I was wondering, because I've seen over the counter stuff that claims to increase testosterone. Would something like that work on a female bodied person? I know it probably wouldn't be as effective as prescription T, but would it have any masculinizing effects at all?
(I hope this isn't against the rules, since it's discussing otc medication. If it is, sorry)

Combined with regular lifting creatine might, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll look into it later. What was the name of the otc stuff you were looking at?

Creatine is not used for boosting T. It is merely to supplement daily creatine intake from meats, etc. If your body needs a boost to muscle mass (T not being an issue), with much working out, creatine can help. By no means is it a miracle supplement or a hormonal enhancer. Unfortunately, it will not raise T levels.

Background: I am 6' tall former lightweight class rower. I was not allowed to take supplemented creatine because it would cause some bloating (some formulas).

Not creatine. I was talking about something like this: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/item/itemKey/74290
I looked up the side effects, and some of the listed ones for females (or the female bodied) were disruption/cessation of menstruation, facial hair, deepened voice, and clitoral growth - sounds a lot like the effects of T.

It only works with a serious - and I'm talking about several hours every day, on top of their 8 hour a day job on the loading dock - workout routine, in conjunction with a regulated diet.

Hmm. I think I've heard of ftms who use stuff like this, though. Idk.

Silly me, I thought we were talking about results.  But then again the FtM I'm closest to is a grade A+ gym bunny.  Makes me feel bad about how little I work out.  And he has showed much better results from working than from working out.

Quote from: tekla on January 18, 2010, 12:11:46 AM
Silly me, I thought we were talking about results.

Huh?

Supplements are just that.  They Supplement, they do not replace.  They only work in conjunction with a severe exercise (and we're taking hours+ day in and day out, not easy stuff, but hard core exercise) and diet program.  On their own they most likely do more harm than good.  Such things assume that you are burning calories like you are working on a construction site, or on a loading dock, 8+ hours of hard core work a day.  If you go to the gym and lift some weights, they are not going to do what you want.

My nephew in law is a body builder and has won some awards. He follows a strict diet and works out allot. He takes over the counter supplements. But without the diet and workouts it would be wasted money

He's very dedicated....Looks like Mighty Mouse. He's been helping one of my nephews train and now he's already starting to get massive muscles also

I've still got some creatine from when I tried that. It was pretty cool actually, my muscles swelled a bit and got firmer. I was stronger too. Could lift more, and such. Didn't help my running, but hey it was cool. Felt pretty good.

Unfortunately, the rumors of cramping are true. One day after a sprint if I recall correctly I got shin splints in both legs. Hurt pretty bad. And it stayed with me pretty much all season, no choice but to train and race with them. Went to a chiropractor/sports massage place and had this guy work on my legs every couple weeks or so. He seemed a little sadistic to me, but meh. I recommend lots of water, don't end up with this kind of problem.

Although the shin splints might also have been attributable to overdoing it. Went from a pretty inactive life to a nice amount of training pretty fast. So I don't know, but to be on the safe side just drink a lot of water. If you do it, I recommend the powder. Ridiculous shelf life, and tasteless.