For a limited time, participants can join the Fitness Program for $0!
The Fitness Program is available exclusively to participants and their covered dependents! This program gives them access to a nationwide network of fitness locations at a discount.
For August, September and October 2025, they can join without paying the $19 enrollment fee! They must use the code TRS2025 at checkout.
For more information about the promotion, check out this flyer.
There are several different gym sizes and networks to choose from based on preferences and budget. Options and sign-up instructions are below!
Offer available to residents of United States who are at least 18 years old who have benefits with a participating health plan. Purchaser must provide the coupon code above at sign-up to receive waiver of the $19.00 enrollment fee. Offer not available to family members (dependents age 16+ who are covered my member’s health plan). Additional terms, conditions and limitations apply. See Program Agreement for details.
Testosterone is often associated with macho men or aggressive behavior. But testosterone plays a much larger role than the myths linked with it. It’s a hormone found in both males and females, but levels are much higher in males.
In men, testosterone is a hormone produced by the gonads (sex organs). It plays different roles in three life stages:
Fetal development – Testosterone initiates the development of male internal and external reproductive organs.
Puberty – Testosterone causes changes such as an increase in height, body and pubic hair; enlargement of the penis, testes and prostate gland; and an increase in libido.
Adulthood – Testosterone is essential for sperm production, new red blood cells, bone and muscle strength, and a sense of well-being.
Testosterone Levels
Having too little or too much testosterone can have a negative effect on your health. It’s usually the highest in the morning and lowest in the evening. There are signs to look for that can indicate high and low testosterone levels.
High Testosterone
Testosterone levels vary over time and during the day. Some symptoms of high testosterone include:
low sperm count
prostate enlargement with difficulty urinating
acne
weight gain
increased muscle mass
mood swings and irritability
Low Testosterone
Men over age 45 may have a higher frequency of low testosterone levels. Some symptoms include:
reduced body and facial hair
decreased muscle mass
low libido
poor concentration
brittle bones
Testosterone is essential in men for reproductive and overall health. It’s natural for testosterone levels to fluctuate depending on age and overall health. However, if levels are consistently high or low, treatments are available.
Your Primary Care Provider can check your testosterone levels with a blood test and recommend treatments to relieve your symptoms.
Provider Finder®
If you don’t have a PCP or want to find a new doctor, you can use Provider Finder® to search for an in-network provider.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States. Understanding the signs and symptoms and getting regular screenings can mean the difference between life and death.
Heart Disease Explained
Heart disease refers to several types of heart conditions. The most common in men are:
coronary artery disease caused by plaque in the artery walls
arrhythmia caused by the heart beating too slowly, too fast or irregularly
heart failure, which occurs when the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to other organs
Heart disease boosts your risk for heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest.
Symptoms of Heart Attacks
Some heart attacks may happen suddenly, with intense pain, while others start slowly with only mild pain or discomfort. It’s important to know these major symptoms of a heart attack:
pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, stomach or back
feeling weak, dizzy, light-headed or faint
chest pain or discomfort
pain or discomfort in arms or shoulder
shortness of breath
unusual or unexplained fatigue
If you think you’re having a heart attack, call 911 right away.
You should also be aware of what heart disease may feel like. In addition to heart attack symptoms, you may also experience:
fluttering in your chest, called palpitations or arrhythmia
fatigue
swelling of your feet and legs, abdomen or neck veins
Even if you’re not experiencing symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease. This is why it’s so important to keep up with your preventive care and regular screenings.
How Can You Lower Your Risk?
You can’t control risk factors like your family history or age, but with the right lifestyle changes, you can help lower your heart attack risk:
Maintain a healthy weight. Need to lose a few pounds? Even a 10-pound weight loss can lower blood pressure and reduce strain on your heart.
Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol in a healthy range. Talk to your provider about your numbers and ask what you can do to lower them.
Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, balanced with whole grains, low-fat dairy, skinless chicken and fish may help prevent clogged arteries and blood vessels.
Exercise regularly. Aim for at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity, like walking or cycling, weekly.
Don’t smoke or use tobacco and limit alcohol. They can raise your blood pressure and risk for heart disease.
Practice self-care to manage stress.
Preventive care is 100% covered through your TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care Standard plans.
TRS-ActiveCareparticipants can use Provider Finder® to search for a provider. Call a Personal Health Guide (PHG) available 24/7 at 1-866-355-5999 or chat through the BCBSTX App for help.
TRS-Care Standardparticipants can search for a provider using Provider Finder. Call a PHG available 24/7 at 1-866-355-5999 or chat through the BCBSTX App for help.
Well onTarget® Wellness Coaching
Your TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care Standard plans offer Well onTarget® Wellness Coaching from credentialed professionals with a variety of programs that will improve your heart health including helping to manage weight, stress, blood pressure and cholesterol. You can also get help with eating better and quitting tobacco.
Not sure where to start when it comes to exercise? TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care Standard offer a discounted Fitness Program that gives you access to a nationwide network of fitness locations. There’s also a virtual fitness program so you can stay active at home.
Aging well and staying healthy after 50 is easier said than done. It takes more work to keep your body in peak shape, but it doesn’t have to be difficult! There are many things you can do to keep your body feeling young.
Exercising regularly, eating right, getting yearly screenings and checking in with your provider about any concerns are vital to maintaining your health, especially later in life.
Caring for your mental health is also important to your overall health and quality of life. It affects how we think, feel and act. Making connections with others and finding ways to manage your stress levels and mood are key to healthy aging.
Make Good Habits Now
Healthy habits lead to a healthier life. A recent long-term study showed you can add more than 10 years to your life and help avoid serious illness like cancer, heart disease and diabetes by sticking with certain healthy habits, including:
Eat a healthy diet: Eat more vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and healthy fats. Limit or avoid red and processed meats, sugary drinks, trans fats and too much salt.
Stay active: Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking or swimming, each day. You don’t even need to do it all at once. Experts say three 10-minute walks may be as effective as one 30-minute walk to lower blood pressure and a two-minute stroll can help keep blood sugar levels stable.
Here are the best exercises to add into your life:
Aerobic exercise — like walking, swimming, running or biking — strengthens your heart and lowers your blood pressure. It can also help your lungs.
Balance-based activities like tai chi can help guard against falls.
Weight training is especially important as we age because it can:
help keep bones strong
increase strength and muscle mass
improve balance
make joints healthier
Don’t smoke. Smoking can increase your risk of developing heart disease, cancer and lung disease. It can also lead to erectile dysfunction and affect fertility.
Limit alcohol. Too much alcohol over a long period of time can increase the risk of heart disease, liver disease and cancer. It can also lower your testosterone levels and cause sexual dysfunction.
Finding a Provider
Getting a yearly physical exam is another important part of staying healthy for life. Screenings for health conditions can help cut the risk of many health problems that are more common in older men, like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
You can use Provider Finder® to find the right doctors for your screenings.
Start working with a wellness coach and sign up for self-guided digital courses on managing stress, improving your fitness level and dietary habits, losing or maintaining weight, and improving cholesterol and blood pressure.
There’s a lot of information out there about prostate and testicular cancer. It’s easy to think you’re invincible. There’s no way cancer can happen to you, right? Unfortunately, it can.
Some Common Myths About Cancer Are:
You won’t get cancer if it doesn’t run in your family. A family history of any type of cancer is an important thing to share with your provider, but many men who have cancer have no family history.
It’s always a lump you can feel. Cancer doesn’t always present as a lump, especially if it’s early stage.
You don’t need to worry about cancer if you maintain a healthy lifestyle. While maintaining a healthy weight, eating well, exercising, and limiting tobacco and alcohol use can lower your risk, there’s no guarantee you won’t develop cancer.
You only need to be screened for cancer if you have symptoms. Often, early-stage cancer is diagnosed when you’re feeling fine. Since it’s common to not have any symptoms, it’s important to keep up with your recommended screenings, even if you feel great.
Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in American men. It often has no symptoms, especially in an early stage. When there are symptoms, they can include:
trouble starting or stopping the flow of urine
passing urine more often during the day or getting up many times during the night to pass urine
frequent, urgent need to pass urine, even when there is only a small amount
less urine flow
burning when you pass urine
chills and high fever
low back pain or body aches
pain low in the belly, groin or behind the scrotum
sexual problems and loss of sex drive
Tell your doctor if you have these symptoms. Keep in mind that men can have prostate changes that cause symptoms like these but aren’t because of cancer. For example, as you age, the prostate tends to grow and can decrease urine flow.
You should start getting screened at age 50, even if you don’t have any signs or symptoms. Your provider may recommend getting screened earlier if you’re African American or have a family history of prostate cancer.
Getting Screened
The most common screening test for prostate cancer is the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. PSA is made by both normal and cancer cells in the prostate gland. A higher level of PSA may indicate that cancer is present.
Your provider can also perform a digital rectal exam (DRE) to screen for prostate cancer. During a DRE, your provider will insert a gloved finger into your rectum to feel for abnormalities in the prostate.
Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer isn’t as common as prostate cancer. It’s found most frequently between the ages of 15 and 45 and is highly treatable. The most common sign is a painless lump in your testicle, but it can also cause:
swelling or a buildup of fluid in your scrotum or testicles
heaviness or “full” feeling in the scrotum
mild ache in your lower abdomen or groin
pain or discomfort in your scrotum, testicle or lower back
There’s no recommended screening schedule for testicular cancer. Regular testicular self-examinations can help identify growths early when the chance for successful treatment of testicular cancer is highest.
A testicular self-exam is best performed after a warm shower because heat relaxes the scrotum, making it easier to spot anything abnormal. Follow these steps every month:
Stand in front of a mirror. Check for any swelling on the scrotum skin.
Examine each testicle with both hands. Place the index and middle fingers under the testicle with the thumbs placed on top. Roll the testicle gently between the thumbs and fingers. Don't be alarmed if one testicle seems slightly larger than the other. That's normal.
Find the epididymis, the soft, tubelike structure behind the testicle that collects and carries sperm. If you are familiar with this structure, you won't mistake it for a suspicious lump. Cancerous lumps usually are found on the sides of the testicle but can also show up on the front.
If you find a lump, see your Primary Care Provider. Only a doctor can make a positive diagnosis. Common procedures to diagnose testicular cancer are:
physical exam
blood work
ultrasound
biopsy
Lowering Your Risk
Most risk factors for prostate and testicular cancer, like age, family history and ethnicity, can’t be changed. However, these healthy lifestyle choices may help lower your risk:
Keep a healthy weight.
Eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Limit dairy, red and processed meat, sugary drinks, and highly processed foods.
Get regular physical activity.
Avoid tobacco and alcohol.
Provider Finder®
Our Provider Finder offers an easy way to find a doctor, hospital or other type of medical care. You can search by location, gender or specialty. You can also research providers using patient reviews, certifications and recognition information.
Your health plan gives you so much more than coverage for doctors’ visits. It includes a variety of programs to help you take a well-rounded approach to your health and wellness at little to no extra cost.
Sign up for the Fitness Program to get affordable, no-contract memberships at gyms nationwide.
Start working with a wellness coach through Well onTarget® and sign up for self-guided digital courses on managing stress, improving your fitness level and dietary habits, losing or maintaining weight and improving cholesterol and blood pressure.
