The answer to this question is unique. It can be yes or no. Sometimes, working out can boost testosterone. However, certain physical exercises can lower your testosterone. In this article, we are going to discuss whether working out actually boost testosterone. We will also dig into what exercise can boost this male hormone. Shall we begin?
What is Testosterone?
Testosterone is a male hormone that allows muscles to swell. Sometimes, there is not enough of them in your body. Therefore, this can slow down muscle development. Testosterone is useful to improve bone density, and grow body hair. It is also responsible for changing male voice during puberty.
Testosterone also regulates essential functions of the male body such as sexual desire and the distribution of body fat. That is why we need to pay attention on this hormone existence.
The hormone production begins to decrease with age. Especially, when men reach the age of 40, the level of testosterone begins to reduce by about 2% each year.
That’s why bodybuilders, for example, bostin loyd tend to inject him self testosterone to keep a shredded big muscles.
Natural solutions that boost your testosterone can be found in one of the following three areas:
- the right lifestyle;
- the right training;
- and the right nutrients
Although lifestyle is the first factor that affects the production of this hormone, there are however exercises that help to secrete testosterone.
Combining these exercises with a healthy diet , avoiding high-sugar ready-to-eat foods and favoring healthy fats such as omega-3s, will not only increase testosterone but be in perfect shape.
How to do exercise to boost testosterone
Now, let’s learn how to exercise if you want to increase your testosterone. But first, prepare the right nutrients to achieve the results. Without a proper nutrition in your daily diet, these training will give little to no effect of your testosterone boost.
#1 Training with heavy weights
Proper weight training is one of the most effective ways to stimulate your body’s testosterone production. Strength training with heavy weights helps.
It is useful not only if you want to increase your testosterone, but also if you’re going to break down body fat while avoiding the yo-yo effect. You can also influence the hormone response of your body by varying the duration of breaks between training sets.
In one study, men emptied the most testosterone by taking 90 seconds between squats and bench press training. A break of 60 seconds resulted in a lower testosterone release, but this shorter break stimulated a higher growth of hormone level.
A study with women came to a similar conclusion: The shortest break in seconds – in this case, 30 seconds – led to the highest growth hormone release. Most studies also agree that best way to train to increase testosterone is by using heavy loads and doing a series of few repetitions.
This exercise has proven to be one off the best choice for increasing testosterone than any other protocol examined. Testosterone increases with strength training. That’s how it works. Especially, if you try to exercise regularly (at least 2-3 times a week) with heavy weights.
Although the studies on the training breaks are interesting, you can probably expect the best results if you align your strength training to your goal.
#2 Sprints
Should you go with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or classic cardio?
A crisp six-second sprint can significantly increase the testosterone value. It has shown in a study conducted on young men. Even after 20 minutes of exercise, the total testosterone of the test subject remains elevated.
Unfortunately, long periods of endurance training, such as a marathon, can negatively affect your testosterone levels.
A study by the University of British Columbia observed several groups of long-distance runners. Runners who were running more than 100 kilometers per week have significantly less testosterone growth in their blood than athletes who engage in non-endurance exercise for only 2-4 times a week. The higher the training load, the lower the testosterone level.
Testosterone increase through intensive cardio training. That’s how it works. If you want to increase your testosterone, use High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) instead of long cardio units.
fundamental exercises
#3 Fundamental Exercises
Practicing the fundamental and multi-joint exercises will significantly increase the testosterone growth. What are the basic exercises to focus on?
- Squat
- Deadlift
- Plain bench
- Pull ups
- Barbell Row
Finally, Focus on Upper Body Training
Testosterone can only develop its effect when it docks to androgen receptor. This receptor is like an inference and testosterone is the key. Only when both come together does the magic happen.
Weight training activates the androgen receptors. Therefore, testosterone can dock and strain muscles growth. The higher the androgen receptor density in a body region, the faster you build muscle there.
And now guess which region is predominant in men?
The upper body. More precisely: in the chest muscles, shoulders, neck and trapezius. That’s also why men who inject themselves with steroids are training oversized shoulders.
This means that your upper body is genetically able to build up faster muscle mass and it can handle more training than your legs.
Therefore, if you want to increase your testosterone levels, your focus should NOT ONLY be on squats and deadlifts. Of course, they use large muscle groups, but these muscle groups are mostly in the lower body. There the receptor density is lower, you build up slower muscles and the muscles take longer to regenerate.
Do I mean to say you should refrain from training your legs? Of course not. However, to get the most growth your testosterone and build the muscle, focusing on upper body exercises is better.
Train briefly but intensively. In other words, load as much muscle in less than one hour as possible with basic exercises such as Olympic weightlifting, push up, pull up, incline bench presses, deadlifts, jump squats, and shoulder presses.
Great exercises for your upper body will cause the strongest hormonal reaction.
Sometimes, push up is referred to as the king of testosterone exercises. It almost strains your entire upper body, you move explosively and it takes a lot of strength. This makes the training superior to other exercises. It is even better than squats and deadlifts.
