I've always been an athlete having wrestled and played football both in HS and through my freshman year in college until I blew out my knee. Fast forward to when I was 38 and life had caught up to me. I was now out of shape and went from a weight of 205 when I got married which was about 30 pounds lighter than my football weight to now getting up to 282.
I decided to take up BJJ at the suggestion of my younger brother who had just started competing in MMA. I started 2 days a week with a small school and decided after 6 months I wanted to compete at a tournament. When I get there the rules say if you have 3 or more years of any grappling experience you have to enter the advanced division. I thought nothing of it and did. Little did I know I was going to face the current national champion in Judo who competed in the Olympics the year before. I hadn't wrestled competitively in 20 years. I lost as would be expected but the score was 4-2 in double overtime. I was hooked! I competed until I was 43 and my last tournament I won the over 40 No-Gi Pan Ams. My world changed 7 months later when I had a Widowmaker heart attack with a 100% blockage of the LAD artery. I was fortunate to survive and even more fortunate because as the cardiologist who put my stent in me said I was in such good condition from the BJJ I had developed extra Capillaries in my heart that allowed the blood to flow enough that when I had the heart attack I didn't have any scar tissue develop.
I have never taken steroids or any other supplements for that matter and was just naturally strong when I was younger. Since the Heart attack I have had ED, sleep difficulties, cognitive fog, low energy and low muscle tone and due to a construction injury that caused 6 bulging discs in my neck and back I gained the weight back and then some peaking at 296lbs last year. I have been able to diet and exercise since Christmas and am down to 268lbs so moving in the right direction. On my most recent visit with my cardiologist he had my Testosterone levels tested and I got the results today. The level was 209 ng/dl and normal ranges according to the test results are 264-916 ng/dl. I did some research and with the tests I read the average testosterone level for a guy my age is about 550 ng/dl.
My question regarding this has anyone here had TRT with an existing heart issue? How has your results been and would you do it again if you knew then what you know now?
Sorry for the long windedness of my post but I thought my background would help.
Thanks in advance!
I decided to take up BJJ at the suggestion of my younger brother who had just started competing in MMA. I started 2 days a week with a small school and decided after 6 months I wanted to compete at a tournament. When I get there the rules say if you have 3 or more years of any grappling experience you have to enter the advanced division. I thought nothing of it and did. Little did I know I was going to face the current national champion in Judo who competed in the Olympics the year before. I hadn't wrestled competitively in 20 years. I lost as would be expected but the score was 4-2 in double overtime. I was hooked! I competed until I was 43 and my last tournament I won the over 40 No-Gi Pan Ams. My world changed 7 months later when I had a Widowmaker heart attack with a 100% blockage of the LAD artery. I was fortunate to survive and even more fortunate because as the cardiologist who put my stent in me said I was in such good condition from the BJJ I had developed extra Capillaries in my heart that allowed the blood to flow enough that when I had the heart attack I didn't have any scar tissue develop.
I have never taken steroids or any other supplements for that matter and was just naturally strong when I was younger. Since the Heart attack I have had ED, sleep difficulties, cognitive fog, low energy and low muscle tone and due to a construction injury that caused 6 bulging discs in my neck and back I gained the weight back and then some peaking at 296lbs last year. I have been able to diet and exercise since Christmas and am down to 268lbs so moving in the right direction. On my most recent visit with my cardiologist he had my Testosterone levels tested and I got the results today. The level was 209 ng/dl and normal ranges according to the test results are 264-916 ng/dl. I did some research and with the tests I read the average testosterone level for a guy my age is about 550 ng/dl.
My question regarding this has anyone here had TRT with an existing heart issue? How has your results been and would you do it again if you knew then what you know now?
Sorry for the long windedness of my post but I thought my background would help.
Thanks in advance!
