showing that he's got a multi-drug system to manage the side effects to the suppression of his normal system. So, this is a you know well thought out in terms of premeditated, but this is certainly not just like, hey, This is my replacement level. Like, no, this is super high because we are going to shut this system down. And so, together, though, these markers kind of show a system that's being artificially controlled by this exogenous Testosterone, that's happening, right? And he potentially could have long-term consequences that have to be constantly monitored and managed. And he mentioned that again once again. He doesn't say, like, just go blast this and don't worry about it. He says, I'm monitoring this. I'm with a doctor. I am managing my labs. And that's like the most important thing, right? We gotta be checking these things. Other things he doesn't talk about because he's young is if you are in your 50s or 40s or whatnot, a lot of times we need to measure the PSA, which is a prostate-specific antigen, before we start this, because there are some studies that indicate. You may increase the size of that PSA number or your prostate might lead to enlargement of your prostate with testosterone. There's actually different. Studies that say, yeah, it matters and what's not. It's pretty much standard of care, though, to get a PSA before you do that, just to make sure everything's good. But that's something we really monitor as well. So, obviously, hematocrit, we're looking at, that's really, really important. We're going to look at other labs, the big thing, they're prostate. And those are kind of the big, big ones off the bat that we want to look at. My estrogen or estradiol was 48, so slightly elevated, but I haven't taken, even when I was taking 200, I never took an AI, I never took any like estrogen. Blockers or any of that. I don't want to. I think they recommended I could try and take a little bit of DIM, I believe the supplement is. I'll probably add more research on it, but I believe that's supposed to help keep that a little bit more in check. But I haven't noticed anything like. No gyno, no estrogen side effects. I think estrogen actually is a really good hormone that you should have present in your bodies. That's why I never would take any AI stuff. Yeah, zinc. And here he does mention his estrogen or estradiol as well. This is a super important hormone, right? Like everyone thinks, oh, it's a female hormone. No, like men have it too. It's very important, it's important for a lot of things in our body. But it can. Be high when you're taking exogenous testosterone, right? So, testosterone can get converted to estrogen by the aromatase enzyme. That's why I said I don't take any AIs, which are just aromatase inhibitors. So, the idea that if you're taking lots of testosterone, you know it's going to be converted to aromatase to estrogen. So, if you take these inhibitors, you're trying to prevent those symptoms that estrogen can cause, which men specifically is gynecomastia. That's a big thing. Enhancing of breast tissue. And so that's a big thing to talk about. And he's saying it's a little high, but he doesn't feel any symptoms. He's going to let it ride. That is one consideration when taking testosterone is that you can definitely have that. And so, beyond the physical, a huge part of the story is how TRT makes people feel, right? He reports profound mental benefits, which tie directly into a broader cultural narrative he discusses about modern masculinity. I would say the biggest benefit that I feel that I've that I've noticed and my favorite one is going to be the mental. I feel a lot more Mentally clear. I feel a lot more assertive, not aggressive, but more of like assertive. If I feel something, I don't feel like I have to withhold it. I'm not as passive as I used to be. I was always very, very. Passive in a sense where I would, even in public conversation, if people like, I wouldn't say my point because I didn't like altercations or whatnot. Now it's like I want all the smoke. Like, I don't know how to explain it. Like, not like in a cocky way, but it's like. If I feel like disrespected, or if I feel like I'm just more assertive, I feel like I want to say something and I'm feeling something, I'll say it. I don't feel like I gotta withhold it, if that makes sense. So I feel like there's a more. Confident aspect, the mental that I like a whole lot. That I feel like, honestly, has been one of the biggest things I've noticed, even with like the mental health, feeling just feeling better, honestly. And this is an interesting argument here, right? He's saying, one of the biggest things, the biggest thing that I feel is mental for him. He's saying, I feel more assertive and not necessarily aggressive, but I just, you know. You know, I want the smoke is what he says, which I thought is interesting, which sounds aggressive potentially, but he's saying it makes him feel good, right? And here's like the million dollar, like the science question, right? It's like, hey, he's on this thing. He's on this thing. He's got more muscle now. He feels better. Is it actually like The confidence he has now, and that he feels he can be at the body weight he wants to be, and that's why he feels better, or is it the medication actually causing it? Who knows? It's hard to differentiate it, right? Or is Could you be on something on a placebo, and you say, Hey, this is actually going to get you stronger, and it does. Um, would you feel that same way? We don't know, we're not necessarily sure. But the fact that he says, Hey, I genuinely feel this, this is something we see people talk about all the time. They say, Hey, I feel fatigued. I feel just not myself, and then on testosterone, like I feel like I'm alive again. And so it's something we definitely see and something to look out for. I heard from someone, I don't know like how legit it is, but they're saying that natural testosterone levels in like the 70s and 80s were in like the thousands, were in like the 1200. Range. And nowadays, you see, like, the average middle 20-year-old, they're like 500. And apparently, there's like some statistics that it's gone down by 1% every single year since then. Which makes sense like the seed oils and the microplastics and just like the I feel like it in I feel like it's it's feminizes men nowadays in like modern culture and stuff, and I feel like that's why you see more Men leaning in, like, becoming more feminine and whatnot. So, I think that there is like a testosterone epidemic in a sense of like Men not becoming men as much because of just naturally declining testosterone rates. And then he's talking about this testosterone epidemic, right? He brings up this narrative. He's saying that. You know, we've been decreasing testosterone for years, and there's definitely research confirming that there are potential population-level declines in testosterone. But the real question is: he's saying, Is oh, it's because of microplastics, C oils, whatnot. And or two were just, you know, not mainly enough. But the real question is: is that the reason why, or are there other reasons? You know, odds are the primary drivers that are linked to this Is because we have rising obesity and sedentary lifestyles, right? He's talked about people back in the day had higher testosterone. Like, what did they do? Well, like, they didn't eat garbage, which I agree with. He does mention like all the things we eat. But we didn't like garbage, and we actually like move, and most jobs like required you to do things, right? So, um, it is pretty, pretty darn easy to link sedentary lifestyles and obesity to low testosterone, like, that is easy, easy. Whereas things like seed oil, microplastics, they have mechanism plausibility, but there's not really a lot of good studies like definitively showing that. Microplastics obviously show you can have aromatization. As we talked about increased estrogen and all that stuff. So that is plausible as well. But we have for sure data showing that obesity and sensory lifestyles lead to decreased testosterone. And so he's saying, oh, is this, you know, what's the link? That's the million-dollar question. Is it what's the link? Is it the fact that we're just Have more adiposity. That's probably the answer that we just don't move as much. You mentioned that. So it's a powerful narrative, though, right? So it kind of medicalizes cultural anxiety. It tells young men that. You know, the difficult difficulty in cheesing their physique isn't their fault, right? They're now it's society's fault, and they have low T, and that's what it is that's caused this modern world has feminized them, and so. TRT is kind of framed as a solution to reclaim masculinity, right? So, the question that I have from there is: okay, we've lost masculinity, right? Like, well, we have these people now, like, most people are hanging around, not at 150, 160 pounds. Like, that's where we were back in the day. Like, if we had testosterone there. Like you look at those people, and like back in the 50s, 60s, 70s when testosterone levels were higher, right? You didn't look and see these enormous bodybuilders, right? That was just not a thing. So, like. The masculinity that we think of today is not even close to where the masculinity was back when these testosterone numbers were actually higher. And so we kind of have this weird thing: like, oh, these big, strong guys, like, that's masculine. But you're comparing the numbers to people where you know, body weights were significantly lower back in the day. People were more, they were more fit, they were more active, but they certainly weren't just like lifting out in their free time, they just kind of did physical activity throughout the day. And now we have this idea that, like, oh, you have to be like incredibly jacked to be a man. That's a whole other can of worms that I'm not going to go into. I think we can be defined by a lot of different things as men, other than necessarily what our testosterone level is. I think that's, yeah, that's a whole other discussion. But it's just an interesting phrasing of like the mindset we see today of people who are in this health and fitness space saying, hey, to be a man, you have to look a certain way. And, you know, because of X, Y, and Z, I have to do this. And so it just puts a lot of pressure on people potentially. But it was worth mentioning that, hey, clearly, there are mental benefits to testosterone for a lot of people. You know, there's been literature looking at people for Depression, using it for anxiety, depression, some people feel better. And so there's lots of stuff going on that we don't quite understand. So a lot of people in the traditional world will say, like, they'll poo-poo on it and say, oh, it can't do any of that. But then other people say it does. All that all the time. And so, once again, like most things, it's probably in the middle where it definitely does have some improvement. But I think underlying mental beliefs, social structure, support groups like support systems are going to be much, much more important for mental health long term than your testosterone levels. And so, what can we take away from this story? Well, we see a young man as navigating the immense pressure to maintain an elite physique for his career, right? So, that's what it is. We see a medical system that can be leveraged to prioritize lifestyle enhancement. Instead of necessarily just foundational health principles, right? And we also see the power of social media to spread compelling narratives, questioning the science, and kind of building up the narratives about health and masculinity. I think overall, though, it's interesting. This isn't an indictment on one person. I think this is, he's been super honest about this. And man, it would not be fun to live a life where a million people are, you know, watching every single word that you talk about and dissecting you and looking at your body. I feel for him for sure. And so I applaud him for his bravery or saying, hey, I'm doing this, and this is how I'm doing it. Like the openness there, I think it's wonderful. But really, this is just a lens in which I wanted to. View this in this complex and growing trend and topic, right? So, if you're in primary care, people will come to you asking for testosterone. That's a thing now. And people are expecting us to be able to manage it. We have to at least be able to answer questions and talk to them and kind of. Figure out where we go from. If it's not you, maybe we refer what's not there. But the question is: where do we draw the line between therapy and enhancement? Who gets to draw that line? Is it the patient? Is it the physician? There's a lot of questions that are necessarily unanswered, and we're going to see that more and more, right? So, people are doing research, they're figuring things out, and they want more specific answers, and that's very reasonable as well. But we kind of have to figure out where we kind of balance this. And so, once again, This is all credit in the world to Alex for being super honest. This is not an indictment on him or anything. It's just kind of walking through this common narrative that we see a lot of people worry about. He's just kind of the face and the voice for a lot of these younger kids who want to. Be really jacked and be really strong, and are considering taking TRT. And so, I appreciate the ability to talk about this, and I thank him for sharing his story. And that's gonna be it for this podcast today. Thanks so much. If you did enjoy it. It'd mean the world to me if you either like this on YouTube, shared it with a friend, or subscribed on your podcast platform of choice. But thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate it. Now get off your phone. Have a great rest of your day. We'll see you next time.
