For any man who embarks on the journey of testosterone optimization therapy (TOT) for the very first time, they find themselves bombarded by a huge list of additional medications they have to take.
One of the most misunderstood medications by both patients and physicians, without question, is hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin).
It is either prescribed to men when they don’t need it, or they do need it but it’s used incorrectly.
I dedicated a large portion of my best-selling book The TOT Bible to this medication because of all the complexities surrounding the use of hCG.
The good news is hCG can be a very useful medication for staying fertile while using therapeutic testosterone, and in rare cases is all a younger man in his late 20s or 30s will need for optimizing testosterone levels before transitioning towards “the real deal”.
This article will go over everything you need to know about hCG for bodybuilding and or life extension purposes.
What is HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin)?
Believe it or not, hCG originates from a woman’s body:
“Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is a hormone produced by the cells that surround the growing human embryo that go on to form the placenta (called trophoblasts).
Human chorionic gonadotrophin can be detected in the urine from 7-9 days after fertilisation as the embryo attaches and implants in the womb; it forms the basis of most over-the-counter and hospital pregnancy tests”
Discovered all the way back in 1932, this female hormone is synthesized through recombinant technology or isolated and purified from a pregnant women’s urine.
This 237 amino-acid-long hormone is FDA-approved to treat “treatment of infertility due to gonadotropin deficiency” (Source), usually under the brand name Pregnyl.
Despite its origins, hCG is highly similar to another hormone called luteinizing hormone (LH):
“HCG belongs to the glycoprotein hormone (GPH) family that also comprises LH, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). The GPHs are heterodimers consisting of an α (GPHα) and a β subunit. The α subunit contains 92 amino acids and is identical in all GPHs whereas the β subunits are different and confer biological specificity. The β subunits display considerable homology; that between hCG and LH being about 80%”
Even though they both bind to the same receptor, it’s interesting to note how differently they act in the human body:
“hCG is structurally and functionally similar to luteinizing hormone (LH), secreted by gonadotropes in anterior pituitary gland. Because there is only one receptor, hCG and LH mimic each other’s functions. However, these functions differ quantitatively, which primarily arise from the differences in their circulatory half-lives [several hours for hCG, versus 1-2 hours for LH]. hCG has a longer circulatory half-life than LH, due to abundance of carbohydrate residues.”
Why does this matter in the context of optimizing testosterone levels and enhancing male virility?
How Does HCG Work?
In order for me to explain how hCG works in the human body, I need to step back and give a super-short lesson on the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPGA) responsible for regulating the production of testosterone.
Dr. Merrill Matschke did a phenomenal job of simplifying this biological process for the average person in The TOT Bible, which I will quote word-for-word:
(Source)
“The HPG axis (Figure 1) is the driving force for the production of testosterone (T), and is regulated via a negative feedback loop with both testosterone and estradiol (E2) acting as the mediators of that feedback control.
Both T and E2 have an inhibitory effect at the hypothalamus and pituitary level.
As T and E2 levels increase, there is a decrease in the release of GnRH, followed by a decrease in the release of LH (leuteinzing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and less drive through the system to stimulate T production from the Leydig cells.
TOT obviously introduces increased levels of T into the system and the brain (the hypothalamus and pituitary in particular) sees this increase in T and shuts down the drive to produce T from the Leydig cells in the testes.”
So what we have is natural testosterone production shut down in the Leydig cells by the use of exogenous testosterone.
This consequently leads to intratesticular testosterone (ITT) levels falling down.
It’s a disaster because we need high ITT levels (which are by default 50-100x greater than our serum testosterone levels) for sperm production, so decreased ITT levels = decreased sperm count.
How do we fix this problem?
Through hCG, as Dr. Matschke explains:
“… [hCG] literally replaces the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) that is normally produced by the pituitary.
hCG is a near perfect mimic of LH, and by injecting it subcutaneously (i.e. into the skin), you can counteract the reduced LH secretion from the pituitary that occurs in response to TOT.
The hCG will directly stimulate the Leydig cells to continue testosterone production, thus maintaining high ITT levels and driving sperm production”
Sounds plausible enough when you look at this problem on paper… but does the real-world science play out in a similar way?
HCG Benefits
There are only two major hCG benefits in the context of male health: Addressing suboptimal testosterone levels and preserving fertility so we can reproduce.
Thus, using hCG for bodybuilding and or life extension is fairly straightforward and the evidence backing both uses is fairly robust.
Improve Testosterone Deficiency
A consistent theme among the studies I’m about to quote is how hCG manages to increase testosterone levels significantly on its own.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial in 2002 had seniors with partial androgen deficiency between the ages of 60 and 85 receive 5000 IU of hCG twice a week for 3 months straight.
While total and free testosterone went up significantly yet in a stable manner, there were no changes in physical functioning or muscle strength.
A year later, a small study was published where 29 men where tasked to receive 200 mg of testosterone enanthane weekly alongside 0 IU, 125 IU, 250 IU, or 500 IU every other day for 3 weeks straight.
Out of all the groups being examined, only the group taking the 500 IU dose saw a 26% increase in intratesticular testosterone (ITT)… which is amazing when you consider ITT was suppressed by 94% in the group taking a placebo!
In 2010, 37 normal men (ages 18-50) were “induced” with a gonadotropin deficiency and given either 0 IU, 15 IU, 60 IU, or 125 IU hCG injected subcutaneously every other day for 10 days straight.
Similar to the prior study, “ITT concentrations increased in a dose-dependent manner” and the highest hCG dose of 125 IU led to an increase of 923 nmol/L relative to the 0 IU dose.
This next one from the year 2011 is interesting because it involved male idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) patients who have a micropenis (literally) and were between the ages of 12 and 24.
3 interesting things happened after 1,500-2,000 IU hCG was injected intramuscularly 3 times a week for 8 weeks straight:
- Mean serum testosterone levels went up from 0.90 ng/mL to 5.58 ng/mL
- Mean flaccid penile length went from 3.39 cm to 5.14 cm
- Mean testicular volume grew from 5.45 cc to 6.83 cc in the left testicle and 5.53 cc to 7.03 cc in the right testicle
Continuing on, one study published in 2018 involved 3 separate treatment groups among 282 hypogonadal men who wanted to preserve whatever fertility they had: 5,000 IU hCG injected twice weekly, 50 mg of clomiphene citrate daily, or both hCG and clomiphene over 3 months.
Not only did testosterone levels increase in all three groups, but the difference between them was not statistically significant… showing hCG is just as capable of restoring normal testosterone production.
Lastly, the most recent study out of all the ones featured here (2019) retroactively looked at 20 men receiving 2000 IU of hCG every single week who had hypogonadal symptoms but did not qualify as “testosterone deficient” due to having total testosterone levels above 300 ng/dL:
“Of the 20 men included in the study, treatment indications included low libido (45%), lack of energy (50%), and erectile dysfunction (45%). Mean testosterone improved by 49.9% from a baseline of 362 ng/dL (SD 158) to 519.8 ng/dL (SD 265.6), (p=0.006). Median duration of therapy was 8 months (SD 5 months). Fifty percent of patients reported symptom improvement.
“Treatment of hypogonadal symptoms with hCG for men who have a baseline testosterone level > 300 ng/dL appears to be safe and efficacious with no adverse events.”
I suspect the level of total testosterone needed to even be considered a true normal will climb higher over the next decade, which is why this study shows promise for young people who feel miserable despite their blood work returning within “range”.
Sexual Function and Fertility
When I interviewed Dr. Merrill Matschke for The TOT Bible, he shared a frightening statistic with me:
“Multiple scientific trials using various forms of TOT have shown sperm counts drop below 1 million within 3.5 months of being on TOT, and many of these men end up being azoospermic. It is precisely this effect on ITT (intratesticular testosterone) levels that drives the major negative effect of TOT on male fertility. All strategies to mitigate this negative effect work by attempting to maintain crucially high ITT levels.”
That’s the bad news.
The good news is, for anybody interested in using hCG for bodybuilding, is that the medication can help reverse this common effect of testosterone therapy.
A 1992 study that involved treated 17 men suffering from isolated hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (IHH) with hCG treatment alone for 14-120 months found that 13/17 patients became sperm-positive (indicating spermatogenesis, the synthesis of new sperm).
Furthermore, 7/10 of the sperm-positive patients attempting conception succeeded (and these same results were found in a similar 1988 study)
In a 2013 study where hypogonadal men injected 500 IU of hcG subcutaneously 3 times a week alongside exogenous testosterone, men were not only able to maintain their semen parameters, but nobody became azoospermic and some of the men even got their partners pregnant.
One 2003 clinical case report featured a bodybuilder who had taken a year off abusing a long list of anabolic steroids and came to see a physician with “primary subfertility secondary to azoospermia and male hypogonadotropic hypogonadism”.
After injecting himself daily with 75 IU of hMG (human menopausal gonadotropin) and 10,000 IU of hCG twice a week for 3 months straight, he was able to fully restore his fertility parameters (sperm motility, volume and morphogy).
Not only that, but his erectile problems fully resolved 2 months after the treatment and he was able to impregnate his partner 4 months after the treatment ended!
Additionally, a 2017 study treated 188 infertile men with varicocele (swollen vein in scrotum) with either varicocelectomy (i.e. to remove the veins), or the varicocelectomy plus 5,000 IU of hCG 3 times a week.
What’s interesting is that even though sperm parameters improved equally between the two groups, the hCG treated group had a near 3-fold higher success rate in achieving pregnancy.
One final study I want to share was published in 2022 and involves men who had “normal” testosterone levels (>300 ng/dL) and yet suffered from hypogonadal symptoms:
“31 male patients treated with hCG monotherapy for low T symptoms were retrospectively reviewed. We evaluated changes in hormones, hypogonadal symptoms, and the incidence of thromboembolic events before and after starting hCG.
We found subjective improvement in erectile dysfunction, 86% (19/22), and libido, 80% (20/25), with no patient experiencing a thromboembolic event. In addition, no change was observed in the follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol, hematocrit, hemoglobin A1c, and prostate-specific antigen”
One of the common themes noticed among many of these studies (here, here, and here) is the use of supraphysiological doses of hCG in order to restore normal sperm parameters and production, in addition to increased testicular volume via treatment of testicular shrinkage.
Whether alone or combined with another agent, proper use of hCG can clearly restore natural testosterone production and ultimately lead to normal reproductive and sexual function.
HCG Side Effects
When it comes to hCG and bodybuilding, there are definitely side effects that need to be on your radar.
The most commonly reported hCG side effects include:
- Acne
- Bloating
- Headache
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Irritability
- Stomach pain
- Swelling and redness at site of injection
- (Rare yet mild) allergic reactions
- (Rare yet serious) Blood clots
- Upset stomach
You should notify your physician of any existing drugs, prescription or over-the-counter, you are taking before you start using hCG.
And make sure to share your medical history regarding past diseases (ex. having prostate cancer use to disqualify Men from using hCG but in light of the recent research proving Therapeutic Testosterone is beneficial to the male prostate as one ages, this is no longer the case).
In practice, several small-scale human studies (here and here) found hCG treatment was safe and did not lead to any major adverse events.
However, there are three side effects not yet mentioned that I want to talk about in the context of hormonal health:
- Elevation of estradiol (E2) levels that can peak at 24 hours, which will be an issue for men with higher genetic production of the aromatase enzyme*
- As a result of the above, there is an increased risk of gynecomastia in certain predisposed individuals (read this article to learn more about the condition)
- Possible shut down of body’s natural ability to produce LH if used at too high doses for an extended period of time, thereby damaging the Leydig cells in the testes via desensitization to LH
*This happens through two mechanisms: Via the conversion of testosterone to estrogen via the aromatase enzyme (due to increased production of testosterone), and an independent increase in the synthesis of aromatase itself (another reason to monitor your blood work while using hCG).
Therefore, it is imperative to monitor your blood work while you are on hCG.
I personally do not use hCG because I consistently found myself suffering from acne and mood alterations (as Therapeutic Testosterone and hCG both produce an androgen and estrogen spike which can and often does cause endocrine system perturbations), plus I am not trying to have more children.
But it’s important to note that experiences on hCG can be very subjective.
Some users feel great without hCG and others feel awful on it, so the only thing you can do is experiment on yourself, noting any physiological changes or side effects, while also drawing labs to document variations over time.
HCG Dosage for Bodybuilding
There are numerous accepted dosing protocols when using hCG for bodybuilding reasons.
Factors that will affect the protocol used include:
- A diagnosis of Type 1 or 2 hypogonadism
- The method, dose, and frequency of testosterone administration (if exogenous testosterone is being used)
- The experience of the prescribing doctor
- How the patient subjectively responds to hCG and tolerates it
I’ll highlight some of the hCG dosage suggestions I featured in The TOT Bible to give you a ballpark of where you should end up:
Jay’s recommendation: 100-500 IU’s injected subcutaneously every day, every week, or every other week (a daily dose of 100-125 IU’s will most closely mimic your body’s natural testosterone production).
Dr. Merrill Matschke: 500-1500 IU’s taken 3 times a week works best.
Dr. John Crisler’s “Crisler Protocol”: If taking testosterone twice a week, inject 500 IU’s hCG on the day before each testosterone injection. This protocol helps men experience the cosmetic effect of their testicles increasing in size and feeling fuller.
Whichever protocol you chose, practice the minimum effective dose (MED) principle with regard to any medications that may interfere with the HPTA.
But there are a few factors you should take into consideration…
Access: As part of the effort by the powers that be to suppress therapeutic peptides, there are increasingly fewer compounding pharmacies that are allowed to provide hCG to their patients (and I’m not the only one to point this out, although the situation has slightly improved).
Be prepared to face the reality that very few pharmacists will even be aware of men using hCG to treat infertility, so make sure you shop around to find a pharmacy that can compound with hCG.
Method of injection: While there is some debate over whether intramuscular or subcutaneous injections are better, the available data suggests they are bioequivalent with respect to absorption.
The only real difference is that the intramuscular route leads to peak levels of hCG in the bloodstream being reached much faster (6 hours vs. 16-20), but this difference is clinically meaningless.
For a comprehensive tutorial on how to safely reconstitute and inject hCG, Healthline wrote a very comprehensive tutorial complete with images to guide you along.
Just ignore their ludicrous recommendation of 1,000-4,000 IU’s injected 2-3x/week as it is absurdly high and far beyond the maximum of what any physician I know has ever used.
HCG Vs. TRT
As I mentioned at the start of this article, there is heavy debate when it comes to using hCG for bodybuilding purposes and even more so in men who are using TOT to restore, maintain, or elevate testosterone levels.
Men on TOT can use HCG to reduce the common side effects of testosterone therapy, the two big ones being testicular atrophy and lowered sperm production.
But there are very few right ways to go about doing this and many more ways to get everything wrong.
So to help you navigate through these murky waters, I’ll lay out my advice in a series of steps to follow in order.
Step #1: Find The Right Doctor
To enjoy the many benefits of optimal testosterone levels while preserving fertility, it is mission-critical to find a progressive physician with a deep working knowledge of both TOT and its impact on spermatogenesis (i.e. sperm production).
In my list of top 10 questions to ask your doctor about testosterone, which you can find at the very end of this article, one of the questions you should ask is what their preferred therapy is for maintaining fertility.
Every single patient must be evaluated as an individual, and a treatment plan has to be devised based on their medical needs and their biochemical individuality.
The cookie-cutter approaches used by most medical clinics today simply will not fly and often lead to the patient being much worse off than when they started treatment.
Some patients may jump to hCG monotherapy right away (more on that later), some patients start using testosterone before using hCG, and others may have a completely different approach altogether.
Either way, this first step is crucial because it will affect the total testosterone optimization therapy cost you will have to cover.
As I mentioned in the linked article, medications like hCG can be billed through insurance, and whether you get coverage or not depends on numerous factors (your plan, your age, your diagnosis, etc.)
*NOTE*….Almost all quality health optimization physicians DO NOT TAKE INSURANCE and hence you best be prepared to pay for hCG with cash.
Step #2: Get Your Baseline Blood Work Done
Before you put ANYTHING in your body, you need to get a baseline of where your hormones and critical biomarkers are at.
Blood work is essential to measuring how any hormone-manipulating medication affects your endocrine system, which not only includes exogenous testosterone but also encompasses drugs and supplements where lab work indicates a clinical need.
Step #3: Preserve Your Sperm
While you’re getting your baseline blood work done before using any medications, it’s also wise to get a measured sperm count from a urologist in order to see where you’re starting off before you use hCG and/or TOT.
To really guarantee retention of fertility, a great precautionary measure would be to have your sperm frozen to be used at a later date.
I especially recommend this option if you are a young man in their late 20s to early 30s who has not yet started testosterone therapy or has not been on it long enough.
And even more so as there is always the worst-case yet ultra-rare scenario of permanent azoospermia (i.e. your semen does not contain any sperm).
This will set you back roughly $2,500-3,000, so make sure you are in a financial position to do this.
Additionally, I recommend all of my clients to do a 3-month follow-up semen analysis after initiating TOT to confirm stability, followed by an additional semen analysis every 6-12 months to ensure everything below the belt is working properly.
For men who wish to have children in the future, this extra precaution allows them to have easy access to viable and motile sperm when they are ready to have children.
Step #4: Evaluate The Effects of ONE Medication at a Time
Once you have your absolute baseline blood labs, you must add only one exogenous medication at a time (usually testosterone) to understand how your body responds to a given dosage.
Using multiple medications simultaneously that raise/lower your testosterone/estrogen levels prevents you – and your physician – from clearly understanding what medication(s) are responsible for what outcome(s) on certain biomarker(s) when measuring your blood work in follow-up labs.
What you end up doing is playing a “guess the problem” game with your endocrine system for months (usually years) because nobody can prove which medication is responsible for certain effects, let
You’ll often see this mistake being made by windmill TRT/TOT Clinic’s whose physicians start a patient on hCG, testosterone, and an AI at the same time.
Oh and remember, NEVER, EVER use an AI as they only and always cause harm.
It’s the one mistake that leads to all of the horror stories you read about on the Internet.
The kind of stories people can find right here!
Step #5a: For Younger Men, Start hCG Monotherapy
With your baseline blood work measure, your baseline fertility status established, and a clinical diagnosis of suboptimal testosterone levels, you are finally ready to get started.
However, for patients between 30-50 years old and even their late 20s who want to restore and improve low rates of natural testosterone production while staying fertile, it would be wise to consider low doses of hCG monotherapy (i.e. just hCG alone without using supplemental testosterone).
NOTE: This can be done as long as the low testosterone levels are not caused by primary hypogonadism (Type 1).
The purpose of this protocol is to stimulate the testicles with hCG to increase testosterone levels while maintaining fertility and higher sperm count (FSH and LH levels) WITHOUT disrupting the body’s natural production of testosterone.
The success rate of this approach is highly dependent on how sensitive the Leydig cells are in the individual patient’s testicles.
If you are a younger man of prime reproductive age, the #1 purpose of TOT is to “raise your testosterone levels without disrupting your body’s HPTA and HPGA axes by increasing luteinizing hormone levels.”
In the majority of cases, a physician will first use a medication like hCG before administering TOT as it is far less disruptive to the HPTA axis.
Step #5b: If You Start Using Exogenous Testososterone First, DO NOT Start Using hCG Right Away
For all of the other men who don’t fit the patient criteria described in the prior step, or who have a different approach to TOT, you are going to use testosterone ONLY to establish a baseline for your blood work and correctly evaluate your vital biomarkers.
After 6 weeks of using testosterone for the first time, you will get another round of blood labs so your physician can properly understand what is happening to your endocrine system when exogenous testosterone is used by itself.
Only THEN can you start using an LH-stimulating medication like hCG alongside TOT.
Long story short: How you start your TOT journey revolves entirely around your desires.
If you desire fertility, starting with hCG may be the best course.
If fertility is not a desire, starting on testosterone and getting a baseline for blood work could be advantageous to see if hCG adds real-life value to your overall health and well-being.
Experimenting, and measuring the results of said experimentation, is the only guaranteed way to find out what works for your body.
I talk about this more in the video below, where I explain who will and will not benefit from hCG use:
Step #6: For Extreme Situations, Consider a Dual Therapy of hCG and hMG
I’m adding in this final step to dispel the myth once and for all that TOT makes men sterile and unable to have children.
There are extreme cases in which patients using TOT and hCG together will still struggle to father children.
While many physicians would use this as evidence of TOT permanently damaging your ability to get a woman pregnant, the world’s top hormone optimization physicians know better.
The solution to this dilemma is to use a combination of hCG and hMG.
Here’s some background on the latter, from The TOT Bible:
Human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) is a potent female fertility medication that can also increase sperm count and stimulate sperm motility in men.
hMG is stronger than hCG because it mimics both LH and FSH while additionally binding to receptors in the testicles hCG alone will not bind to.
Evidence over the past few decades (here, here, here, and here) shows the dual combination can be highly effective in enhancing fertility and sperm motility.
I can attest to this approach as I’ve seen it work with my own eyes as I fathered both my daughters Alexandra and Gabriella by using hCG and hMG concomitantly.
I know men who have been on TOT for several years without using any fertility medications at all, yet after using hMG at a very low dose of 0.75 IU’s per day for 5–7 days in a row in combination with hCG, got their wives/girlfriends pregnant in under 90 days.
In the worst cases, I have seen a rigorous course of hCG, Clomid, and/or hMG restore fertility in less than 6 months for patients using TOT for +10 years whose LH and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) levels were completely tanked.
HCG Vs. Peptides
There’s not a lot to talk about with regards to hCG and peptides for bodybuilding, so I’ll keep it brief.
For the same reason I do not recommend hCG for muscle growth, my recommended peptide stack for muscle growth is also not recommended as a primary solution to building lean muscle tissue:
hCG and bodybuilding peptides are NOT anabolic in nature; rather, in the case of the former, the increase in testosterone levels is consequently beneficial for maintaining an anabolic environment where muscle mass can be preserved and even built.
The only peptide I know with any direct connection to simultaneously raising testosterone levels, improving sexual arousal and possibly addressing infertility is Kisspeptin.
But due to the lack of definitive evidence and its highly experimental nature, I cannot currently recommend Kisspeptin as a viable replacement for hCG.
In fact, all of the literature around Kisspeptin shows that one must inject between 3-5x per day to achieve what hCG provides at normal/recommended weekly dosages.
Due to the lack of patient adherence that would come with injecting 3-5x per day, in good conscience, Kisspeptin can’t be recommended.
Maybe more research will arise and perhaps a new peptide will emerge from the ether to prove me wrong, but for now your best bet is to just stick with hCG.
Frequently Asked Questions About HCG
Even with all of the information laid out in this article, I continue to receive endless questions about hCG use from men who are on TOT or considering it.
But to make this article as informative as possible with regards to using hCG for long-term health and happiness, I’ve decided to answer a bunch of questions from men posting on the Reddit sub-forum on testosterone.
Question: Why do some people feel amazing on hCG while other people have an undesirable reaction to it?
Answer: Every single human is biochemically unique and therefore we cannot predict in advance who will react positively/negatively to hCG, or how long it will take for hCG to start working in an individual patient.
At the same time, there is emerging evidence suggesting that LH and hCG have different biochemical downstream effects despite binding to the same receptor.
Therefore, the only way to know for sure is to use hCG when appropriate and monitor how your body reacts to it.
Question: During a cruise of 200mg Test E once a week, if I do 250 IU of hCG EOD (every other day), how long can I keep taking the hCG in that dose so that it doesn’t cause long-term drastic effects to my Leydig cells?
Answer: You need to define “cruise” usage of testosterone.
Why are you taking hCG? There is no definitive proof usage of hCG long-term does any ‘damage’ to your Leydig cells.
Way too many men are confused as to why they are using hCG in the first place.
And ‘cruising’ on 200mg a week administered as ‘1 shot’ is far from the correct way to administer therapeutic testosterone.
Are you using hCG for cosmetic purposes – to maintain full testicles?
Or is it to retain motile sperm in order to father children?
If it’s neither, my question has to be obvious-why are you even using hCG?
Question: What are the other benefits of hCG apart from atrophy reduction and fertility restoration?
Answer: Some users “feel” better with it.
Others have major issues (increased estrogen production and resulting side effects like water retention, acne, puffiness, irritability, and feeling unbalanced).
Once more, it comes down to why you are taking it and whether it’s beneficial to your therapy.
Question: Have any of you been on hCG for a long time? How long have you been on that hCG and at what dose during that phase?
Answer: I myself have used hCG on and off or ‘intermittently while in my mid to late 30s in order to have 2 children.
This lasted for a period of about 3.5 years.
My strategy was to use hCG at 125 IU’s 3 days in a row every 21 days.
As you can see from the picture below, this strategy worked perfectly well:
Question: Will I be fertile in a day or two after the first hCG pin (250iu)? How does fertility work with such kind of a dosage?
Answer: It really depends on how infertile you are now (upon starting therapy) or at the beginning of your hCG usage. It is highly unlikely hCG will improve sperm motility with only 1-2 dosages.
What is your goal?
If your ultimate end game is to father children, I would stop TOT altogether and begin using hCG and hMG together as I previously described.
Question: If I pin the hCG on Monday and Thursday, does it matter if I pin the next one on the next Wednesday and then take E3D from there? What should I do if I miss one pin of hCG on the standard day (Monday/Thursday)?
Answer: You are way overthinking it.
Don’t worry about it as life will always get in the way of the best-laid plans.
Just get back on schedule when you can.
Question: If I am at 2866 ng/dL for Test during the cruise of 200mg Test E/week (100mg puts me at 1620ng/dL… natural test was 232ng/dL) and I am taking hCG for fertility restoration, what should my AI dosage be? I have 25mg pills of Aromasin?
Answer: You NEVER EVER NEED AN AI as Estrogen must be allowed to fall to your genetic level.
Estrogen confers protection to all of your biological systems (brain, bone mineral density, vascular networks and so much more).
In truth and as misstated in The TOT Bible, an aromatase inhibitor should never be initiated as they only cause harm.
Question: I have heard the theory proposed on the internet about the Leydig cells desensitizing is completely wrong and it never happens to human beings.
Have there ever been examples of desensitization in low doses of hCG long term? What’s the actual truth?
Answer: Although I am not a Doctor, in speaking with hundreds of clinicians and immersing myself in all of the latest research, I DO NOT BELIEVE it is common for a long-term user to stop responding to HCG therapy. I have not found any human studies in men to demonstrate this either.
Anecdotally, I have heard from men who claim that hCG loses its effectiveness when dosed for long periods. Oftentimes men start feeling like it increases potential side effects.
As a proper course of action when using hCG for the long term, I recommend using it only intermittently.
An example would be to dose 3 days in a row every 3-4 weeks to maintain testicular size, increase dopamine response and somewhat maintain motile sperm.
Conclusion
The use of hCG for bodybuilding can be extremely beneficial to men from all walks of life, especially when testosterone optimization and fertility are the two major outcomes.
Clearly, the details and the minutiae are only confusing when one lacks a basic understanding of human physiology, the courage to become their own experimental lab rat, and the real-world experience of observing tens of thousands of men over the past two decades.
But now you have all of that condensed into a single article that explains everything you could ever need to know about hCG.
And these two podcasts I did with Michael Kocsis and the late and great Dr. John Crisler go even deeper into who should and should not be using hCG.
However, I cannot in good faith recommend anybody use hCG without first finding an experienced progressive physician who knows how and when to use this medication.
For that reason alone, I highly recommend you download a FREE PDF copy of The Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Therapeutic Testosterone:
After you download the PDF, you will receive an email sequence that has a hidden coupon code to save 50% on my premium course TOT Decoded!
Over 3 decades of my personal knowledge about everything related to testosterone comes in an online digital course jam-packed with case studies, checklists, resources, and exclusive guides to provide you with tip-of-the-spear intel on fully optimizing your testosterone levels.
As always…
Raise Your Vibration To Optimize Your Love Creation!
PS – Want to have personal access to my Rolodex of the BEST testosterone optimization physicians around the world? Join The Fully Optimized Health Private Membership Group.
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