How to raise testosterone levels in a healthy way

In addition to the development of secondary sexual characteristics, especially noticeable at puberty, it is also responsible for the increase in muscle mass.

In pharmaceutical form, it is available as an injectable or oral preparation. In addition to its medical use in deficiency of this hormone or in hormone therapy for breast cancer, its abuse in sports (e.g. athletics, bodybuilding, etc.) is widespread. For athletes, the rapid effect for building muscle mass and gaining strength is interesting. Due to the influence of testosterone, rapid regeneration of the body occurs after training. As an unauthorized doping, testosterone and its derivatives are therefore banned by many sports associations.

It should be added that, in addition to the "doping hysteria in the mass media", the use of the hormone in doses several times higher than the natural blood level leads to protracted health problems. After all, this is a substance which, in far lower doses, is responsible for your complete physical development!

Unless we're going to resort to testosterone abuse (and I really do recommend this for 99% of exercisers), it's good to know how we can boost our own testosterone secretion. Of course, I'm not claiming that you'll get the same results as doping testosterone users, however, I guarantee you'll get better results.

Testosterone positive

The positive effects of testosterone include:

• Increase in both skeletal muscle strength and volume
• Increase in bone strength
• Reduction of fat stores
• Accelerating recovery
• Increasing red blood cell production
• Reduction of catabolism
• Increase in aggressiveness during training

Add testosterone with basic exercises

Multi-joint exercises have been found to have the highest hormonal response. In order of effectiveness, these are:

1. 1. Squat
2. 2. Deadlift
3. 3. Shrugs
4. 4. Benchpress
5. 5. Standing Press

Maximize testosterone with heavy weights

Weights for approximately 4-6 reps have the highest hormonal response. These can be weights around 80-90% of your max.

Testosterone killers - insufficient sleep and stress

If you don't get at least 8 hours of quality sleep every day, forget about success. Hard training without adequate sleep leads to lower testosterone levels on the contrary.

If you are exposed to constant stress, your testosterone levels will also decrease. In practice, of course, it's harder to avoid stress in a job, especially a demanding one, but try to limit stress as much as possible. Stress increases cortisol levels and therefore catabolism occurs.

Testosterone killer - overtraining

Too frequent training frequency, if still combined with insufficient sleep leads to a decrease in testosterone in the blood by up to 40%.

It is also true that the highest testosterone level is reached after about 40-60 minutes of recommended load. After 90 minutes, on the other hand, testosterone levels drop. Therefore, after this time, end the training unit and take the post-training drink mentioned below.

Fats

If you strictly limit fats in your diet, you will achieve a reduction in testosterone levels! However, this does not mean that you have to start consuming fats uncontrollably. In fact, an increase in subcutaneous fat stores leads again to an unwanted effect. Fat cells contain the enzyme aromatase, which promotes the conversion of testosterone to estrogen.

So be sensible with fats. Focus on eating the "right fats" - monounsaturated - olive oil, avocados, nuts. The "bad fats" - saturated - play an important role too - red meat is ideal - it contains saturated fat, protein, creatine and zinc. Zinc prevents the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. Fats should be the source of 30% of your energy.

Carbohydrates

A drastic reduction in energy intake, especially when dieting, leads to a decrease in testosterone levels in the blood. Make sure that your carbohydrate intake exceeds your protein intake by 2 times (For 150g of protein, about 300g of carbohydrates). After your workout, take in simple carbohydrates and quickly absorbed protein in a drink. You will stop catabolism, use up insulin and get increased amounts of testosterone into your muscle cells post-workout. The content of the drink should maintain the rule of doubling the carbohydrates. So ideally 0.4-0.8g of carbs and 0.2-0.4 protein per kg of body weight.

Indole-3-carbiol

A substance found in cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi and kale that reduces estrogen levels. So, add these to your diet.

Watch out for estrogen!

Soy contains a certain amount of natural estrogens. It is not suitable for our diet.

Good luck :).