Introduction
The topic of “increasing testosterone” has been on everyone’s lips since the hype surrounding TRT, fueled by Joe Rogan. The number of athletes whose blood is found to contain illegal steroids is getting younger and younger, and even amateur athletes are now taking drugs in unprecedented quantities.
Although it is generally known what risks healthy men in particular are exposed to when they supplement with synthetic testosterone, influencers on social media are increasingly tempting young people to resort directly to synthetic solutions via injection, instead of first looking at natural testosterone-boosting nutrients in natural foods such as dietary supplements or even completely avoiding supplements such as so-called “testo boosters” in order to compensate for the supposed hormonal deficit through physical exercise. But is it even possible to compensate for at least small deficits in hormone levels with nothing more than sufficient sleep and regular exercise and to completely avoid supplements of any kind? Anyone who looks into this question on the Internet will most likely come across negative answers.
But this is also obvious – after all, most fitness influencers finance themselves through advertising partnerships with supplement manufacturers & simply recommending more exercise to their own audience does not fill their own coffers by a cent. It’s good that at CenterTRT we care more about the health of our readers than profits from any advertising partnerships. So let’s get to the bottom of the question together as to whether and to what extent exercise alone can correct a man’s testosterone level or even increase it above normal levels. And of course, which sports and training plans are particularly effective in optimizing testosterone levels and which can possibly even have a negative impact on the male hormone balance.
Symptoms of low testosterone
Before you even think about optimizing your testosterone naturally or artificially, you should use a blood test to determine how high your actual levels actually are. If none of the following symptoms apply to you and your testosterone is still in the lower range, the main question is whether more testosterone will have any noticeable effects at all and whether the health risk and financial outlay will be worth it.
Fatigue and lack of energy
People with low testosterone levels in their bloodstream almost always feel lethargic, weak and drained. They no longer wake up properly in the morning, but instead drag their leaden bodies into the shower half asleep and could just go back to sleep afterwards. This effect is particularly noticeable in winter, when a large number of men complain of falling testosterone levels due to a lack of sunlight and thus a lack of vitamin D.
Depression
Men are hunters and gatherers and their bodies are perfectly equipped for these activities. However, as soon as they stop hunting regularly, not only their bodies (which increasingly lose muscle and become weaker) but also their psyche adapts to the low hormone levels by developing depressive moods. This can go so far that even the slightest criticism from outside feels like a stab in the heart – men with low testosterone behave more and more “effeminately”. This effect can also be observed in the animal kingdom. In lobsters, for example, the probability of winning the next fight is halved with each defeat and vice versa – even if in this case dopamine and not testosterone is the decisive factor for the phenomenon. If a hormonally-induced depression is left untreated for too long, the condition continues to worsen until suicide is often the bitter end.
Reduced libido
Having to compete with other males for the most beautiful female is not only something our relatives in the animal kingdom do not have to do, but is also a completely normal procedure for the human species. Too low testosterone not only means that men feel less desire to compete with other men (for females) – the urge to reproduce in general becomes weaker the lower the testosterone level is. And while a lack of libido may even be convenient for one or two men in the short term, in the medium term it is highly likely to lead to serious illnesses such as the depression mentioned above.
The most effective sports for more male hormones in the blood
When it comes to increasing natural testosterone levels, not all sports and fitness exercises are equally effective. Overtraining or focusing too much on isolated muscle groups can, in the worst case, even lead to a decrease in free testosterone, which we naturally want to avoid at all costs. First, the good news: with the right exercise and a reasonable sleep pattern, a low testosterone level of around 300 can actually double to around 600 within just under a year! As a rule of thumb for the gym, the more you exercise in the endurance range, where many calories are burned over a longer period of time and the muscles become acidic, the lower the effect of your training will have on your testosterone levels.
So if you want to focus on strength endurance in your sport, you should aim for the most intensive interval training possible for the sake of your hormone levels. This stimulates the metabolism and ensures a strong immune system, especially in the cold winter months, in addition to the testosterone aspect. Under no circumstances should you train for more than 45 minutes, because after this time, hormone levels actually drop with every minute of physical exertion. However, we must also speak out in favor of endurance training, which is often demonized – because anyone who is overweight and therefore spends 90 minutes on the treadmill will initially increase their testosterone due to the reduced body weight and fat content. Ultimately, each individual case must be considered and, despite reliable scientific findings, there is no “one size fits all” concept for hormone optimization.
If you are not 100% sure which sport is the right one to get your hormones going, you can simply go back 2000 years in your mind to when we were still hunters and gatherers. Did men sprint for hours on the hunt or did they wait in wait for animals to come within reach so that they could round them up and kill them within a few minutes by sprinting or something similar? And when we go berry-picking, didn’t we stroll through the woods for hours at a leisurely pace, gradually filling our baskets with fruit and the like? Exactly! The same applies to the poor slaves who had to build pyramids in ancient Egypt and carry stones weighing several kilos. Unfortunately, the survival of the slaves was of secondary importance back then, which is why testosterone-boosting training for too many hours became pure torture, which may have had a strong positive effect on the T level within the first few minutes, but must have led to the breakdown of all muscle tissue via a calorie deficit afterwards. Otherwise, the high mortality rate of the slave class can hardly be explained.
Which fitness snacks for training have an effect on testosterone?
For the real geeks among you who go so far as to measure their testosterone levels before and after training, we can already give the green light at this point: Yes, your testosterone will be measurably increased for around an hour after your last training session.Anyone who likes to eat fitness snacks such as protein bars or superfoods immediately before, during and after training should make sure to avoid soy-based products. Tofu, soybeans and the like contain so-called “phytoestrogens”, which have similar effects on the male organism as the female sex hormone estrogen, which strongly suppresses the body’s own production of testosterone. Taking a booster containing vitamin D before fitness training, as well as making sure your daily routine is as stress-free as possible and getting enough sleep, often leads to noticeable differences in well-being and physical performance within a few weeks.