Testosterone

Jeffrey of Troy

Padawan Learner
I learned several ways to maintain healthy testosterone without drugs, which I posted to my blog a few years ago. I will put the same info here, slightly reformatted for this forum, that other men (and, indirectly, perhaps some women) who don't know it might use it and benefit.

Most of it is already known to most here of course, but maybe some will be useful even to veteran forum users..

1) ZINC. If you are not deficient in zinc, taking a supplement will not raise your T. However, most men in the USA (and Western Civ generally) are deficient in zinc. You need zinc to make T, and zinc inhibits the activity of the enzyme (aromatase) that converts T into estrogen.

Total intake of zinc, from food and supplements combined, should be less than 100 mg per day. Most men will not get any further benefit beyond about 50 mg per day from food and supps combined. If you take a supplement, have it between dinner and bed.

2) LIFT. Forget "cardio" forever. You do need to walk a few hours a week, but it should be slow and low-stress, to work food around the corners of your intestines. It's not about burning calories.

You must lift weights at least one day per week (but never two days in a row - recovery's where you make your gains). Your T "serum level" (the amount in you blood) drops post-workout, because your skeletal muscles used T to do the work, now suck T out of blood to replenish; your pituitary gland reads the drop in serum T and signals your T-factories to make more. More muscle = more T.

You can get a great lifting session with just a bodyweight workout. You don't need a "weight set" or a gym membership. (If you like lifting actual iron, or going to the gym, that's fine of course.)

If you are out of shape, start small and increase slowly.

3) PROTEIN. The standard formula for how much protein you need is: your body weight in kilograms (assuming healthy bodyfat %) is the number of grams of protein you need each day. Normally that's true, but 24 - 36 hours after lifting you should double that rate of intake. Your baseline remains, plus now you temporarily have the additional need of your skeletal muscles recovering from the workout. If you're not going to give your muscles as much protein as they can use, why are you even bothering to lift?!

4) SLEEP. The four basic rules of healthy sleep are: go dim at least a half hour before bed, in bed before midnight, sleep in darkness and quiet, don't get up until after dawn. Chronic sleep deprivation can lower your T.

5) REST. In addition to getting enough sleep each night, you should have at least one day a week of complete rest. Ideally, lift the day before to maximize benefits of both.

6) FAT. The low fat diet has been a disaster. Your body needs dietary fat to function properly, and the fat it needs is saturated (and mono-unsaturated) animal fat, not that "vegetable oil" crap.

You also need naturally saturated organic (the pollution's in the fat) animal fat specifically to make T. (Never eat high carb and high fat at the same meal, of course.)

7) VITAMIN D. For historical reasons this "nutrient" is called a vitamin, but is actually a steroid hormone. You can make it from sunlight, but the UV-B necessary to make vit D is only available in the temperate zone from 10am - 2pm in Summer, 11am - 1pm Spring and Fall, and not in Winter. Also, UV-B is blocked by smog and clouds (but UV-A, which can give you skin cancer, isn't).

8) MAGNESIUM. Most Americans - male and female - are deficient in magnesium. Whereas calcium helps muscles contract, mag helps muscles relax. This can help you get into phase IV, the deepest most restful stage of sleep. As noted, better sleep can boost your T. Limit calcium - from food and supps - to morning and/or afternoon; get mag after dinner.

9) LOSE THE GUT. Abdominal fat manufactures aromatase, the enzyme that converts T into E. Should you go low carb or low fat? It depends...

10) IODINE. You need iodine (and tyrosine) to make thyroid hormone. Most Americans get enough, but if you don't, low thyroid will decrease T. (You also need selenium - just a little, don't go crazy - to convert thyroid hormone into its active form.)
 
Great points! The only things I would add to that are:

1. Vitamin K2 (the MK4) variety: Massive driver of steroidogenesis in the testicles.

2. NIR light directly on the testicles: Ben greenfield claims that this boosted his T levels after testing.

3. AM sunlight in the eyes: T follows circadian rhythm, and so maintaining the 24hour clock seems to influence the production of T.

Overall, great stuff and thanks for posting!
 
Thank you for your post. In this age of radicalised feminism you don't really see many articles on men's health (they probably blame testosterone for the evil patriarchy), so I really appreciate the info.
 
Cheers for the info!
Great points! The only things I would add to that are:

1. Vitamin K2 (the MK4) variety: Massive driver of steroidogenesis in the testicles.

2. NIR light directly on the testicles: Ben greenfield claims that this boosted his T levels after testing.

I was thinking of adding K2 to my supps, a quick search here in Oz shows mainly the MK7 variety, or a combination of MK4 and MK7. Is a combination ok? or would it wiser to just get the MK4 variety?
Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 11.41.12 am.png

Pretty much doing everything else on the list, although I may try the IR light again, just moved house so I will have to find it and get it out again! I assume around the 15 minute mark will suffice?
 
Cheers for the info!


I was thinking of adding K2 to my supps, a quick search here in Oz shows mainly the MK7 variety, or a combination of MK4 and MK7. Is a combination ok? or would it wiser to just get the MK4 variety?
View attachment 26619

Pretty much doing everything else on the list, although I may try the IR light again, just moved house so I will have to find it and get it out again! I assume around the 15 minute mark will suffice?

A combination of both MK4 and MK7 is desirable, so yeah that is a good idea.

15 min on the testes should suffice! Either way, it will be better than nothing!
 
A combination of both MK4 and MK7 is desirable, so yeah that is a good idea.

15 min on the testes should suffice! Either way, it will be better than nothing!

Ok, great, thanks for the info Keyhole, much appreciated!
 
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