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By Elena Voropay  Increasing Testosterone Naturally It is clear that the quality and quantity of your muscles and all other tissues in the body is maintained by a continuous repair process. Cells naturally die and new ones are being made since the day you are born. This involves two important processes - both protein breakdown and protein synthesis. As you age, protein turnover changes and muscle loss becomes evident leading to sarcopenia. However, muscle loss in an aging body is not the same as muscle loss you may notice when you go on a diet or train to much. Typically, the second scenario is likely to bring on a catabolic state where muscle loss comes from a higher breakdown rate. Conversely, sarcopenia results from a decreased synthesis rate rather than an increased protein breakdown or catabolism. Additionally, research has consistently reported that muscle protein synthesis rates are lower in older adults when compared to younger adults. It is also important to note here that the ability of the muscle to regenerate after an injury or overload is also decreased with age.
Even physically inactive people lose approximately 3 – 5 % of lean mass per decade after the age of 30. And right at this time your androgens take a dive. It appears that the amount of Testosterone in your body is a limiting factor for building muscles because T is required to maintain protein synthesis. One study found that having low Testosterone resulted in a decrease in strength and muscle endurance of 90% to 100%! That's why since the 1940's, the illegal use of Testosterone and relative anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass and enhance sports performance has fueled a black-market worth millions of dollars. It's been known for years that weight training initiates favorable responses in the T production for both men and women at younger age. But recent investigations noted significant changes may occur in elderly as well. What is even more astonishing is that protein synthesis may increase in as little as 2 weeks. Research has shown that following a 2-week supervised resistance-training program muscle protein synthesis rates increased up to 182% from baseline in 78-84-year-olds. Another study showed that after working out for 3 months the rate of muscle protein synthesis went up by approximately 50% in 17 frail 76 to 92 year old men and women. And these folks had only a fraction of Testosterone, GH and IGF-1 you have now, not to mention other metabolic changes.
So, it only seems like you'll be training the muscles, but your it is your gonads that will do all the heavy lifting job by bringing your Testosterone levels up. Either way, regardless of how old you are or how much T you've got in the system, the reward of hitting the weights can be a stronger physique and better bedroom sessions than you'd otherwise deserve.
Boosting T With Training
Maxing out Testosterone levels doesn't mean you have to resort to using illegal steroids or pro-hormones. If you noted the above mentioned symptoms of subliminal muscularity in yourself, or suspect that your T levels need some improvement, you gotta get to the gym. Fast. Research from the University of Connecticut (Storrs) shows that working out boosts Testosterone and also immediately increases the muscles' levels of androgen receptors. The more T and androgen receptors there are, the more likely you are to stimulate growth. The key is to learn how to train and eat properly – this can make a world of difference in keeping your manly hormone at muscle-building levels.
But simply stepping into the gym for a few minutes wouldn't do the trick. Your body doesn't automatically start doubling your Testosterone after the first set of heavy weights. Blood levels of Testosterone begin to increase about 20 minutes into an exercise session and may remain elevated for 1 to 3 hours after exercise. So, do a warm up to get some blood into your system, wake up these stiff and dormant muscles, bring your internal temperature up, psyche up your ego and now go lift heavy. I have pointed before and can say it again and again: warming up will not only prevent injuries and prepare your mind and muscles for heavy work, it will actually help you produce a better response to your anabolic hormones, such as Growth Hormone (hGH), IGF-1, Glucagon, Leptin, Insulin, Epinephrine and Nor-epinephrine.
How much more Testosterone you can make after a workout depends on the amount of muscle mass stimulated, the training load and the level of intensity (or the heaviness of weights used), the number of reps and sets, as well as the length of rest periods, both during and after a workout.
Most studies show that Testosterone levels rise most rapidly when you train heavy with lots of sets, target multiple muscle groups with multi-joint exercises and take short rest periods (about one minute) between sets. However, the research on Testosterone and strength training is complex and is not as clear cut as one would expect. For example, elite Olympic weightlifters have shown no changes in Testosterone over a 1-year training period. Other researchers have shown that during a 2-week heavy weight training session there actually was a 12% reduction in resting Testosterone concentration. The problem may come from the fact that the volume of training was too high and the subjects were not given enough time for recovery. This is why it is extremely important to pay attention to your training routine – if you do too much, you may end up with low T and less muscles; if you train too little, you may end up in the same boat.
Before you get to the gym next time, have a training guide ready so you can go straight to the T-boosting workout without wasting your time on lowering it with high-rep circuits.
Training Volume.
Most of the literature goes in the same way on this issue - resistance exercise must be done at a sufficient volume to fully stimulate Testosterone production. What is sufficient? If you are not a new-bee in bodybuilding, a moderate-volume high-intensity routine will boost your T fantastically. According to research, long-term trained men seem to require a higher volume of training (meaning doing more sets and exercises) to stimulate greater hormone responses. Too low a volume will not cause Testosterone to be released a level near what higher volume do.
The range of reps and sets falls somewhere 'in the middle' – 5 - 10 repetitions per set, 3 sets per exercise minimum. If the repetition range is a good way to determine the level of intensity and match it with volume, it might not be the best way to determine the optimum Time Under Tension or TUT necessary for the real T-boost. The optimum time has been found to be between 40 and 60 seconds per set. If your repetitions follow the speed pattern of 2 seconds on concentric and 4 seconds on eccentric portion of the lift, that would equal to 8 reps per set.
How much overall training volume is too much? Conflicting evidence here as well. A 2004 study used 3 groups of subjects: the control subjects who didn’t exercise; another group performed 25 sets; and a high volume group 3 finished 50 sets. The workouts consisted of the few sets of basic multi-joint exercises and reps were 5 to 10 with 90 to 120 seconds of rest between sets. The high-volume group had significantly suppressed Testosterone over a 24-hour period, although there was no drop in the moderate-volume group.
In a study from New Zealand, weight-trained men performed 3 different squat workouts:
A bodybuilding-style high-volume workout that consisted of 10 sets of 10 reps (100 reps total) using 75% of their 1 RM with 2-minute rest periods between sets. A high-intensity strength workout comprised of 6 sets of 4 reps (24 reps total) with about 88% of their 1RM and 4-minute rest periods between sets. A medium-volume low-intensity workout that consisted of 8 sets for 6 reps (48 reps total) using 45% of 1RM and resting 3 minutes between sets.
Which of these do you think produced the highest Testosterone elevations? After a 100 rep-workout (highest volume) T levels were almost doubled. What happened to the other two training protocols is quite surprising - Testosterone levels did not increase, although intensity was high. From this study the researchers suggested total volume may be a key in boosting Testosterone with training.
And while higher volume workouts do cause more Testosterone to be released, too much volume can kill Testosterone. The reason is that as enjoyable training is, it is a stressful event for the body. As a result, your adrenal glands release hormone Cortisol which can cause muscle cannibalism and lead to overtraining when high-volume workouts are practiced too frequently and over a long period of time. If you don't allow your body to recuperate adequately between training sessions, your circulating Testosterone levels can plunge by as much as 40%, according to a study at the University of North Carolina.
How do you know if you are crossing the line? The symptoms of overtraining are hard to miss: irritability, insomnia, muscle shrinkage, changes in appetite, mood swings and unsatisfied desire to train more. The first best thing you can do to avoid such a pitiful scenario and actually increase you Testosterone is making sure you sleep full 8 hours at night, eat regularly and never train the same muscles with weight-lifting movements two days in a row. Notice that I mentioned sleep as one of the priorities – getting less than 6 hours of deep sleep has shown to drop Test by 40%!
Training Intensity. Heavy lifting and high-intensity workouts (such as sprints) create the most potent anabolic environment for the muscles increasing levels of Testosterone, Growth Hormone and IGF-1. However, catabolic Cortisol goes along with them during intense exercise. And heavy doesn't have to be super-heavy. According to one research which focused on hormonal responses in 2 groups, doing more reps with somewhat moderate loads is best for spiking T. In the study one group performed a hypertrophy workout made of sets of 10 RM with 1 minute of rest between each set (a high-volume lower intensity workout) while the other group trained with multiple sets of 5 RM with 3 minutes between sets (high intensity low-volume protocol). Both groups showed significant increase in serum Testosterone, but the earlier showing a slightly higher increase. That indicates that a higher volume/lower intensity workouts do increase Testosterone level more than hard-core strength training. Also, shorter rest periods seem to have the same effect.
Those elevated T levels quickly decrease after 45 to 60 minutes of training, so try to watch the clock and be efficient. Since doing more total sets and reps and exercises leads to more Testosterone and you can't and shouldn't train for too long, something's gotta give. That would be your rest periods.
Rest Between Sets, Exercises and Workouts.
Your Testosterone-boosting program also should encounter for the 2 crucial rest factors. First, rest between sets. During this program, heavier weights and fewer reps are encouraged. But so are shorter rest periods between sets. Research by scientists from the University of Connecticut examined the hormonal responses and adaptation to resistance exercise and training. They noted that high-volume, moderate-to-high-intensity weight training, using short rest intervals and stressing a large muscle mass, multiple joint exercises (legs, chest, back, shoulders) tended to produce the greatest acute hormonal elevations (notably Testosterone and GH). In comparison low-volume, high-intensity resistance training methods using long rest intervals did not induce a similarly high hormonal response. Now comes the confusing part - while shorter rest periods of less than a minute have been linked with an increase in Growth Hormone, longer rests of 1 minute or a few seconds more may increase Testosterone. Remember that the majority of muscle gains and the greatest Test surge come from lifting heavy weights, and that means you simply need more time to recover, typically 90 seconds or more. So, both short and long rest periods have their place. What do you do? Chill out. If you are primed to make as much hGH and T as possible, start each workout training heavy and resting longer, then finish with lighter weights and short rests.
Second critical factor is rest between workouts. Lifting heavy weights in many exercises dictates that you take a full recovery day after each workout. This is ideal for maximizing your training and your Testosterone levels: more frequent training can drive all anabolic hormones down. One rest day between workouts allows for full recovery and optimal workouts, encouraging better recuperation, so you can come back and show some quality training. However, don't stretch your limits in attempt to justify the lost desire to work out. By not training for a week you have a greater chance of de-training.
Exercises.
Findings all flood in the same direction as to say that the larger the amount of muscle mass is stimulated simultaneously, the more the Testosterone level increase. You might have heard it already trillion times that multi-joints exercises are better than isolation single-joint movements for developing muscle mass and strength but without really knowing why. Well this is one of the reasons: they stimulate more Test.
Interestingly, even lighter sets can add to the anabolic-hormone surge provided that the exercises used are not isolation-type and use multiple muscle groups. Now, name the king exercise of muscle building.... That's right – squats. One study showed that just 5 sets of squats done at only 50% of 1 Rep Max, about 15 reps per set, triggered a significant Testosterone increase. So, turns out that the volume can make up for intensity as long as you are doing compound exercises. But throwing around 1-kg dumbbells won't help you effect a rise in Testosterone, even if you do a 100 reps of squats. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only 8 - 10 times. That weight is about 85% of your 1 Repetition Maximum - this workload produced the greatest boosts in Testosterone.
Another great thing about compound lifts is that they allow you to cut back on the total time you spend working out because you do not have to work each muscle group separately. If you can hit your chest muscles, triceps and shoulder muscles all with a single bench press movement, that will save you from having to work quite so many additional exercises to those other little muscles. The classic compound exercises are familiar to anyone with a basic knowledge of weight lifting. The standard group includes dead-lifts, squats, leg presses, lunges, bench presses, dips, rows, chin-ups, pull-ups and shoulder presses. This should get you covered for the week and trash the entire body drowning in T.
Enduring Test.
When it comes to reducing body-fat, aerobics can be an important part of the equation. But when it comes to adding muscle mass, though, all those treadmills and cycles may work against your Test levels. Studies have shown that resistance trained men have higher basal Testosterone levels compared to their sedentary counterparts or to endurance-trained men. Why does it happen? The mechanism is currently unclear, but may be related to dysfunctions within the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular regulatory axis. Evidence now suggests that men who participate in chronic endurance training display mild degrees of reproductive system abnormalities: reduced resting levels of Testosterone, altered pituitary release of Luteinizing Hormone and Prolactin, and altered sperm characteristics. Even performed in moderation, cardio training could potentially lead to fatigue and a general overtraining response which can interfere with muscle growth by boosting Cortisol – a potent Testosterone suppressor. What if you train with weights and do the cardio together? Studies have also found that both endurance- and resistance-trained males had lower Testosterone levels than sedentary control subjects.
Am I telling you to stop the life-giving cardiovascular activity all together in order just to keep your Test surging? By all means, no! As a matter of fact, there could be beneficial physiologic adaptations from the lowered Testosterone. Some researchers indicate that lowering Testosterone may have cardiovascular protective effects and decrease the risk of coronary heart disease. A recent study out of Germany has demonstrated that chemically induced reductions in endogenous Testosterone level results in significant increases in heart-protective HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) in men.
Besides, the more cardio you do, the better your body will respond without lowering important anabolic hormones. In one study 8 highly trained men rowers performed a 2-hour, low-intensity, long-distance rowing (LDT) test, their blood was tested before and after training. There were no significant changes in fasting Cortisol and Testosterone values during the whole study period, and there were no significant changes in Cortisol and Testosterone concentrations during the LDT. However, after 2 weeks of training the Testosterone concentration was significantly higher at 30 minutes after a workout session compared with post-test values during the first initial long-distance rowing test. Also, during the second LDT, values of Cortisol tended to be decreased compared with post-test values (p = 0.063). What this means for an average muscle-head is that the body tends to adapt to exercise and this is why fit people don't produce the hormones in the same way unfit subjects do.
So, you can build muscles and burn fat at the same time then. The key is good ol' Periodization model, well-planned routine and, as mentioned earlier, keeping an eye on over-training, under-eating and under-resting. Also, sprinting combined with running, or interval training is an outstanding way to keep your T up.
Of course, if you’re on steroids, you can throw all of the above out the window. Guys on the “juice” can certainly stand a lot more work, recover faster and grow more quickly. Hopefully, you choose not to go that route and take advantage of your own natural steroid factory.
T-Boosting Workout: 2-Day Split
What makes a key difference between a standard typical workout and a training program targeted to boost Testosterone is that it calls for higher intensity and more total sets per session. You are not training small body parts, such as forearms and calves, as you do with GH training. Here, you want to focus on big lifts and do more squats, bench presses, pull-overs, dips. In these compound movements smaller muscles still have to work, but only as synergists. Don't worry, they will not shrink from de-training and you will have plenty of time to sweat the small stuff in the Growth Hormone-boosting or any other program later on.
Although you may be covering more body surface in each workout, there are fewer sets per body part – only 3 per exercise, with 3 exercises each. In essence, you will be working out every other day with no more than 25 to 30 work sets in any one workout. Keep reps, sets and rest periods the same, but check out different exercises.
A simple 2-day body-part split works really well:
Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Back. Tuesday: Active recovery day, cardio, stretching. Wednesday: Legs, Arms, Abs Thursday: Active recovery day, cardio, stretching. Friday: Chest, Shoulders, Back (different exercises than performed on Monday) Saturday: Active recovery, cardio, stretching. Sunday: Legs, Arms, Abs ( different exercises than performed on Wednesday)
Perform Workout 1 on Monday, then have a day of active recovery and do Workout 2 on Wednesday. Then, have Thursday off and on Friday, go to Workout 3 where you are training the same muscle groups that you did on Monday in Workout 1. Again, Saturday can be a good day to stretch and do some cardio. Then, perform your final 4th Workout of the week on Sunday, training the same bodyparts as in Workout 2 you did on Wednesday. Another day of complete rest and start the cycle over. In total, you'll do 14 workouts over one month.
This is just of many variations you can try. Of course, you can create your own design or check out other sources for excellent advice. Keeping this in mind, don't repeat the mistake many novice trainees make – they find a good workout, see results in a month, and stick to this same training schedule for the next 20 years. Even if Testosterone is what you are after, alternate between the different phases every 8 - 16 weeks. Vary intensity and volume, change the number of sets and reps, go from high to low rest periods, experiment with different exercises, use your imagination and, please, don't ever get bored with “same old gym stuff”. That'll get you growing.
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