Low Testosterone - Not!

You’ve seen the commercials, heard all of the retorick. What’s your T score? BigPharma has succcessfully created life time drug customers by the reductionist theory of health care. What do I mean? 1 test = 1 number = 1 drug solution. The problem with this marketing/financial wind fall AND lie, is that the body is much more complex than this silver bullet solution.

The metabolic teeter tooter is a delicate balancing act that our body chemistry will maintain. The diagram to the left shows a normal balanced metabolism. The left side of the teeter tooter is hormones that breakdown tissues and the right side are those hormones that make new tissues.

The diagram to the right shows a low sex hormone (low T). Here’s the problem you don’t get lowered sex hormones for no reason, it doesn’t just indiscriminately pick you and not your neighbor. What is the easiest way to put the whole system out of balance?

The most common is the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is high in carbohydrates and low in protein and essential fats. Add to this junk food snacks and convenient fast food restaurant food. All of these pound the body and cause an increased production of insulin. See the diagram to the left. Now your metabolism has too much insulin and everything is out of balance. He easiest solution is to reduce the hormones on the right side (insulin side) of the teeter tooter. Solution is low Testosterone!

The Consequences of Low Testosterone

1. Loss of Morning Erections! Once you lose your morning erections, you can count on the fact that you've lost your testosterone. This is usually the first symptom most men notice.

2. Increased Body Fat! If you've started to carry weight around your butt, hips, and thighs, cortisol and/or estrogen is winning the battle over testosterone in your system.

3. Loss of Muscle Mass! If your testosterone levels are low, it will be impossible to maintain muscle because testosterone builds and maintains lean muscle mass. Hitting the weights hardly helps because without testosterone the pump of iron won't stick.

4. Lack of Sex Drive (Libiido)! The desire to procreate, to pursue woman is a sign that all is well with the hormones in your system. Once your sex drive and desire goes, you've lost it, AND it's not just your sexual desire that you lose.

5. Mood Disorders! A man with low testosterone goes flatline in the personality department. You lose your wit, your sense of humor and your personality. Depression is common among men with low testosterone. So is moodiness, irritability and passive aggression.

Reliable, Healthier Solutions To Impact Your Testosterone Levels

1. Lower your cortisol and stress levels. High stress produces increased cortisol production. Cortisol lowers testosterone. Taking iStressedOut 1 tab 4x/day modulates cortisol back to normal and has a positive track record to increase testosterone. The results of this study support evidence from previous research that high cortisol levels impair male biosynthesis of testosterone in the testes, which might help explain why AUC for plasma testosterone was higher following supplementation with S-PS (serine-phosphatidyl serine) when compared to placebo [1],[2] The study recommends 600 mg/d of S-PS (4 tabs of iStressedOut).

PS supplementation with 600 mg per day for 10 days blunts the cortisol response to exercise-induced stress. In addition, PS significantly increases the testosterone to cortisol ratio. These findings suggest that PS is an effective supplement for combating exercise-induced stress. PS supplementation promotes a desirable hormonal balance for athletes and might attenuate the physiological deterioration that accompanies overtraining and/or overstretching.

2. Use compound exercises as the basis of your workouts. The exercises that use the most number of the biggest muscles of your body. Like Squats, deadliest, bench presses, rows, chin-ups, dips, leg presses, lunges, military presses. These exercises put the greatest amount of stress on your neuromuscular structure and as a result will force your body to rev up testosterone production.

3. Always push yourself to the limit during every workout. If you want to build muscle mass then you must push your els to the point of Concentric Muscle Failure. The point in the set where no further positive repetitions can be completed using proper form despite your best efforts. If the last 2 reps aren't extremely difficult and uncomfortable to perform, you are NOT training hard enough! Decreased training intensity = decreased testosterone production.

4. Train your legs equally as hard as your upper body. Muscle growth is not merely a localized event. Total Body Stress = Higher Testosterone and Growth Hormone secretion = Total Body Gains. Hard, heavy leg workouts performed intensely are THE most EFFECTIVE way to produce this total body stress. Major problem here! There is also increased production of the steroid hormone cortisol. The more cortisol you produce the more you WILL suppress testosterone production.

5. Increase your EFA consumption. The good fats that we must have every day, the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are converted into an interim hormone called 17-ketosteroids. This stash of raw materials can then be converted into a plethora of hormones including testosterone, progesterone, estrogen and yes, even cortisol. At least 20% of your daily calorie intake should be from good fats. The ideal sources are unsaturated EFAs.. There is an entire science on this alone. We need a combination of plant source (flax seed oil, black current seed oil, evening primrose oil . . ) and animal source (deep sea fish like salmon, cod, halibut . . .). There are called essential fats because we MUST intake a source of these every day.

6. Reduce your intake of soy. Soy protein will increase estrogen which will lower your testosterone. Avoid soy foods like soy beans, soy proteins,soy milk, soy nuts.

7. Limit your consumption of alcohol. Alcohol causes blood sugar problems; liver problems; decreased protein synthesis; increases fat storage; depletes vitamins and minerals; causes dehydration AND lowers testosterone levels. An episode of alcohol intoxication can lower testosterone by 25%.

8. decrease your carbohydrate intake. Increased carbo intake will cause production of insulin. If you are continually stimulating insulin production then your metabolic teeter-tooter will be forced to compensate and balance the increased insulin – the simplest solution is to decrease reproducive hormones YS testosterone.

9. Get adequate restful sleep every night. Restful sleep helps increase recovery form workouts; increases testosterone; increases growth hormone; reduces cortisol. The minimum ideal sleep should be around 8 hours a night or more EVERY night.



[1] Wheeler GD, Wall SR, Belcastro AN, Cumming DC: Reduced serum testosterone and prolactin levels in male distance runners. JAMA 1984, 252(4):514-516.

[2] Fry AC, Kraemer WJ, Ramsey LT: Pituitary-adrenal-gonadal responses to high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining. J Appl Physiol 1998, 85(6):2352-2359


Locations

Find Us On The Map