Testosterone And Muscle Building – How Is It Related To Each Other?
Testosterone is the most powerful and quintessential male hormone which plays a major role in building muscle mass.
Maintaining the right testosterone levels is important for various benefits like overall well-being, increased libido, enhanced energy and also for potentially improved athletic performance.
It is a super steroid hormone which help you in improving lean muscle mass as well as bone density and above all will help you maintain a good body, which in turn is crucial for your good health!
High levels of testosterone hormone is often linked with more fat loss and muscle growth. Even if building body muscle is not a primary goal, every guy will be finding ways to improve his testosterone levels.
On the other hand, if a guy is trying to increase his muscle mass, then he should focus on boosting his testosterone levels.
Testosterone is considered as a crucial hormone driver for your muscle growth. There are various studies which has proved that anabolic steroids that will boost your T levels, if given to young and healthy men will increase muscle growth together with fat loss.
However, opting for natural techniques is always the best choice.
For further information regarding the case study, click on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11701431
Science behind Testosterone Levels
It is to be noted that, as you grow old, there are higher chances for the T levels to drop down. Natural testosterone levels will start to drop for majority of the men in their late 20’s to early 30’s. This decline will turn out to be more precipitous as you age more.
Longitudinal effects of aging on date-adjusted T and free T index. Linear segment plots for total T and free T index vs. age are shown for men with T and SHBG values on at least two visits. Each linear segment has a slope equal to the mean of the individual longitudinal slopes in each decade, and is centered on the median age, for each cohort of men from the second to the ninth decade. Numbers in parentheses represent the number of men in each cohort.
Once the levels go beyond the normal range, say around 300 to 1000 ng/dl, then you will run the risk of blowback.
When the levels go above this range, the excess levels of hormone will get converted to estrogen, thereby resulting in conditions like male breast growth (gynecomastia), growth of body hair and baldness.
Very high levels of T levels are really uncommon among the natural bodybuilders, however can be seen in those who are using performance-enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids.
However you can improve building muscle mass and various other benefits of T hormone even when you are in the middle of normal range by increasing the endogenous levels.
On the other hand, if your T levels are not increasing naturally or even with the aid of any performance-enhancing aids, then you can definitely increase the production of your hormone by including the below mentioned nutrition, exercise and lifestyle strategies in your day-to-day life.
It is not at all a surprising fact that having more muscle mass helps to maintain the levels of testosterone high.
Training for building muscles will increase testosterone levels and elevated levels of T hormones builds muscle mass. All you have to make sure is that don’t ever get too much of a good thing.
Even though there are several factors which are responsible for why and how you look the method you do, it is mainly the amount of growth hormone which is released into the body, which later dictate how physically large the muscles as well as bones finally become.
Link between Muscle Growth and Testosterone Levels
We are already aware of the fact that increasing the levels of testosterone dramatically induces muscle growth.
If you are taking the right kind of steroids, there are chances that your T levels will skyrocket and if you are lifting weights on regular basis, you can achieve more muscle growth than if you are drug-free.
But there are certain things which majority of the people is now aware of.
Fluctuation of T hormones within the normal physiological range will not affect your muscle growth. That is, if the T levels are a bit down the middle normal, then boosting them to a high normal will make you feel even better and will be able to notice a boost in libido as well.
However this is not enough to build more muscle mass. This has been scientifically proven.
Charles R. Drew from the University of Medicine and Science have carried out a research and published the report a decade ago in which they have given varying amounts of testosterone enanthate together with drugs for inhibiting the natural production of testosterone to young as well as healthy men for around 20 weeks.
For further information regarding the study, click on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12679426
While high levels of T hormones help in gaining muscle growth, it was not really as prominent as you might think.
What the scientist came across was that as long as the T levels are within the safe range (normal physiological range, say between 300 - 1000 ng/dl), muscle growth won’t fluctuate much.
These points to the fact that those subjects which were on the low end of normal range were not far behind those subjects on the higher end in terms of muscle mass.
There was no significant improvement in the muscle growth until the T levels exceeded the top of normal range by around 20 to 30 percent.
Just like many researches, this study was having certain limitations; the subjects were not doing any exercises. Even though the overall amount of strength and muscle gained would be higher if the subjects have been into weightlifting, the link between total muscle growth and the T levels would still exists.
However, this has been partially demonstrated with the aid of another research.
The research proves that all the subjects involved in the study has gained muscle growth, however the fluctuations in the size of hormone spikes among them were having no influence on the results.
The only thing to note here is not that you should get steroids, but those things which could increase your testosterone levels naturally are doubtful to have an effect on your muscle growth.
On the other hand, some of the researchers carried out an extensive review linked to the usage of anabolic steroids and found out that the muscle growth among subjects who were engaged in resistance training while taking anabolic steroids ranged between 2 to 5 kg (4.5 to 11 pounds) during a short period of time, say less than ten weeks).
Also, the scientists noted the greatest amount of muscle gain around 7 kg (which means 15.5 pounds) over a period of 6 weeks of regular weightlifting along with steroid intake.
How to Increase Your T Levels Naturally?
While it is really good to know what T hormones are and how it influence muscle building, think about how you can naturally increase its production. You are no stranger to T hormones as it is the major muscle building hormone in your body.
When the T levels are within the normal safe range, then your energy levels thrive and you will be able to gain better muscle growth.
It is not at all a big secret that testosterone is the holy grail of male hormones. Now let us review some of the easiest ways on how to boost your testosterone levels safely and naturally. Here’s how.
Reduce Alcohol Consumption
By limiting the body’s capability to down regulate the hormone estrogen – the major female sex hormone which helps in promoting fat storage –the intake of alcohol will promote decreased T levels.
It is always better to stop consuming alcohol while you are in a goal to build muscle mass.
De-Stress
Whenever you feel a negative stress, your body will be releasing the most destructive, non-anabolic hormone cortisol and this in turn will certainly drive your T levels down.
Thus, in order to increase testosterone production in your body, it is important that you should control your stress levels.
Have More Sex
One more reason to boost you between-the-sheets cardio is improved production of T hormones in response to the sexual stimulation. It is said that testosterone hormone levels will drop down rapidly if sexual activity is abstained for a week or more than that.
Include Heavy Resistance Training
Increasing your T hormones doesn’t just depend on how you are lifting up weights, but about how much you are lifting. Lifting light weights are really good for a warm-up, however once warmed up, it is now time to start lifting up heavy weights.
Even though it is advised to balance the weight training along with cardio for promoting GH release, it is always better to emphasize weights over endurance for pure T hormone increment.
Experts even suggest that mass building compound movements are found to be the best for increasing the production of testosterone in your body since they overload your body in a systematic manner for targeting more number of muscle fibers.
Released in a rapid manner while the muscles are subjected to work more within a short period of time, testosterone is produced in response to quick-burst weight training programs which is combined with long resting hours.
Placing the body under tension with the aid of heavy loads as well as high intensity will certainly push the body to start releasing more amount of testosterone to get the job done.
In order to put a stop to this, it is better to lift more weights as far as possible which can be handled for around six to eight reps prior to taking rest between two to three minutes.
The idea behind lifting up heavy weights for enhancing testosterone levels is not at all a new science.
Studies have proved that this kind of training programs will induce testosterone release and growth hormone, irrespective of the age.
For further information regarding the case study, click on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2796409
Balanced Diet Plan
Following a well-balanced diet plan incorporating all the necessary 20, 30, 45 percentage of protein, fat as well as carbohydrates, there are many essential nutrients which will help to improve the overall natural production of testosterone hormone in your body.
Zinc, which is found plenty in red meat, turkey, oysters and chicken is considered as one of the major element for a testosterone production and healthy sexual functioning.
On the other hand, garlic and onions contains a chemical named allicin which helps enhance a surge in this super hormone.
Cruciferous veggies like brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale and collard greens will increase T hormones, indeed when compared with beef, cabbage is having around 6 times the amount of zinc content in each calories consumed.
Still consuming red meat is said to be the best method to boost both the zinc and the saturated fat content for driving your testosterone levels up.
Some of the studies even prove that around 30 to 40 percent of the daily calorie intake from fat will result in increased T hormone production and showed that those men with the highest testosterone readings where having higher levels of saturated fat.
Cut Down Fat
The balancing act that leads to more release of T hormones can be well explained by the need to consume more amount of saturated fat along with maintaining the lower levels of body fat.
It is proved that once your body fat goes beyond 30 percent of your overall body mass, a hormonal shift will start occurring and this in turn indicates a boost in the estrogen levels along with an equivalent decline in the testosterone levels.
Keep in mind that, alcohol consumption, poor diet plan, increased levels of stress and minimal training can all lead to lowered testosterone levels along with increased body fat.Also, it is important to note that when it comes to dietary fat, it is not just the amount of fat percentage which you consume matters, but the type of fat intake that really counts.
Some of the examples for quality monounsaturated fats may include olive oil, almonds, avocados and peanut butter and quality saturated fats may include red meat, coconut oil, egg yolks, dark chocolate and cheese.
Cholesterol – Is It Really Important?
It is of no surprise that testosterone hormone is derived from cholesterol and hence if your diet plan doesn’t comes with enough cholesterol, then you will certainly get disappointed when it comes to muscle building hormone.
It is a real fact that majority of the T hormones in your body is tied to proteins. However, only the free or the unattached testosterone is considered readily available or bioavailable for the tissue uptake (muscle building).
In addition to this, including whole eggs in a moderately carbohydrate-restricted food plan has proved to show better results in lipoprotein profile, thereby reducing insulin resistance among people who are having metabolic syndrome, which includes health issues like abnormally high blood glucose, hypertension and various other risk factors for the heart disease.
Top cholesterol-containing eatables are those which are rich in saturated fats. Few of the best choices may include red meat, seafood like squid, shrimp, and lobster and egg yolks.
For further information regarding the case study, click on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15741266
Catch Your Sleep
Lack of proper sleep will intenselylessen the amount of testosterone production in your body and this in turn will lower muscle growth as well as fat loss.
Scientists claimed that the amount of sleep which you get is linked with the morning levels of testosterone levels.
It is always advisable to sleep for around 7 to 9 hours for a healthy body and mind, especially for optimizing the testosterone response.
For further information regarding the case study, click on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17520786
A Few Testosterone Boosting Foods!!!
Muscle mass is always torn down in your gym, however it is built back up right in your kitchen as well.Right nutrition is eighty percentage of your results.
This points out the fact that concentrating as much energy in the kitchen as that in your gym.
Food choices can very well boost the testosterone production as much as heavy lifting can do. Some of the most opted three favorite testosterone enhancement foods are listed below:
Eggs:
Eggs are the perfect choice for building body mass.They are rich invitamin D, calcium, protein and cholesterol and these factors supports testosterone production well.
Garlic:
Garlic is not just used for warding off the vampires. Garlic has proved to bring down the stress hormone levels and cortisol. In addition, it also helps to increase T hormones. Just one clove per day will help to enhance your boost testosterone levels.
Grass-Fed Beef:
Grain-fed beef is not going to harm you, however the alternative is just simply better. The grass-fed beef contains higher amounts of selenium, omega-3 fatty acids and beta-carotene - all of which helps to boost the testosterone levels.
Conclusion
Boosting the overall production of testosterone hormone is one of the best moves you can take towards securing greater strength gains and muscle mass.
If you are searching ways to give your body everything it requires for gaining size and strength along with burning fat, then increasing T levels naturally is one of the best and safe option.
Try to carry out intense full body workouts on various compound exercises. Try to consume clean and healthy food items like grass-fed beef and eggs which are proven to increase testosterone levels.
Finally, if you are investing in any supplement, make sure that you go for the one which is made out of right amount of ingredientsand doses for naturally boosting testosterone production.
