5 Rules For Increasing Testosterone

Most people who have ever lifted a dumbbell know the power of testosterone. While it plays an important role in both male and female health, testosterone is of particular importance for males.

For a male lifter, optimizing natural testosterone levels is crucial; if testosterone is too low an individual may have a hard time losing fat and building muscle (Wang et al., 2006). Beyond one’s physique, low testosterone has also been linked to an array of issues, including muscle weakness, mood swings, chronic fatigue ... the list goes on (Grossmann et al., 2013).

Throughout life testosterone levels can vary, with natural testosterone peaking when a man is aged between 18-25 years old. At the age of 30, natural testosterone will start to decline at a rate of about 1% per year (Feldman et al., 2002). Although this may not sound a lot, by the age of 40 – 50 a male’s testosterone can be noticeably lower and may start having an effect on one’s fitness and physique.

Apart from the steady decline, many males will have varying levels of natural testosterone at baseline (before age-related declines) (Ross et al., 1986). If you have a friend who is naturally muscular, eats whatever he wants and still looks great, well it’s likely they have a high level of natural testosterone (amongst other genetic advantages).

Despite this natural decline and fluctuation, certain lifestyle factors can also play a noticeable role, both in a positive and negative manner. For example, certain foods, supplements, and lifestyle changes can help support healthy testosterone levels. In contrast, poor food choices, alcohol, toxic substances, stress and lack of sleep can negatively affect your testosterone (Travison et al., 2007).

Here are 5 sure-fire ways to optimize and maintain a healthy level of testosterone:

1. MASTER SLEEP

For any health-conscious individual sleep is vitally important, this becomes even more apparent if you’re pushing your body’s boundaries, like during an intense training block or dietary regime. Poor, interrupted sleep, lack of sleep and misalignment of your circadian rhythm (irregular sleep-wake cycle, caused by factors like night shifts or extreme and constant travel through time zones) can all lower testosterone. Research by Penev et al. (2007) found a relationship between hours of sleep per night and morning testosterone levels.

Firstly, an obvious attempt should be made to eliminate any of these factors if they are occurring on a regular basis (don’t worry about one or two nights of poor sleep – they alone will not be an issue). To improve sleep quality there are several strategies you can use, most of which are fairly obvious, but often overlooked.

- Around 30-60 minutes before bed start to wind down; switch off any external lights from TVs, tablets, and phones. Do something relaxing such as read a book, write in a journal or diary or speak with your spouse/family.

- Try to mimic natural light in your environment and eliminate external and artificial light, this helps keep your circadian rhythm healthy. Although we aren’t advocating a bedtime of 5 pm when it gets dark, trying to wake up in the morning to natural light and not going to bed too late is, however, a smart move. As above, eliminate external lights before bed as blue light will confuse your brain, impeding the release of melatonin, a hormone in the brain that signals it’s time to sleep.

- Tailor the amount of sleep to your own needs, some individuals can function really well on 6 hours, some on 8 hours, some on as much as 10 hours, but, as a rule of thumb, 7 – 9 hours per night works best for MOST.

- Use certain supplements to support healthy sleep; these include ZMA, 5-HTP, Melatonin, and even carbohydrates.

- Don’t train too late in the day and, whenever possible, try to finish your workout at least 1 – 2 hours before going to bed. When we train, our body is in an energized and active state with hormones such as adrenaline being raised, this obviously makes it harder to switch off and sleep. Again, if you have no choice but to train late at night or not train at all then, by all means, hit the gym, but be aware that, if this is happening every day, it may be worth trying to change your schedule.

2. INCREASE DIETARY INTAKE OF HEALTHY FAT

Although fats once had a bad rep, even the mainstream media have caught up with the fact that natural, healthy, dietary fats are an important nutrient and NOT linked with all the chronic diseases we once thought. One of these health benefits is dietary fat’s role in hormones, particularly testosterone.

Many researchers have investigated the role of dietary fat in testosterone; one early study by leading researchers Volek et al. (1997) found saturated and monounsaturated fats, in particular, helped increase testosterone. Other research (Hämäläinen et al., 1994) has found that natural testosterone can decline when dietary fat intake is reduced to less than 40% of total energy intake.

Again, it’s important to note that a 2-week low-fat diet would not cause a decline; it’s your dietary patterns over weeks and months that will determine any nutritional outcome. Here are some healthy fat sources you should be including for a variety of reasons, including testosterone levels!

Olives & Olive Oil
Coconut / Coconut Oil
Cocoa Powder / 90% dark chocolate
All types of nuts
Grass-fed meats
Egg Yolks
Avocados
Butter from a grass-fed source

3. HEAD TO THE BEACH! – VITAMIN D & TESTOSTERONE:

Vitamin D has to be one of my favorite supplements around, providing a whole host of health benefits and, you guessed it, one of which is healthy testosterone levels! A considerable percentage of individuals living in countries such as the USA are deficient in Vitamin D, with an even higher percentage having below optimal levels.

Vitamin D is a steroid type hormone and also plays an important role in sperm count and quality, hormones, body fat, muscle function. An array of research has been conducted in recent years, one study by Pilz et al. (2011) investigated men with low testosterone and supplemented with Vitamin D for 1 year. The researchers found testosterone increased by more than double in the Vitamin D group with no change in the placebo group!

In order to increase Vitamin D, the most natural way is daily exposure to sunlight. However, this is often logistically seldom possible and not suitable for most individuals in their modern workaday life. For this reason, daily supplementation with 20 mcg of Vitamin D3 will ensure you optimize vitamin D levels and be a much more achievable strategy.

4. REDUCE STRESS & OPTIMIZE RECOVERY

Chronic stress can lead to a whole host of health issues, including a decrease in testosterone levels. Chronically elevated cortisol levels can interrupt testosterone production and function (Mehta et al., 2010) - (note: normal daily changes in cortisol are healthy and normal).

It’s also important to remember that chronic stress may not just come from daily occurrences like rush hour traffic - an imbalance between training demand and recovery can place the body in a stressed state.

A variety of studies have researched elite athletes and bodybuilders pushing the boundaries of performance, which often involves several hours of training per day. After a period of time, if the recovery strategies aren’t in place, this can lead to the onset of “overtraining” or at least non-functional “overreaching” which leads to decreased performance, loss of strength, illness and, you guessed it, detrimentally affect hormones such as a decrease in testosterone levels! One case study on a natural bodybuilder during a contest prep found a 45% decrease in testosterone over a 10 week period! (Rossow et al., 2013).

There are two considerations here for those wanting to optimize testosterone levels. Firstly, an athlete should always focus on recovery and manage training volume in sync with their ability to recover. During a contest period, taking longer to diet, maintaining a good amount of dietary fat and using a novel strategy such as calorie cycling may reduce the decline during contest prep or chronic diet (Friedl et al. 2000).

5. FINALLY, PERFORM HIGH INTENSE WEIGHT TRAINING AND INTERVAL TRAINING

A well-programmed exercise routine has a variety of benefits, including positive adaptions to certain hormones. A progressive resistance session has been found to increase testosterone levels and other important hormones such as Growth Hormone (Kraemer et al. 1999). Acute research that utilises compound, demanding multiple joint movements can also increase your acute testosterone levels post-workout. One study by Shaner et al. (2014) compared squats against leg press and found greater increases in testosterone for the squat group; however, it’s important to note the debate is still ongoing whether acute changes in hormones cause a significant difference in the long term.

Along with weight training, High Intense Interval Training (HIIT) provides a ton of benefits, including an increase in many important hormones. Some studies have found increases in testosterone post-workout; one long term study added HIIT to wrestlers’ training regimes and found significant increases in baseline testosterone after a 4 week period (Farzad et al. 2011). Here are 3 examples HIIT workouts you can try in the next gym session!

(Remember – HIIT must be performed at 100% intensity and should not last more than 20-30 seconds max):

A. 5x 20-30 second Spin Bike Sprints with 90-120 seconds rest

B. 5x 50-yard Prowler Sprints with 90-120 seconds rest

C. 5x 20 second Hill Sprints with 120-second rest

If you’re looking for an effective supplement to support these rules, make FERODROX™ a staple in your daily stack. FERODROX™ contains patented ingredients like PrimaVie® Shilajit and LJ100® Tongkat Ali that support healthy testosterone levels and lower cortisol levels.

SUMMARY

Hopefully, you now understand the importance of testosterone on one’s health and physique. For an individual concerned about testosterone, optimizing it within the healthy range is recommended, and a supplement like Ferodrox™ can help. Ferodrox™ is an industry breakthrough created to help you maintain testosterone levels within the normal healthy range.* Each ingredient has been carefully selected to deliver unmatched benefits, so the formula can support testosterone production, gains in lean muscle, strength, and more.* While you may not witness dramatic short term changes, it will pay dividends in the long term for both your physique and your health.

All the tips listed above provide a variety of other additional benefits too, so get to work and remember - a healthy foundation (such as a healthy testosterone level!) is key for a long and successful bodybuilding/fitness career!

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