Boost testosterone with exercise!

In

,

By

Yassine Damil

Episode 8

TL;DR

I’m about to turn 40, and I’m watching with growing concern the predictions1 of a 1 to 2% annual decline in testosterone levels in men. Recommendations for naturally preserving our testosterone levels obviously take a holistic approach to the problem, with a balanced diet, less stress and specific physical activities. Today, we’re going to take a look at how we can adapt our exercises to increase our testosterone levels. And this episode is for men and women alike…

The importance of testosterone

Testosterone2 is a steroid hormone which, among other things, increases muscle mass and bone density.

Low testosterone levels in both men and women can lead to a number of serious health problems:

  • Men tend to have higher rates of heart disease, depression and even dementia.
  • In women, a drop in testosterone levels can lead to loss of muscle mass and weight gain, especially when combined with increased estrogen levels.

As you might expect, entire industries have grown up around testosterone boosters. In an analysis3 of 50 of them, only 25% were able to justify it, and 10% even had the opposite effect. At best, these are dietary supplements containing vitamins (especially vitamin D) and dietary minerals (especially zinc). And in most cases, a balanced diet is more than sufficient…

Before considering this, it should be remembered that it was shown in 20204 that any form of physical activity is capable of increasing our testosterone levels, especially if the starting point is low. But it’s possible to go further with a specific approach…

How to adapt your training to increase testosterone levels

It’s possible to tailor your training to increase testosterone levels, or at least prevent their decline:

  • Full-body training: I have in mind some of the memes circulating of these upper-body-only bodybuilders, with a Johnny Bravo physique, for those who have the reference…. Anyway, in a study5 looking at hormonal responses to strength training, participants were divided into an arms-only training group and an arms-and-legs training group. The increase in testosterone was significantly higher in the more complete training group.
  • Focus on strength: Lift heavy loads, with longer recovery times between sets or even forced repetitions. Exercises such as squats, deadlifts or bench presses should ideally be used between 85% and 95% of your maximum or 1RM. You should do 2 to 3 sessions a week for good testosterone results. If you’re a beginner, you can of course start with equivalent machine exercises.
    • A paper6 has shown that very short recovery times between sets are not as effective in increasing testosterone as longer recovery times (around 2 to 5 min). This makes sense, since the longer they are, the more weight you can lift.
    • You should also try to incorporate forced repetitions. When you’re doing strength-oriented muscle building (i.e. with a load that allows you to do 5 to 6 reps on your own before muscle failure), ask a partner or spotter to help you perform several extra reps (from 1 to 5). Research7 shows that this type of forced reps (and sets) generates more testosterone. In fact, it’s best to perform them as part of a multi-joint exercise…
  • High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT (rather than steady-state cardio): Endurance exercise (cycling or running) seems to lower testosterone in the same way that muscle strengthening seems to increase it. For example, one study8 showed that testosterone levels were significantly lower in endurance cyclists than in weightlifters of the same age or even in an untrained control group. Conversely, it is possible to increase testosterone levels by sprinting. Indeed, in another study9, testosterone levels rose significantly in people who performed a succession of very short but intense 6 sec sprints. These levels remained high even after the session… All the more reason to hurry up and catch a bus, right?

Remember that to increase your testosterone through exercise, try to have a rather strength-oriented full-body training and avoid steady-state cardio if possible. I’ll soon be focusing on dietary supplements, stress and dopamine management and HIIT. As for testosterone replacement therapies10, potentially interesting for the elderly, this is still a separate topic…

Here’s a personal hack: take advantage of the increased recovery time between sets to do something else, so that your sessions don’t last as long. You’ll have 2 to 5 min to stretch or, better still, do exercises that don’t require the same muscles as those you’ve just worked on (I’m thinking of alternating squats with a bridge, for example)…

Fun Fact

Women generally have higher levels of testosterone than estradiol (the main form of estrogen – the female hormone – in the body).

Going further

References

  1. Stanworth RD, Jones TH. Testosterone for the aging male; current evidence and recommended practice. Clin Interv Aging. 2008;3(1):25-44. doi: 10.2147/cia.s190. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18488876/ ↩︎
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone ↩︎
  3. Clemesha CG, Thaker H, Samplaski MK. ‘Testosterone Boosting’ Supplements Composition and Claims Are not Supported by the Academic Literature. World J Mens Health. 2020;38(1):115-122. doi: 10.5534/wjmh.190043. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31385468/ ↩︎
  4. Kumagai H, Zempo-Miyaki A, Yoshikawa T, Tsujimoto T, Tanaka K, Maeda S. Increased physical activity has a greater effect than reduced energy intake on lifestyle modification-induced increases in testosterone. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2016;58(1):84-89. doi: 10.3164/jcbn.15-48. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26798202/ ↩︎
  5. Hansen S, Kvorning T, Kjaer M, Sjøgaard G. The effect of short-term strength training on human skeletal muscle: the importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2001;11(6):347-354. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0838.2001.110606. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11782267/ ↩︎
  6. Rahimi R, Qaderi M, Faraji H, Boroujerdi SS. Effects of very short rest periods on hormonal responses to resistance exercise in men. J Strength Cond Res. 2010;24(7):1851-1859. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181ddb265. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20555276/ ↩︎
  7. Ahtiainen JP, Pakarinen A, Kraemer WJ, Häkkinen K. Acute hormonal responses to heavy resistance exercise in strength athletes versus nonathletes. Can J Appl Physiol. 2004;29(5):527-543. doi: 10.1139/h04-034. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15507691/ ↩︎
  8. Izquierdo M, Hakkinen K, Ibanez J, et al. Effects of strength training on submaximal and maximal endurance performance capacity in middle-aged and older men. J Strength Cond Res. 2003;17(1):129-139. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12580668/ ↩︎
  9. Farzad B, Gharakhanlou R, Agha-Alinejad H, et al. Physiological and performance changes from the addition of a sprint interval program to wrestling training. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25(9):2392-2399. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181fb4a33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21849912/ ↩︎
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_replacement_therapy ↩︎