Category: Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding: articles about building muscle (both size and strength) for a more powerful physique.

Boost Testosterone: raise levels naturally

I hit the big 4-0 a while back and I’m determined to do everything I can to stay strong and healthy.  I’ve taken a special interest in learning how to naturally optimize my testosterone levels–something I took for granted in my younger days.  I’ll share some of what I’ve learned here.

My first piece of advice is to be very skeptical of testosterone booster supplements.   My mind may change one day, but I’m underwhelmed with the studies I’ve seen so far for these kind of products–I’ve yet to see any that are scientifically proven to raise your levels.

I’d suggest you stick to the following simple steps (not necessarily in order).  I’ve included links to more detailed articles for some of these:

1.  Lose weight and/or keep your body fat relatively low.  There’s a positive correlation between body fat and estrogen levels.  This connection isn’t completely understood, but it seems the more body fat you have, the greater your potential to produce higher levels of estrogen.  Keeping your body fat at healthy levels will likely help you have a better ratio of testosterone to estrogen.  I’d recommend the Renegade Diet if you are looking for a good plan to lose fat.

2.  Lift weights.  Resistance training tends to have a positive effect on testosterone levels (in the immediate sense and in the long-term).  Lift weights at least three times a week but avoid overtraining (I usually limit my training sessions to 60 minutes or less).  You can chose from my recommended programs if you are looking for a workout guide.

3. Check your vitamin D levels and consider supplementing.  I’ve mentioned the importance vitamin d plays in sex hormones.  Get your levels tested if you can and consider taking vitamin d3 supplements if you are low.

4. Get enough sleep.  I mentioned this in my post about sleep and testosterone.  Sleep deprivation has been shown to decrease T levels, even in young men.

5.  Eat vegetables like broccoli.  The chemicals in certain vegetables can help with hormone balance.

6. Go easy on the alcohol, especially beer.  Overindulging in alcohol will wreak havoc on your health and hormones (not to mention messing up your life in general).

Try these steps if you want to improve your overall health and boost your testosterone naturally.

 

Training to Failure

A good friend emailed me a while back asking if he should train to failure.  Some of the websites/forums he was reading gave him the impression it was necessary in order to get big and strong.  I thought I’d share my views on this somewhat controversial topic in the iron game.

Let me first define the term: training to failure means you perform a certain exercise until you literally cannot continue.  This means you either drop the weight or (more commonly) require the assistance of a spotter to do more repetitions.

I hardly ever train to failure, and I don’t recommend it for other trainees.  Here are my reasons:

1.  The majority of the experts I follow don’t recommend it.  By “expert” I mean guys who have years of training experience and/or an impressive personal resume of competitive powerlifting.

2.  It burns out the central nervous system (CNS). Training to failure tends to take its toll on the CNS, which will hurt your progress, delay your recovery, and may make you weaker in the long run.

3. It sets you up for injury.  Here’s a typical scene I’ve seen played out in the gyms:  A young guy can only do four good reps on bench press with a given weight.  But he’s determined to do 6-8 reps, so his spotter ends up doing a lot of pulling on rep number 5.  “Two more,” the eager trainee grunts.  The lifter and spotter end up being at risk for injury in this situation.

4.  It doesn’t make sense from a psychological perspective.  In other words, you want to teach yourself how to successfully perform every repetition with good form.  The goal is to lift the weight–not drop it or hand it to a spotter.

What I do:

I normally stop once I know I will be unable to do one more repetition with good form.   I was advised to train this way years ago, and it has served me well.  My own personal strength records came from smart training (like periodization); not going to failure.

Having said all this, there are times when you may want to try certain specific (advanced) techniques that require training to failure or near failure (drop sets, rest-pause training, etc.).  But I think these instances should be exceptions, not staples, in your workouts.  Just be sure there is a specific strategy involved in everything you do.