How to Increase Your Testosterone NATURALLY (18 Studies)

Huge thank you to hims for sponsoring this video. If you ask the average gym goer what the most important hormone is for muscle growth, they'd probably say testosterone. And in this case, they'd be right. Study after study has demonstrated testosterone's ability to enhance muscle growth. Take this paper from Basin and colleagues. For example. Eight men were injected with 600 milligrams of testosterone over the course of 10 weeks, which rose their testosterone levels to roughly three times higher than the highest testosterone levels you can expect to achieve naturally. As. As a result, despite performing no resistance training whatsoever, these men were still able to gain seven pounds of lean muscle and improve their overall strength, which is a feat that would likely not be possible naturally. Now, this is pretty cool and all, but the real question is, how would naturally increasing your testosterone levels affect muscle growth? Well, the truth is, it's relatively unclear at the moment, but a few studies are able to provide us with some insight. One 2016 study by Mouser et al. States that testosterone levels for adult men can range from anywhere between 240 to 950 nanograms per deciliter, with the average being somewhere in the middle of this range. And what's interesting is that multiple studies have found that when men who were at the lower end of this range increased their testosterone levels to average or above average, they saw significant increases in muscle mass and strength even when no resistance training was performed. So it's clear that if you have lower than normal testosterone levels, then increasing it can definitely enhance muscle growth. But unless you have male hypogonadism or experience obvious symptoms of low testosterone, like low sex drive or erectile dysfunction, then chances are you probably have normal levels. So the real question now is what effect would increase in your testosterone levels from average to to above average levels have on muscle growth? Well, again, research is definitely lacking in this area. However, one 2016 study showed that those at the higher end of the normal testosterone range had greater lean muscle mass and lower levels of body fat compared to those with average or below average levels. And this finding was still significant even when race, age, activity and protein intake was accounted for. Which does support the idea that increasing your testosterone levels to the higher range naturally may very well enhance muscle growth. Research also illustrates that testosterone plays a big factor when it comes to fat loss. For example, this 2003 paper showed that when researchers decreased subjects testosterone levels from average to below average levels, they saw a dramatic 36% increase in fat mass. In addition, optimal testosterone levels are essential for a variety of other factors as well. And becomes especially important as you age, especially since it helps slow down muscle loss. And since your testosterone levels begin to decrease by around 1 2% per year, starting from sometime in your 30s, it would likely be in your best interest to learn what you can do to naturally increase your levels of this hormone. So what exactly can you do? Well, one popular belief is that the large increase in testosterone caused by the use of heavy compound movements is what makes them so effective. Although it's true that testosterone spikes to a meaningful degree after compound movements, this actually doesn't last for very long. And in the words of researcher Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, while I can't dismiss that acute hormonal elevations may play a role in the growth process, I'm quite confident in saying that if such an effect does in fact exist, it would be of small significance. Therefore, relying on this might not be the best approach. So, with that being said, let's take a look at a few more effective options for increasing testosterone in the long term. The first thing you can do is to stay with within a certain range of body fat that isn't too low and isn't too high. Research shows that as body fat levels rise, your testosterone falls, whereas your estrogen levels actually increase. Researchers have noted that this is probably because the more fat you have, the higher your aromatase enzyme activity, which converts testosterone to estrogen. So by lowering your body fat, you lower the activity of this enzyme, and more testosterone is left unconverted. As for how much of an increase you can expect to see, it will depend on how much fat you have to lose. One 2013 meta analysis found that based on 20 relevant studies, overweight subjects were able to experience an average Testosterone increase of 120 nanograms per deciliter after losing a significant amount of fat, which was roughly equivalent to a 20 to 50% increase in testosterone levels. Now, this doesn't mean you want to lower your body fat to extreme levels, since this can be detrimental as well. But there is likely an optimal range that you want to stay in, which seems to be around 8 to 15%, and is why I recommend sustain within this range even when bulking. The second thing you can do is to correct deficiencies in your diet. Now, although to optimize testosterone levels, it's recommended that you eat a balanced macronutrient ratio of protein, carbs and fat. Most people already seem to be doing this. Where most people fail, though, is with micronutrients. And the two main micronutrients that seem to affect testosterone levels are vitamin D and zinc 12011 studies show that one year of daily vitamin D supplementation in those who were deficient increased testosterone levels by 20, and another study from the Journal of Nutrition showed that daily supplementation of zinc in males that were deficient almost doubled their testosterone levels in just three months. And since multiple studies have indicated that zinc and vitamin D deficiencies are in fact very prevalent, I would advise ensuring that you're intaking adequate zinc and vitamin D from your diet or through supplementation, which is actually very affordable. The third thing you can do to increase testosterone in the long term is to get adequate sleep. Multiple studies have shown a strong positive correlation between total sleep time and total testosterone levels, with one study showing that subjects who routinely slept for four hours a night had testosterone levels that were roughly half that of subjects who routinely slept for eight hours a night. In fact, each hour below eight hours of sleep seemed to drop testosterone levels by around 15%. Therefore, aiming for around 8 hours of quality sleep on a consistent basis would be ideal. Now, aside from the previous recommendations, there are various other ways to increase testosterone but are of less significance since the increase is only short term. For example, just being sexually aroused or conversing with an attractive woman is enough to briefly spike testosterone levels to a large degree, whereas on the other hand, being around a woman while she's crying is enough to decrease testosterone by 12%. But again, this effect doesn't last for long, so unless you're constantly sexually aroused or constantly around crying women, these won't have a very big impact. Rather, I'd suggest sticking to the three main points I covered and you'll likely be able to make a meaningful difference in terms of your testosterone levels and experience the many benefits that come with it.

That's pretty much it for the video guys. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. I also just wanted to quickly thank Hims for sponsoring this video. For those of you who don't know, HIMS offers personalized recommendations for prescription and non prescription hair loss and sexual wellness products for men, and these recommendations are based on the advice of real doctors you'll speak with online rather than having to visit a doctor in person. And for those of you who are unaware, 66% of men will face hair loss by the age of 35 and 26% of new erectile dysfunction cases are reported by men under the age of 40. And despite these issues being so prevalent, I think this is just something that us guys don't really like talking about, which can make finding a solution difficult. But the great thing about HIMS is that it eliminates a process of you having to go to an actual clinic in order to address these issues. Instead, this can all be done completely confidentially online, yet the products you can receive are still medical grade and at an affordable price. And luckily for you guys, Hims is offering viewers of this channel a one month trial of their comprehensive hair kit, all for just $5, which is normally up to a $67 value. You can get this deal by Simply going to for hims.com Jeremy or clicking the first link in the description box down below.

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I highly suggest that those of you who are interested take advantage of this deal while you can because they truly are unique in the way that they offer science based medical grade products that are personalized for you. So again, huge thank you to HIMS for hooking us up. Anyways, that's it for this video guys. Sorry for my less frequent uploads. Lately I've been spending my time working on my online programs, which I'm hoping to get up soon, but I'm really excited to show you guys what's included. They've taken me months to put together, but as you guys know, I'm all about providing quality content and that goes for my programs as well. So stay tuned for that. Anyways, thank you again for watching this video. If you enjoyed it as always, give it a like leave a comment down below. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't already, and I'd also really appreciate it if you gave me a follow on Instagram as well. Thank you so much guys. I'll see you next time.