Testosterone, the holy grail of muscle growth. Simply put, testosterone is the most critical muscle-building hormone in your entire body. In addition, it is also one of the main limiting factors that determines how much muscle you can actually build. The higher your testosterone levels are, the faster and more easily you can pack on muscle size and strength. In this article I will be talking about how you can boost your testosterone levels using natural dietary and training techniques.
But before that, I would like to give you an idea of some of the benefits of testosterone and they are as follows:
- increased muscle size and strength
- decreased body fat levels
- increased sex drive and endurance
- improved mood
- decreased levels of bad cholesterol
Yes, you can get all of these and much more just by using these 8 simple ways to naturally raise your testosterone levels. But, just to make everything crystal clear, these natural testosterone boosters are not going to result in muscle gains that you can achieve with steroid use, but there’s no doubt that they will contribute to your overall bottom-line results if you incorporate them properly.
Testosterone Booster #1 – Use compound exercises in your workouts.
Forget about bicep curls, leg extensions, and tricep kickbacks. Yes, these small isolation lifts can still play a supplemental role in your training routine. But if you want to stimulate the greatest increase in anabolic hormone production within your body and build lots of muscle mass you have got to place the majority of your focus on big, basic, compound exercises. These are the proven bread-and-butter lifts like squats, dead lifts, bench presses, rows, chinups, dips, leg presses, lunges, and military presses. These exercises will place your muscles and body under the greatest amount of stress possible in the gym and, as a result, will force your body to rev up its production of testosterone.
Testosterone Booster #2 – Lift to failure.
In other words, push yourself to the limit during every workout. If you really want to see real muscle gains, you must be willing to train with real effort. It is recommended that you perform every set in the gym be taken either all the way to the point of concentric muscular failure (which is the point in the set where no further positive repetitions can be completed using proper form despite your best efforts) or at least one to two repetitions short of concentric muscular failure. If those last few reps of the set don’t force you to dig down deep and give it your all, then that means you are not training hard enough. Keep this in mind… lower training intensity result in lower testosterone production. So start buckling down and getting serious if you really want to rev up your body’s testosterone production.
Testosterone Booster #3 – Train your legs equally as hard as your upper body.
Do you ever wonder what bodybuilding experts mean when they say that training your legs will actually make your upper body grow? Anabolic hormone production is what they are referring to. Muscle growth is not just a localized event that happens at the level of the specific muscle being trained during workout. Muscle growth also results as the entire body is placed under stress and it is forced to secrete higher levels of testosterone and other growth hormones as an adaptive response. This increase in anabolic hormone circulation results in gains in muscle size and strength in all of your body’s major muscle groups. And there is no better way to produce this total body stress than through the use of hard, heavy, and intense leg workouts. If you haven’t been placing equally focus on your legs as you have on your upper body and if you are not regularly performing intense sets of squats, leg presses, lunges, and stiff-legged lifts as part of your workout routine, be prepared for a huge increase in total muscle gains once you do.
Testosterone Booster #4 – Increase your consumption of essential fatty acids (EFAs).
EFAs are known as the good fats and are found in unsaturated fat sources such as nuts, seeds, avocados, fish and leafy green vegetables. In addition to a huge list of muscle-building and overall health benefits that EFAs provide, EFAs also play an important role in testosterone production in your body. If you are still stuck with the notion that all fat is bad and you are not paying attention to your EFA intake, your testosterone levels and bottom-line muscle gains are going to suffer. Make sure that at least 20% of your total daily calories are being derived from fat and that you are consuming food sources that are high in EFAs. A great way to ensure this is to supplement with flax seed oil and extra virgin olive oil by consuming one to two table spoons of each daily.
Testosterone Booster #5 – Reduce your soy consumption.
Soy protein raises the body’s level of estrogen which is the main female hormone. And this has a direct negative effect on your testosterone levels. Nearly all soy products on the market contain phytoestrogens known as isoflavones which have been shown to measurably decrease testosterone levels in men. So, stay away from high amounts of soy protein powders, soy milk, soy beans, or any other foods high in soy protein as these can definitely add up and have a noticeable negative effect on your result over the long term.
Testosterone Booster #6 – Limit your alcohol consumption.
Not only does excessive alcohol consumption decrease protein synthesis, increase fat storage, deplete the body of vitamins and minerals, and cause dehydration, but it also lowers your testosterone levels. Some studies have shown that at a person’s most intoxicated state, testosterone levels can drop by up to 25%. If you are serious about building as much muscle size and strength as you possibly can, alcohol should be consumed rarely and in small amounts.
Testosterone Booster #7 – Lower your daily stress levels.
Being overly stressed stimulates the release of cortisol, a highly catabolic hormone that is every serious muscle builder’s worst nightmare. Not only does cortisol break down muscle tissue and stimulate fat storage, but it has a direct negative impact on testosterone levels as well. There are many different things that can trigger cortisol production such as over training and inadequate sleep and a stressful lifestyle is also one of them. Try to reduce your daily levels of stress by performing activities that you enjoy, planning your schedule in advance, and maintaining a positive outlook and attitude.
Testosterone Booster #8 – Make sure to get adequate sleep at night.
Everyone knows that a quality sleep every night is extremely important for improving recovery in between workouts, sharpening mental focus, and raising energy levels. But a good restful sleep also appears to ramp up testosterone and growth hormone production as well. Not only that, but it also decreases the production of cortisol. It is highly recommended that you should get 8 hours of quality sleep every single night to keep anabolic hormone production at its highest.
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