Testosterone is a hormone that regulates the sexual organs, metabolism, bone loss, and other bodily functions. Although it mainly affects men, both sexes can experience a low level of this hormone. Some studies reveal that lifestyle has the most important role in terms of testosterone levels. Exercise, sleep, stress, and obesity can affect hormone levels. In this article, you will discover how to increase testosterone naturally.
For those who want to achieve those goals, knowing how to increase testosterone naturally and safely is important. It is essential to avoid the consumption of products that can damage health and cause serious side effects, such as weakness.
The only solution to increase testosterone is to produce more testosterone, as it is the only 100% effective and safe method that guarantees excellent results. For this, we explain everything you need to know about how to increase testosterone naturally, quickly, and completely.
The functions of testosterone are very different. Broadly speaking, this is a hormone that creates power, both muscular and sexual, as well as muscle mass and bone density. It also plays a role in certain behaviors and affects various systems in the body.
WHAT IS TESTOSTERONE FOR?
The functions of testosterone are very different. Broadly speaking, this is a hormone that creates power, both muscular and sexual, as well as muscle mass and bone density. It also plays a role in certain behaviors and affects various systems in the body.
It could be said that testosterone is the primary factor for a satisfactory sexual life. A man who has his testosterone at low levels will have bad erections, low sperm production, and a lack of sexual desire.
In women, low testosterone affects the libido and the sexual experience itself, as it is responsible for the sensitivity of the clitoris and nipples.
Low levels of this hormone are joint with sexual dissatisfaction, low energy, and reduction in sexual potency, weak muscles, body fat, and fragility in the bones.
The effects of the lack of testosterone are not only physical, because its insufficiency causes a reduction in motivation and also depression.
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO INCREASE YOUR TESTOSTERONE IN A NATURAL WAY?
1. Increase in muscle mass and strength
The higher your testosterone levels, the easier it is to gain muscle mass and strength. However, you must be clear that if you have a high percentage of fat, you will usually have reduced levels of testosterone, which will make it difficult for you to gain more muscle. Not only will that, but low levels of testosterone be directly related to an increase in visceral fat (the worst of all), the risk of suffering from type II diabetes, and insulin resistance.
In addition, obese men have higher levels of estrogen, the female sex hormone, due to the increased activity of the aromatase enzyme. And this does not interest you…
Therefore, if you want to gain muscle but you are above 15-20% body fat, the idea is to focus on losing fat to something less than 15%, and from there start to gain muscle.
2) Stronger bones (and less risk of osteoporosis)
A clear example is that women should also try to have high testosterone levels since, after menopause, the risk of osteoporosis increases considerably.
3) It can help treat depression.
In this case, I say ‘can’ because you really can not establish a cause-effect relationship since this is one of the cases in which it is not clear if low testosterone is one of the causes of depression, or if depression itself is the one that lowers testosterone levels.
4) More sexual desire and improvement of erections. It makes sense since we are talking about the male sex hormone (although I repeat, in the case of women, higher levels of testosterone are also related to greater sexual desire)
5) More competitiveness, more desire for power, and high status (also increases risk tolerance, which can be a problem if it is not controlled).
Seeing this, it is clear that it seems more than interesting to increase your testosterone naturally as much as possible, don’t you think? Well come on, let’s go with it!
6 WAYS TO INCREASE TESTOSTERONE NATURALLY
1) Train at high intensity
The key point, and well known.
Now, it is not the same to go for a run as to lift weights. To increase your testosterone levels to the maximum, I recommend 2 types of training:
A) Volume or strength routines
Prioritizing multi-joint exercises such as deadlifts, squats, military presses, bench presses, and pull-ups. That is, in a strength routine you should move in ranges of 3 × 3, 3 × 5, or 5 × 5 with breaks of 3 minutes between sets, prioritizing this type of exercise.
In a volume beam series of the type: 3 × 8, 3 × 10, 4 × 8 with breaks between 1:30 and 2 minutes.
There are countless studies demonstrating the importance of this type of workout like this. Also, I do not know about you, but I feel a lot more powerful after a deadlift workout, military press, and squats than after running for half an hour or doing some biceps curls. And I imagine you do too.
Remember that not only men benefit from this type of training. Women will also get very interesting benefits when training at high intensity.
Now, HIIT or cardio?
B) HIIT ROUTINES
High-intensity intervals. They do not have to sprint (although personally the ones I like the most and the ones that are most destroyed leave me at the end). You can make intervals of burpees, rope jumps … whatever you like. But at high intensity. Although intense training is very effective, among other things to raise testosterone naturally, it is equally important to rest.
Rest days are fundamental. Beware of overtraining. Do not pass. Going with the irons will reduce your testosterone levels and increase your cortisol levels.
And I know Arnold trained 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, but hey, you’re not Arnold (besides he had extra help). Here we are talking about increasing testosterone naturally. Train hard and rest so that your body will have time to recover.
Cardio: I do not recommend it if you want to increase your strength, muscle mass, and testosterone.
This study shows that testosterone balance was lower in a group of runners than in the sedentary control group. Usually, the medium-long-distance runners have low testosterone levels, and although cardio has its benefits, I do not recommend it for the purposes we discussed in this article.
2) Food
Before moving on to the most important nutrients and foods … keep in a caloric surplus. A drastic and prolonged reduction in calorie consumption will reduce your testosterone levels.
Eat foods rich in Zinc and Magnesium.
If you have a moderately healthy and balanced diet you will not have a deficit and therefore you will not need supplementation. Do not get obsessed with this section. What comes next is much more important:
Increase your fat intake
- The fats with a key when it comes to increasing your testosterone levels.
- Now, what kind of fats suits you?
- Both saturated and monounsaturated fats are directly related to the increase in testosterone, unlike polyunsaturated and Trans.
And what about the CH?
Well, carbohydrates, so demonized lately, are very beneficial to have high testosterone levels. It has been shown that reducing the calories consumed in the form of carbohydrates reduces testosterone levels considerably (study, study)
This does not mean that you should eat any carbohydrates such as pizza, popcorn … but you should keep a ‘normal’ amount (40-50%) of carbohydrates from healthy sources such as rice, oats, potatoes, or legumes, especially if you are in a routine. strength or hypertrophy.
Integral or non-integral? Honestly, I do not see as many benefits in the integral as they say. In this article, I have written about the overvaluation of whole grains. Judge yourself.
Protein?
How much protein do you need?
Well, the answer is more than proven: Around 1.5-2 grams/kg of body weight. You do not need more than this to gain muscle.
The fact is that more protein like a sponsored charlatan recommends, along with a reduction in carbohydrates and fats, will lead to a reduction in your testosterone levels (see the graphics above).
Cholesterol.
As we saw at the beginning, testosterone is adjusting from cholesterol, a substance that has been demonized, but that has fundamental functions like the one mentioned, besides being a fundamental part of cell walls and bile.
Also, by keeping HDL cholesterol levels high, you will increase your natural testosterone levels.
3) Alcohol
Let’s be clear. Few substances are worse for your body than alcohol.
Neither do you have to get paranoid. By drinking a couple of beers from time to time you will not have serious problems. The problem comes when consumption is very frequent or in very high quantities.
4) Sleep / Rest
Having a better rest is as important to your health as diet and exercise and can also have important effects on your testosterone levels.
The ideal amount of sleep changes from person to person, but one study found that sleeping only 5 hours at night led to a 15% reduction in testosterone levels.
Another long-term study found that those who sleep only four hours a night had deficient levels of the hormone and that for each additional hour of sleep that is obtained, testosterone levels increase by an average of 15%
Conclusion: Make sure you sleep the number of hours needed to maintain healthy testosterone levels and optimize your long-term health.
5) Sex
Good news. Besides, it makes sense, don’t you think?
Testosterone is the sex hormone par excellence and part of that makes sense, science is clear (study, study ). Having sex will often keep your testosterone levels high.
Although this is another cause-effect case.
High levels of testosterone will lead you to have a more sexual desire, although having sex will often increase your testosterone levels naturally).
6) Compete (and win)
Win = Testosterone
It’s a simple way of saying it, but it’s real.
And this is true both in sports, in any type of competition, and in terms of money. It has been proven in a group of traders that when they have a winning streak their testosterone can increase up to 74 %!
That is the magic of progress. Another reason to increase your numbers in the gym. Winning and surpassing yourself will increase your testosterone levels and your self-esteem.
Testosterone in women
Despite being known as the male sex hormone, women also synthesize it, although in a smaller proportion than men (it is estimated that they have a production 10 times lower).
Still, many women are afraid or worry that if they touch some weights and start to train at high intensity as I mentioned in point 1, they will become huge and therefore lose their femininity.
This is not real. Notice that men have to fight every gram of muscle, so girls, with 10 times less testosterone, do not have to worry.
The benefits of having high testosterone levels (such as higher muscle mass, lower fat, healthier bones, greater sexual desire, greater competitiveness, and less chance of suffering depression) are just as good for men as for women, each within their ranges.
SUMMARIZING:
1) Train intensively.
- Train with weights in a range of strength or hypertrophy.
- Train also HIIT.
- Respect rest periods.
2) Eat healthy, focusing on:
- Do not spend long periods in large calorie deficits.
- Do not be afraid of saturated fats or cholesterol (in fact I am starting the challenge of 2 eggs a day, you can join here). Also, take foods rich in monounsaturated fats.
Avoid Tran’s fat. - Eat carbohydrates from healthy sources such as rice, oats, and potatoes, especially if you are in the phase of strength or volume.
- Keep your protein intake high (1.5-2 grams/kg of weight), but do not exceed this amount.
3) Do not drink alcohol regularly or in large quantities.
4) Sleep a lot (7-9 hours) and optimize your sleep quality.
5) Avoid chronic stress and meditate daily.
6) Have an active sex life.
7) Compete, progress, and have victories every day.
7 + 1) Adopt whenever you can bodily positions of power and avoid weak positions
Thanks a lot for reading my article “How to increase testosterone naturally?”. Read my other article “How much exercise to lose weight?“Best of luck!