Ask most men what a "normal" testosterone level means, and they'll assume it's the same as a healthy one. Dr. Tyler Stanley, DMS, PhD, spent this conversation with Mark Anthony making the case that those two things aren't the same at all — and that a lab report sitting technically inside a standard reference range can still leave a man feeling, as he put it, like he's running on fumes.
Stanley's own path into hormone medicine started as a patient, not a prescriber. At 32, a physician friend reviewed his labs and told him his testosterone was low — a result that fell inside what labs still call "normal," even though Stanley was exhausted, irritable, and far from himself while raising a one-year-old daughter. He started treatment that day, and 17 years later calls it the single change that turned his health around. After roughly a decade as a patient himself, he opened his own practice, Action TRT, which he says now works with more than a thousand patients, most of them men, across Southern California and, increasingly, virtually.
Key Takeaways
- TRT, as Dr. Stanley practices it, uses bioidentical testosterone — a lab-made hormone modeled molecularly close to what the testes naturally produce — rather than unregulated or black-market alternatives.
- Patients are typically also prescribed a second, concurrent medication (which Dr. Stanley declined to name on the episode) intended to keep the testicles active, supporting natural hormone production and fertility rather than shutting it down.
- He described symptom improvement unfolding in phases: energy, mental clarity, and mood tend to shift first, sexual function follows, and physical changes in strength and body composition come last — and require actual exercise to show up.
- A lab result inside a standard "normal" reference range doesn't necessarily mean it's optimal, in his view — he said the large majority of men he sees test in the lowest portion of that range, and Action TRT's workup checks far more than a single total testosterone number.
- Care at Action TRT starts with an extensive lab panel and a one-on-one consultation, and includes both in-person visits for Southern California patients and ongoing virtual and phone support for patients further away.
What Bioidentical Testosterone Replacement Actually Involves
Stanley described TRT, at its core, as replacement rather than enhancement. He compared it directly to replacing insulin in a patient with diabetes, or replacing blood after a major hemorrhage — putting back what the body has stopped producing on its own. The testosterone itself, he said, is bioidentical: researched and manufactured to be molecularly close to what the testes naturally make, tested for purity, sterility, and accurate dosing, and a world apart from unregulated testosterone obtained outside a clinical setting.
He was also clear that testosterone alone isn't the whole protocol. Because introducing testosterone from outside the body can signal the testicles to slow or stop their own production, Stanley said he concurrently prescribes a second medication — he declined to name it on the episode — intended to keep the testicles functioning, support natural hormone production, and preserve fertility. He framed this as a deliberate departure from older TRT approaches that left men's testicles inactive or reduced in size, telling Mark Anthony he has worked with men previously told they were unable to conceive who went on to have children after starting treatment.
"We are replacing what has been lost so that you can be happy, healthy, strong, look good, feel good, perform good, and live."
— Dr. Tyler Stanley, DMS, PhDThe Phases Patients Report — and the Realistic Side Effects
Asked what patients typically notice, Stanley described a rough sequence rather than a single moment of change. Energy, mental clarity, and mood tend to shift first — including, he said, in some patients who had been treated for depression or anxiety without ever having their testosterone checked. Sexual function follows in what he called phase two. The physical changes — added muscle, reduced fat, clothes fitting differently — come last, and only with consistent exercise; Stanley was direct that "you do have to move."
On side effects, he named two he considers most common: acne, and a possible effect on hairline, though he was careful to note that hair loss itself is primarily genetic rather than testosterone-caused. He described staying within what he calls a "golden range" — the upper end of a normal, therapeutic level rather than bodybuilding-level doses — as the reason he says he doesn't see more serious side effects in his practice. He also referenced a shift in the medical literature away from older assumptions that testosterone therapy raised cardiovascular risk, saying more recent research points the opposite direction when levels are kept in an optimal range, and that his patients are monitored with labs roughly every 90 days.
Why "Normal" Labs Don't Always Mean Optimal
Stanley's own diagnosis is the story he returns to most. At 32, a physician friend told him his testosterone was low — a number that fell inside a broad range labs still call "normal," but that left him exhausted and, in his words, not himself. He argues that reference ranges built on a broad population don't tell an individual patient much on their own, and that clinicians who repeat "your labs are normal" without further context are often passing along a belief they were taught rather than an individualized read of a patient's actual health.
He said the pattern shows up constantly in his own patient base: the large majority of men who come to Action TRT test in the lowest portion of a standard range, not the middle or top. That's part of why his lab workup goes well beyond a single testosterone draw — he described checking total and free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, estrogen, and prolactin, alongside general health markers like kidney, liver, blood, and prostate values, before ever building a treatment plan.
"Normal doesn't mean good. Normal certainly does not mean optimal."
— Dr. Tyler Stanley, DMS, PhDHow Care Works at Action TRT
Stanley walked through what a new patient can expect: labs first, typically completed within about a week, followed by an hour-long, one-on-one consultation where he reviews results in plain language and builds a plan around a patient's specific goals rather than chasing a single number. He said he deliberately keeps an initial plan simple — a small number of interventions to start, rather than an overwhelming list.
The practice is built around direct access rather than a call-center model: patients who need a refill, have a question about a lab result, or want to reach him directly can text, call, or schedule a FaceTime, and Stanley said any concerning lab result prompts an immediate call from him rather than a wait for the next scheduled appointment. Most care is cash-based rather than insurance-billed, medication ships directly to patients who live further away, and while he sees patients in person from as far as Santa Barbara and Coronado Island, much of the practice now also operates virtually for patients outside Southern California.
For men who've been told their labs are "normal" but don't feel like themselves — or who've avoided the conversation out of stigma or uncertainty about what treatment actually involves — this episode is a plain-language look at what a structured, physician-guided approach to testosterone replacement can look like in practice.
