What it actually is
The Bench Panel is a small kit that arrives at your door. Inside: an alcohol prep, a near-painless lancet, a collection card, a return mailer, and instructions a child could follow. You prick your finger, fill the card, drop it in the mail.
The card travels overnight to a CLIA-certified clinical laboratory in the United States — the same kind of facility a hospital sends bloodwork to. They run the panel on the same equipment used for diagnostic medicine. A board-certified physician reads the results and writes a recommendation.
It's not a wellness app. It's clinical pathology in a stamped envelope.
You shouldn't pick a TRT protocol without bloodwork. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a guess. The Bench Panel is the cheapest way to replace the guess with a number.
The 10 markers, and why each matters
| Marker | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Total Testosterone | Your overall T level. The headline number, but not the only one. |
| Free Testosterone | The fraction actually available to your tissues. More clinically meaningful than Total alone. |
| SHBG | Sex Hormone Binding Globulin. Determines how much T is "free." Often the missing context for "normal Total, low Free." |
| Estradiol (sensitive) | Men need a small amount of estrogen. Too high or too low both cause symptoms. Sensitive assay, not the standard one. |
| LH | Luteinizing Hormone. Your brain's signal to your testes. Helps distinguish primary vs. secondary hypogonadism — which determines whether enclomiphene will work. |
| FSH | Follicle-Stimulating Hormone. Sperm production driver. Same diagnostic role as LH. |
| Prolactin | Elevated prolactin can suppress testosterone and indicates a different upstream problem (rare but important to rule out). |
| TSH | Thyroid stimulating hormone. Low T symptoms overlap with thyroid issues; we screen so you don't get a TRT prescription for what's actually a thyroid problem. |
| HbA1c | 3-month average blood sugar. Insulin resistance suppresses testosterone — and TRT works less well in poorly-controlled metabolic states. |
| Lipid panel | Cholesterol fractions. Baseline for monitoring on protocol; some compounds shift these. |
What you get back
A clean dashboard with every marker plotted against the optimal range, the lab reference range, and a flag for anything out of band. Your physician's interpretation, written in English. A specific protocol recommendation if low-T is confirmed — or, just as often, a recommendation to investigate something else first.
If your panel comes back showing your symptoms aren't actually about testosterone, we tell you that. We don't sell you a protocol you don't need.
What it costs and what it credits
$99.99 flat. Free shipping both directions. Fully credited toward your first protocol month if you start one within 90 days. If you don't start a protocol, you keep the data and walk away. There's no subscription, no upsell, no email-list lock.
Why finger-prick instead of a blood draw
For most of the markers above, capillary (finger-prick) blood produces results clinically equivalent to venous blood. The lab uses high-sensitivity assays calibrated for capillary samples. For two markers — Free T and Estradiol — the assay is specifically validated for this collection method.
The trade-off: a draw is more accurate for SHBG-derived Free T calculations and the lipid panel after a 12-hour fast. If you've already done a draw recently, we can use it. If you haven't, the Bench Panel is good enough to make a protocol decision.
Who it's for
- Men who think they might have low T and want to know before doing anything.
- Men whose primary care doctor told them their T was "normal" but they still feel terrible. (Reference ranges are wide — "normal" includes the bottom 2.5%.)
- Men considering TRT but uncomfortable starting blind.
- Anyone who wants a baseline to compare future panels against.
What it doesn't replace
If you're on protocol, your week-8 and week-16 panels are richer — they include hematocrit and PSA that the at-home kit doesn't. Bench is the entry point, not the entire monitoring program.
The most expensive testosterone protocol is the one prescribed without bloodwork. Get the data first. Decide second. Always in that order.— Dominant clinical team
The bottom line
If you're considering anything — Forge, Ember, Spark, Hybrid, or staying off entirely — start here. $99.99, three days, ten markers, one physician read. The cheapest honest answer you can buy.