Before I get started, why is there such an obsession over the topic of testosterone?!?! Everyone is like, “I NEED TO INCREASE MY TESTOSTERONE!!” Through the Stan mindset for testosterone, we forget all about the other players in the game: Luteinizing Hormones, SHBG, Estradiol, Free Testosterone, Thyroid, and all of these other things because low testosterone is the pinnacle of what we have to optimize; but why is that?

A lot of this comes back to various people anecdotally showing that testosterone has improved the life of various people. Testosterone anecdotes claim improvements come in greater energy, lean muscle mass, and brain/cognitive ability. Most men feel that as they age they would kill to feel young again. To have that energy. To work out at that intensity. Typically, that is related to testosterone. Athletes as they age their testosterone starts to plummet, they recover slower and lose that aggressive mindset to push the body in the weight room.

We have even seen that testosterone is linked to immunity. Oftentimes individuals with higher testosterone levels have better immune systems. It has also been shown to increase stress management–don’t go out and blast testosterone and become more aggressive, but think of a slow increase to see an improvement in overall stress management. Higher testosterone levels will lead to more energy, better night's sleep, improvement in lean muscle mass, and improvement in overall immunity as well. These are the symptoms everyone is chasing when discussing increasing their testosterone.

I know. This sounds like a no-brainer. However, a lot of people will be looking to increase their testosterone and don’t even lift weights. What we have seen through a lot of different research, is that if a person is strength training or performing resistance-based training 3 to 4 days a week for 45 to 60 minutes, a person will see an acute effect on their testosterone levels.

If a person goes in and does a squat workout or bench press workout they will see an acute response where their testosterone increases. If this same person does this over 3 to 5 months consistently, the person will see a chronic increase in testosterone levels.

On top of this, people who resistance train tend to be leaner.

We need to stop being fat. I noticed that when I dropped down from 300 lbs to the 230 lbs I am at today, I constantly got blood work because I was dealing with Lyme disease. One thing I noticed throughout the entire time of me leaning out and no longer being fat is that my blood work showed my testosterone kept increasing. Me losing weight and leaning out increased my testosterone levels gradually. 

Prioritizing our nutrition will improve our overall lean muscle mass. Resistance-based training will help this as well. Focus on the right amount of carbs, protein, and fat nutrients to ensure healthy eating is occurring.

There is research that shows that when men partake in raising a newborn child, most men’s testosterone decreases drastically in the first 2 to 3 months. This occurs because the men are not getting enough sleep. So as men age, take on more responsibility, and have more accountability from the world to be responsible human beings, men tend to see a dip in their sleep quality which leads to a dip in testosterone.

Make sure to have a nightly ritual that includes a period of disconnecting and unwinding. Don’t sit on a mobile-look-at-device and endlessly swipe. Disconnect and unwind properly. Prioritize sleep to be better cognitively to better manage stress and in turn, will improve the ability in the weight room.

Yeah, it may sound ridiculous, but getting outside and seeing sunlight within the first 30 to 60 minutes of waking up needs to happen. Don’t start by picking up the phone or checking email. Reading a book is fine. Don’t have caffeine right away either. Instead, get outside and get the sunlight on your eyes for 10 to 15 minutes to establish the circadian rhythm. Go for a walk and manage stress.

So do the same thing around lunchtime. About 15 to 30 minutes of seeing the sun and then doing it again in the afternoon or evening as you’re starting to unwind. Get outside! This can be done by playing with your children or going for walks with your significant other or a friend or going for a walk all by yourself. Regardless of what that outside involves, it will improve sleep quality and testosterone levels because getting more vitamin D is correlated to increasing testosterone.

Mucuna Pruriens has been shown to decrease stress and increase testosterone. 

Another key concept I recommend that improves sleep is taking a ZMA, preferably 40 Winkz, trying to get 60 to 90 milligrams of zinc throughout the day. I like to get 40 to 60 milligrams of zinc right before bed. I take my zinc with magnesium and vitamin B6. This improves my sleep. Zinc has also been shown to increase testosterone through the mechanism of decreasing estrogen.

Take L-Dopa daily and a ZMA as well to help lead to a natural increase in overall testosterone.

Testosterone is effective because it helps with lean muscle mass and improves immunity. The simple changes to naturally improve testosterone levels over a long period include making sure to strength train, sleep well, not be as fat as you usually are, get outside, and add in L-Dopa and ZMA. Old guys and people out there, you got this, can do this, and I’m positive you can make this happen.