Is Testosterone Really Best? | UK PRO MUSCLE Podcast Episode 1

4:37 – 9:47

Why lifters leave testosterone, then come back to it

Right out of the gate, the old bodybuilding slogan lands like a thesis statement: “test is the best.” What makes the conversation interesting is that Michel does not defend that phrase with nostalgia. He explains a pattern most enhanced athletes recognize. People start with testosterone, then spend years chasing everything except testosterone, then eventually circle back and realize the base was doing more than they understood. Michel frames testosterone as the logical first compound because it is bioidentical, meaning it is the same hormone the male body already makes. Naturally, he says, the testes produce roughly 5 to 7 mg per day. Once injected, though, testosterone does not enter the body as free hormone. It arrives as a powder-based esterified compound in oil, usually with solvents like benzyl alcohol and benzyl benzoate. That oil forms a depot in the muscle, which slows release. From there, testosterone enanthate enters the bloodstream still attached to its ester, then enzymes called esterases cleave off the ester and release free testosterone. This is where Michel begins dismantling common internet debates. Once free testosterone appears, about 50% binds to albumin, 44% to SHBG, and only around 2% remains free. He argues SHBG matters mainly in natural or TRT settings. At supraphysiological levels, the transport capacity is already maxed out, so trying to manipulate SHBG at 1 gram per week does not suddenly make the total androgen load more effective. That is the unexpected angle of the whole episode: many debates that dominate forums matter far less once the dose is high enough. The host keeps returning to a practical principle that makes the discussion useful: there needs to be a reason for what and why. That becomes the tone of the full episode. Testosterone is not defended as a magic compound. It is defended as the most understandable place to start, the easiest way to learn your own tolerance, and the one drug that supplies both direct androgen action and the raw material for estrogen and DHT, two molecules the body still needs for normal function.