Looking back I feel like my prime (both in terms of mind and body) was always when the capability of my body was actually the means to get to somewhere, not the end goal or the destination itself…

If so, I'm very doubtful about your interpretations of the results, let's review the findings together:

"Fat-free mass did not change significantly in the group assigned to placebo but no exercise (Table 4 and Figure 1). The men treated with testosterone but no exercise had an increase of 3.2 kg in fat-free mass, and those in the placebo-plus-exercise group had an increase of 1.9 kg. The increase in the testosterone-plus-exercise group was substantially greater (averaging 6.1 kg). The percentage of body fat did not change significantly in any group (data not shown)."

So:

no testosterone + exercise = 1.9kg
testosterone + no exercise = 3.2kg
testosterone + exercise = 6.1kg

But the important part to me comes more when it's about actual muscle strength:

"Muscle strength in the bench-press and the squatting exercises did not change significantly over the 10-week period in the group assigned to placebo with no exercise. The men in the testosterone-alone and placebo-plus-exercise groups had significant increases in the one-repetition maximal weights lifted in the squatting exercises, averaging 19 percent and 21 percent, respectively (Table 4 and Figure 1). Similarly, mean bench-press strength increased in these two groups by 10 percent and 11 percent, respectively. In the testosterone-plus-exercise group, the increase in muscle strength in the squatting exercise (38 percent) was greater than that in any other group, as was the increase in bench-press strength (22 percent)."

no testosterone + exercise = 21% & 11% stronger
testosterone + no exercise = 19% & 10% stronger
testosterone + exercise = 38% & 22% stronger

So the pure testosterone did gain 1.6x more muscle mass in muscles than the pure exercise group, but they actually had no significant difference in strength.

However, both of these groups were heavily outperformed by the testosterone + exercise group.

I do agree about that, that's why I mostly now use my nomadism to stay in places where I can whatever sport I'm most into in that moment, like skiing or surfing.

That said, I can also though totally see how if my make gym about a social experience with friends, or a mindful experience with your thoughts away from work, be just as good for you as doing sports like skiing and surfing, it's all just mental and might differ from person to person.

What I've always found tough with gym is that it's rather easy to over focus on specific isolated repetitions instead of full body exercises. That can easily lead to aspects like loss of flexibility, hip stiffness, and other problems, which is something you don't have to actively avoid with other sport.

It's on great part due to mind-muscle connection and small part due to placebo, although "just thinking" is unlikely to cause any effect without proper exercise, dieting, and/or anabolic treatment

the truth is, exercising brings more benefits than just muscles, so it's a good think to do regardless of your goals because it will help you in more ways than one. but of course, having decently good muscles is a huge plus and everyone should strive for that regardless

I personally don’t limit my beliefs to scientific studies but no offense to anyone who does

I’m an engineer. I lived that way my whole life, I believe I do understand where you’re coming from

And I’m not saying I disagree by any means…

I don’t look at this as something contradictory either

I think the minds that can entertain two or even more different truths at once is stronger and more creative

One can both follow the science of bodybuilding and the art of bodybuilding

A bodybuilder who follows the science for one month and does not follow the science or any other “rule” the society presses on him I believe would see better results compared to someone who follows the science all the time lol

Adrenaline can make wonders for the body, we all know of the examples of this in history, people lifting weights beyond imaginable, just because they had the best reason to do so (danger of death of self or offspring or a loved one etc)

IMO when we start looking at everything in terms of numbers, or right/wrong, or true/false, this kills our soul slowly, kills intuition, nature of hormones etc

After all, the art is there so that we don’t die of too much reality overdose ahaha!!

But I’m still using logic to explain my ideas, which is self-defeating in itself 🫠

I think the mind is so incredible that we can’t even begin to understand its brilliance. It’s a realm where the combination of real and unreal meet

The unreal side is often overlooked IMO

For example we know that when a painkiller is more expensive, it’s more effective!!!!!

Now… can we say the seller is scamming us?

I’m not sure. Yes and no?

It’s easy to say that this is placebo, but what’s its limits?

Why wouldn’t it work in other areas?

My hairline isn't so bad but it's not as great as it was esp the corners

I read somewhere there is a risk of permanent erectile dysfunction

Obviously a small risk but it's one I'd prefer not to expose myself to

Perfect hair health is a decent subscription service for anyone looking to learn more about options for dealing with hair loss btw

All in all, 1.4 percent of men who too the finaseride or dutasteride developed persistent ED, which continued, on average, for more than three and a half years—or 1,348 days—after stopping the drugs. The duration of use was a more accurate predictor of ED than other known risk factors, like older age, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and obesity.

" "

scary stuff

He accidentally added water to the pure creatine shaker and chugged it. "You ready for the gym bro??" "uhhh not feeling so good aye". He'd taken a monstrous hero dose of several weeks of creatine, all in one go. He skipped gym that day 😂 Poisons info hotline said "you'll be right mate" and nothing bad happened to him aside from feeling really sick that day.

Next time he went to the gym, placebo or not, he smashed his normal lifts and lifted really strong 💪😂 So don't fuss over exactly 3g vs 5g doses, you'll be right mate.

can't say I have problems with that haha

Now that I think about it

I started creatine like 2 years ago, and already remember hairline was a bit worse than 10y ago so I don't think it's related to creatine

hah 6 years oops, will check why this is

there's no shadow banning, modding is 100% by GPT4o, all it does is mute temporarily but shouldn't be 6 years 😄

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