All, Wanted to write this post to recommend those of you on the fence getting bloodwork done and get supplements diet dialed in. I had tremendous great help from @Bence Vámos to get that optimized. Short background on me: Natural, not on any PED, been working out with weights since I was age 16 now 35. I was experiencing some symptoms of lower energy, felt tanked after a full day of work and had less energy to do workouts on the schedule I would do in the past. I looked for a doctor locally that could help med get the bloodmarkers checked. Bence helped me get a list of the ones I should look at. I started this journey with first checking with my general practitioner. However they didn't want me to check for example testosterone values, because it was not necessary.( literally what the doctor said) However I was able through my physiotherapist to get in touch with a private practicing doctor with a mindset on checking for not if you are just sick or well, but actually how can we get the markers to the optimal level. Finally the doctor agreed to check all the values on Bence list and she added some additional to check for food allergies aswell as a couple of other things. Results: I have now followed the plan outlined by Bence on the supplements for 2-3 weeks. (these are things you can get at normal health shop) - I learned alot more about supplements: Its not just for example supplementing a mineral and vitamin, the bio availability is also very important. - To quote Bence: Dont wait to fix it until its broken: Get the bloodwork done and see what is lacking, it can be different for different people. - My libido has in my opinion doubled ( its been a while since I felt the need to see two different women in one day, there is worse problems to have) - Output, I have more energy now. For example atm I have no problem doing a 4X4 sprinting session on a treadmill while after directly do a lifting session. If your on the fence to do this:

You hear it everywhere that you need to test your testosterone levels, but they dont tell you how, or what to test for exactly. The Total T level is actually meaningless (to a large degree) without the SHBG. SHBG is a binding protein produced by the liver that binds to sexhormones and makes them unavailable for the body to use, but its more tricky than that. Testosterone bound to SHBG is unavailable for the androgen receptors, and also unavailable to be metabolized, unavailable to be converted into Estradiol (aromatase enzyme) or Dihydro Testosterone (5-alpha reductase enzyme). Its basically an inactive hormone that is just circulating in the blood and doing nothing at that certain moment. However, later it can still detach from the SHBG and then it can attach to AR’s—>(build muscle, stimulate Red Blood Cell production, etc), or convert into Estradiol/DHT, so it is not useless. Since most of the testosterone is getting produced while we sleep (60-70%), SHBG also acts as ,,testosterone storage” in the blood, so it can sustain free androgen levels during the day when we are not producing so much, so the free levels of the sexhormones are not dropping drastically during the day, free T is getting released be detaching from SHBG slowly. In other words its needed, its not the enemy as many men with a poor understanding of this think. Many older guys have Total T levels at around 800-1000, and they are happy about it, meanwhile they dont look anything like a man should look like with high T levels. Why? Because their SHBG is skyhigh (70-100 nmol/l), and essentially they have high T levels not because they are producing so much, but because the Testosterone is not being used by the AR, not getting converted into Estradiol/DHT, and not getting excreated. Its just circulating in your blood doing nothing. What is the takeaway from this? You need an optimal level from SHBG. Naturally in men its very rare to have too low levels of it, what I have found is that the optimal range is around 20-35 nmol/l for feeling your best, having high T benefits, high libido and mental/cognitive benefits.

On Friday I had a consultation call with Bence about my bloodwork, and we went into detail to how to improve my biomarkers and hormones naturally. He gave me a lot of actionable steps, and we also had a training session together. For the guys who are on the fence about getting help from him, I highly advise it!

Let's share in the comments the places where you had the easiest to get bloodwork done, and the cheapest. Would be great to have a consistent database in most countries.