Testosterone is a hormone produced in the body, it is responsible for hair growth, increased bone density, and increased muscle mass. Men tend to produce 20 times as much Testosterone per day as women do
<1>. Men who have high testosterone levels will benefit from a higher libido
<2>, higher metabolism
<3>, increased strength and muscle mass
<4>, lower chance of depression
<5>, and a healthier heart and cardiovascular system
<6>. So it’s no wonder then that increasing testosterone levels is so important to many men. Now it should be stressed that a lot of the benefits of increasing testosterone are usually only seen in men who have lower than desired levels already. If you already have high testosterone levels, then increasing them further
might improve your muscle mass, or improve your heart health but the difference won’t be huge and you might not notice any difference whatsoever. The truth though, is that low testosterone levels in men is a lot more common than most people believe. The sale of testosterone products has increased globally from $150 million in 2000 to $1.8 billion in 2011
<7>. This isn’t necessarily because men’s testosterone levels are lower than previous generations, but because doctors are becoming more and more aware of the symptoms of low testosterone. There are three ways to improve your testosterone levels, you can get diagnosed by your physician and receive legal testosterone drugs (usually in the form of patches). Alternatively, you can buy them illegally (something that is becoming more and more common) – which is a very risky thing to do. The final option is to look for natural ways to improve your testosterone production. That’s right! You can actually increase testosterone yourself. This article will look at ways to do this (that don’t involve a credit card and a dodgy steroid website).
Technique #1 Sleep
The following sentence could be the best thing you ever hear. It is impossible to increase testosterone by sleeping more, meaning that if you want bigger muscles, a higher metabolism, improved mood, and a loss of body fat then start hitting snooze on that alarm! It’s not so much that sleep boosts testosterone (although it does to some extent) but rather that a lack of sleep can severely lower testosterone. A study in 2007 found that older men who had less sleep ended up with lower testosterone levels in the morning
<8>. What’s more, a study in 1999 found that testosterone levels peak during REM sleep (rapid eye movement)
<9>, meaning that improving the quality of your sleep could help improve your testosterone levels. Bottom Line: Try to improve both sleep duration and quality. Aim for around 8 hours and use tricks such as avoiding electronic equipment (phones, laptops, computers) at least 30 minutes before bed.
Technique #2. Improve your workout
Any exercise at all could help to improve testosterone production, but if you are already exercising then you can still get more bang for your buck (literally, if you consider the effect on libido). A 2006 study by Andrada
et al <10> found that strength training led to a 40% increase in testosterone over a period of 4 weeks. So ditching the cross trainer for the weights room should be your first move (though combining both is also an option). But what you pick whilst in the weights room can also have an influence, for example, the kettlebell swing has been found to increase testosterone and growth hormone production
<11>. But the most relevant study on testosterone levels was conducted by Shaner
et al in 2014
<12>. In this study, they compared the leg press (representing all fixed weight machines) and the barbell squat (representing all free weight exercises). They found that the barbell squat produced much higher levels of testosterone than the leg press, which demonstrates the effectiveness of free weights at increasing testosterone. This has subsequently been repeated with other free weight exercises, though it must be noted that this does not mean that fixed weight resistance machines have
no effect on testosterone. Just that they have less effect than free weights. Bottom Line: If you are looking for maximum testosterone production during your training session then try to fit as many free weight exercises in as possible. However don’t think that a rear delt fly is going to be more effective than the leg press just because it is free weight. Look for big compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, pull ups and bench presses.
Technique #3 Diet
Before going into how to improve testosterone levels with diet, one thing needs to be cleared up. Losing weight will increase testosterone, meaning that so long as your diet helps you to lose weight it will eventually result in higher T levels. Up to a point. Once you get down to under 15% body fat (for men) your body will start lowering testosterone. So in conclusion, if you have too much body fat your body will produce less testosterone and if you have too little body fat your body will produce less testosterone .... Confusing huh? So this section will be split into 2 parts, the first part will deal with people who are overweight. While the second part will deal with people who are very lean (either through choice or just naturally).
Part One: Overweight People So your first instinct is to go super low-carb as this is very effective at lowering body fat. This will work, but it’s not optimal. Truth is that you can lose weight just as easily with a more balanced diet, having a diet that contains protein, fat, and carbohydrates but is still within your calorie target will lead to weight loss without lowering testosterone further. A study by Moran
et al (2016) found that in overweight and obese people, a weight loss diet that is high in
protein or high in carbohydrates will lead to increased testosterone
<13>.
Part Two: Lean People If you are just coming off a cut (calorie restriction) then there is a chance that your testosterone levels will be reduced. Slowly increasing your calories will help you to increase testosterone without overly affecting body fat. Going high carb can really help to naturally increase testosterone, Anderson
et al (1987) found that high carbohydrate diets were more effective than high protein diets when it came to increasing testosterone
<14>. Another method of increasing testosterone is to go high fat, a study by Reed
et al (1986) found that low-fat diets can lead to lowered testosterone levels
<15>. If you are finding all of this information confusing then don’t worry! It is confusing. But to simplify matters, if you are lean and looking to increase testosterone you have the choice of a high carb diet or a high fat diet. Choosing both would probably lead to your calories soaring and too much accumulated body fat. Also, whilst high protein levels don’t seem to have much of an effect on testosterone, they have many other benefits so keep your protein high too.
Technique #4. Supplements
There are hundreds of testosterone boosters out there, but the majority are absolutely useless and should be avoided at all costs. That being said, taking ZMA before bed seems to have a positive effect on testosterone
<16>. Vitamin D may also improve testosterone
<17>, but there is quite a bit of debate regarding whether this is the case or not. Feel free to give it a go. Bottom Line: ZMA and vitamin D may boost testosterone, but have many benefits other than that so are probably worth a go. Supplements are the least important thing out of the 4 techniques mentioned though.
Conclusion
So there you have it, four techniques for boosting testosterone. These techniques will also help you to lose weight, build muscle, and improve your mood. These may not be as effective as anabolic steroids but they are nowhere near as dangerous nor are they illegal.