The reason that doctors and others go into analysis paralysis over “Well there’s this much free and this much total and this much ‘bioavailable’” is that they don’t understand physical chemistry or the biochemistry of this.
The only, repeat only, testosterone value that itself is clear in meaning is free testosterone.
The others are the product, so to speak, of the free concentration and other things, and do not add any information about the biological effect of the testosterone, but only – if already knowing the free amount – add information about the amount of SHBG, serum albumin, and other substances weakly binding testosterone, none of which has any effect on outcome.
For example, if you have a given free T level both in an earlier test and now, but now you have half or double the SHBG levels, approximately speaking you will now have half or double the total testosterone.
The doctor, and most who don’t understand the chemistry, will think that oh, this must biologically be very different.
Nope, it’s not: the hormonal effect of the testosterone will be the same. All that has been learned is that there’s now half or twice as much SHBG.
(The only biological difference will be the SHBG itself has some slight signalling effect on cells, so the amount of that would be varying. But binding to the androgen receptor will be the same so long as free T is the same, totally regardless of changes to “total” or “bioavailable.”)
These additional figures taken are not the slightest more relevant than taking, for example, total body testosterone, if there was such a thing.
In that case, when at 20% bf there would be, for same free testosterone, about twice as much testosterone in the body as when at 10% bf. Ooooo, twice as much testosterone!
But exactly the same effect. The added measurement only adds confusion (if expecting it to mean anything) not information, or rather not any information except that bodyfat isn’t the same level anymore.
In other words, pay no attention to anything but the free T, with regard to testosterone values.