Bodybuilders have used Trenbolone and have found themselves developing gyno even though it doesn’t convert to estrogen. Gyno, also known as gynecomastia ( male breast growth), is often considered to be the result of estrogen. However, Tren has the unique ability to cause gyno without actually producing estrogen.

Role of Progesterone in causing gyno:

Progesterone is found in both males and females. It is a precursor to many important hormones in men and women. In women it plays a role in pregnancy and in breast growth. In men, excessive progesterone can stimulate breast growth, like it does with women. While Estrogen is normally the cause of gynecomastia under normal physiological conditions, Tren and other similiar steroids stimulate the progesterone receptors because they are not only anabolic steroids, but also of a class called progestins. Progestins are the synthetic forms of steroids structurally similiar to progesterone, that have the ability to bind to the progesterone receptor too. Deca and Anadrol also are progestins, but they also aromotize to estrogen, unlike Tren. Some bodybuilders coin the term “progesterone gyno”, to explain gyno from progestin steroids.

Progesterone Gyno Controversy:

There is a major debate among bodybuilders on this entire topic. Some believe that progesterone causes the gyno in Tren users. Others believe it is actually prolactin, the hormone responsible for lactation and breast growth during a women’s pregnancy. This may explain why some experience lactating on tren cycles. Others believe it is a combination of estrogens and either prolactin or progesterone, working all synergistically to develop gyno.

Who is right?

Many Research studies I’ve seen, show that estrogen plays a synergistic role with progesterone, prolactin, and in gynecomastia. Although some bodybuilders say it’s the prolactin or progesterone directly causing it, there is no studies to show gyno can develop without high levels of estrogen. Even IGF-1 and Growth hormone has been shown in studies to play a crucial synergistic role in the development of breast tissue. So I believe no matter what kind of steroid you take, lowering estrogen with anti-estrogens and avoiding stacking Tren with aromatizing steroids, is how you really prevent “Progesterone gyno”. With very low levels of circulating estrogen, it appears impossible or very difficult for progesterone gyno to develop.

Concerned parents often keep their teenagers from weight training, fearing that it may effect their growth. There is no need for concern since there is plenty of research out there, that excercise or weight training does not effect children’s growth at all. One study for example (Malina, R.M. 1994), found that high levels of physical activity or sports training had no effect on growth rate in boys or girls. It also had no effect on when a girl reaches menarche onset(menstruation age).

According to researchers at the University of Florida, your personality plays a big role in excercise. They found that certain personalities were more likely to stick to a excercise program. The type of excercises they chose also correlated with personality.

We as bodybuilders, often try to push a active lifestyle on others, but this study shows some people naturally don’t have the will. This is NOT an excuse, but it means don’t be surprised if some have a very hard time sticking to long term excercise goals. Another interesting thing to note, is that the results weren’t based on weight or body image, but on personality.

Woman and men respond to supplements differently than men. While this pretty obvious to most bodybuilders the reasons go way beyond just testosterone levels. According to researchers the following differences were factors in the differences:

- plasma protein levels
- plasma volume
- cytochrome P450 activity
- drug transporter function
- body mass
- hormone profile
- gastric emptying time
- excretion activity

A supplement might work for women very well, but not so well for guys. The opposite could be try. This makes it important that supplements be tested on both males and females because nutritional companies often neglect females during their testing of supplements.

According to some research, there could actually be a strong link between lack of muscle gains and noise pollution. Some examples of noise pollution would be things such as; living by an airport, busy street, or apartment dwellers.

Dr. Stephen A. Stansfeld at the University of London has been devoting his research for years on the effects of noise pollution on a person’s health. He found that excessive noise pollution in one person’s life can significantly impact complex motor tasks, social behavior, and sleep.

He also found something that will directly impact bodybuilders gains, by it’s impact on sleep. Noise pollution during sleep increases heart rate, blood pressure, and body movements. It also will effect a person’s performance and mood the next day. The higher cortisol levels during sleep as a result, will lead to a more catabolic state on your muscles. You also will have less energy and focus to do your workouts, which could effect long term muscle gains.

I see many bodybuilders in the gym who don’t stretch before they lift weights. It’s no wonder so many people get injured in the gym. Weight lifting is a safe form of excercise, just don’t use bad form and stretch beforehand and you should be safe from severe injuries.There is a lot of debate on the topic of stretching and how beneficial it is in preventing injuries. Part of the problem with trying to get an accurate study, is that injuries can be caused by bad form, prior injuries, and aren’t common enough to make results easy to have statistically significant.

A research group published a study for the Journal of Applied Physiology. They asked 10 volunteers to do jumping tasks from various heights. Some of them did stretching and some did not before the task. Researchers were able to see with a ultrasonograph, that stretching allowed the muscle to have a greater recoil ability from stress. One can conclude from these results, that stretching will help prevent injuries.

You may have seen electrical stimulators touted for helping muscle gains. They have genuine use in medicine, but do these devices really help bodybuilders?

What is an electrical stimulator?

Electrical stimulators are electrodes that attach to the skin of a muscle and pass an low electric current through the muscle. It’s purpose is to get the muscle to twitch and is used in medicine to rehab patients, such as recovering from a stroke.

Any use for bodybuilding?

No. The electric current is very weak and would have absolutely no significant role in increasing muscle growth.

I have read countless articles where bodybuilders lump everyone into 3 groups, ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. They then assume ectomorphs have the worst muscule building genetics and mesomorphs have the best.

While this is generally true, there is many more factors at play, that dictate how well a person can gain muscle. Many ectomorphs are not small framed and skinny because they have inferior genetics for building muscle, but because they have a very fast metabolism. The thyroid plays a role in your metabolism. What would a mesomorph look like if he restricted his calories? Thats right an ectomorph! An ectomorph just burns too many calories, so they stay thin keeping them from building significant muscle.

Now I’m not saying an ectomorph can have just as good of muscle building genetics as a mesomorph. Mesomorphs inherently have good muscle genetics, that allows them to naturally have larger muscles and more symmetrical body. I don’t think a ectomorph could ever challenge a mesomorph for muscle size, if they followed the same workout routines and diets. What I am saying is that, ectomorphs can have good or bad muscle building genetics for their frame. The only way to know this potential is to train and eat 
hard.

For example, some ectomorphs can gain muscle easily with little fat gain, provided they get enough calories.  Other ectomorphs put on too much fat and become “skinny fat” as they struggle for small muscle gains.  How well they gain muscle with a surplus of calories, will depend on their muscle building genetics. Not all ectomorphs are the same! The same could be said for other bodytypes. Some mesomorphs gain muscle easier than other mesomorphs. In each bodytype, there are some that gain muscle(or fat), easier than others of the same bodytype.

Genetic Factors of muscle growth:

There is a few genetic factors that are determined at birth for 
how well you can gain muscle compared to other people. The
most important factors appear to be: muscle fiber type, hormone levels, and myostatin.

A few years ago it was found in mice, that when myostatin went unchecked, the mice grew to huge muscular beasts. This led to a myostatin supplement craze. Myostatin supplements were proved later to be junk science, not because of myostatin, but because their claims of how they changed Myostatin in the body. You can not do anything about Myostatin levels(at least not now).

Hormones undoubtedly play a huge role also. People take steroids to give them supraphysiological levels of hormones to go past their genetics. It’s not just testosterone, but Growth hormone, and IGF-1, that all act simultaneously together in producing muscle gains. Some people have naturally higher testosterone levels than other people.

Fiber type, like myostatin, is apart of your body genetics. There is slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch are very responsive to muscle hypertrophy(increase in diameter). Many ectomorphs can blowup to big muscular guys if they have a lot of the slow twitch fibers. Lifting heavy will change the characteristics of a 3rd type(sort of an in between fiber type) of muscle fiber to act more like slow twitch fibers.

The simple answer is, Yes and No. When you first lift weights, it is such a shock to your system, you usually lose fat and muscle simulateonously. This is commonly called “newbie gains”. The hormonal reactions are so strong because of the lack of adaption of your body to lifiting weights, that this becomes possible. You will find though that after the first few weeks, that this will stop.

There are a couple reasons why experienced bodybuilders can’t expect to lose fat and muscle simulateonously. The most obvious one is, that you can’t keep losing fat forever! Your body has a natural bf% it goes to at maintenance level calories, called the set point. It will be tough for you to be able to get your body to go lower then your set point. You will have to reduce calories, to get your bf% below the set point(and lose muscle along with it).

The other reason you can’t lose muscle and fat simultaneously is, our bodies are made to preferentially store fat over muscle. The reason for this, is that thousands of years ago, we humans used to go through long famines. We needed that extra bodyfat storage to get us through those. Those who didn’t store a lot of bodyfat, died during these starvation periods.

Bodybuilders who have used steroids, have found that they can lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, even with a slight calorie surplus. They could gain more muscle however, by just concentrating on eating more calories, instead of trying to do both at once.

Did you know you can gain muscle strength without lifting weights? Sounds crazy doesn’t it?

Dr Guang Yue, an exercise physiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, created a study based on 10 volunteers between ages 20-35. They were asked to imagine flexing their bicep muscles as hard as they could 5 times a week. They did not actually physically flex them. Electrical activity was measured at the brain and arm to ensure it was strictly mental.

At the conclusion of the study, there was a 13.5% increase in strength! Controls had no change in strength. This study was an extension of a previous study on the little finger, which also showed improved strength. Dr Guang Yue theorizes, that sending larger signals to the motor neurons increases muscle strength.

This shows to me also, that your daily strength levels is very dependant on your mental state. Strength gains is important for bodybuilders, as it leads to more muscle gains long term. The mind is a powerful thing, how you think can be helpful or detrimental in everything you do in life. This is why I believe drugs and Alcohol(which is a drug too) should be avoided because long term it will hurt your mental state, and hence your health and bodybuilding gains.