This hormone is one that’s often associated with strength and all-round masculinity, but despite this; it’s a key substance for both men and women. You can improve your gym performance, mood and even your sex life by increasing your testosterone levels.
When testosterone is mentioned in a gym sphere, peoples’ ears often prick up because of the close association it usually has with steroids. Many gym users bulking up with numerous steroids increase their testosterone and subsequently reach a constant anabolic state. But this hormone is one that we should be attempting to increase naturally for our overall health. So what benefits does it have? [spacer height=”20px”]
- It boosts your libido
- Improves chances of a healthy heart
- Strengthens your bones
- Increases muscle mass
- Helps you burn fat
There’s an assortment of benefits available when we make a conscious effort to up our testosterone, but for decades this hormone has had a bad rep’. Connotations of high T-levels are followed by the thoughts of aggressive behaviour, crime and other violent mannerisms, but there is no scientific proof to back any of this up. So how can we make a healthy effort to increase our levels and embrace all of the advantages that come with it?
Fat
A macronutrient that receives many unjustified critics and is often demonised by the mainstream. The masses are made to believe that all fat is bad. It’s not great if you’re increasing your LDL cholesterol (‘bad cholesterol’) levels and absorbing every bit of fast food you can get your hands on. But there are essential fats that everybody should be enjoying and they will directly affect our testosterone levels in the process. Regulate hormones with nuts, seeds and avocados. You shouldn’t just concentrate on mon- and polyunsaturated fats but saturated fat too. A study conducted by NCBI revealed that 40% of our energy should be sourced by fat, but the general consensus is to have at least 30% of your overall diet consisting of fat.
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Cholesterol
As previously mentioned, cholesterol is important, but there are ways of going about this. Stopping by at your local McDonald’s for a top-up of cholesterol will hinder your success. You should be looking at decreasing your LDL levels and maintaining healthy HDL levels. In order to ensure this, get a good portion of healthy saturated fats with coconut oil or enjoy tasty dark chocolate to regulate your levels. It’s important to consume our coconut or avocado oil without heating them, when they reach a certain temperature they eliminate their nutritional value and become about as useful as vegetable oil. It’s possible to get your saturated fats from sources such as olive oil and coconut oil. Try to consume these oils without frying or cooking them and avoid them being turned into trans fats, they’re easy to add to your morning smoothie.
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Sleep
We’ll cover this topic in much more detail very soon, because it really is a complex subject. Getting enough sleep is key for our general health, for a number of reasons and one of them is to ensure a healthy hormone balance. When looking to build muscle, one of the first things we should look at addressing is our sleeping pattern. Try to get between 7 and 9 hours sleep to optimise your rest quality and hormone regulation. Bodybuilding.com highlights more reasons to get enough sleep in their article here.
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Ingredients
There are many substances that we don’t get enough of, and if you don’t get the following then you probably won’t be producing as much testosterone as you should. Ensure that you get zinc, vitamin D, DIM (Diindolylmethane).
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Lift Heavy
Enduring those heavy workouts can pay their dividends. You’ll boost your testosterone with strength training and it’s important to incorporate those big compound movements too. By doing so, it will encourage your body to higher the release of T levels and result in both strength and aesthetic gains. Not only will the release of growth hormone allow you to obtain and grow muscle but it will simultaneously encourage fat-burning mechanisms.
Food
Although we already described some of the fats that you can enjoy, there are other foods that can help boost your hormones. Enjoy vegan foods such as pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, coconut and avocado. Another food that has been linked with increased levels of testosterone production is maca, black maca has some amazing benefits when combined with a lifting regime.
Regulating your hormones shouldn’t be underestimated and if you work out, it can be the difference. Start taking your T-level production into account and apply some of our tips above. If you have any questions or things you’d like to add, be sure to leave a message below.
By Treasure
