If hormones were superheroes then testosterone would no doubt be king. Testosterone would basically be like The Hulk crossed with Wolverine, Superman, Thor, and Batman. Batman of course being the most badass of all because Batman > every other superhero in existence. Don’t agree? You’re wrong then.
Testosterone is the key to building more muscle, shedding more fat, keeping your heart healthy, your twig and berries functioning properly, and having a better sex life. To say testosterone is important for dudes out there would be a minor understatement. Here are the 4 most effective how to increase testosterone naturally:
4. Lift heavier weights, more often.
Huge compound lifts have an awesome effect on your physique. Movements like squats, deadlifts, bench pressing, and pull-ups recruit a high number of muscle fibers, and allow you to use more weight than anything else. This is a 1-2 combo for serious mass and strength. They also torch calories and force the body to work ridiculously hard.
Lifting heavy helps your physique in another way though. These moves cause more testosterone production. More testosterone helps you recover quicker, get stronger, and shed even more fat. Quit screwing around with 50 sets of curls and tricep extensions. Your body will be better off because of it.
3. Eat more red meat.
Steak is the best damn food in all of the land. That’s a given. But red meat actually can play a major role in helping increase testosterone levels as well. Steak is full of shit that is good for you, but one of the best parts is the fat content in steak.
Steak is full of essential fatty acids (EFA’s) and saturated fat. These two sources of fat are essentially the building blocks of hormone production. Without these fats, testosterone production is essentially nil. Steak is a good source of cholesterol (which isn’t all bad), and cholesterol is the precursor to testosterone production. Steak is good. Steak is also an excellent source of protein as well, which is necessary for adequate testosterone production.
2. Get rid of the belly you’ve got.
If you don’t have any fat accumulating on your stomach that presently hangs over your belt, skip this step. If you do, read on.
Belly fat is testosterones worst nightmare. Too much belly fat can legitimately throttle down testosterone production, which makes the process of getting it off even harder. Consequently, less testosterone also means you don’t really get off. See what I did there?
In all seriousness, belly fat can ramp up estrogen production in your body. More estrogen means less testosterone. They two have an inverse relationship. So in order to make one go up, the other has to go down. Getting that belly fat off can have a strong testosterone increasing effect. This shitty thing, and good thing, is when production of one hormone is ramped up your body does everything to keep producing that. So if estrogen production is high, you need to work extra hard to get it down. Once you get testosterone pumping efficiently again, it’ll keep doing that on its own.
1. Don’t skimp on sleep.
Sleeping more is something all of us could probably work on a little bit. Not just sleeping more, but sleeping better. 6 hours of high quality sleep will do far better than 9 hours of tossing and turning. According to some studies, dudes who sleep 5 or fewer hours per night see a 15% drop in testosterone levels. That may not sound like a ton, but it’s definitely something you’ll notice in the gym and bedroom.
Staying up late, watching reruns, and generally neglecting sleep can increase the chances of binge eating, harm your metabolism, and make your sex organs not function as well as you want them to. Which sounds downright awful. All of which can severely harm testosterone production. Don’t neglect your sleep, shoot for at least 7 hours a night. To make sleep quality even better, quit using your electronics in bed while the room is dark. This fucks with your pineal gland and screws up melatonin secretion.