So, why should you even care about boosting your testosterone levels? If you are a male, testosterone is literally your lifeline. You’d be surprised how much of your physical and mental health is impacted by testosterone hormone.
This article will address:
- What is Testosterone?
- Why There is a Low Testosterone Epidemic
- How Would You Know If You have Low Testosterone?
- Total Testosterone and Free Testosterone
- 6 Ways to Naturally Increase Total and Free Testosterone
What is Testosterone?
Testosterone is the dominant sex hormone produced by males. It is also a naturally produced anabolic steroid hormone. Females produce testosterone as well, but in very small amounts.
Testosterone peaks during puberty and is responsible for masculine characteristics such as:
- Facial Hair
- Muscle Mass
- Bone Structure
- Deep Voice
- Sperm Production
Without testosterone, a man does not feel like a man.
Why There is a Low Testosterone Epidemic
Low testosterone was not an issue in previous generations of men. It wasn’t until the 1980s that we started to see a consistent decline in T levels.
There are numerous causes for this phenomenon. Young men these days are:
- More obese
- Eating a poor-quality diet
- Lacking strength
- Dangerously sedentary
- Chronically depressed
- Have more anxiety
- Sleep-deprived
- Less sexually driven
All these issues can be fixed without testosterone replacement therapy or TRT. It’s not recommended that you take TRT. The side effect risk is not worth it.
Unless you have a unique medical condition where your body can’t produce testosterone naturally, there is no reason to go on TRT.
If you implement the strategies we will talk about later in this article, you will boost testosterone hormone naturally and significantly.
How Would You Know if You Have Low Testosterone?
If any or all the bullet points mentioned above apply to you, then you most likely have low T. The only way you can know for sure is if you go to a doctor and have blood work done.
Total Testosterone and Free Testosterone
Total testosterone is the amount of bounded and unbounded testosterone you have. The amount of testosterone your tissues can use is controlled by a protein called sex hormone binding globulin or SHBG.
Free testosterone is the amount of unbounded testosterone you have. About 98% of men’s testosterone is bounded. The 2% that is free is where you get the most muscle building and fat loss benefits.
In other words, free testosterone is more important for your fitness goals.
6 Ways to Naturally Increase Total and Free Testosterone
1. Get Your Bodyfat Percentage Below 15%
As a man, high levels of bodyfat hinders your ability to produce testosterone. Excess bodyfat causes excess estrogen, which causes a reduction in testosterone hormone.
15% bodyfat or below promotes both high testosterone and good health for men.
So, how would you accomplish reducing your bodyfat percentage? Well, you need to implement a caloric deficit. Basically, you need to be taking in less food energy than your body burns daily.
You would have to be in a deficit for a long enough period to lose the fat you want to lose. It would also be helpful to do bodyfat test once a month to track progress.
2. Weight Train a Few Days a Week
The body needs a reason to produce testosterone and the best reason you can give it is strength training. You need to challenge yourself with heavy weights every gym session.
If you’re on a good muscle-building program, getting stronger over a period of months or years, your testosterone levels will improve.
Lifting weights is great but doing it every day or even most days is counterproductive. If you’re a natural lifter, you get the most optimal recovery with 48-72 hours of rest in between training sessions.
If you don’t understand why you need more rest days than training days, read this article Why Muscle Recovery is More Important Than Training Frequency.
3. Eat a Balance of Proteins, Carbs, and Fats
It’s very important to eat balanced macros if you want to maintain high testosterone. Yes, eating adequate protein is important for muscle development, but it doesn’t mean you under-consume fats and carbohydrates.
You can’t be doing this trendy low-carb or ketogenetic foolishness. Adequate carbs are important for:
- Maintaining leptin levels
- Training Performance
- Building Muscle
- Testosterone production
Low fat diets should also be avoided. You need adequate amounts of fats to support testosterone and other hormones. Not to mention, fat makes your food taste amazing.
If you’re eating within caloric limits, you won’t have to worry about over-consuming any macronutrient. Leptin hormone will also be optimized for fat loss.
If you need insight on what balanced macros are, check out this article Best Macronutrient Split for Fat Loss and Building Muscle.
If you want to learn about the importance of leptin, check out this article How to Keep Leptin Levels High for Fat Loss.
4. Have More Beef in Your Diet
Red meat from Beef is the best food you can eat to boost testosterone. Beef has every essential vitamin and mineral your body needs to sustain itself. Red meat has been called a healing food because of its high nutrient density.
Many people believe they shouldn’t be consuming red meat if they’re trying to lose fat. They tend to fall for the misinformation that has been put forth about red meat.
Not only is red meat amazing for fat loss, but it’s also great for building muscle.
A lot of guys tend to plateau on strength when it comes to heavy compound movements. These guys typically are on strict chicken, brown rice, and broccoli diets.
Once they start eating more beef, their strength goes up like crazy. Therefore, their testosterone levels go up.
Of course, the kind of beef you’re eating matters. You shouldn’t be consuming highly processed factory meats or deli meats.
Its best to consume:
- Grass-fed or Grass-finished beef
- Lean cuts of steak
- Lean ground beef
If you need a more convincing argument as to why you should be consuming more beef, give this article a read Red Meat is the Only True Super Food.
5. Get Sunlight Everyday
Natural sunlight is important for testosterone production. People have no idea how dangerous it is to stay inside all day. More and more studies are showing that staying inside all day is just as bad for you as smoking cigarettes.
Why is this the case? When you’re inside too much, you miss out on the best form of Vitamin D, which comes from the sun.
Unfortunately, the vitamin D you get from your diet is just not as powerful.
Ideally, you should be getting about 20-30 minutes of sun exposure a day. This will help greatly with testosterone.
6. Sleep Enough
Sleeping is non-negotiable if you want to maintain high testosterone. It has been shown that men who sleep 5 hours or less per night, not only experience a drop in testosterone, but a drop in human growth hormone as well.
Too many nights of poor sleep can lead to:
- Increased cortisol levels
- Muscle loss
- A decline in training performance
- A decline in metabolism
HGH and testosterone are team when it comes to men’s physique development. Quality sleep is the main thing that allows those 2 hormones to function optimally.
7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night would be ideal for testosterone and HGH maintenance.
If you want to learn more about HGH, check out this article High Human Growth Hormone is needed for Better Fat Loss.
If you want to learn how to manage cortisol, go to this article How to Reduce Cortisol for Better Fat Loss.
Conclusion
So, if you’re a male looking to naturally increase your testosterone levels, what are your main priorities?
First of all, prioritize raising free testosterone as opposed to total testosterone. Second,
- Get to or maintain bodyfat levels below 15%. Learn how to eat at a deficit caloric intake. That is very important.
- Strength train a few days a week, not every day, but 3 days out of the week or so.
- Get a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Please do not try to avoid any macronutrient.
- Eat more beef. You will feel fuller, you’ll get the most nutritional bang for your buck.
- Get your 20-30 minutes of sunlight a day. You’ll be surprised at the difference it would make in both your physical and mental health.
- Get amazing sleep every night. Quality sleep is not a luxury. It’s a health necessity.
Most men that follow the advice in this article will not have to go on TRT to fix their testosterone issues. They can do it through natural means.
While testosterone is important, there are other hormones you must manage for weight loss. You can learn more about them through this article 7 Hormones You Must Manage on a Weight Loss Program.