Have you gained more weight even after sticking to an exercise program? Are you having difficulty building muscle mass no matter how hard you train? Do you feel constantly tired and lack energy? Are you having a difficult time snoozing? Has your performance beneath the sheets gone downhill?
If you’ve answered “yes” to all these questions, then you have low testosterone levels. The bad news is that today’s generation of men simply has lower levels of testosterone as compared to their predecessors. Low T-levels can increase the risk for depression, low libido, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and dementia.
The good news is that the problem can be reversed through a variety of hacks including taking more vitamin D, taking cold showers daily, avoiding plastics, and reducing stress. You can also tweak your diet to include more healthy fats and meat to boost testosterone production in your body.
Another important technique that you should look into if you are trying to reverse the ill effects of low T-levels is exercising.
Theoretically, all forms of exercise can help increase testosterone production. However, cardio exercises can only increase T-levels for only 15 minutes. If you really want to boost your T-levels, here are some testosterone booster exercises that you should perform.
Strength Training
Perform the holy trinity of exercises: squats, bench presses and deadlifts — and lift heavy. These exercises work on the large muscle groups. By focusing on these muscle groups, you can trigger an increase in T-levels in your body. As a side bonus, you do not have to spend an entire day at the gym targeting these muscles individually through isolation exercise.
Do remember to factor in exercise volume (reps, sets, and weight). The higher your workout volume, the greater the increase in testosterone. Ditch bodybuilding workouts that advise you to finish each set to failure. Also, be mindful of your rest period between each set. Ideally, your rest period should be no longer than two minutes but not shorter than a minute.
One training program that you can implement is the 5X5 training program (or its other variations) which is built around the holy trinity, with the addition of a few exercises like shoulder presses and back rows.
HIIT Training
Another form of exercise that you can try is high-intensity interval training or HIIT. Essentially, what you’re supposed to do is alternate short bursts of intense effort with less intense recovery. As compared with exercises that build endurance, HIIT exercises significantly increase testosterone. Browse online and you’ll find several training protocols related to HIIT including the Peter Coe, Gibala, Timmons and Tabata regimens.
A Few Notes on Training
Avoid overtraining. While it is necessary to push your body further in order to increase testosterone levels, you should not overtrain and you should give your body ample time to recover. Overtraining can work against you by increasing cortisol levels which in turn decreases testosterone. Give yourself rest days for performing other exercises or simply take a break from training. Also, get ample amounts of sleep.
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