@phoenixfitnesscoaching's testosterone level claims checked

What did @phoenixfitnesscoaching actually say?

The creator says they're taking 150mg of testosterone enanthate per week and recently got bloodwork done. Their result: 38.8 nmol/L, which they convert to approximately 1,120 ng/dL. Then comes the claim that matters: that this level "basically puts us just above natural levels."

To be fair, the unit conversion is competent. 38.8 nmol/L does translate to roughly 1,117-1,120 ng/dL using the standard conversion factor of 28.8. That part checks out. The problem is the framing. Calling 1,120 ng/dL "just above natural" is a significant understatement of where that number actually sits relative to normal male physiology.

Does the science back this up?

No, not really. The claim that 1,120 ng/dL is "just above natural" doesn't hold up when you look at reference ranges from actual clinical data. It's above the top of the normal range for most labs, not hovering just over it.

The FDA-approved reference range for total testosterone in adult males is typically 300-1,000 ng/dL. The 2018 American Urological Association guidelines put the lower threshold for hypogonadism diagnosis at under 300 ng/dL. Meanwhile, a large population study by Travison et al. (2017, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism) found median testosterone in healthy men aged 19-39 sits around 600-700 ng/dL, with the 97.5th percentile landing near 950 ng/dL. At 1,120 ng/dL, this creator is above the 97.5th percentile of normal men, not just slightly over a threshold. That's a meaningful distinction.

What did they get wrong (or right)?

They got the math right and the framing wrong. Credit where it's due: the nmol/L to ng/dL conversion is accurate, and reporting bloodwork at all is more transparent than most TRT content on TikTok, which often skips numbers entirely.

But "just above natural levels" is misleading. A more honest read would be: 1,120 ng/dL is well above the typical physiological range for most adult men, placing this individual in the supraphysiologic zone by conventional lab standards. That's not a minor semantic difference. It matters for how viewers interpret what exogenous testosterone at this dose actually does to the body.

It's also worth noting that bloodwork timing relative to injection matters enormously for TRT interpretation. Testosterone enanthate has a half-life of roughly 4-5 days. A trough draw (just before the next injection) versus a mid-cycle draw can differ by several hundred ng/dL. The creator doesn't mention when the blood was drawn, which makes the 1,120 figure hard to fully contextualize.

What should you actually know?

If you're watching TRT content and trying to make sense of your own numbers, here's what actually matters. Total testosterone is one data point. Clinicians also look at free testosterone, SHBG, estradiol, hematocrit, and LH/FSH when evaluating TRT protocols. A single total T number without those markers tells an incomplete story.

Second, "natural" is not a clean threshold. It's a population distribution. Being above the 97.5th percentile isn't the same as being slightly over average. The Bhasin et al. (2001, New England Journal of Medicine) dose-response study remains a key reference here, showing that testosterone-induced changes in body composition and strength become more pronounced as levels move into supraphysiologic territory.

Third, 150mg/week of testosterone enanthate is a common TRT starting dose used in clinical practice, but individual response varies considerably based on aromatization rate, SHBG levels, and injection frequency. Context from a prescribing clinician matters.

Bottom line

This video gets points for showing real bloodwork and doing the unit conversion correctly. But calling 1,120 ng/dL "just above natural" smooths over a meaningful clinical distinction. That number is above the standard male reference range ceiling and above the 97.5th percentile of healthy men in population data. Viewers interpreting this framing as "basically normal" would be getting an inaccurate picture of where supraphysiologic testosterone actually starts.