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What 11 Ketotestosterone and Androgens Actually Do And How I Found Out the Hard Way
Most people talk about performance as if it begins in the gym Reps splits diet macros All of it sterile None of it explains what happens when your adrenal system and your primal wiring fully unlock
I found out what that feels like when I got stranded during a loaded wilderness march I had 45 pounds on my back and what should have been a hard but short hike turned into a 60 km movement over 12 hours Swamps waist deep No cell reception Zero light for hours Just silence and insects Somewhere out there I felt something switch
The Gland Nobody Talks About
There is a hormone called 11 ketotestosterone or 11KT It is not often discussed because it is not made in the testes like regular testosterone It is made in the adrenal gland which sits above your kidneys and fires under stress pressure exposure in other words real adversity When you are cold isolated moving under pressure and there is no guarantee of safety this is what your body starts dumping
Along with 11KT you also get
DHEA early testosterone derivative
Cortisol in short bursts to keep you alert
Catecholamines like adrenaline and noradrenaline
A flushing of myostatin suppression meaning the body stops trying to limit itself
Your joints do not ache Your skin feels thinner Your breath smooths out And you realize
I weigh the same maybe less but I am stronger
The Side Effects
I finished that march without fanfare My boots were wrecked I had not eaten But what followed was not exhaustion it was tears Not sadness Not weakness It was a neurological discharge from whatever had happened
I could not stop thinking clearly I spoke less I felt larger even though the scale did not change My testicles literally felt heavier I was alert like an animal I realized this is what most people call being in the zone but deeper Physical hormonal and evolutionary
Fighters and the Forgotten Gland
I do not think this is new I think guys like Sam Langford Harry Greb and Rocky Marciano all tapped into this without knowing what to call it
Langford left home at 12 running from abuse living fight to fight He developed power and slickness no gym could teach
Greb was like a feral dog with technique fighting multiple times per month often with broken bones going blind
Marciano isolated himself from the world training like a convict on release obsessed blunt unrelenting
They all lived under constant physical stress emotional isolation and an unspoken code of inner fire They all triggered this same androgenic switch You cannot replicate it by doing curls You replicate it by living on the edge not by choice but by necessity
Final Thought
This is not motivation This is biology You cannot buy 11KT
You can only earn it Through distance Through silence Through pain
Some men tap it by accident Some chase it on purpose
Most never know it exists
​
Most people talk about performance as if it begins in the gym Reps splits diet macros All of it sterile None of it explains what happens when your adrenal system and your primal wiring fully unlock
I found out what that feels like when I got stranded during a loaded wilderness march I had 45 pounds on my back and what should have been a hard but short hike turned into a 60 km movement over 12 hours Swamps waist deep No cell reception Zero light for hours Just silence and insects Somewhere out there I felt something switch
The Gland Nobody Talks About
There is a hormone called 11 ketotestosterone or 11KT It is not often discussed because it is not made in the testes like regular testosterone It is made in the adrenal gland which sits above your kidneys and fires under stress pressure exposure in other words real adversity When you are cold isolated moving under pressure and there is no guarantee of safety this is what your body starts dumping
Along with 11KT you also get
DHEA early testosterone derivative
Cortisol in short bursts to keep you alert
Catecholamines like adrenaline and noradrenaline
A flushing of myostatin suppression meaning the body stops trying to limit itself
Your joints do not ache Your skin feels thinner Your breath smooths out And you realize
I weigh the same maybe less but I am stronger
The Side Effects
I finished that march without fanfare My boots were wrecked I had not eaten But what followed was not exhaustion it was tears Not sadness Not weakness It was a neurological discharge from whatever had happened
I could not stop thinking clearly I spoke less I felt larger even though the scale did not change My testicles literally felt heavier I was alert like an animal I realized this is what most people call being in the zone but deeper Physical hormonal and evolutionary
Fighters and the Forgotten Gland
I do not think this is new I think guys like Sam Langford Harry Greb and Rocky Marciano all tapped into this without knowing what to call it
Langford left home at 12 running from abuse living fight to fight He developed power and slickness no gym could teach
Greb was like a feral dog with technique fighting multiple times per month often with broken bones going blind
Marciano isolated himself from the world training like a convict on release obsessed blunt unrelenting
They all lived under constant physical stress emotional isolation and an unspoken code of inner fire They all triggered this same androgenic switch You cannot replicate it by doing curls You replicate it by living on the edge not by choice but by necessity
Final Thought
This is not motivation This is biology You cannot buy 11KT
You can only earn it Through distance Through silence Through pain
Some men tap it by accident Some chase it on purpose
Most never know it exists
​
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