Today I’m going to reveal
- Which exercises increase and decrease testosterone levels.
- The best ones to do, reps, rest periods, etc.
- What to do & take before and after your workouts to maximize & optimize your hormones.
One of my girlfriends used to lift weights, on and off. She would do so for a few months and then stop for whatever reason and then do cardio workouts or spin classes… then maybe yoga or pilates, and so forth.
But here’s the interesting thing – when she lifted weights, she said she was always very horny and had a much higher sex drive, especially right after the gym for about an hour or so.
However, none of the other forms of exercise boosted her libido, or not nearly as much. In fact, she said too much cardio actually lowered her sex drive after a while.
Another interesting fact is that I also noticed she had more body odor when she was lifting weights.
Now, I never did blood tests on her – but, based on what we both observed, lifting weights must have caused an increase in her testosterone levels because she had a much higher sex drive AND she had more body odor.
And yes, testosterone, DHT, and estrogen – which would all increase together, can cause an increase in body odor.
So, What Does This Mean For You?
Well, if go through all the various CLINICAL studies, it does show that exercise can increase testosterone levels – at least, temporarily.
This includes men and women, young and old.
Of course, some studies show that it does nothing or very little, especially for women.
Research has also shown that lifting weights is the best form of exercise for boosting testosterone levels. While long-form, stressful cardio, can actually decrease testosterone levels over time.
So, you may think – “great, I’m going to lift weights – what’s the best workout?”
Based on the research, using heavy compound exercises, such as squats, deadlifts, and presses are the best.
Doing lower 5-10 rep sets, at about 80-95% of your max is ideal.
However, looking deeper into the studies, the reason these heavy, compound exercise workouts cause the biggest boost in testosterone levels, is because they also tend to have the biggest increase in stress hormones such as cortisol.
On one hand, you don’t want it because an increase in cortisol will lower testosterone levels and cause poor sleep which will further ruin your hormones.
Ugg… this can all get very confusing and contradictory, right.
Let Me Simplify It For You
- Lift weights, 3-4x a week. Maybe every other day is ideal for example.
- Workout for 45-60 minutes. Try not to go over an hour unless you’re taking longer breaks or just chatting a lot more. Work harder and smarter, not longer.
- Keep your rest periods to around 2 minutes. Between 90 seconds to 3 minutes between sets.
- Keep your reps around 8-15 upper body and 10-20 lower body.
- Once warmed up, go close to failure. Maybe 1-2 reps short of failure for isolation exercises and 2-3 reps short of failure for compound exercises.
Please don’t go crazy with the cardio, limit it to 20-30 min max on your off days. Or go for a brisk walk for 10 minutes after each meal.
- Pre-workout or earlier in the day, take a testosterone boosting supplement.
- Post-workout, take a cortisol-reducing supplement along with some carbs + protein and 3 grams of Vitamin C. Maybe even take a quick 15 min nap or rest.
- Before bed, take a natural sleeping supplement that will improve deep quality sleep, enhance growth hormone levels and lower cortisol – all of which will further increase your testosterone levels.
Honestly, I can get a lot more complicated than this. I can get more scientific. But these simple 5 steps will take care of almost everything, 90%.
And, that’s it.
What you need to do now is TAKE ACTION and don’t be like most other people who just passively listen.
Daily action = long-term results.