Why I decided to start injecting Testosterone (Even while having a natural level of 1254 ng/dL)

This wasn’t a decision made from desperation. It was made from power.

Why I Started Injecting Testosterone (TLDR):

• I started T optimization since the age of 20 but never struggled with low T symptoms until my mid 20s when we (my wife and I) went through a 4 year broke and stressful period

• After that I increased my testosterone to 1254 ng/dL naturally by optimizing androgen sensitivity through diet, training, and lifestyle (consistency was the biggest key).

• Wasn’t struggling with any low T symptoms (libido, mood, energy were all great), so this isn’t why I decided to inject T.

My choice was 100% physique (personal goal) based.

• I trained naturally for 15+ years and maxed out my potential

• I Still wasn’t satisfied with how I looked without a pump or perfect lighting

• I Wanted an unnatural looking physique (enhanced-looking physique) and which then requires unnatural levels of testosterone.

• I Wanted to enhance aesthetics: more fullness, hardness, vascularity

• I’ve earned the right to go further — after building the foundation the hard way

• As someone who’s trained (hard) every single day, for the past ~17 years, and who has many different fitness/capability goals, high dose T also helps me with faster recovery so that I can load my system with more volume without burning out.

Why testosterone over other roids?

• Chose testosterone because it’s bioidentical and far safer than synthetic steroids

• Not willing to blast and cruise gear (as most influencers do) at the expense of my health and live with the dissappointment of not having a consistant physque all year round.

• I’m not one of those guys who says he’s on high dose T, but is actually on other gear.

My method

• Did thorough research, started with conservative dosing and am monitoring bloodwork

How my choice affects my profession

• My honesty and transparency is only to my benefit, as I’m not recommending or suggesting for others to do the same or even saying that you will get the same results if you also jump on T. Trust me, you won’t because T is only the icing on the cake. Without a strong cake (foundation), the icing is utterly useless.

• I am still the best example of T and androgen optimization

• Injecting T doesn’t mean I can slack on anything. To the contrary, I can now push myself to do more of what works in order to get better results.

• My health and androgens were already on point, so it’s not a crutch for me and doesn’t reduce my message in any way.

• I have never been against using TRT or high dose T — I’ve worked with many clients who use T but have many health issues. T isn’t the magic bullet, and if underlaying issues aren’t addressed, boosting it artificially won’t do much at all because it’s low for a reason.

• I’m not using my physique to sell programs or lie about what natural T optimization looks like — just to be in alignment with my vision and goals

• Nothing changes for me. I’m still staying consitent with everything that I’ve always done and will continue to be consistent with all of it for as long as I live.

I now understand why most people lie about testosterone (or steroid) use. Because almost every onlooker (except those who also walk the path) will give credit to only the testosterone and not any of the hard work they put in. But I don’t want to be one of those guys.

So, by supporting me (here on Substack), you’re supporting my research and experimentation, which includes testing many supplements and doing lots of tests. All of this will benefit everyone, both those on testosterone and those who aren’t.

Now let’s go into the deep dive.

1. Where It All Began

To understand why I’m writing this article, we first need to go back in time to where it all started for me.

My interest and love for building a strong and muscular body started as a little kid, watching my dad lift weights.

I thought he was super strong. Doing 1 arm rows with 40kg! Mind blowing. He had bodybuilding magazines with bodybuilders from the golden era. To me, they looked a bit freaky, but somehow still inspiring.

Growing up, my parents did a lot of FAD diet hopping, and so going through puberty was a very suboptimal time in my life, to say the least. Everything was pretty bad, and on top of it all, I also went through a bit of a trauma phase right after puberty started for me.

I lost my mother to breast cancer at the age of 13, and from there on, I reverted to gaming most of the time, and making poor life decisions in just about every part of my life.

It was only at the age of 16 that my dad invited me to go to the gym with him. That experience was life-changing for me, or at least, life-changing in the sense that it was the start of me working to improve myself and become a better me.

2. My Natural Bodybuilding Philosophy

In college, I became aware of Mike O’Hearn.

Needless to say, he became my biggest role model (at that time). It was only many years later that I became aware of the kind of gear he was on (despite claiming to be natty), but back then, he gave me the hope of being able to build an insane physique, naturally.

It was also in my college years that I decided to never go on gear. It was an ego thing for me—I had to prove to myself and to others that I was one of those guys who had the discipline and determination to do it clean and on my own without the help of roids.

Hell, I was even convinced that using something like whey or creatine was cheating. Silly, I know, but back then I was naive and probably even a bit delulu, but I wanted to prove how invincible I could be without the help of anything.

It was only after getting married in my early 20s that I first became aware of the great Vince Gironda, and was very much inspired by him and his way of doing things, and I started seeing him as a much better representation of what was naturally possible.

3. Maxing Out My Natural Potential

My entire lifting and muscle-building journey of the past almost 17 years is an article for another day. But I should add that it was a tough 16 years of doing it naturally, but a journey I will never regret because I truly did put in my everything and showed myself what I am capable of.

The hardest parts were going through tough periods where you didn’t have enough money for a decent diet, or even weights, so I had to make a plan with something like a milk and/or broth diet and start doing calisthenics and make weights from 5-10L water bottles strapped together.

But sometimes we even had to fast just so we could pay our rent and not end up on the streets. Many times, I lost a lot of muscle, but I also recomped. Doing constant diet experiments also had its upsides (in terms of experience), but it also had a lot of downsides in terms of not always being the best for muscle gains and recovery.

Eventually, I dialed in what really worked for me and my clients: the TestoDiet. Once I stuck to these fundamental foods and diet principles, my gains and fat loss became more and more consistent.

Despite having everything dialed in and being consistent with the TestoFundamentals for 5+ years, my muscles hadn’t gained any additional size. That’s when I realized I had likely hit my natural ceiling.

4. Hitting the Ceiling of Natty Gains

Most people say you reach 95% of your natural potential after the 3rd year of training. But it’s different for everyone and that definitely wasn’t true for me.

On the one hand, this was quite sad for me and was very difficult to accept, but on the other hand, I had to remind myself that my measurements were actually quite good for a complete natty guy, and even better than a lot of (real) natural bodybuilders.

But the longer I did the natty game, the more I felt tainted by it. Looking at people like Eric Helms made me sad. Yes, he was good as a natural lifter, but nothing like guys on juice. Sure he looks great for a natty guy, but not the size I’m going for.

5. The Turning Point: Why I Decided to Use Testosterone

Most people go on TRT because they feel broken. I went on TRT because I wanted to look dangerous. But only after maxing out my natural potential for the past 15 years.

For the last 15 years, I’ve trained, experimented, tested, and optimized nearly every possible lever to become the best version of myself.

Not just in terms of performance, but in terms of health, strength, muscle, confidence, energy, and testosterone.

It was an ego thing for me. I just HAD to PROVE to myself what I could accomplish naturally.

This entailed doing immense amounts of experiments — disgusting spinach smoothies, slamming cayenne pepper, eating 1,000 egg yolks in 30 days — just to see what was possible.

Then life hit hard. After going through a very stressful 4-year period about 9 years ago, my testosterone tanked. I became obsessed with raising it again, not just to normal, but to optimal.

Eventually, I raised my testosterone to 1254 ng/dL naturally. No TRT. No steroids. No SARMs. Just consistency. But still, I wasn’t satisfied.

6. The Natural Grind: A Snapshot of My Journey

I started lifting when I was 16. And started taking it seriously when I was 17.

I increased my bodyweight from 60kg to 78kg in my first 3 years of training and got decently strong.

Bench: 130kg (275lbs) for a single
Military press: 80kg for 2 reps
Pullups: 50kg chins for 2 reps
Deadlift: 5 plates for 3 reps
Squats: 4 plates for a single

Skip ~9 years and I changed my training more toward getting strong in calisthenics.

I eventually bulked up to 103kg. Not sexy at all. I was yoked and looked big in a shirt, but I was slow and had zero muscle definition.

I was always in this tug-a-war of whether I should focus on strength (meaning stay fat) or rip down to look better, but likely lose some strength and size.

I increased my strength to:

Flat DB press: 60kg for 4 reps
Military press: 100kg for 4 reps
Pullups: 50kg for 2 reps (at 100kg)
Dips: 80kg for 5 reps (at 100kg)

I’ve nailed the human flag, back lever, and front lever.

With that being said, I’ve been deep into male optimization since before I was 20.

That means:

• Eating liver before it became trendy (Inspired by the great Vince Gironda)

• Optimizing micronutrients, not just macros

• Sleeping 8+ hours religiously

• Walking in the sun like a zealot (aka sunlight samurai)

• Taking blood tests to track every variable

• Finding the exact form of each vitamin my body absorbs best

• Avoiding overtraining, but still pushing limits

I wasn’t just a gym bro. I was a full-spectrum “biohacker” (I don’t like that word) focused on performance and aesthetics.

And it worked.

I was strong, lean, full of energy.
My libido was high. Erections were elite. Mood and energy were stable. Recovery was solid. Drive? Unstoppable.

But there was one thing I couldn’t fix.

7. I Just Didn’t Look the Way I Felt Inside

Without a pump, I often looked… average. Like a guy who worked out, sure. But not someone who turned heads. Not someone who looked like he could take over the room.

Shirt on? You couldn’t even tell I trained. And even with the shirt off — unless the lighting was perfect and I had just trained — the aesthetic wasn’t what I envisioned.

That disconnect started bothering me.

When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t feel like my outside reflected my inside. And no amount of optimization could close that gap, not fully.

8. The Breaking Point (Or Rather, the Tipping Point)

There was no crash. No bloodwork disaster. No hormone crash, no ED, no "wake-up call" story like most guys have.

Instead, I had a realization:

I’d earned the right to go further, not just to look average.

I had built the foundation naturally, maxed it out, tested every variable, and succeeded.

But in terms of physique, I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to look how I felt. To add fullness, pop, density, and presence — not just for others to see, but for me to feel.

It wasn’t about insecurity. It was about actually looking like the hard work I was already putting in and have been putting in for so long.

I wanted to carry a physique that matched the dominance and drive I lived with every day.

9. Natty vs. Not-Natty: Rethinking the Rules

I used to be a natty zealot. When I just got started, I didn’t even want to use creatine or whey, or it was cheating. Silly, I know.

But the more time I spent training and optimizing myself and learning about testosterone, I decided… why does it matter?

I’m not competing. Even if I start using testosterone, there will still be natty guys walking around more jacked than me due to superior genetics. I don’t have bad genetics, but I surely don’t have elite genetics. I just have an elite hunger for more.

But here’s the million-dollar question: How is using testosterone cheating?

If I’m open about it and not claiming to be “natural”, and on top of that selling training programs, I’m not hoodwinking anyone with my “cheating.” I’m not selling training programs and have never stated that boosting testosterone or DHT naturally will make you look like or perform like me.

However, I can’t say that, even after starting high doses of T, anything else (mood, focus, drive, energy, libido, etc.) has increased even more than before. Probably because those things were already on point for me.

And besides, testosterone is bioidentical. It’s naturally found in the body. I’m just boosting a hormone I already have. How is this different from taking T3 for a faster metabolism?

Herbs, on the other hand, can often have many side effects. Most compounds found in herbs are very foreign to the body, hence, there can be many cons. Both pros and cons. Testosterone has many fewer cons, and the cons come from mismanagement.

All the bad rep from steroids is due to the abuse of synthetic steroids, not testosterone itself. Testosterone itself is one of the safest hormones to take — IF you are an already healthy male.

10. When Testosterone Can Backfire

When you’re unhealthy. Yes, testosterone can improve your health, but if you suddenly start training like a maniac and going overboard, you’re putting more strain on a compromised system. Which is why guys on TRT+ look mega old, bald, and wrinkly. They also have compromised mitochondria and produce excessive ROS.

Now you burden your body even more, thinking testosterone can allow you to support it. But long-term it will create more issues.

Testosterone and IGF-1 can allow you to train harder and recover from more volume. But when you train harder and do more volume, you create a lot more ROS, which will damage cells and DNA. This can worsen overall health, because the body cannot support the load.

The reason why testosterone is low in the first place is also the reason you can’t recover from high volume, with or without testosterone. The root cause — nutritional deficiencies and oxidative stress — doesn’t just cause low testosterone, it also causes mitochondrial dysfunction, low-grade inflammation, low T3, DNA damage, androgen resistance, high estrogen and cortisol, and much more.

This is why a lot of guys on testosterone don’t even feel it.

When you have low-grade inflammation, you’ll still look poofy on testosterone. It’s not an estrogen problem. It’s an inflammation issue. And when you start training like a maniac on top of that and not sticking to the basics, the body will break eventually.

That’s why testosterone is not the magic bullet and why you need to be natural testosterone maxxing at all times.

That’s why so many guys on T and even hard roids look like shit. They have nutritional deficiencies and low-grade inflammation. And then they use synthetic steroids that cause even more inflammation. Yes, they might gain more size and look more bulky, but they also have terrible skin (stretch marks, acne, etc.), poofy nipples, hair loss, prostate problems, etc.

Steroids aren’t the magic bullet and neither is testosterone. The guys on social media you see that look “perfect” are the rare 0.1%; they have great genetics and have the least health issues. They get away with it. But the unhealthier you are, the less likely you are to get away with it.

11. Doing My Homework: The Research That Changed My Mind

As I’ve been researching testosterone for the last 10 years, I’ve also researched TRT and higher-dose testosterone use in studies, because as someone who has worked with clients who want to do it both naturally and who are already on TRT (or higher doses), I need to know and understand the full picture of what could be going on.

And the more I learned, the more I realized how safe it was. The highest dose studies used was up to 500mg of testosterone per week.

Every “testosterone” issue comes in when an individual isn’t already healthy and has an underlying health problem that is being ignored. Testosterone isn’t meant to be a “health cure.” If it can’t be increased naturally, this means there are other issues that need to be addressed first. Bypassing the warning signs and using TRT or higher doses won’t fix anything. To the contrary, it can even make things worse, because now you’re only fueling up a car that has engine problems. Fix the root cause first, and both T and sensitivity will go up.

12. What This Means for My Health Journey and My Content

I know how to increase testosterone (and boost androgen sensitivity) naturally, and I know that everything I do and preach works.

That is why I put so much emphasis on staying consistent with the TestoFundamentals. Because without implementing the right things (that I have refined over the past 10 to 15 years) and staying consistent, injecting T would be utterly useless.

Trust me, I know because I’ve worked with countless clients who have injected high doses of T but have felt and gotten way more benefits from being consistent with my diet and lifestyle changes.

I don’t need to stay natty for me to keep my knowledge and experience of how to help others.

And now that I’m using testosterone and gaining this experience, I’m also able to better help men who want (prefer) to go on TRT and want to optimize their health and gains.

Plus, I’ve learned some very interesting things from my experiments so far. Like Ashwagandha can increase your testosterone even while injecting.

Mine increased by over 500 ng/dL in 2 weeks without me changing my testosterone dose!

Also, kestose (a prebiotic) sliced my estradiol 4-fold without me changing any other variable.

I’m learning a lot and doing what I enjoy most… learning new things and being a pioneer. Discovering new things no one knows about.

My interests have not changed. I’m still obsessed with male enhancement, and using testosterone is a tool to enhance my journey.

And not everything has to be about testosterone.

If I eat 30 eggs a day, I can see how it affects my lipids, liver function, inflammatory markers, etc.

And eating oysters, I see how it affects my libido, energy, iron status, thyroid function, etc.

Everything we consume will affect our bodies in one way or another. And being on testosterone doesn’t change that.

Now, instead of doing a boatload of testosterone experiments, I’m focusing on DHT and IGF-1: Which natural and synthetic compounds are the most effective? And sometimes these compounds still affect my testosterone, even though I’m injecting.

If you care about the way you look, why postpone that? On your deathbed, will you say… damn, I’m glad I stayed natty and looked it too. Super worth it. Or would you rather say, I’m glad I maxxed out my potential, and pushed myself to find out what I was capable of.

We’re all using compounds that enhance us one way or another. Caffeine, injectable carnitine, creatine, modafinil, etc. Testosterone is, factually, no exception.

So it’s not cheating in my view, it’s only enhancement.

Plus, we’ll always have problems. Dandruff, premature ejaculation, slow recovery, feeling jumpy, brain fog at 2 p.m., etc. Common issues people can still have while on testosterone.

I’m all about optimizing health and performance by addressing and solving these kinds of problems.

13. My Experience Using Testosterone

First Cycle (Dec 2023 – Mar 2024)

The first time I used testosterone was from December 2023 to March 2024 — 4 months total. The first month, I ran 250mg of testosterone enanthate and 200mg of Masteron (for the extra hardness). I didn’t feel like the Masteron was giving me any extra boosts, and I didn’t like the idea of using a synthetic DHT derivative.

So for the next 3 months, I dropped the Masteron and used only 500mg of testosterone per week, along with 50mg of Aromasin per week. My testosterone went up to 2400 ng/dL at this point.

The reason I did this was because I had already increased my testosterone to 1254 ng/dL naturally, and I wanted to know if I’d feel any different — or better — with even higher testosterone.

The only noticeable changes were that my voice got deeper (probably from the Masteron), and I looked leaner, harder, and more vascular.

The mistake I made during this time was believing that testosterone was insanely anabolic, and that I needed to eat like a maniac to capitalize on the gains. So, my weight increased from 93 to 98kg in 4 months. But all my measurements stayed the same, except for my waist.

I just got fat.

What I should have done was eat at maintenance and just recomped. Then I could’ve increased my calories by 200–300 if I wanted to gain size. Not a whole lot different from being natty.

My size and strength didn’t skyrocket during this time, and that taught me to manage my expectations.

Testosterone won’t turn you into Ronnie Coleman in 4 months (or even 4 years… or ever at all).

My best measurements (natural) were:

Chest: 125cm (49.2 inches)
Shoulders: 135 (53.15)
Arms: 45.5 (17.9)
Forearms: 37 (14.5)
Navel: 98 (38.5)
Waist: 94 (37)
Hips: 109 (42.9)
Quads: 64 (25.2)
Calves: 45 (17.7)

As you can see, I look very much the same in terms of size. Measurements remained the same, but you can clearly see that I look a bit harder, more vascular, and even a bit more hairy lol.

Second Cycle (Since Nov 2024)

After coming off testosterone, my physique slowly returned to looking natty. I looked flatter and less veiny — and I hated it. That’s exactly what I hated about being natty in the first place.

You put in crazy amounts of effort just to look like shit.

Yes, I could’ve been very ripped and veiny as a natty guy, but to do that I’d have to be very lean — around 75–80kg. But then I’d be extra puny. And I hated that idea even more.

So, in the middle of November 2024, I decided to get back on testosterone. Back to 500mg per week. And I’ve been on that dose ever since — and will stay on it for the unforeseeable future.

This time, it’s not to see how I would feel on testosterone. It’s primarily for the physique aspect.

And again, I’m not selling anything on how to get jacked. I’m not saying that if you follow my principles, you’ll look like me.

I’m primarily focused on health and elite performance. And to achieve elite performance, you need to have everything dialed in.

Being jacked, strong, and functional is my personal goal. I’m not teaching others how to do it. I’m showing others what I’m doing to be healthy and functional.

Since I’ve spent 15 years building my physique, it would be a lie to say that I built this physique with testosterone (in the last 6 months).

P.S. If you see me getting more and more jacked in the months to come, this is to be expected since I added 60 sets of bodybuilding work to my routine per week. More volume = more gains.

These photos were taken on the 16th of May. This physique is not due to high-dose testosterone. It’s due to eating right, being lean, sleeping well, being healthy, high volume bodybuilding training and testosterone. Testosterone is the icing on the cake. Not the cake. Giving credit to only testosterone would be a complete lie. Take anything away and both my health and physique will suffer.

If you think you can look like me, then inject testosterone and see.

Good luck with that.

Keep me posted when you never get there — unless you put in all the other work that I’m also putting in.

14. What Actually Changed — and What Didn’t

I didn’t go in blind. I didn’t mega-dose. I started with a low, controlled protocol and tracked every variable, as I always do.

Here’s what changed:

• Muscle fullness — definitely improvement. I actually started to look like I lift

• Faster recovery — this was just a tat though, nothing crazy

• Deeper vascularity (most of the day) — there are still times I look flat, but overall, vascularity is better

• Voice depth — within a month or so, people said my voice was slightly deeper

• Presence — people treat me differently now, and it’s not just in my head

What didn’t change:

• Libido

• Erections

• Motivation and drive

• Strength gains (no magical adding pounds to my lifts)

• Muscle size (all my measurements remained the same. Despite me looking bigger, I wasn’t actually bigger)

• Mood

• Focus

Oddly enough, the things most people chase with TRT — better sleep, libido, mood, motivation — didn’t change much for me.

Why?

Because I already had those locked in before I ever touched the needle.

15. My Core Philosophy: Always Be Natural T Maxxing

One of my core philosophies is that you always need to be natural testosterone maxxing, regardless of whether you’re injecting or not.

Because in most cases, testosterone is low for a reason.

• Oxidative stress

• Inflammation

• Poor food intake

• Micronutrient deficiency

• Stress

• Poor sleep

• Heavy metal toxicity

It’s not genetic. There is a reason.

And masking low testosterone with an injection is a mistake. Whatever causes low testosterone (in your case) will cause other issues as well.

Mild issues such as:

• High blood pressure

• Insulin resistance

• Poor sleep

• Stress intolerance

• Anxiety

• Mild depression

• ED

• Low libido

And when the root cause gets worse (which it almost always does), it causes:

• Strokes

• Heart attacks

• Alzheimer’s

• Parkinson’s disease

• Autoimmune conditions

Which is why I say: you have to be natural T maxxing. Because the root cause that’s causing low T will also cause other issues.

Going on T is not a way to “throw in the towel” and slack off on my diet and lifestyle. On the contrary, I’m even stricter. Because testosterone is a tool to be more elite. Why would I shoot myself in the foot and do other silly crap? No, I’m continually maxxing out all aspects of my life, as if I were natural T maxxing.

16. Why I’m Sharing This

Because most men wait until they’re broken to act. And then they treat TRT like a fix for being unoptimized.

But testosterone isn’t a crutch. It’s not a shortcut. And it’s not a replacement for hard work.

It’s an amplifier.

You don’t become a different person — you become more of what you already are.

That’s why I always tell guys: Max out your natural potential first. Build the habits. Learn your body. Earn the right. Then — and only then — decide if you want to go further.

And if you want to go on testosterone now, sure, do it, but still do a deep dive to figure out the root cause and fix that.

Testosterone can help you feel better in the meantime while you figure out what was wrong.

17. Final Thoughts: Why I’m Proud of This Choice

I’m no longer natty... or at least not in the way most people see it.

Not because I needed to be "fixed." But because I refused to settle for a “just good enough” physique.

I had elite hormone levels. I had elite health. I had elite discipline. But I wanted the physique to match — not just for vanity, but for alignment (a personal statement).

And now?

I finally look the way I feel. Of course I’ll always still want to improve, but that’s why I’m so consistent and training my ass off… If I stopped and let things slack off, I’d just end up looking like I did before. But I finally feel more like myself than ever before.

This isn’t a story of brokenness. It’s a story of power, choice, and embodiment.

If you’re chasing the best version of yourself, don’t rush it. But don’t limit yourself either.

Build the base. Always stay consistent. Master your biology. And when the time comes, step into the next level.

No guilt. No shame. No apology.

Just growth and enhancement — the EnhancedNatty Way.

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If you’d like me to help to increase your testosterone naturally or help dial in your androgen protocol, join TestoTribe. That’s where I work with everyone. This offer to join the Tribe is exclusive to you.