I read some articles recently about a really talented bodybuilder who had gyno surgery in the past year (Michael Lockett). With all the SERMs, AIs, and info. out these days, why are bodybuilders still getting gyno? Is it the compounds, the dosages, a combination? Is it mistakes made early in their career eventually coming back to bite them? Based on the advice here (and my current limited experience), it seems that leaner guys on more “mild” cycles often don’t even need to take ancillaries to combat high estrogen symptoms, so why are the pros hapless to prevent a more serious issue that takes time to develop, such as gyno?
Some guys have a pre disposition for gyno, and develop it without ever touching a steroid. Once that start taking gear I imagine they would need to be extra careful to prevent gyno.
Gyno is still an issue mainly due to ignorance(not taking something like a serm or AI on cycle), and a devil may care attitude to highly androgenic cycles of testosterone. With Pro’s we can be talking about thousands of mg/week just in testosterone.
As you mentioned, it could be due to mistakes early in their career when they weren’t as knowledgeable, where they developed a bit of gyno.
Then there are prolactin related gyno issues from tren, which aren’t due to regular aromatization.
For most regular people it isn’t an issue provided you address symptoms if they start.
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There are downsides to taking AI’s and SERMs, so I would imagine serious body builders would just say fuck it, let the gyno grow while building as much muscle as possible, then have surgery to remove it
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but does prolactin increase enlarge the breast tissue?
I don’t know if tren increases breast tissue, or whether you see swelling due to a build up of lactate. Some tren users might chime in.
That’s what I don’t get. What are the downsides? I know clomid and nolva can lower IGF-1, but what about Aromasin? Isn’t the only downside that it messes up lipids a little further? My initial thought is that if estrogen is high enough to develop gyno, using an AI to lower it back to an acceptable range wouldn’t reduce the effectiveness of the anabolics/androgens. For a pro on such an intense cycle, I would think lipids are an afterthought compared to cosmetic issues like gyno🤷♂️
I was told by one of the forum’s endos who is also a 270ish pound bodybuilder that nolva doesn’t decrease igf-1 enough to matter. He takes 20mg/day and doesn’t have gyno. I haven’t seen many people complain about nolva but there are a ton complaining about AI’s.
Most people with gyno are genetically predisposed to getting it. You can test for the genetic predisposition on discountlabs.
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I was going to point to the lowering of igf-1, but that seems to not matter as much. But estrogen plays a part in metabolism, well being, motivation & healing. At the first sign of gyno, most guys freak out and throw the kitchen sink at it, hoping to make it go away, and end up crashing their e2 in the process, which is going to have a negative impact on their cycle results. Some guys are predisposed to gyno & will get it no matter what, to some degree, and figure dealing with it after the cycle is easier than disrupting the whole cycle.
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