Naturally Boost Testosterone Level

15 min read

Why do people take steroids? Because steroids help build muscle faster. How does a steroid do that? Mainly by increasing your testosterone levels. So taking steroids boosts your testosterone levels. Well, it also boosts chances of having diseases like cancer, heart attack, liver failure, just to name a few. Not to mention, overall decreased quality of life, fewer years to live and so on. The side effects are endless; I can write another full blog just about steroids. I probably will, however, for now, let's stick to the topic at hand.

Is there a way by which you can naturally boost your testosterone levels and build muscle faster and tell that bullshit gym trainer to go screw himself who always tells you to start a cycle. Yes, there is, read below to know how.

First off, a bit about testosterone.
Testosterone is a hormone in our body which plays many functions, one of them being the ability to build muscle. Our body naturally produces testosterone, and our body’s natural testosterone production decrease with our age. This decrease starts in around the mid-30s. So the older you are, the lower is your body’s ability to produce testosterone, however by following the points below, you can maximize your natural testosterone production and build muscle, faster.

1. Decrease your body fat percentage
   
   
   The more body fat you have, the less testosterone your body will produce and also, the more estrogen your body will produce, which is the female hormone that no man wants. How you ask? Fat cells in our body have the ability to store estrogen, and so they do store it. So the more fat you have, the more is going to be your estrogen levels, thus leading to lesser testosterone So if currently, you’re 20%, 30% or 40% body fat, then you’re not gonna be able to have high testosterone levels. It’s best to stay around 15% body fat or lower to ensure high testosterone production.
   
   
2. No crash diet
   
   What’s a crash diet you ask? A crash diet is when you suddenly drop your daily average caloric intake by more than 15%. For example, if you’re consuming 3,000 calories daily and one day decide to drop that by over 15%, ie 450+ calories, then such kinds of drastic changes are going to affect your body’s ability to produce testosterone, lose fat, etc. So drop your calories slowly.
   
   
3. Stress the muscle
   
   This simply means putting more demand and stress on your muscles. This can be done by the following ways.
   
   a. Work out with heavier weights
   More weight = More stress and demand on the muscles
   
   b. Perform more compound movements
   Compound movement means exercises that require multiple muscle groups to perform rather than just one. For example, deadlifts, bench press etc vs preacher curls, rope tricep extension from low pulley etc.
   
   c. Time under tension, 1:2 ratio
   Time under tension refers to how long the weight is in your hands & how slow is the speed of your reps. In order to get the most out of your time in the gym, perform slow reps with the ratio of 1:2 on the concentric part and the eccentric part of the rep respectively. Eccentric part refers to the lowering of the weight and should always be slower than the concentric portion of the rep, ie getting the weight up. The eccentric portion of the rep is the biggest mass builder, it’s the time when the muscle is being stretched and thus being torn apart so that later it can grow back stronger with rest & nutrition. In short, the slower you go, the more you get.
   
   
   
4. Rest and recovery
   This can be broken down into the following points.
   
   a. Time in between workouts for a particular muscle group
   The minimum rest that a muscle group requires before it can be worked again is 48 hours. There was a study conducted between people who took 48 hours off before working a muscle group like chest again and the people who took less than 48 hours off. The study showed that people who worked a particular muscle group within a 48 hour period have up to 40% lower testosterone production as to people who took more than 48 hours off. Remember we don’t grow in the gym, we grow outside the gym with the proper rest and nutrition.
   
   b. Sleep
   
   Nothing beats 7-8 hours of sleep every day with consistency. However not everyone can get so much sleep, so the next best thing is called consistent sleeping habits. For example, if you sleep for 6 hours every day and maintain this pattern daily for over a period week or two, your body will adapt to this and begin to complete all the recovery process within this time frame.
   People with irregular sleeping pattern had up to 40% lower testosterone production as per studies.
   
   c. Time between sets
   Lifting heavy? Take around 1.5 mins off b/w sets(4-8 reps)
   Lifting moderate-light? Take about a min off b/w sets
   
   
   
5. Food
   Eat a healthy balanced diet, consume loads of mono n poly-unsaturated fats that come from all kinds of nuts mostly. Consume omega 3 & 6 fats as well. Eat veggies, vegetables help to decrease estrogen levels and thus increase testosterone
   Note - Avoid too much perfume sprays, like room fresheners and cologne, also limit the amount of food you store in plastic utensils. All these things contain man-made estrogen. The same thing is with pesticides & preservatives
   
   
   
6. Vitamins and minerals
   With vitamins and minerals, I’d say you really can’t go overboard. So try to get as many as you can and also consume a multi-vitamin a day to ensure your body has everything it needs. Main vitamins & minerals to focus on are zinc, vitamin A, B, C & E, specifically for higher testosterone production.
   
   
   
7. Overall stress levels
   
   Whether it be stress from work life, relationship, family or anything else, stress is stress, and it leads to decreased level of testosterone Stress releases cortisol (a hormone{a bad for gains hormone}). More cortisol leads to less testosterone, up to 50% less.
   Now everyone has their own way to deal with stress. In my opinion, the best way is to meditate. If you’re thinking mediation? Yeah, tried it, didn’t work, didn’t like it. Then just click on this link and see how your life changes.
   
   Click to learn the best way to meditate
   
   
   
8. Eliminate/Limit alcohol
   
   
   
   Consumption of alcohol lowers your testosterone levels & stops your body from breaking down fat. After consuming alcohol, our body produces acetate, which is a bad but easily usable source of energy. Due to this, our body doesn’t use fat or carbs for energy, as acetate is easier to use and our body always does what is easy. In short, eliminate/limit alcohol as much as possible.
   
   
   
9. Sexual
   
   A study showed that after watching 15 mins of porn, testosterone levels increased in men and women by over a 100%. Having real sex instead of porn increased it even further. Now I’m not promoting you to watch porn here because it really messes up your mind, neither am I recommending you to go crazy over getting laid or something. All I’m saying is that these are the facts, how you implement this is up to you, I’m just explaining that being sexual in a safe & sound manner is good for your mind and your body.
   
   
   
10. For Men - Avoid wearing too tight-hugging clothes near the crotch region
    
    The testicles of a male are supposed to be 2-4 degrees cooler than your body, & testicles produce a lot of testosterone. So if you’re wearing too tight clothing like supporters, very tight underwear etc, then your testicles are not in the best environment and thus produce less testosterone.
    
    
    
11. Timing of your workout
    
    Best time is either in the morning or at night, before sleep. However, if you can’t workout in any of these times, then don’t worry much, the best time to workout is whenever you can.
    
    

All these small things, when coupled together with consistency will provide you amazing results. These all might seem small, but remember, in order to master the big things in life, you have to master the small things first. All these small details do matter because as they say, the devil is found in the details. Well, all your dreams are found in the details too.

Stay Devoted.