Testosterone is one of the most important hormones that is responsible for building muscle mass as well as bone strength, sexual functions, mood and other factors in the human body. What matters to body builders and us fitness enthusiasts the most is its muscle building power.
Here are my top 4 tips on boosting t-levels naturally.
You may have heard so much about the importance of performing compound exercises for boosting testosterone levels naturally. Following workout plans designed around the fundamental compound exercises such as the bench press, the squat and the deadlift is the ultimate way to accomplish this. Studies have shown that the more muscles under tension simultaneously, the more testosterone is released by the body. Although not as much as the compound movements, any type of resistance training has shown to help increase levels of natural testosterone in the body.
Few compound exercises to consider: Bench press, deadlift, squat, power cleans, hang cleans, push press, dips.
Example quadriceps workout
Lifting technique: pre-exhaust training
Pre-exhaust training consists of pre fatiguing the given muscle group by performing isolation exercises first (single joint exercises) and finishing up with compound exercises (multi jointed).
*Advantages:
A - Great way to shock your body out of its comfort zone.
B - For those athletes who suffer from injuries and do not want to go too heavy on the compound movements - This allows you to achieve muscle fatigue without having to go very heavy on the compound lifts due to pre exhaustion.
Muscle group: Quadriceps
Warm Up: 2 warm up sets of 15 reps
Sets: 5
Reps: 15 reps for the isolation exercises & 10 reps for the compound exercise
Rest: 90 seconds
Isolation exercise 1: Leg extensions (toes pointed inwards)
Isolation exercise 2: Leg extensions (toes pointed outwards)
Compound exercise: Barbell front squats
You are already on the right track by adding the compound movements into your training routine. Now, let's take it a step further to boost your t-levels even more by increasing the volume and intensity of your training sessions. Latest studies suggested that higher volume training using repetition ranges around 8-10 rm (repetition max) boosted up T-levels more than when rep ranges of 4-6 rm were used.
However, power training style workouts with lower repetitions are very crucial since they will only help you get stronger for when you train with higher rep ranges during high volume workouts and more weight means more intensity and more natural testosterone production.
Example of a power workout:
Lifting Technique: Traditional straight sets
Muscle Group: Chest
Sets: 5
Reps: 4 - 6
Rest: 90 seconds
Exercise 1: Barbell flat bench press
Exercise 2: Dumbbell incline bench press
Exercise 3: Weighted push ups
Allowing your body to recover and get ready for the next workout is essential for maintaining healthy levels of testosterone. There are a few ways to allow your muscles to rest and your body to keep high levels of testosterone:
Come up with a workout regimen: Give a minimum of 48 hours before you train the same muscle groups again. You can train up to 6 times a week, but if you would like to train this many days a week, you want to make sure that you follow a training split where the bigger muscle groups still get adequate rest.
Sleep like a baby for recovery: I recommend for any athlete to get a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep for maximum recovery
Stretch after your workouts: Make sure to stretch out after each workout and between sets to improve flexibility and help recovery.
Respect your body: If you feel symptoms of insomnia, constant fatigue and especially decreased levels of strength, this is your body's way of telling you that you should get more rest and recover properly, which will help keep up your natural t-levels.
There are lots of factors and different approaches when it comes to nutrition and natural testosterone production, but in this article I want to point out the importance of fats, vitamins and minerals.
Fats: Fats play a big role in the testosterone production in the body. Cutting out fat to very minimum levels could result in lower t-levels, which will hinder your growth and recovery.
Some of the good fat sources to consider:
*Peanut butter
*Salmon
*Avocados
*Olive oil
*Almonds & other nuts
Calcium - A very important ingredient to bone strength, muscle and nerve functions. 1000 mg. Daily is suggested to help boost and maintain higher t-levels. So make sure to include calcium rich foods in your diet such as milk and cheese.
Zinc - This mineral has been proven to help maintain/increase natural t-levels in as little as 4 weeks especially when following an exercise program. So make sure to include zinc supplements such as zma.
Vitamin D - Studies have shown that supplementing with vitamin d could help increase testosterone levels.
Recommended supplement for natural testosterone production: grenade at-4
Grenade at-4 has been formulated to support the body's hormonal axis. Improvements in the form of hormonal support would be expected to provide and environment that is conductive to enhanced:
*Exercise performance
*Muscle pumps
*Recovery
*Muscle mass
As athletes and fitness enthusiasts, we work very hard in the gym and the key elements above will help elevate your natural testosterone levels which will help you get the most out of your hard work in the gym.
Written by Melih f. Cologlu/acpt
Owner of www.covermodelphysique.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/melih-f-cologlu
www.grenadefatburner.com
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Photo Credits: Luis Rafael