AndyJ's Body Enhancement Thread

I got this one:

30W 660nm 850nm Near Infrared Red Light Therapy Waist Wrap Pad Belt Pain Relief | eBay

Claimed specs are:

Rating Power: 30W
Actual Power: 10W
LED QTY: 60 x 0.5W
Wavelength: 660nm:850nm = 1:2
Interface: USB Interface
Product Size: 260 x 130 mm/10.24" x 5.12"
EMF: 0 UT
Irradiance: 0 Inch: 100.5mW/c ㎡
Lifespan: Over 50,000 Hours

For $35, it seemed reasonable.

Looking forward to hear how you get on with that.

10-4. As usual, I’ll report in tedious detail once I get some data.

I wouldn’t expect it any other way, thanks 👍

I don’t have an IR intensity meter, so I have no idea what its actual output is. But I’ve noticed a lot more engorgement in the tube and larger flaccid, so it’s making a difference, even if it’s not optimal.

It gets "comfortably warm." I haven’t gotten around to using the BBQ thermometer yet, but it doesn’t get up to the uncomfortable/painful feeling of the resistance heating pad when I set it to 110F. That’s with a thermostatic controller, checked with the BBQ thermometer. That’s just surface temperature; not deep heat like the ultrasound guys use. Yeah, I’m a wimp.

BPEL without cock ring: 7.25 to 7.5". BPEL with cock ring: just over 8". Still some EQ problems, though it might be simply due to age. The tailor’s tape has gone into hiding, so no girth measurement today. The ring doesn’t affect girth much.

Restarted the "Starting Strength" program after more than two months. I haven’t been idle - I’ve been doing lots of treadmill, rowing machine, and miscellaneous stuff at the gym. I was surprised to see that I was able to step up another ten pounds on squats and deadlifts, compared to where I flatlined back in October. My bench was unchanged at 70#. I was unable to control the bar with 75# for the second set, so I dropped back to 70# for the last two sets.

I was able to bench 95# before I ran into the overtraining thing. It showed up on the bench long before my squats and deadlifts started to shot it.

I couldn’t find my knee braces, so I lifted without them. All that treadmill work has helped; no problem at all with the squats. For some reason my knees didn’t like the deadlifts without the braces, though.

It’s sort of funny; Rippetoe has probably written megabytes exhorting and chivvying people to do squats, and railing on them for skipping them. I *like* squats. Considering that a year ago just getting off the toilet was a major and painful operation, just being able to do them at all makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something worthwhile. And they really did reduce the pain in my knees; I went from near-toxic doses of aspirin and ibuprofen to deciding knee replacement probably wasn’t necessary after all.

Major accomplishment. You’ve fought for control of your body again and you’re winning.

One good thing about starting from so far down is that even minor improvements seem disproportionately large.

The bad thing is, at 65, I’ll hit the crossover point between "improvement due to exercise" and "decline due to age" fairly quickly. On the other hand I’m already in better-than-average shape for my age. All my blood work looks great except for the things the low-carb diet skews, and my unmedicated blood pressure varies between 95 and 115 most of the time.

I finally found a local-ish blood center that will take whole blood. I made an appointment on their web site and drove down there this morning.

Being a techno-Luddite, I immediately ran into a problem - there was a sign instructing me to "use this QR code to sign in!" But I don’t have a smartphone, so I had to attract someone’s attention, which seemed to annoy them.

There was a ton of paperwork, which took about half an hour. They asked several times if I was sure I wanted to donate whole blood. They’re the only place in my area that will even *take* whole blood; everyone else is set up for plasma or platelets.

Once the paperwork was done they were reasonably friendly. The actual procedure took about ten minutes; half of that was fiddling with the plumbing. There was an impressive amount of that, that they tried to keep out of my direct line of sight. The needle size was, if anything, even smaller than for an ordinary blood draw, and no discomfort at all.

They offered me a T-shirt and a coffee cup when it was done. I accepted; coincidentally, Mrs. Andy collects both. I agreed to come back in two months for another draw.

The next endocrinologist visit is at the beginning of February, so depending on what the blood work looks like, I can do draws every two or three months and still bracket the 6-month endocrinology follow-ups.

Are you drawing blood for iron reduction? I forget.

The endo said my red blood cell count was too high, and cut my testosterone dose because of it. That was in June. I see her again in about a month, and hopefully the blood draw will lower the RBC enough to get the previous dose restored.

Neither the GP nor endo will check the iron level; apparently since I’m not showing any overt symptoms that might be attributed to iron surplus or deficiency, it’s not something my insurance will cover.

Hmm, I have been advised by my MD to donate blood to balance the red blood cells. What are the recommendations in the US?

Could also mention that knowledge around Testo treatment is at least 10 years behind you where I live. We basically have one option and that is a huge load of Nebido in intervals of 8-12 weeks. Had my third shot last week and was not feeling great mentally the week before that. Will try to squeeze down to six weeks interval when I have my next appointment.

Though testosterone supplementation goes back to the 1930s, it appears to have been mostly used for men who had lost their testicles through disease or accident. In the 1960s the bodybuilder crowd discovered it, and by the 1990s the general medical industry started using it to boost low testosterone up to more-normal levels.

However, what "normal" is, and how testosterone is administered, is all over the place. The standard treatment seems to be an intramuscular injection twice a month. A topical testosterone cream seems to be next-most popular, and then implanted time-release capsules.

With that, you have wildly-varying ideas of "normal", and how "below normal" ought to be treated, among the various medical associations that your doctor might belong to. If they’re a member, they have to follow association guidelines. But for most people, it’s a matter of what their medical insurance carrier considers sufficient, and what treatment they will pay for. Their objective isn’t your health, it’s to *not* pay for anything they don’t have to. Because, just like in socialized medicine countries, your doctor doesn’t work for you, he works for who is paying him, which isn’t you. So he has to follow their diagnostic and treatment guidelines. Independent doctors exist, but they’re rare and usually extremely expensive.

My right shoulder did not like the bench press last week. It has hurt pretty much continuously since; enough to wake me up occasionally at night.

When I started early last year, I had to work with very light weight on the cable machine, with lots of reps, until I could put a reasonable load on it. With the bar, I got "discomfort", crunchy noises, and occasional pops, but it would go away in half an hour or so.

Apparently, the arthritis in the rotator cuff will come right back if I stop exercising the shoulder.

[sigh] Well, now I know. At least I know how to fix it now. It’s just annoying.

You speak too much truth about the medical industry, AndyJ. I recommend you invest in one of those long-handled mirrors and check under your car every time before starting it.