00:00:00
a little over a year ago my life hit
00:00:01
rock bottom and the most important
00:00:04
person in my life um decided that they
00:00:08
didn't know if they could be with me any
00:00:10
longer and I had to assess every single
00:00:13
area of my life and I had to figure out
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how I
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disconnected from the person that I love
00:00:21
the
00:00:22
most so after 12 years I have decided to
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come off of trt and looking back it's
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hard to say if it was a mist mistake or
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not but I definitely know that I made
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the right decision and I want to share
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with you guys my story with testosterone
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therapy when I went on it how long I was
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on it and you know everything that you
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might be thinking if you're currently on
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it if you're wondering if you should go
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on it Etc if you want to come off of it
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what can you expect and why I feel that
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this has been one of the best decisions
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that I've personally made for myself it
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all started in 2011 when I wanted to
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compete and get my wbff Pro card and I
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went down to Tampa Florida I was working
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on a Powerhouse Gym and it was just full
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of Jack dudes fit girls like everyone
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was in shape and I quickly found out
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that uh there was a hormone that
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everybody took that was essentially
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normal and it was called testosterone
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replacement therapy I mean we all know
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testosterone but I didn't realize there
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was a way to take it that was like
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normal and that wasn't uh illegal go and
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that was gym acceptable and it would
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only bring my levels to where they
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should be and there was a doctor who
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worked out of the gym who seemed like a
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really normal guy very knowledgeable guy
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not a weird guy wasn't like trying to
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sell anything and a lot of guys just
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told me yeah if you're interested in
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getting optimized uh go talk to Dr so
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and so sure enough um he said yeah come
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on into the office get your levels
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checked and uh we'll see where you're at
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and I was getting ready for a show so I
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decided to get everything checked after
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my shows and after the shows uh sure
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enough my levels were in the toilet
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after preparing to get down to 4.8% body
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fat double day training I did that for
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multiple multiple months I did get my
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wbff Pro card he said that you would be
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a great candidate I don't know if that's
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how he worded it but he essentially said
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you uh would definitely benefit from
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testosterone placement therapy the cost
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wasn't too crazy you know I was making
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really you know decent money
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um online so that didn't phase me uh but
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the first concern I had was like you
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know is this something I do shortterm or
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like longterm he's like oh you do this
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for life you know you'll stay on this
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this is something you'll do forever and
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that word forever didn't sit right with
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me and I didn't sit there and process it
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I just you know like most guys do just
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made a head decision didn't make a heart
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decision and just jumped into it and
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next thing you know I'm I'm you know my
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wife uh is a nurse and um she knows
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knows how to do the injection so she was
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doing it weekly for me and I quickly
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realized this was a massive
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inconvenience I'm like I don't know if I
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want to do this the rest of my life and
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then I travel a lot and I wasn't fully
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sure if like going across the border or
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not like if I was going to get pulled
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over and how do I explain that if they
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open my suitcase and they see like you
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know syringes and stuff like that so I
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never vibed with this lifestyle I just
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it felt secretive and I didn't tell
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anybody either uh deep down I kind of
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felt like I was doing something wrong
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and that was my conscience I'm not
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saying that's what you feel or should
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feel that's just how I felt as a guy who
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preached natural Fitness I think I saw
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this as kind of a hack as like a kind of
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a secret doorway into a world that would
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give me an edge without actually
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cheating and you know everybody
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reassured me we're not taking your
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levels to Super physiological levels and
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I never did abuse it I stayed on the 100
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milligrams uh exactly as the doctor
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prescribed but
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uh what I noticed when I did go on it
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especially in the first one or two years
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is I gained a new identity like I did
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get bigger I was Fuller I was leaner I
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had more energy I was more decisive I
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was Stronger and people noticed I got
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more attention it helped with my YouTube
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videos it helped sell programs and again
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I deep down I felt like a fraud even
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though everybody in the industry was
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saying well you're still going to test
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normal your levels aren't like super
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physi loal you're just where you should
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be um this is just to help you feel
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better so I heard all that and that's
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why I kept doing it I'm like I'm not
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cheating anybody but I also wasn't
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telling anybody and that didn't sit
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right so I continued on this journey and
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one of the things that also made it
00:04:45
easier for me to get on was when I saw
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the doctor like he was very professional
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he wasn't hypy he wasn't trying to sell
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me and you know he told me what would
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help optimize the process and he said
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Vince you're going to want to cut out
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sugar we're going to have to to start
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sleeping better we're going to have to
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dial in your nutrition uh we're going to
00:05:03
want to start you know training really
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consistently those are all things I was
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doing but I was kind of LAX in some of
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those areas uh we're going to want to
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really up your water intake so when
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you're in a position to take a drug uh
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synthetic hor bioidentical hormone
00:05:18
whatever we call it and you also see
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like there's an opportunity to dial in
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all the natural things that are going to
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enhance my physique so I think I saw the
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compound effect of dialing all these
00:05:29
things I already knew needed to be on
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point but the drug the testosterone gave
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me extra motivation to pull it all
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together and when you start seeing
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results quickly and you start getting
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recognized you start making more money
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you start getting more views on your
00:05:44
content I mean you've essentially
00:05:47
created a whole new lifestyle people see
00:05:49
you differently and it was very very
00:05:52
hard to imagine not being on this stuff
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and as you start to get on you start to
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research it and you start to hear stuff
00:05:59
around oh you know your body might start
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to adapt and U you know people start uh
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telling you you may bump the dose up
00:06:05
just a little bit and you'll get a
00:06:06
little more boost but like you'll still
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be natural and you know if you want to
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like harden up a bit there's these other
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things like anavar and Winstrol and the
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next thing I know I'm like I'm like
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learning about drugs I'm learning about
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steroids and I'm like this is not who I
00:06:19
am and I realized that this Rabbit Hole
00:06:22
could go pretty pretty deep and I
00:06:24
wouldn't say I have addictive behavior
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but I definitely started as see how it
00:06:29
could become addictive behavior and it
00:06:31
started to scare me and I started to
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think crap man I could bump my
00:06:35
testosterone up to double per week and I
00:06:37
could take some of these pills that
00:06:39
apparently there's all these other
00:06:40
things I could take to lessen the effect
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on my liver and then this could give me
00:06:44
an advantage I'm like how did I get here
00:06:47
how did I get here and I quickly started
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to realize that this didn't have
00:06:51
anything to do with feeling better and I
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know that's what a lot of guys hear when
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they go on testosterone you hear like
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guys like Joe r who says it makes you
00:07:00
feel better and it does make you feel
00:07:03
better but you're also dependent now on
00:07:06
something artificial to feel better and
00:07:10
what I also
00:07:12
found was that while I was making me
00:07:15
feel better like energy levels I was
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able to do more and less time that's a
00:07:19
great way to put it for a lot of
00:07:20
business people out there like you're
00:07:21
more productive you can make decisions
00:07:23
fast you just got more confidence you
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carry yourself differently I just felt
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like more of a man if you will and you
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just kind of walk into a room and you
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you quickly realize you're one of the
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bigger dudes you command respect and
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that does make you feel better but what
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really bugged me was why am I not
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content with who I am why am I trying to
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measure up to the size of all these
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other guys who are on it and a lot of
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guys openly admit I take trt and why am
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I not content with how I look with how I
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feel and I realized that trt was feeling
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a void in my life and I was using all
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the health reasons to kind of justify
00:08:05
something that was giving me an unfair
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Advantage you know eventually just kind
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of like settle in and you know I'm not
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thinking about this
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24/7 but it starts to you know become a
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part of who you are and I got to a point
00:08:18
in my life where I had to ask do I want
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to inject needles the rest of my life I
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know you could put it in your thigh you
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could do creams and you could do nasal
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stuff there's different ways of doing it
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that you know are less uh inconvenient
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like sticking it in your butt
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and I just have to ask myself you know
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some simple questions and you know
00:08:34
having a son my son's 8 years old now
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and having two daughters I was thinking
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more along the lines of like my son
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asking me one day you know hey Dad I saw
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some needles in your cupboard and what
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is that you know do I need that and I
00:08:47
would say no John LCA we don't need
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to take we're not doing that if
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that was my immediate visceral response
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to my son the person who means the most
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to me the the boy in my life that means
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more to me than anybody else on planet
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Earth I would tell him something
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differently what am I doing and I
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started to ask myself I want an edge too
00:09:08
like I would start to say no John LCA
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like what void are we trying to fail and
00:09:12
again it would go to an identity
00:09:14
conversation it wouldn't you know sure
00:09:15
we could check his levels if he was like
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in an area that he was completely
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suffering that's a different
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conversation but I'm really kind of
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talking to the guy that's doing
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well and he's not content with who he
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sees in the mirror and he feels like he
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uh isn't worthy enough and that he can't
00:09:34
achieve his goals in life unless he adds
00:09:37
this thing to his life and that was the
00:09:39
thing that bothered me so I had to ask
00:09:42
myself my son's eight do I want to tell
00:09:44
him when he's 16 25 like guys are gr on
00:09:47
guys are going on trt like in their mid
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20s now like 400 milligrams 500
00:09:52
milligrams and it's like it's insane
00:09:55
what we've accepted is to be acceptable
00:09:58
A little over a year ago my life hit
00:10:00
rock bottom and the most important
00:10:03
person in my life um decided that they
00:10:07
didn't know if they could be with me any
00:10:10
longer and I had to assess every single
00:10:14
area of my life and I had to figure out
00:10:18
how I
00:10:19
disconnected from the person that I love
00:10:22
the most and how I created this life
00:10:25
that was built around external
00:10:26
validation money Fame
00:10:29
success and I had to start looking at
00:10:32
everything in my life that had led to
00:10:35
this drive and this ability to produce
00:10:37
more that I was unable to manage and
00:10:40
sure you could say well Vince just
00:10:42
manage it better and I had to assess one
00:10:46
of the things that led me to this place
00:10:49
of disconnection from my head and my
00:10:51
heart and from living from a place of
00:10:53
authenticity and being who I really am
00:10:55
and Vince Delonte is not a drug guy I
00:10:58
didn't grow up with drug drugs I didn't
00:10:59
grow up with steroids I didn't grow up
00:11:00
in that culture going on trt was not who
00:11:03
I am I grew up in an Italian home none
00:11:06
of the guys went on I go but Vince the
00:11:08
times are different the food is
00:11:09
different the cult this toxins I get it
00:11:11
I I've heard it all I get it but that's
00:11:13
not who I am and a lot of people kind of
00:11:16
get into this lifestyle that's not truly
00:11:19
who they are and I realize that's what
00:11:21
got me into trouble with my
00:11:23
business and pursuing pursuing pursuing
00:11:26
more more more sell sell sell I was not
00:11:28
a authentic with who I was I didn't love
00:11:31
who I was I didn't respect who I was
00:11:35
respect is listening to yourself I
00:11:37
wanted to fit in I wanted more and
00:11:41
because those were the reasons for
00:11:43
me that I knew that trt was something
00:11:46
that I entertained and accepted into my
00:11:49
life I had to assess it and say you know
00:11:51
what I want to live from a place of
00:11:52
authenticity from a place of sincerity
00:11:55
from a place of looking in the mirror
00:11:56
and actually knowing that I own my body
00:11:59
I never like the concept of renting your
00:12:01
body and that's the way I see it I'm not
00:12:03
saying that's the way you have to see it
00:12:05
but I always felt like I didn't own my
00:12:06
body it was on lease to me because once
00:12:09
I come off this drug my levels are going
00:12:11
to drop and I'm not going to have the
00:12:13
same level of muscularity I'm not going
00:12:14
to be as lean I'm not going to be as
00:12:16
strong my energy might drop what's
00:12:18
interesting is my energy level is better
00:12:20
than ever right now so that's a big myth
00:12:23
but I was afraid to lose things that I
00:12:25
gained artificially and from a substance
00:12:28
that was I was injecting into my body
00:12:31
and it was a shortcut right and I wasn't
00:12:34
willing to put in the work the extra
00:12:37
work to try and get my levels I just
00:12:39
thought hey this is an easier way to get
00:12:41
an outcome that's going to kind of
00:12:44
prevent the harder work of figuring out
00:12:47
why don't I like myself right that's
00:12:50
what I mean by the harder work I don't
00:12:51
mean by just sleeping more drinking more
00:12:53
water getting your Macros even more
00:12:55
dialed having even a better training
00:12:56
program I'm like why don't I like myself
00:12:58
that was the work and I decided to come
00:13:01
off trt a couple months ago and
00:13:04
obviously I'm not as big and beefy and
00:13:06
thick and all that but I like who I see
00:13:09
in the mirror more than ever especially
00:13:11
I love the concept of owning my body and
00:13:14
I feel good knowing that if one day my
00:13:16
son says Hey Dad all my friends are
00:13:18
going on this thing called testosterone
00:13:20
therapy should I do it I'll tell him
00:13:21
honestly uh your dad was on it for 12
00:13:24
years and uh here's what I learned and
00:13:27
uh I just going to have a real
00:13:28
conversation
00:13:30
so a big part of my reinvention and
00:13:34
living this authentic life and being
00:13:36
able to feel and process and be present
00:13:39
and not functioning from crazy frantic
00:13:42
energy has been removing the substance
00:13:45
and there's been other substance that
00:13:46
have come off as well which I'll talk
00:13:47
about in other videos but this was the
00:13:49
first one and this was really hard for
00:13:51
me to come off of because I serve
00:13:53
Fitness professionals and there's kind
00:13:55
of a a look that you want to bring to
00:13:58
the stage and to show up with and I'm
00:14:00
like this is I don't I'm not as big but
00:14:02
you know what I'm determined to rebuild
00:14:04
from the foundation that I currently
00:14:06
have and that's what gets me excited
00:14:08
most so I believe that this is a
00:14:10
decision every man needs to make and I
00:14:12
hope I just got you thinking about
00:14:14
things if you are thinking about what
00:14:16
I'm thinking you are not the only one uh
00:14:19
you're Are Not Alone a lot of guys have
00:14:21
these feelings inside them and it's
00:14:24
something you want to process I'd be
00:14:26
happy to continue this conversation
00:14:28
Below in the chat I'd love to hear your
00:14:30
thoughts on trt let me know in the
00:14:31
comments below are you on it thinking
00:14:33
about going on it just tell me your
00:14:35
story your experience let's get a good
00:14:36
conversation going below if you're new
00:14:38
to this channel subscribe now turn on
00:14:41
notifications so you don't miss any more
00:14:43
videos if you're not new here thank you
00:14:46
again smash that like button and we'll
00:14:48
see you in the next one chiao cowo
