There’s an honesty to the way Judd Lienhard talks about testosterone. No bravado, no defensiveness, just a matter-of-fact acknowledgement that yes, he’s on it. Yes, it helps. And no, it didn’t build the physique you see on Instagram. 

It’s a rare kind of candour in a fitness space full of secrets and shortcuts. Lienhard, a former college athlete and Army Ranger, had already built a 245-pound, 8% body fat frame before starting TRT at age 40. Today, at 45, he’s heavier and stronger but insists his real growth didn’t come from hormones. It came from decades of refining how to train smart, not hard. 

In this conversation, he breaks down the myths around testosterone use, the limits of traditional barbell worship, and why injury should never mean inactivity. If you can’t deadlift, he says, fine, but don’t sit still. There are always ways to create mechanical tension. “You don’t have to put 500 pounds on your back to grow a muscle.” 

Judd’s not anti-barbell, and he’s not anti-TRT. He’s just anti-BS. The problem, he says, isn’t the tool, it’s the unquestioned loyalty to it. Whether it’s dumbbells, deadlifts or performance-enhancing drugs, what matters most is intent, risk, and honesty. 

And that goes for the people watching, too. “If you think you’re competing with me,” he says, “that’s pretty pathetic.” 

How do you maintain your physique and would it work for the average guy?

So, you know, the basics are great — and I did grow up on the basics. I got a lot of benefit from them. 

Sometimes, doing the basics when I was in pain did me a disservice. So I’d say: do the basics — unless you’re in pain. And then, you see the stuff I do now as an alternative until you can do the basics again without pain. Or — if you’ve suffered a permanent injury — now you have an alternative. So you don’t just have to keep grinding out back squats and bench press if they’re hurting you. Bench press and back squats are great. Deadlifts are great. But they’re not for everyone. 

There were times when I was younger that I got strong and big from doing deadlifts — and it tore my back apart. I had piriformis syndrome, and I didn’t do things that would’ve helped with that. I didn’t have alternatives to the straight bar deadlift — and those alternatives would’ve helped while I was recovering. 

And honestly, I don’t even think the basics are always the best. There might be other things — for certain people, for certain reasons — that are superior. We’ve just been so ingrained with the barbell.And yes, the barbell has a lot of benefits — it’s cost-effective, it’s field-expedient, you can load it up. Great. But I don’t know if it’s the best. Why is it the unquestioned king of everything? 

I could present a strong argument that it probably shouldn’t be. I could also argue that dumbbells — ergonomically — weren’t really designed to be lifted. They were modelled off something guys used to ring a bell with — just to practise without making a noise. They weren’t designed for humans. We just used them — and now the dumbbell shape is stuck, and everyone just uses dumbbells. 

Sometimes we need to ask: why do we do things? Now — I’m not saying I hate dumbbells. I use dumbbells. I use barbells. But if you want to get big, everybody agrees: you need mechanical load. 

Do you need to lift a ton of weight? Maybe at some point. But you can manipulate speed, force, lever length, force curve — lots of things — to get that mechanical loading without actually holding a ton of weight in your hand. 

If people understood that, then when they got hurt, they wouldn’t just give up and quit until they healed. They’d know they could still put mechanical tension on a muscle — without putting 500 pounds on their back. 

So yeah — basics are great, man. I did a lot of them and got a lot of benefit when I was younger. 

Are you on TRT and what can you tell us about it?

Jonny: And people will want me to ask you about TRT. 

Now I’m older — and yeah, I am on testosterone now. And it does help. I did gain more muscle than I probably would have in my 40s. But I didn’t start using testosterone until I was 40 years old. And at that point, I was 245 pounds and 8% body fat — and I’d been a lifetime natural. 

Now I’m around 255, so I’ve gained 10 pounds. About the same body. So yes, it’s helped me — but people see this and I don’t want to lie and pretend I don’t use testosterone. I’m 44 years old. 

But no — I did not get this physique from doing steroids. And I don’t say that to brag. I say it because I don’t want 25-year-olds thinking they can just start taking testosterone and they’ll get big and muscular and athletic.No. They’ll gain some muscle, and they’ll probably get hurt. And they won’t be athletic. 

Testosterone does not make you athletic. Practising movement patterns does, and that’s why I don’t like when people attribute everything to testosterone. Because I don’t want to encourage people to think steroids are the answer to everything. 

People say it’s cheating. I’m not competing. Yes — if I was in the NCAA or an Olympic athlete — then it would be cheating. But I’m only concerned about my health and my fitness. I’m not competing with you. And if you think you’re competing with me — that’s pretty pathetic. 

Why do guys walk around like it’s always a competition? They always have to bring other people down, and point out what they’re doing — just to justify whatever they’re not doing. It’s an excuse. 

I’ll admit — yes, my muscles are bigger because I use testosterone. But I also don’t use a lot of it. And not because I feel like it would be unfair to use more — it’s because using more would be bad for your health. 

It has nothing to do with anyone else. If I could take a gram of testosterone a day and be shredded and it had no ill effects on my health — I would. I would. 

But it’s expensive. And it’s dangerous. Steroids are dangerous. You have to be careful.  

The way you’re doing it—it’s a treatment, right? There’s also no competitive element.  

It breaks my heart when I see these young kids wanting to get on steroids. I’m like — why? Are you going to make two million dollars a year on steroids? If not — don’t do it. Because it’s going to mess you up for the rest of your life. It’s not appropriate. 

It’s really refreshing that you talk about it in such an honest and direct way. 

I mean, am I going to deny doing testosterone? No, I’m not. And I’m not going to deny that it’s helped me — because it definitely has. My Instagram has probably grown to a large extent because my muscles are so big. And I still think they’d be big — but they probably wouldn’t be as big if I didn’t do testosterone. 

But you know what? The testosterone — it’s not hard science. I get acne from it. It messes with my skin. I’ve got to constantly back off. I’ve got to work with a doctor to get the right doses. 

So it does have side effects. And it’s not something I want to encourage. And the point of my page has never been about big muscles. It’s been about trying to optimise you as a human — at any age. 

So if somebody follows me and their whole objective is to get big muscles — I am not the right page to follow. There are other people who know how to grow big muscles way better than I do. Follow a bodybuilding page. Those dudes are great at growing big muscles. There’s nothing wrong with that. 

But when you get to a point where you’re not happy with your athleticism anymore — then maybe come back and ask me a few questions.