TESTOSTERONE

How I raised my testosterone from 400 to 790ng/dl in one year, naturally. 

What is testosterone?

 Testosterone is a hormone that makes a man a man. It’s what allows you to grow large muscles and keeps your sex drive high.

In 2011, I walked into the doctor’s office to have my testosterone levels taken for the very first time. When I got the results back, I was shocked! The paper read 400ng/dl, which is extremely low for a young guy eating nutritious foods and working out on a daily basis. I definitely had to get it back up to well over 700ng/dl. Here is how I was able to do that:

1.      I stopped working long hours.

When you work super long hours and lack a decent work/life balance, your system is bound to release more cortisol than is desirable. Cortisol is a hormone with a powerful anti-testosterone effect. When cortisol is being released, testosterone is not.

Instead of working Monday through Saturday, I started working Monday and Tuesday, took Wednesday off, worked Thursday and Friday, and took Saturday and Sunday off. This new schedule structure established a much better balance in my life and just felt a lot healthier, mentally and physically. The money I lost from cutting my workweek by two days didn’t even matter. My quality of life soared.

To find out more about stress and its effects on testosterone, check out this link:

http://www.trufkinathletics.com/1/category/stress%20makes%20you%20ugly/1.html

2.      I made my workouts shorter.

I used to work out for about 2-3 hours at a time, 4-5 days a week. This was way too long. Instead, I made the workouts a lot harder, but shorter. Now I work out for 45 minutes to 1 hour, 5 times a week. Although I do cardio, I never run more than 1.5 hours a week.

3.      I increased my body fat percentage.

I used to walk around all year at 6-7%. Now I sustain 10-12% all year round and only cut down to 6-7% 2 or 3 times during the year. Maintaining very low levels of body fat for long periods of time will have a negative effect on your testosterone levels. Too much fat can do this as well.

4.      I ate foods that promote good cholesterol.

I started eating more almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, and brown rice.

If you haven’t done this yet, I would highly recommend that you get your hormones checked to see where you’re at. I would have never known mine were so low if I hadn’t gone in to have them tested. Here is a list of hormones to have checked:

1.      Total Testosterone (ideally, this number should be between 750 and 900ng/dl)

2.      Free Testosterone

3.      Cortisol

4.      Growth Hormone

If your numbers don’t come back ideal, don’t go to the doctor’s office and start begging for steroids. You can transform your body naturally like I did and help transform your quality of your life by establishing a better life balance and living the way your body has evolved to live.