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Hormones & Raising Your Testosterone

In addition to doing everything possible to raise your actual total testosterone levels another thing you have to make sure of for optimal free testosterone levels (the kind the counts) is to make sure that your hormones are in balance and that you are doing everything possible to maximize the amount of total testosterone not only produced but also converted into free testosterone. There are many things that can get in the way of this and if not addressed can ruin your chances of having high free testosterone levels and all of the myriad of benefits that go along with that. No matter what the foundation of healthy testosterone levels (as well as overall hormonal balance) comes from a base of good health.

There are some hormones in particular that can get in the way of your free testosterone and that can destroy the amount of total testosterone converted into free testosterone. Most people never address these things when talking about raising testosterone and even recommend things that are detrimental to your overall hormonal health. That is what happens when you focus on rat studies instead of what actually happens in humans and using common sense. Here I’m going to talk about three key hormones and what you can do to ensure that they don’t interfere with your free testosterone as well as debunk some myths that have been circulating around the raising testosterone community and are detrimental to progress.

Cortisol

Cortisol is known as the stress hormone. And obviously it’s related to stress. To put it simply and so you can get the general idea of all of this is that the more stress that you have the more cortisol that you’re going to have and that is bad for testosterone (especially free testosterone). Stress kills testosterone. It could be high levels of physical stress, say working long shifts day in and day out or from partying non stop and not taking care of your health. It could be from work related stress such as a POS boss shafting you every chance he gets or a job that is naturally high stress and doesn’t allow for much recooperation. Doesn’t matter if it’s physical or mental it still causes cortisol which will lower testosterone levels.

You want to make sure that you are keeping your cortisol levels low because the higher your cortisol is the lower your testosterone is going to be. They have a reverse effect on one another. So you want to make sure that you are avoiding overtraining (meaning stressing your body out too much with long training sessions). With the gym you want to get in and get out with high intensity. Likewise you want to avoid stress as much as possible. Do things like meditation, going for a walk in nature, or listening to classical music, these things all lower cortisol. And the number one thing for lowering cortisol (and perhaps total hormone health) is making sure that you get adequete deep sleep. Do everything you can to make sure your sleep in uninterrupted as well as deep. Deep sleep is a cortisol killer and incredible testosterone booster.

Aromatase

Alright so you know in order to have high levels of testosterone you know that you have to keep your estrogen levels down. Estrogen and testosterone are not going to go together. The lower you can get your estrogen the higher you can get your testosterone essentially. Now in particular something you want to make sure is regulated and taken care of is aromatase. Aromatase is an adrenal enzyme that converts potential testosterone into estrogen. So put bluntly it takes your testosterone and turns it into estrogen. It takes what makes your a man and turns it into what makes one a woman. Think about that. So obviously this is something that we really want to take care of and make sure is addressed.

One of the biggest and most problematic sources of aromatase in your body is extra fat. Meaning pretty much any fat above ten to fifteen percent body fat. Especially fat that is centered around the gut area. You want to get rid of this fat so that you will be getting rid of the aromatase that converts testosterone into estrogen. You also want to make sure that you are getting adequete zinc in your diet which helps with estrogen and aromatase. Another thing that is great for taking care of excess estrogen and aromatase is cruciferous vegetables (think broccoli). Also obviously avoid toxic weakening agents such as soy and soy’s big brother alcohol. Remember that soy is in pretty much every non organic product including animal meats.

Insulin

Alright now it’s time for some myth busting. So insulin regulated your blood sugar but this is why you care about it. When insulin goes up testosterone goes down and there is a direct correlation between people who are insulin resistant and low testosterone levels. Here is what causes insulin sugar and carbs. So when you eat a lot of carbs you get a lot of insulin spikes and when you get a lot of insulin spikes you get fat and insulin resistant. I’m over simplifying but you get the general idea. Now obviously all carbs are not created the same. Both broccoli and candy bars are considered carbs. To have high testosterone you want to avoid all carbs that aren’t vegetables. You want to avoid things that contain sugars or grains. Nothing new here but as an added bonus will also help with your testosterone.

You want to avoid things like orange juice, cakes, breads, and all other assorted foods. It if it’s high in sugar or grain or starch then you don’t want it. The more you tend towards a paleo/keto esque (no diet is perfect, use common sense) type of diet the better off that you’ll be. If you are insulin resistant you want to remedy this ASAP. Consume good fats (especially omega-3 like fish oil) and get your body fat down (those two things work synergistically). Adding in some high rep squats, barbell complexes, or sprints will all help in getting body fat down as well as have a host of other positive T boosting effects. So for peak testosterone stay away from the vast majority of carbs. Unless it’s green and a vegetable it’s most likely not going to be good for your testosterone levels. Insulin resistance is an enemy of testosterone. Keep it in check.

Summary

Alright so a lot of what’s here goes against many of what is said both by bros and clowns in lab coats who don’t know the first thing about testosterone. But more importantly these things work. When you understand the principles of raising testosterone (and what creates it) you understand what to do to have peak testosterone. Focus on principles which are much more important than methods/details. For example say I know the effects insulin has but then read a study about these doctors that tested three rats giving them carbs of wheat bread and their testosterone raised by 25% does that mean I’d run out an start eating bread by the loaf? Of course not, because I understand the principle which is more important than some random study. Not to mention the million of variables that could have taken place. From who sponsered the study to the beliefs of the doctors to a million other things.

There are a million reasons why studies are ineffective at best. People who rely on them completely have no mind of their own and cannot see what’s in front of them. Principles over details. Use your own mind and brain don’t slavishly follow dubious methods and sources. Like I’ve said men knew deep down that things like bacon, eggs, and steak were good for them even when all the doctors, studies, and media said they weren’t. Use your own mind and brain and understand the principles which are what is important. This applies to all fields not just health and testosterone optimization. Use your own mind and look for similarities between principles.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.

-Charles Sledge

 

Charles Sledge

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