4 Scientifically Proven Fat Burner Supplements that Can Actually Work

August 7, 2015, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Calcium and Testosterone: Not Only For the Bones and Teeth

Fat burners are a huge market all around the world, and why wouldn’t they be? Most of the people on this planet at some point of their lives want to lose some weight.

For those people, there’s a market full of different fat burner supplements, all claiming to help with those stubborn pounds…

The awful truth is that most of the products on the market are just a complete waste of money with no real science backing up their effects, but as long as people keep buying them, the market will keep thriving and new BS-supplements and “revolutionary breakthroughs” will pop up day after day.

From raspberry ketones to Garcinia Cambogia and all the way to the snake oil supplements, people are getting ripped off daily by the clever marketing and hyped up pseudo docs such as the notorious tool, Dr Oz.

After you follow the industry for a while with healthy skepticism, one obvious question raises its head..

…What actually works?

Capsaicin

Capsaicin is an alkanoid that makes all chili peppers hot. Basically the higher the capsicin content, the hotter the chili.

Capsaicin is also the reason why hot foods are often linked to increased fat loss. Just type in “fat burning foods” to Google and you’ll be surprised how many of those hot foods are actually presented in those fancy lists.

And that’s not a big surprise. Capsaicin has some really cool science backing up its fat melting effects…

…Just take a look at these studies:

a) Consumption of capsaicin reduces the appetite and food intake in both humans and mice (study, study, study)

b) Capsaicin significantly increases the metabolic rate in a fasted state, and after a meal (study, study)

c) Ingestion of capsaicin increases fat oxidization at rest in animals. Similar effects are seen in humans when the alkaloid is taken before exercise.

d) Capsaicin consumption is linked to increased catecholamine secretion from the adrenal glands, which is probably the reason behind the increases in thermogenesis and metabolic rate.

e) Capsaicin has an anti-obese effect in vitro and in animals. It works by reducing fat cell accumulation and the synthesis of new fat cells (study).

f) Last but not least, this study hints that capsaicin might protect your testosterone molecules during caloric deficit.

All-in-all, capsaicin is pretty solid fat burner in terms of science. And what makes it even better, is the fact that you can get it simply by using some cayenne pepper (or other hot chili peppers) in your diet…

…And if heat is a problem, there’s also plenty of capsaicin supplements on the market.

Caffeine

Everyone knows caffeine, it’s the compound in coffee that’s behind the energy you get from a cup.

But not only does caffeine make you more energetic, it also has a fat burning effect, which is probably why some “fat burners” on the market have it.

The sheer amount of studies done on caffeine is staggering…

…And here’s some of the ones that are linked to the fat burner like effects:

a) Caffeine has been shown to increase metabolic rate in humans.

b) Caffeine ingestion increases thermogenesis in the body, dose dependently. Meaning that more calories are burned.

c) Caffeine also improves anaerobic performance and muscle endurance in humans, which indirectly improves your workouts, and therefore also fat oxidization.

I’ve been anti-caffeine previously as the substance tends to increases cortisol secretion, which can lead to lowered testosterone levels over time. However I managed to find 2 very interesting studies about caffeine’s effect on male testosterone levels when taken pre-workout…

…Firstly, this study shows that pre-workout caffeine was able to actually increase serum testosterone levels in resistance trained males (cortisol also increased).

…Secondly, the researchers in this study gave their subjects some caffeinated chewing gum, their subjects saw increases in serum testosterone, and surprisingly also decreases in cortisol.

So maybe I have been too judgemental about caffeine before. Seems to be OK when taken pre-workout.

If you’re not a big fan of coffee, caffeine can also be supplemented with.

Synephrine

Synephrine can be found in bitter citrus fruits, such as the bitter orange for example.

It’s a naturally occurring chemical and structurally similar to catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) which are the compounds that cause the breakdown of fat cells.

Being similar to the catecholamines, synephrine also has similar effects in the body.

Here’s some research:

a) This study found out that a single dose of 50 mg synephrine was able to increase metabolic rate by 65 kcal in the following 75 minutes after ingestion in humans that were in a rested state. Even better, synephrine did this without altering blood pressure or cognitive abilities.

b) This study found out that synephrine increases the thermic effect of food, meaning that you can basically eat a bit more when taking it.

c) One study found out that synephrine and caffeine work synergistically with eachother, and therefore can be stacked.

d) This study saw that synephrine is an antagonist to the receptors A1 and A2, which work by preventing fat mobilization.

e) The researchers in this study saw that synephrine increases lipolysis and metabolic rate.

All-in-all synephrine is a well documented fat burner. It can also be particularly useful against the mysterious “stubborn bodyfat” as that’s mainly caused by the high density of A1 and A2 receptors (in males these are located at lower belly and lower back, and in women they’re most dense in legs and ass), synephrine seems to block the activity of these receptors.

You can get some high quality synephrine from Amazon.

Yohimbine

Yohimbine is one of the active ingredients in a herb by the name of yohimbe bark. It’s most commonly used as an aphrodisiac, mainly because this study shows it to be somewhat of a natural erection booster…

…It’s also sold as a testosterone booster despite the fact that human studies show how it doesn’t even budge the big T (it did increase penile girth in that study however, which indicates that it should work as a natural aphrodisiac).

As for the fat burning effects, yohimbine works as an antagonist to the A1 and A2 receptors, and can therefore be particularly helpful against “stubborn bodyfat”. This human study actually found out that 21 days of yohimbine supplementation (2 doses of 20 mg daily) was able to reduce bodyfat levels from 9,3% to 7,1% when compared to placebo in elite soccer players.

The catch is that you need to take yohimbine and then excercise in a fasted state to get the benefits out of the herb, as insulin completely negates the fat burning effects.

Also avoid mega dosing with the substance, high doses can increase blood pressure, spike cortisol, and even cause anxiety and panic attacks in sensitive subjects.

If you’re not afraid of the possible side effects and like to workout in a fasted state (think intermittent fasting), then yohimbine supplementation might be particularly useful for you.

Conclusion

There you go. 4 scientifically proven fat burners that actually work in humans. No pseudo bull-shit or half-assed studies done on retarded ducks.

Those four should be enough to make a drastic difference in your dieting efforts, provided that you’re actually watching what you eat and exercising…

…Because quite frankly, not a single fat burner will help you if you can’t control your eating habits or can’t get up from the couch.

The post 4 Scientifically Proven Fat Burner Supplements that Can Actually Work appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Calcium and Testosterone: Not Only For the Bones and Teeth

August 11, 2015, 12:18 pm

≫ Next: Cinnamon and Testosterone: This Cheap Household Spice can Really be Used to Raise your T Levels Naturally

≪ Previous: 4 Scientifically Proven Fat Burner Supplements that Can Actually Work

Calcium is the fifth most-abundant mineral in the crust of the planet Earth. In humans 99% of the calcium in our bodies is located in bones and teeth…

…The 1% that’s left has a role on various processes inside the human body, such as cellular functioning, neurotransmitter release (think dopamine), muscle contraction, conducting the heart, etc.

Which is why calcium is one of the 20 essential vitamins & minerals for human survival.

The governmental recommendation for calcium is roughly 1 gram a day for normal sized adult male. In my opinion you should aim a bit higher than that, while also adding in vitamin D, magnesium, boron, and vitamin K2, which all work in a synergy with calcium.

If you’re consuming plenty of products that already contain calcium (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc), extra supplementation might not be that useful. For example, here in Finland – and if I recall correctly, in the whole Scandinavia – milk consumption is so high that calcium supplementation would be somewhat just a waste of money.

The thing that got me interested in calcium however, is the fact that it seems to have a role in testosterone production.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Calcium and Testosterone

Calcium is not that often linked to testosterone production, but still, there’s few studies that show some promising results with the mineral.

The researchers aren’t even sure how calcium works to increase testosterone…

…Few logical explanations could be the fact that it controls neurotransmitter release (dopamine for example rises in correlation with T), and plays a role in cellular functioning (which in theory could improve the signaling between cells and hormones).

Whatever the reason, here’s what the studies say:

Calcium Testosterone Research

a) Back in 1976 a group of researchers studied the effects of calcium ions on isolated rat leydig cells. They found out that in combination with luteinizing hormone (LH), calcium significantly increased testosterone synthesis. When the researchers tested LH’s effects on the cells without the calcium, the increase in testosterone was significantly smaller.

b) 33 Years later, this study gets published in the Journal of Biological Trace Element Research. The researchers found out that calcium supplementation (35 mg/kg) didn’t really alter testosterone levels on the subjects who remained sedentary when compared to placebo. However there were also two groups on the study that did resistance training for 90 minutes, 5 days a week. The first group received 35 mg/kg of calcium, and the other group got a placebo pill.

Both of the training groups noted increases in their testosterone levels. However the group that received the extra calcium had 18% higher free testosterone levels after the workout than the placebo group did.

The researchers weren’t sure why calcium was able to increase the amount of bio-available testosterone in resistance trained men, but they suspect that it increases the sensitivity of the messenger hormones LH and FSH.

Conclusion

Calcium seems to increase free testosterone in men who practice resistance training. The mechanism of action is somewhat unknown, and more studies are needed to validate the claims.

All-in-all, you should probably consider a calcium supplement if you’re not a big fan of dairy products, but still love to workout.

For those guys, my recommendation would be this brand, 1-2 grams a day.

The post Calcium and Testosterone: Not Only For the Bones and Teeth appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Cinnamon and Testosterone: This Cheap Household Spice can Really be Used to Raise your T Levels Naturally

August 14, 2015, 6:16 am

≫ Next: Dietary Fat and Testosterone: Everything You Need to Know About Fats and Testosterone Production

≪ Previous: Calcium and Testosterone: Not Only For the Bones and Teeth

After seeing a lot of research supporting the notion that cinnamon could be used to reduce high blood glucose and to improve insulin sensitivity in humans, I became more and more confident that it should – in most men – also have a possible testosterone boosting effect…

…This is because both, high blood glucose (think pre-diabetes and diabetes), and insulin resistance (a condition where your cells don’t respond efficiently to insulin), are known for their testosterone lowering effects (study, study, study), so it’s only natural to assume that cinnamon – which seems to help significantly with both problems – could be a natural testosterone raising spice. That is, at least in people who have high blood glucose and/or some form of insulin resistance.

Since cinnamon bark has also been shown to be chock-full of antioxidants, and there’s evidence that it can reduce oxidative damage in multiple bodily tissues, one could almost be certain that the spice has to have some kind of positive effect on the endocrine system…

…And according to a few studies I managed to pull from the good old internet, cinnamon seems to be a very pro-testosterone spice indeed:

Cinnamon and Testosterone

cinnamon bark and male testosterone production

I expected to find no research about cinnamons direct effect on testosterone production, and that proved to be true for human studies. However, there were multiple animal studies that had examined the spices effect on T levels in rodents.

One Egyptian study examined the effects of cinnamon and ginger on the fertility of diabetic rats, they found out that cinnamon at 500mg/kg for 65 days; increased the weight of testes, improved semen quality and quantity, decreased blood sugar levels, increased serum insulin, and raised testosterone levels. All while also ameriolating the degenerative effects that are normally seen in the testes of diabetics.

In this Iranian study the rodents were given 75mg/kg of cinnamon for 30 days, at the end of the 4 week trial the researchers noted that the cinnamon groups T levels were 134% higher than those of control group (which received distilled water instead of cinnamon).

In another Iranian study, cinnamon extract given to male mice; increased serum FSH, LH, and testosterone levels, while also increasing the amount of leydig and sertoli cells of the testes.

It doesn’t end there. A study released few months ago, showed that an alcohol extract of cinnamon given at 50mg/kg to adult male mice; increased the weight of testes, improved semen parameters, and significantly increased the amount of leydig cells in the testes.

Given the fact that its proven in human studies that cinnamon can reduce high blood glucose and improve insulin sensitivity – and also the testosterone boosting and testicular health improving results seen in animal studies – it’s very much possible that cinnamon can be used to increase testosterone levels in humans. Even though, we can never be sure until someone decides to test this on human subjects.

Since cinnamon is dirt cheap, and you probably have some already in your house, it would not be that huge of a fall if it wouldn’t work in the end .

The post Cinnamon and Testosterone: This Cheap Household Spice can Really be Used to Raise your T Levels Naturally appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Dietary Fat and Testosterone: Everything You Need to Know About Fats and Testosterone Production

August 17, 2015, 4:20 am

≫ Next: Alcohol and Testosterone: The Effect of Drinking on the Endocrine System

≪ Previous: Cinnamon and Testosterone: This Cheap Household Spice can Really be Used to Raise your T Levels Naturally

Some years ago, dietary fat was considered to be the utmost evil thing that you could ever put near your body, but luckily things have gotten slowly better and new research is constantly proving how important it is to eat enough dietary fat each and every day.

This is a good thing, especially for men, as dietary fat intake is one of the most crucial factors to take under consideration when optimizing natural testosterone production.

So let’s get started:

Dietary Fats and Testosterone Production

There are two crucial factors to look for when focusing on dietary fat intake to optimize T.

1. The actual amount of dietary fat you eat is important. This should be pretty high, but there’s an upper limit from where things start going to the opposite direction.

2. The ratio between different types of fatty acids plays a crucial role. Not all of them are equally as effective, and one of the groups actually decreases testosterone.

I’m assuming that most of you already know the difference between fats, but for the sake of simplicity, these are the three types of fat you need to know:

Polyunsaturated fatty-acids (PUFAs) – omega fatty-acids (3,6,7,9), sunflower oil, canola oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, margarine, light spreads, etc.

Monounsaturated fatty-acids (MUFAs) – olive oil, almond oil, avocado oil, hazelnut oil, macadamia nut oil, peanut butter, etc.

Saturated fatty-acids (SFAs) – red meat, butter, coconut oil, palm oil, dark chocolate, egg yolks, cheese, whole milk, etc.

So now that you know what the different types of fat include, and what to look for…

…Here’s what the science tells us about these fats and testosterone production:

a) In this study, the researchers tested several nutritional factors to see how they correlate with pre-exercise testosterone levels in healthy men. What they saw was that the diets high in saturated fat and the diets high in monounsaturated fat, significantly increased testosterone levels. Whereas the diets high in protein, or the diets high in polyunsaturated fats, both reduced testosterone levels in a pretty much dose dependent manner. The researchers also saw that the higher the dietary fat intake, the higher the testosterone (diet containing mixed fats).

dietary fat intake and testosterone production in men

b) The data of the study above is consistent with the results that are seen in vegan/vegetarian studies. Vegetarians eat lower amounts of dietary fat, and their PUFA/SFA ratio is higher than what is seen in most omnivores. That’s more than likely the main reason why vegans/vegetarians have noticeably lower testosterone levels than their meat eating peers (study, study, study, study, study).

c) Several studies have also shown that when diets lower in total fat intake (~20%), are compared to diets higher in total fat intake (~40%). The higher fat intake groups always have more testosterone, and less SHBG in their blood serum (study, study, study)

d) In this study two elite ice hockey teams were put on different diets for a period of 7 months. The other team received a diet containing 40% fat and 45% carbs, whereas the other team ate a diet with 30% fat and 55% carbs (protein intake was identical). Both during and after the study, the researchers saw that the higher fat intake group had higher free testosterone levels, along with lower sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels – when compared to the lower fat group.

e) Surprisingly enough, after an overnight fast, the ingestion of a drink containing dietary fat, leads to reduced free and total testosterone levels. It’s unknown what causes this acute reduction in testosterone, but there seems to be no reason to worry about it since a mounting pile of evidence has shown that the long-term effects of increased fat consumption still leads to elevated free and total testosterone levels.

At this point it becomes quite obvious that you need to eat plenty of fat to increase testosterone levels, and that the types of fat you need to focus on are the saturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Whereas the consumption of polyunsaturated fats should be kept low.

Eating 35-40% of your daily calories from mostly SFAs and MUFAs would be my recommendation for optimal testosterone production. No more than that because you have to leave some room for carbohydrates and protein too.

But what the heck? I’ve heard that saturated fat causes heart conditions?!

Answer: Don’t fret over such nonsense. Recent research has shown multiple times that the correlation between dietary fat intake and cardiovascular disease risk is pretty much non-existant. Brett from the Art of Manliness actually has a post here, which shows how he ate a high-fat diet that doubled his testosterone levels, while his blood profile stayed optimal the whole time.

Conclusion

Eating a diet high in fat is a sure way to increase your baseline testosterone levels. In fact it’s one of the easiest ways to do so.

Research has also shown that the higher intake of saturated fats and monounsaturated fats leads to higher testosterone levels, whereas a higher intake of polyunsaturated fats leads to lower testosterone.

So not only does the amount of fat you eat matter, but also the type of fat.

Thank you for reading!

The post Dietary Fat and Testosterone: Everything You Need to Know About Fats and Testosterone Production appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Alcohol and Testosterone: The Effect of Drinking on the Endocrine System

August 20, 2015, 2:03 pm

≫ Next: 40% Higher Testosterone and -24% Lower Cortisol After Just 4 Weeks of Resistance Training

≪ Previous: Dietary Fat and Testosterone: Everything You Need to Know About Fats and Testosterone Production

Alcohol is a widely used depressant that we humans most often drink in the form of ethanol. And ethanol – like everyone who has hugged a toilet seat at 4am knows – is toxic for the human body. But just how toxic? And what kind of effects it has on the endocrine system?

The magic of alcohol is fairly simple: because it’s a depressant, it slows down various bodily functions, which in turn triggers the feelings of drunkenness.

Alcohol also slows down inhibitions, which is why you might get the feeling of needing to fuck everything and everyone around you after 10 shots of tequila…

…Sadly, this mission of having sex with everything that moves can often become impossible, since 10 shots of tequila is enough to dramatically slow down your sexual functions (ie: the battle sword might not rise to the occasion anymore).

This negative effect on the sexual function is mainly caused by a dramatic drop in the male sex hormone: testosterone…

…And here’s why it takes place:

Alcohol and Testosterone Production

drinking alcohol and how it lowers testosterone levels

Let’s just start by the fact that you do not have to completely give up drinking in order to have naturally high testosterone levels…

…Since few drinks here and there ain’t enough to cause any dramatic reductions in testosterone.

However, if you’re an alcoholic, and drinking yourself to the point of passing out on several days of the Week, then you can be damn sure that your testosterone production has tanked (and you probably know this yourself already because of the negative effects it has on sexual functioning).

Here are the already known mechanisms of action in how alcohol lowers T:

The metabolism of ethanol lowers the amount of the coenzyme NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) inside liver and testes. NAD+ is essential part of the electron donoring process needed in the production of testosterone and various other androgens, hence why it’s believed that alcohol reduces testosterone in a dose-dependent manner.

Alcohol stimulates the brain to release beta-opioid endorphins, which are the reason why you get really relaxed after few beers. Sadly those endorphins are also notorious for their negative effect on testosterone synthesis.

Alcohol consumption causes oxidative damage in the testicular leydig cells and various other bodily tissues, which leads to local reduction of testosterone inside the ballsack, and also to the destruction of some testosterone molecules already in circulation, due to the effects of the stress hormone: cortisol.

Chronically high alcohol consumption can significantly increase estrogen levels. This is due to the fact that it boosts the activity of the aromatase enzyme, which works by converting the male sex hormone: testosterone, into the female sex hormone: estrogen.

Here's Some Research:

a) It has been noted in several rodent studies that consumption of alcohol significantly lowers testosterone levels (study, study, study, study). One study in particular is rather alarming, since it showed a 50% reduction in testicle size in rats who were fed a diet with 5% of calories coming from ethanol.

b) Multiple human studies have found that heavy alcohol consumption significantly reduces testosterone levels (study, study, study, study). It’s also seen that men who suffer from alcoholism have significantly lower testosterone levels, and higher estrogen levels, than men without alcohol problems, even if they have a perfectly functioning livers (study, study, study, study).

c) But how much is too much then? It might come as a relief to some that a low-dose (0.5 g/kg) of alcohol has actually been shown to slightly increase testosterone levels. And a moderate-dose (equivalent to 1,5 glasses of red wine) only lowered testosterone levels by 7%. Even more surprising is that in this study, 1g/kg of alcohol (that’s about half a glass of vodka for most men) taken post-workout, was able to increase testosterone levels by ~100%! Take that study with a grain of salt though, since another one found out that if you work out drunk or in hangover, the testosterone lowering effects of alcohol will significantly increase in duration.

d) It’s also worth mentioning that beer is probably one of the worst alcoholic beverages to enjoy, if you’re interested in not fucking up your testosterone levels. This is because the hops of which most beers are made from contain a very potent phytoestrogen called: 8-Prenylnaringenin. In fact, hops are so estrogenic that the women who pick them up by hand, often experience menstrual problems. Another not so awesome compound in beer is called xanthohumol, which can impair hormone signaling.

Conclusion

As you can see, heavy drinking is like a death blow to your testosterone production, as it negatively impacts a wide variety of systems needed in normal endocrine functions.

However, lower dosages are probably fine, and can even increase testosterone levels slightly (I have no idea why). Moderate dosages are not that bad either (see that 7% reduction above).

It’s probably safe to say that 1-3 drinks are not enough to fuck up your testosterone production, but anymore than that and the negative effects will start showing up.

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40% Higher Testosterone and -24% Lower Cortisol After Just 4 Weeks of Resistance Training

August 23, 2015, 3:05 am

≫ Next: 3 Tips to Creating a Bad-Ass Life Truly Worth Living, aka. How to Live your Life on your Own Terms

≪ Previous: Alcohol and Testosterone: The Effect of Drinking on the Endocrine System

As a frequent AM reader you are more than likely already aware that strength training increases testosterone levels. However, there’s always a group of people who claim that the increases in testosterone and/or reductions in the stress hormone cortisol, would be short-lived, and that exercise wouldn’t change your resting levels of the hormones by any significance.

It’s normal to assume that, since in many studies, the effects are usually monitored for a day or two, and in these kinds of studies there’s usually an increase or decrease in testosterone (depending bit on the type of exercise and subjects), and then after sometime the levels fall back close to the baseline…

…So no matter how much you train, your hormonal baseline stays put, and the exercise induced hormonal changes are just acute, right?

Well, that’s a big no – at least if you ask the Spanish researchers, who found out that in newbie trainees, 4 weeks of strength training results in a significant 40% boost in RESTING testosterone, and -24% drop in RESTING cortisol.

4-Week Resistance Training Program Results in 40% More T

In 2006, Andrada et al. from the University of Extremadura, had 20 male volunteers (average age 22) with no prior experience with strength training. All of the subjects were tested and medically examined, so that there was no possibility of performance enhancing drug use to screw up the results.

After the medical examination, each of the volunteers were given a 4-week sub maximal strength training routine, which was to be conducted on three days of the week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). All the sessions were to be conducted at 12pm, and the use of any nutritional supplement during the 4-week period was forbidden.

The resistance training routine itself consisted of 7 basic exercises in the following order:

10-15 minute warm-up
bench press
seated-pulley
knee extension
behind-neck press
leg press
bicep curls
tricep pull-downs

NOTE: All of the exercises were done in 3 sets of 10 reps, with 3 min recovery in-between the sets, and with a weight that was 70-75% of the trainees one-rep max (1-RM).

After a month with the program above, the results speak for themselves: even though right after the excercise there was acute reductions in T (likely because resistance training makes muscle cells absorb more androgens from the blood, and as a result the testosterone level goes down for a while), there was a statistically significant 40% increase in resting testosterone, and a -24% decrease in resting cortisol (the primary stress hormone).

resistance training 4 weeks before after T

The post 40% Higher Testosterone and -24% Lower Cortisol After Just 4 Weeks of Resistance Training appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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3 Tips to Creating a Bad-Ass Life Truly Worth Living, aka. How to Live your Life on your Own Terms

August 26, 2015, 6:02 am

≫ Next: High Testosterone Recipes: Guacamole

≪ Previous: 40% Higher Testosterone and -24% Lower Cortisol After Just 4 Weeks of Resistance Training

Few years ago I was broke, I fixed cars for a living, I was “normal” – and in general – I pretty much hated my life. The only things I really had going for me, the things that made living worth it, were my girlfriend and a bunch of good friends. The only things that money can’t buy as they say…

…Yet I was depressed, stressed out, I couldn’t sleep, and I had this constant feeling that something was wrong in my life.

This was, even though I had followed the exact path that is constantly preached at homes, schools, and media: Go to school, get a job, get a mortgage, pay your bills…

…which in reality will result in this:

You wake up in the morning to an alarm, feeling tired as f*@k. You then proceed to go to a 9-5 job that you hate, so that you can pay for the things that you don’t need. After work, you get to enjoy the evening of freedom, and on the very next day, the cycle repeats itself. On the weekends, you can “escape” work life for two days, and you are happy like a kid in a candy store, just to realize how miserable everything is the next Monday, when the grind starts again.

Well, I was in that exact same grind as 99% of the people who read this are, but then one day, I just asked myself: “why?”.

why do I work a job I hate from the bottom of my heart?
why do I live from paycheck to paycheck, even though I work +50 hours a week?
is this really the way I want to spend 50% of my waking time?
why I only feel free during the weekend, and like a prisoner from Monday to Friday?

The person responsible for all the problems above, was – obviously – me, myself, and I.

Fast forward to this day, and I live in a huge house at the age of 22 (something I could never ever have afforded at my old job), I’m happy as f#@k, and I make a boatload of money doing the thing I love (which is writing about natural hormone optimization and fitness), and I really wouldn’t trade my life for anything. I am my own boss, and I finally have what we’re all chasing in life; FREEDOM. (sorry for the lame bragging, but I had to make a point…)

To put it short, I have completely turned my life around in 2 years or so, and it all started from a simple question, followed by a decision, plan, and a shit ton of ACTION.

Below are my top 3 tips on how to create a life really worth living (instead of fake happiness):

1. It Really is your Fault, so Take Responsibility

Let’s just assume that you’re working a job you hate, and you live from paycheck to paycheck.

Now, what’s the common response if some asshole from the internet asks you why exactly are you in that situation?

“I have to provide for…”, “It’s the economy…”, “I didn’t go to a good enough school…”, “It’s my parents…”, “I had a rough childhood…”, “Well, I guess I’m just a normal guy”, I’ve always just done what I was supposed to do…”, “Well, I can’t quit now can I?!”

That’s the common reaction; excuses.

What you never hear, is the truth:

“I got into this situation because I made bad decision, and listened to bullshit advice. I wanted to be normal, and please everyone around me by being a standard person, who does as is expected. And now here I am, not living my life on my own terms.”

This may sound harsh, but in 99,9% of the time, you’re solely responsible for your own situation. If you can’t accept that, then it’s unlikely that you can ever do anything about it.

No one else is going to turn your life around, no one else is going to start you a business, no one else will go to job interviews for you, no one else really knows what YOUR passion is, and no one else is responsible for your life.

2. Stop Caring about What People Think

Most of us try to live our lives by pleasing others, never to hurt anyones feelings, and always trying to do things so that others wouldn’t think you’re different, weird, or anything really.

Deep down, we really really want people to like us. And we work hard to please as many people as we can, just to create that illusion of awesomeness.

Because of this, we rarely take risks, and we rarely do anything that is out of the normal, ordinary, it’s kind of like most of us follow this “code of conduct” of normalcy.

I was guilty of this for many many years myself. And the truth is, that the more you care about what people think about you, the less likely you’re going to do what you really want to do.

My current choice of career is a good example of this. Me being a Finnish guy, who suddenly decides to ditch my job as a car mechanic and instead earn a living by blogging about fitness and natural hormone optimization in a foreign language, wasn’t exactly what people were expecting of me. Especially my close relatives.

Because of that, I was constantly ridiculed and downplayed by “other people”.

I was told that I was crazy
I supposedly did not know where I was going to get myself into
I was going to “learn a hard lesson of life”
there was supposedly no money in blogging
and the best one: I was going to throw my life away…

After some initial struggle, I did make my first 12$ of affiliate income when someone decided to buy an e-book through my site. At that very moment, I knew I could do it again, and again, and again…

…It was also at that very moment, when I realized that I really didn’t need to give a fuck about other people thoughts and opinions regarding my choice of career.

But what if I had reverted back to my old habits of giving too many fucks and pleasing everyone? Well, I would still be fixing some shitty old Honda’s, hating every miserable second of it.

The thing is, that when you start going against the grain, and doing your own thing, people will instantly try to bring you down to their level. You do not have to give a flying fuck about their opinions, honestly, you just do not have to, and you most definitely should not.

3. Take Action

It’s easy to have dreams, visions, great ideas, business plans…

…The hard part is actually grinding out the work to achieve them. Taking the cold hard ACTION towards your goals. It’s easy to see the success, but what is often left untold, is the hard work and dedication that made it all happen.

Yes there will always be obstacles, there will be smaller or larger failures, but so fucking what? You grind through them. If you truly want to do what you like, you’ll respect the hustle, not avoid it or pussy out.

In my opinion (this may not be suitable in all cases) the best way to crush all procrastination, is to force yourself into a situation where you can’t back down. It can be very risky, but often worth it.

Take this excerpt from the 1937 self-help book Think and Grow Rich as an example:

A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice—we win, or we perish! They won.Napoleon Hill

You may have no boats to burn, nor an army, but the above example of burning your ships can still apply to many modern life situations…

…I quit my 9-5 job before I started my own business. This way, I either had to make it or break it. There was no option of going back. I burned my bridges to the repair shop, now I had all the reasons in the world to make this blog not only popular, but also profitable. I did that by writing at least one article per day for the first 6 months.

Obviously no one was there to read anything at first, but when you crank up 1000-word articles that are interesting and backed up with science, The big Google will notice you, and eventually with that people will also start noticing you.

I had all the odds against me for sure. Just look at my writing, even after hundreds of articles, my English is still pretty horrible. I’m not a doctor or anything, yet I’m still writing about the endocrine system. I knew absolutely freaking nothing about building websites or coding when I began (I still kind of suck at it), but still, the crazy grind and obsessive hustling can turn even the worse odds to your favor.

Conclusion

This article may make you angry, it may help you, or it maybe just a fart in the wind for you. That’s fine. If it makes even the life of 1 single people better, then I have accomplished my goal.

There are obviously multiple other factors involved in success, but in my opinion, these three are crucial for aligning your mindset. Take responsibility of your own life -> Stop caring about what other people think -> Determine a goal and take ACTION.

Few resources that helped me during my journey:

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (the original self-help book from 1937 that started millions of other books, I credit a lot of my accomplishments to this piece of greatness).

Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco (despite the lame title, this book is pretty freaking great at helping you get rid of the “money is evil, I was destined to be poor” mindset).

Rich Dad poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (blends well with the books above, nothing compared to Think and Grow Rich, but if your daddy wasn’t rich [mine wasn’t for sure], this is a good read)

Bold and Determined (a blog dedicated to kicking ass, motivation, money, and the like. I discovered this when I was already “making it”, but the extra kick in the butt that comes from reading Victors articles is one of the best ways to amp my writing up)

Listen and learn from people who are rich, successful, free, etc (and never take advice from people who are the opposite, because – obviously – it didn’t work for them)

The Subtle art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (this article makes all the other articles about the subject obsolete).

The post 3 Tips to Creating a Bad-Ass Life Truly Worth Living, aka. How to Live your Life on your Own Terms appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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High Testosterone Recipes: Guacamole

August 29, 2015, 3:13 am

≫ Next: My Super Weird Way of Raising Testosterone Levels Naturally while Watching Sports

≪ Previous: 3 Tips to Creating a Bad-Ass Life Truly Worth Living, aka. How to Live your Life on your Own Terms

Many of the tasty Mexican foods combine a lot of testosterone boosting ingredients, and guacamole is definitely one of them.

Instead of buying the ready-made guac from grocery store (which often lacks the right ingredients)…

Here’s a super simple recipe on how to make your own:

Ingredients:

4 ripe Haas avocados
3 tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ cup diced red onion
1 large garlic clove (minced)
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 diced tomato

Preparation:

1. Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Scoop the flesh into a bowl. Add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, diced onions, garlic, salt, and tomatoes.

2. Take a sharp knife and start dicing the avocado halfs into smaller pieces. Once done, mix well and you’re finished.

Why Guac is Pro-Testosterone:

Avocados are loaded with testosterone boosting monounsaturated-fats (MUFAs), while also being a source of a bitter glycoside; oleuropein, which increased T levels by a staggering 250% in this rat study. Add in 20 dietary vitamins and minerals present in the flesh of an avocado. Many which your body uses and requires to produce testosterone: A, K2, C, B2, B5, B6, zinc, magnesium, and copper, and you have yourself one of the possibly best testosterone boosting ingredients as a base for this recipe.
Although not significant, there’s a study which suggests that the capsaicin in cayenne pepper can protect your testosterone levels from the stress of a calorie deficit.
Garlics and onions both correlate heavily with increased T production in multiple animal studies (study, study, study, study, study).

The post High Testosterone Recipes: Guacamole appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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My Super Weird Way of Raising Testosterone Levels Naturally while Watching Sports

September 1, 2015, 4:17 am

≫ Next: 6 Super Effective Ways to Destroy your Testosterone Production

≪ Previous: High Testosterone Recipes: Guacamole

The internet has been quite saturated with “ways to increase testosterone levels naturally” kind of articles, and after writing more than 250 articles on the subject, I know for a fact that this blog has most of the scientifically proven tricks already covered.

Well, today I have you a special trick of mine that hasn’t been discussed before, is heavily backed-up by research, and is a lot of fun when implemented successfully. Though I have to warn you that even if it might sound easy, it’s not (there’s a change of it backfiring and actually lowering your T!).

The weird trick? Sports betting, while also watching the games you have bet on. Weird much? Well, just read on:

Sports Betting and Testosterone

Ever since I was 12 years old, I have been a “sports bettor”. Being from Finland the hobby is relatively easy to start, since nearly all gas stations, supermarkets, and kiosks have betting “stations” in them.

And now since phones and the internet have evolved, and live streaming has become a thing, I can hook up bets with my phone in just minutes, and watch me some MLB or NHL from my own couch…

…Which is great, since I have followed both leagues from a kid and I can easily make profit from them, which is crucial for this trick to work anyway.

So, what the hell does sports betting and watching the games have to do with testosterone production!?

According to a human study from the University of Utah, men who watch their favorite sports team compete – and win – experience the same type of testosterone surges as the players themselves, whereas the losing sides actually ends up with lower testosterone levels. This study was done using soccer as an example, and the men watched the game via TV. The researchers point out that for these changes to occur, the win (or loss) has to be MEANINGLESS for the viewer.
Unless the team you’re watching is from your home town, you can add “meaning” to the game with sports betting. And even if the team is your “own”, the end result will still become more meaningful if there’s money on the line. This should then make the surge (or drop) in hormones even more powerful.
Making money itself, has been shown to increase testosterone levels. Take this study with young future traders as an example, the traders noticed significant increases in their testosterone levels on the days when they made above average profits. One future trader in the group got a 6 day streak of above average profits, and ended up having 78% more testosterone in his blood.

So that’s my formula and “theory” about how sports betting and watching the games can be used to raise testosterone levels. Just to recap, it goes like this:

— Watch your choice of sport.
— Add money on the line to make the end result more meaningful.
— Get a rush of success when you actually earn profits from the match.

Now like I said in the beginning, this is definitely not easy, and it can backfire by actually having the opposite effect on your hormones. This is, if your team loses, and you lose your bet. Even if you were to use this trick and win for the majority of time, there are still times when you experience some losses. The key is to win more than you lose. Earn more than you spend.

In the world of sports betting, that’s the hard part

The post My Super Weird Way of Raising Testosterone Levels Naturally while Watching Sports appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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6 Super Effective Ways to Destroy your Testosterone Production

September 4, 2015, 12:34 pm

≫ Next: High Testosterone Recipes: Spicy Testosterone Boosting Lamb Stew

≪ Previous: My Super Weird Way of Raising Testosterone Levels Naturally while Watching Sports

I have written A LOT about increasing natural testosterone production, but I have never actually made any posts about lowering testosterone levels. I mean there are probably people out there who want to lower their T and feel like shit.

You know? The guys who are scared that they’ll become too manly or too aggressive or some other bullshit explanation for as to why high T would be a bad thing (sigh).

So what I have got you for today, is a list of 6 simple steps that will completely destroy your testosterone production. If you want to get low testosterone levels, please follow the steps in this list, and if you want to do the exact opposite – which I highly suggest – then consider this as a “how-not-to list”.

Let’s begin:

1. Sleep Less than 4 Hours per Night

lack of sleep lowers testosterone levels

Lack of sleep is very important if you want to continuously suppress your natural testosterone production.

And it’s a quick way to do so too. You’ll see results in just days and your testosterone will plummet HARD, that’s a guarantee.

Don’t believe me?

Just take a look at the science…

a) In this study Gov et al. had 531 healthy men as test subjects to see how sleep affects T production. They found out that the group of men who slept 4 hours per night, had 60% less testosterone in their serum than the fellows who slept for 8 hours per night.

b) In this study from Penev et al. the researchers saw that the men who slept for roughly 4 hours a night had 200-300 ng/dl T in their serum, as opposed to the men who slept for 8 hours who had 500-700 ng/dl.

So as you can see, just by sleeping less than 4 hours a night, you can easily halve your testosterone levels, and as an added bonus, you’ll feel like a zombie everyday! That’s just awesome, and hey, at least you don’t become too “aggressive” or masculine

2. Eat Like a Fitness Enthusiast

This is probably one of the best ways to destroy your natural testosterone production.

Hire yourself a personal trainer from your local gym, and tell him to craft you a healthy diet.

9 times out of 10 the result will be a “clean” low calorie diet with high protein, low carbs, and low fat.

Seems healthy right? Ain’t this what every health and fitness “guru” preaches about?

a) Calorie deficit is known for lowering testosterone levels (even though this is mandatory if you’re a fat-ass looking to lose weight).

b) High-protein diets are notoriously detrimental for testosterone production (study, study, study, study).

c) Low-carb diets are known to be very bad for testosterone production (study, study, study, study).

d) Low-fat diets are the worst offender. Without fat, you’re lacking the essential building blocks of the big T (study, study, study, study).

Bottom line: If you want to say goodbye to the natural production of the most anabolic hormone of the human body, start eating like a fitness enthusiast. Listen to every little piece of info they have to tell you on bodybuilding forums, and by all means never look at the real science for answers! Ever!

3. Hit the Gym on a Daily Basis

hit the gym daily to suppress testosterone production

Exercising is a good thing for testosterone production, especially if you follow a strength training routine that activates large amounts of muscle volume at the same time.

But exercise can also be your tool in lowering testosterone.

To suppress your testosterone with training, you have to do lots of it. So much that your stress hormone (cortisol) levels rise a lot.

Once your cortisol goes up, testosterone goes down. Simply because High T and chronically high cortisol can’t co-exist.

Hit the gym hard everyday and you will skyrocket your cortisol, which again, destroys your testosterone.

Oh, and in case you’re not that much into gyms, you can also start training for marathon runs. Hours of endurance training every day will sap off your testosterone production too. Maybe do them both? While also eating like a fitness enthusiast. I can guarantee that you won’t have any testosterone molecules in your serum to even measure soon.

4. Become an Alcoholic

alcohol and binge drinking lowers testosterone levels

Alcohol and the endocrine system is not exactly a match made in heaven.

It has been demonstrated countless times in science that the more alcohol (ethanol) you drink, the lower your testosterone, and the higher your estrogen levels will be (study, study, study, study, study).

But there’s one kind of alcohol that I would say is the worst offender, or if you want to destroy your testosterone levels: “your best pal”.

Beer.

It’s main ingredient is hops, and hops contain two very potent testosterone lowering compounds…

…The first one is 8-Prenylnaringenin, an extremely potent phytoestrogen. 8-PN is so estrogenic in fact, that the women who pick it up by hand, experience menstrual problems…

…The second offender is a compound called xanthohumol, which directly blocks testosterone production inside the testes.

NOTE: Low amounts of alcohol, such as glass or two of wine or liquor, won’t damage your testosterone production. In fact small doses of liquor taken post-workout can actually increase free-testosterone levels.

So if you want to suppress your testosterone production a lot, start drinking alcohol a lot. Copious amounts of beer would be your best tool for doing this.

5. Become a Vegetarian

Let’s say that you want to start “protecting animals” and at the same time would also like to suppress your testosterone levels.

What would be the best thing to do?

Become a vegetarian obviously.

Study after study, has confirmed that grass-eating men have significantly lower testosterone levels than meat-eaters (study, study, study, study, study).

This is caused by a mix of several factors: vegetarians don’t eat enough saturated fat, they eat too much polyunsaturated fat, they don’t eat enough cholesterol, and animal protein is superior to plant-based proteins when it comes to testosterone production. Vegetarians/vegans also eat too much fiber.

And that’s why vegetarians/vegans have almost always low testosterone levels, or in some cases “normal” total testosterone levels, but extremely low levels of bio-available free testosterone (because of high SHBG).

6. Get Fat

Think of Muhammad Ali punching you directly into the ballsack. Multiple times. Everyday.

That’s what being fat does to your testosterone production.

Being fat is like a testicular nuclear bomb. It saps away the life from your gonads. And it also neutralizes the testosterone that eventually reaches your bloodstream.

And it gets better. The fatter you are, the more aromatase enzyme your body produces, and the more aromatase enzyme you have, the more of your testosterone molecules will be converted to estrogen. Yeehaa!

As if that wasn’t enough, belly fat also neutralizes the conversion from testosterone to DHT (more potent male hormone).

Remember, it’s not the weight on the scale that matters, it’s the fat. Adipose tissue. Lard, or whatever you may call it. If you want to have low T, simply increase your fat percentage.

Conclusion

I’m sure most of you guys already understood that this is a post of things to avoid.

In no way, shape, or form should you do any of these thing if you want to remain healthy, active, and awesome.

Like I said earlier, consider this as a how-not-to post.

However, if you truly want to lower your testosterone levels (for some extraordinarily weird and more than likely idiotic reason), go ahead and follow these 6 tricks

The post 6 Super Effective Ways to Destroy your Testosterone Production appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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High Testosterone Recipes: Spicy Testosterone Boosting Lamb Stew

September 7, 2015, 6:24 am

≫ Next: How Listening to Music Can Alter your Hormones and Productivity

≪ Previous: 6 Super Effective Ways to Destroy your Testosterone Production

This is a simple recipe for a testosterone boosting spicy lamb stew. Most of the ingredients that I’ve selected for this recipe come with testosterone boosting benefits. The ones that don’t, are in just to give the dish some taste.

NOTE: I’m currently writing a massive guide on herbal testosterone boosters, outlining the benefits, negatives, and research behind all of them that I know. As a side-article to that I will also publish a detailed post about why it’s beneficial to cycle herbs. Hence, why today’s article will only be a republished recipe from last August.

Ingredients for 4-6 Servings

3 lbs of lamb shoulder meat, cubed

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 red bell peppers, chopped

2 tablespoons of ginger, ground

1½ tablespoons of cayenne pepper, ground

2 cups of beef stock

5 tomatoes, puréed

1 handful of fresh parsley

1 teaspoon of pure sea salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

Preparation

1. Add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan or high sided pot. Add the lamb meat cubes and cook for 6-8 minutes until the cubes are evenly brown on all sides. Put the meat into a bowl.

2. Heat the same pan or high sided pot that you cooked the lamb cubes in, but this time put it to medium-high heat and add in the onions and bell peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking for 1 more minute.

3. Throw in the beef stock, lamb cubes, cayenne pepper, ginger, puréed tomatoes, and fresh parsley leaves. Bring the pan or pot to boil over high heat, then lower the heat to low and cook partially covered for 3 hours, or until the lamb is tender.

4. Season with salt and pepper. Eat.

Why it's Great for Testosterone Production

a) Lamb meat is a good source of carnitine which is an amino-acid that increases androgen receptor density and sensitivity. There’s also saturated fat, cholesterol, high quality protein, zinc, several B vitamins, and CLA in lamb meat and all of which are linked to increased testosterone production.

b) The olive oil consists mostly of monounsaturated fatty accids, which in this study were shown to be pro-testosterone. This study found out that olive oil converted cholesterol more easily into testosterone. And this study saw that healthy male subjects who switched to using olive oil as their main source of fat noted a 17% increase in their testosterone levels.

c) Onions contain hefty amounts of quercetin and alliins, compounds that both are linked to increased T production. Moreover this study found out that feeding fresh onion juice to male rats more than tripled their serum testosterone levels.

d) Garlic is also rich in alliins and quercetin, and it comes not as a surprise that few studies have found out its testosterone boosting effects, such as this and this study.

e) Ginger increased testosterone levels by 17% in this human study, and it more than doubled testosterone levels in this rat study. This animal study also found out that it works similarly in diabetic rats.

f) Cayenne pepper, at least according to this study, may have a testosterone boosting effect.

g) This in-vitro study found out that parsley contains a compound called apigening, which stimulates testosterone synthesis inside isolated leydig cells.

The post High Testosterone Recipes: Spicy Testosterone Boosting Lamb Stew appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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How Listening to Music Can Alter your Hormones and Productivity

September 10, 2015, 4:17 am

≫ Next: High Testosterone Recipes: Baked Oysters with Bacon and Spinach

≪ Previous: High Testosterone Recipes: Spicy Testosterone Boosting Lamb Stew

We are exposed to music on a daily basis, but did you know that it can have a serious positive and/or negative impact for your hormones and productivity?

There are multiple studies which show very clearly, how listening to various kinds of music can significantly alter the levels of anabolic hormones, stress hormones, productivity, mood, and even immune system functions.

In which way and are all the effects positive? Read below:

To Music or not to Music?

I got my first drum kit when I was 6 years old, ever since, playing and listening to music has played a huge part in my life…

…Needless to say, I was not very positively surprised when I stumbled upon this study some years ago, where it was concluded that listening to various kinds of music styles, caused an acute drop in the subjects testosterone levels. These effects were noted even when the subjects had the choice to listen to their favorite bands/artists

(to be fair, this study was conducted in Japan, so the music might not be that T friendly any way, haha).

Did those findings have any impact on the amount of music I consume?

Hell no. In fact, I’m writing this article with music playing on the background. I do most of my work while listening to music…

…And there’s a good reason for that:

In a study from England, it was found out that listening to background music significantly raised efficiency in a series of experiments involving repetitive-work.

According to Dr. Teresa Lesiuk, IT specialists who listen to music complete their tasks more quickly and come up with better ideas than those who don’t, because the music improves their mood and greatly reduces anxiety.

Multiple other studies on the subject have shown that background music can be used to improve cognitive functions and productivity (study, study, study).

Aside from being a good tool for increased productivity, listening to music can greatly reduce the stress hormone; cortisol (study, study, study).

A large review study investigating over 400 studies on music, led by Professor Daniel J. Levitin, found out that music can be so strong stress-reliever that it reduces cortisol levels in subjects undergoing a surgery, more so than any prescription medicine used for such purposes.

What about workout music then?

Aside from the fact that lifting weights with huge ear muffs looks tad bit ridiculous, the acute reductions in testosterone noted by Fukui et al. could actually cause a small drop in your workout performance. This however, could be easily negated by the reduced stress and improved mood that comes by when listening to music, so I wouldn’t worry about that. I have personally had a good amount of gains and high T levels for a long time now, and the gym where I workout plays music from the speakers all the time.

Few tips:

— If the music is too loud, productivity will suffer, keep it as background noise when working.
— During work involving writing or speaking, instrumental music is recommended (lyrics distract the process).
— Heavy-metal music and heavy ass weight lifting go hand-in-hand.
— The best stress-relieving music is something that includes sounds from nature.
— Video game music is awesome for productivity, since it’s designed to enhance the experience without distracting the player (I often write with this as background noise).

The post How Listening to Music Can Alter your Hormones and Productivity appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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High Testosterone Recipes: Baked Oysters with Bacon and Spinach

September 13, 2015, 4:51 am

≫ Next: Nitric Oxide: 20 Ways to Boost NO Levels Naturally

≪ Previous: How Listening to Music Can Alter your Hormones and Productivity

This is a super simple recipe with only few ingredients, though it packs some serious testosterone boosting power.

From the Casanova’s favorite; oysters (which alone are one of the more popular testosterone boosting foods), this recipe also includes spinach, and the good old bacon.

Here’s how you do them:

Ingredients for 4-6 servings:

30 medium oysters
2 lb spinach
4 oz bacon
1 tbsp butter
coarse rock salt

Preparation:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spinach and cook for about 30 seconds. Drain spinach and transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain spinach, squeeze to dry, chop, and set aside.

2. Shuck the oysters, leave the meat to bottom shells. Broil oysters until golden brown in oven (roughly 5 minutes) or grill (bit less than 5).

3. While the oysters are broiling (or in grill), heat skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon in a dab of butter until crisp, set aside and crumble.

4. Once oysters are done, add the spinach chop and bacon crumbs on top. Finish up with some rock salt and lemon juice.

Why They're Pro-Testosterone:

A legend says that the 18th century ladies man – Casanova – ate 50 oysters for breakfast. You know, maybe he was on to something… Casanova aside, oysters are packed with testosterone boosting minerals; zinc, selenium, copper, and magnesium, not to mention the vitamin D, and animal protein.
Bacon is a great source of T boosting animal protein, crucially important for a healthy endocrine system. Not only that, but along with butter they’re both high in saturated fat, which is the number #1 type of fat for increased testosterone production.
Spinach is a rich source of dietary nitrates, which increase your body’s production of nitric oxide, therefore relaxing blood vessels and improving circulation. Spinach is also a rich source of the flavonoid; apigening, which has been shown to stimulate the production of sTAR (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein), improving the conversion from cholesterol to testosterone in the ballsack.

The post High Testosterone Recipes: Baked Oysters with Bacon and Spinach appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Nitric Oxide: 20 Ways to Boost NO Levels Naturally

September 16, 2015, 2:23 pm

≫ Next: Everything You Need to Know About Pre-Workout Supplements

≪ Previous: High Testosterone Recipes: Baked Oysters with Bacon and Spinach

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous signalling molecule of the human body, and also one hell of a powerful vasodilator.

And because of the fact that it enhances circulation all around the human body, nitric oxide boosters are generously used as pre-workout supplements among weight-lifters and various other athletes that could benefit from increased circulation in their choice of sport.

But creating the feeling of ‘pump’ before a workout isn’t by far the only benefit of boosting NO levels:

a) Nitric oxide is extraordinarily good at preventing cardiovascular disease, as it relaxes arterial walls, dilates the vessels, and improves the flow of blood (study, study, study, study)

b) NO improves brain functioning and reduces cognitive decline, due to the fact that it greatly enhances bloodflow to the brain and functions as a secondary neurotransmitter between nerve cells (study, study, study).

c) Nitric oxide is one of the main ‘ingredients’ behind erections, and without the molecule, you simply couldn’t have a boner. (study, study, study, study). Simply put, the more nitric oxide you have, the stronger the tool of love.

d) High nitric oxide levels can greatly improve the effectiveness of your workouts, due to the fact that your muscles will receive more oxygen and nutrients when your veins are dilated and circulation is enhanced. For the same reason, NO also shortens recovery time (study, study).

Simply put, nitric oxide makes the body run more smoothly, as oxygen, nutrients, and red blood cells can reach their target tissue and cells faster.

The team of researchers that discovered NO’s vasodilating and cardio-protective effects actually received Nobel’s price back in 1998. So the molecule is kind of an important thing, especially if you’re a man…

…In my books it’s the second most important thing to optimize, right after testosterone.

And fortunately it’s quite easy to increase your nitric oxide levels naturally, and you can do it with a small budget too.

The results are often fast. For example, I can double my nitric oxide levels in a day, only by following the tip number #1 below (I use these saliva testing strips to monitor my levels at home).

Now that you know what is nitric oxide and why it’s so beneficial, here’s 20 ways to increase NO levels naturally:

1. Eat Nitrate Rich Foods

eat nitrate rich foods to increase no levels naturally

When you eat foods that contain natural nitrates, the bacteria in your tongue converts them into nitritines…

…And once you swallow the food, the bacteria in your gut converts the nitritines into nitric oxide (study, study, study).

This occurrence – as you might guess – will increase your nitric oxide levels dose dependently (the more nitrates you eat, the more nitric oxide your tongue and gut will produce and convert).

And fortunately, nitrate rich foods are easy to obtain and they’re also quite cheap…

…Here’s a list of few great foods packed with natural nitrates:

Spinach, beets, celery, aragula lettuce, iceberg lettuce, carrots, parsley, cabbage, radishes, collard greens, etc.

NOTE: I should warn you that some folks scare people about nitrates, as they can possibly convert into carcinogenic nitrosamines in the body. However in reality, that’s nothing to be scared about, just read Dr. Kessers excellent article about the issue to understand why. Also, vitamin C completely blocks the possible conversion to nitrosamines, in case you want to play it super-safe…

2. Grape Seed Extract

grape seed extract increases nitric oxide

Grape seed extract (GSE) is simply an extract derived from grape seeds.

The extract itself is great for testosterone production, as it’s one of the few natural substances that can block the conversion from testosterone into estrogen. In other words, GSE is a potent aromatase enzyme blocker (more about that here).

But on top of that, grape seed extract is also great at increasing nitric oxide levels…

…Studies on humans show that it drops blood pressure and heart rate, and animal studies show that it activates the natural nitric oxide synthase of the body and increases NO levels by 138% when taken at doses of 100mg/kg (study, study, study, study, study, study).

The problem with GSE is that you can’t get enough of the active compounds (procyanidins) just by eating grapes, and most of the supplements on the market are quite weak too. Pretty much the only GSE supplement that I can honestly recommend is this pure bulk powder.

3. Vitamin C + Garlic

It’s a well known medical fact that vitamin C increases nitric oxide production in the body, and that it also protects the molecules.

Garlic on the other hand is filled with nitrates, and it also contains a compound called quercetin, which is linked to increased NO levels in various studies (more about quercetin later in this post).

Few studies have also found that garlic is more effective at dropping high blood pressure than most drugs on the market.

So that’s why a researcher by the name of Adam Moussa, decided in this study, to give his human subjects some vitamin C (2 grams), along with 4 garlic tablets (6 mg of allicin and 13.2 mg of alliin) for 10 days to see if it had any impact on their blood pressure and/or nitric oxide levels…

…The results were quite impressive:

a) The endolethial nitric oxide output increased by a staggering 200%.

b) On average the systolic blood pressure dropped from 142 mm to 115 mm, which is more than can be achieved with most medication.

c) Diastolic Blood pressure decreased from 92 mm to 77 mm on average.

So the next time you’re thinking about paying $50 for a shiny pre-workout blood flow booster at your local supplement store, remember that you can get significantly better results and a massive pump with some plain old garlic caps and vitamin C

4. Citrulline

l citrulline to boost circullation and blood flow naturally

L-Citrulline is an amino acid that your kidneys will convert into L-arginine.

L-Arginine will then convert into nitric oxide by the actions of the nitric oxide synthase enzyme (eNOS). Meaning that supplementation with L-citrulline is a solid way to increase NO levels naturally (study, study).

Why not supplement with direct L-arginine then?

Answer: For some odd reason, L-citrulline is better at increasing serum arginine content than L-arginine itself. This doesn’t mean that L-arginine wouldn’t work, it’s just that citrulline is better at increasing the nitric oxide boosting arginine than the actual amino acid.

You can get some citrulline by eating watermelons, however to get any noticeable effects, supplementation with the amino acid is recommended. To get the best bio-availibity go with citrulline malate.

5. Arginine

Like I said above, L-citrulline is more effective at increasing arginine content than L-arginine itself is, which is odd, but sometimes the body works like that (maybe the arginine produced by the kidneys is superior to lab made).

However, even though citrulline is better, it doesn’t mean that arginine would be useless. It’s still the staple ingredient in almost all of the pre-workout boosters out there

Several studies have found that arginine increases nitric oxide levels (study, study, study).

But again, citrulline is superior. If you want to try arginine, get this stuff that has them both. You can also get arginine through various foods, from Brazil nuts as an example.

6. Exercise

Exercising and staying active is amazingly awesome for pretty much everything. After all, we were never meant to sit around all day.

We should be constantly on the move, walking, climbing, etc.

And pretty much all kinds of exercise (all the way from walking into furious strength training) has been shown to increase nitric oxide levels, both, temporarily and the baseline (study, study, study, study, study).

Also if you go to the gym regularly, nitric oxide production will increase as your muscles increase in size. In a way, your body notices that the muscles need more blood, oxygen, and nutrients, so it increases the baseline nitric oxide synthase and thus, your baseline nitric oxide levels will increase too…

…That’s one of the reasons why bodybuilders often have some crazy vascularity going on.

7. Pycnogenol

Pycnogenol is a formulation of maritime pine bark extract, one that has been standardized to contain 65-75% procyanidin (same active ingredient as in grape seed extract).

Pycnogenol also has some anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant benefits…

…But what’s really exciting about Pycnogenol, is the fact that there’s plenty of science backing up it’s effects as a blood flow enhancer.

Just take a look at these studies:

a) In this study pycnogenol was found to relax the inner lining of arteries.

b) In this study, 40mg and 120mg of oral Pycnogenol was able to significantly improve the quality, achievability, and duration of erections in subjects with erectily dysfunction (most likely due to the increase in blood flow).

c) Several studies have found out that Pycnogenol increases nitric oxide, improves blood flow, and reduces the symptoms of venous leakage (study, study, study).

So Pycnogenol is definitely an interesting compound. I don’t use it myself but if I would, quick look at Amazon reveals that I’d probaly go with this brand.

8. Sunlight

It’s a well known fact that natural sunlight triggers the skin to produce vitamin D…

…But what most people don’t know, is that the natural sunlight will also trigger the skin to synthentise more nitric oxide (provided that you don’t use those lame sunscreens that block the natural awesomeness that the sun has to offer).

And this is no bro-science either. The researchers at the University of Edinburgh found out that when sunlight touches the skin, nitric oxide is instantly released into the bloodstream…

…Furthermore, they concluded that sunlight exposure can significantly increase your life-expectancy by cutting the risk of stroke.

“We suspect that the benefits to heart health of sunlight will outweigh the risk of skin cancer. The work we have done provides a mechanism that might account for this, and also explains why dietary vitamin D supplements alone will not be able to compensate for lack of sunlight.”

So stop worrying about skin cancer, sunlight is essential for life, and you can’t get it out of a bottle. Besides, you’re 80 times more likely to die from a stroke than by skin cancer.

9. Ginseng

ginseng to boost nitric oxide levels and erection quality

Panax ginseng, or the ‘real Korean ginseng’, cultivates in Korea (duh).

It contains these active compounds called ‘ginesonides’ which are structually very similar to androgens, such as testosterone.

What makes ginseng interesting, is the fact that several human studies show how it increases testosterone, increases nitric oxide, improves circulation, promotes sleep quality, relaxes arteries, and boosts libido (study, study, study, study, study, study).

Ginseng is one very popular herb, and that also means that there’s plenty of fake products on the market. Also note that we’re talking about Korean red ginseng (panax) here, not the American or Siberian alternatives.

To get the real deal authentic Korean ginseng, I’d suggest this brand (mainly because it comes from Korea)

10. Quercetin

quercetin a flavonoid that strengthens your erections and sexual performance

Quercetin is one of the most researched flavonoids out there, and even though it’s not that effective when taken as a supplement without any other bioflavonoids in synergy with it, doesn’t mean that it would be useless.

You see quercetin works extremely well with other similar compounds, such as resveratrol, procyanidin, tannins, tea catechins, and genistein to increase nitric oxide levels (study, study, study).

That’s why I recommend that you get your quercetin from food sources (or if you supplement with it, remember to eat plenty of flavonoid rich foods with it).

Foods highest in quercetin are: Onions, garlic, chives, apples, grapes, and red wine.

Also if you’re keen on supplements, consider this one from Solgar, it’s a tustworthy brand at least. However remember to eat plenty of grapes, red wine, onions, and garlic once you take the supplement so that it’s actually effective.

11. Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a molecule that’s found in the mitochondria of cells. It produces energy, which keeps your body running.

It’s extremely important for basic human survival, but your body can synthesise it, which means that supplemantion is not necessary (even though it can be quite beneficial).

You see, quite a list of conditions can be caused by low CQ10 levels, such as: male infertility, low testosterone, cardiovascular disease, fibrymalgia, Parkinson’s disease, etc. Also several drugs can deplete baseline CQ10 levels, such as statins…

…But the thing that we’re talking about today is nitric oxide, and coenzyme Q10 can definitely help with that.

That’s because in human subjects CQ10 increases nitric oxide, protects the actual molecule, relaxes arteries, increase blood flow, and drops blood pressure (study, study, study, study, study).

However, supplementation with coenzyme Q10 can be quite expensive, and I like to make sure that I get my extra CQ10 from food sources, such as from: salmon, grassfed red meat, animal organs, egg yolks, Brazil nuts, and spinach.

12. Toss out the Moutwash

Remember in the tip number #1 how I said that the bacteria in your tongue converts nitrates into nitritines, and then your gut continues the process by converting the nitritines into NO?

Well, that process never occurs if you’re a ‘heavy user’ of mouthwashes.

Listerine and the likes, tend to destroy all of the bacteria in your mouth (remember not all bacteria is bad) so that the nitrates can’t convert into nitritines.

I for one don’t use any mouthwashes. Eating real unprocessed food, drinking plenty of water, and washing my teeth every evening is enough to keep my breath fresh.

13. Laughter

laughter increases nitric oxide levels naturally

You wouldn’t think that the simple act of laughing could do anything dramatic…

…However, research has already shown us that when men watch 60 minutes of comedy film, their growth hormone, dopamine, and nitric oxide levels increase significantly when compared to control group.

So maybe it’s true that laughter makes you live longer.

Whatever the case might be, at least your circulation will improve when you’re having fun

14. Niacin

Niacin (vitamin B3) is one of the 80 essential nutrients for human survival.

To put it mildly, niacin plays a crucial role in energy production, gene expression, and hormone synthesis. Humans cannot exist without it.

It’s also good for the heart. Actually research shows that it’s far more beneficial than statins at reducing deaths caused by stroke (which isn’t that hard really as statins have never worked in the first place, or in any peer-reviewed studies).

This is mostly because of the facts that niacin increases nitric oxide synthase, and thus, baseline NO levels, and it also elevates the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol, while simultaneously lowering the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol (study, study, study).

I get mine through foods, mainly from red meat. And occasionally I pop few of these raw B complex caps.

15. Capsaicin

Capsaicin is the alkaloid that makes all chilis hot. It’s literally the compound that creates the feel of heat in your mouth.

And it’s also pretty good at increasing nitric oxide levels, at least if you believe the science (study, study, study, study).

One animal study also suggests that capsaicin might protect testosterone molecules during long-term calorie restriction.

You can get plenty of capsaicin by adding some cayenne pepper (or other hot chilis) to your foods, or you could also supplement with the alkaloid if you’re no friend of hot foods.

16. Coffee, or not

Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, meaning that it dilates the blood vessels and lowers blood pressure…

…Coffee on the other hand is the polar opposite. A vasoconstrictor, which makes the vessels smaller, while also increasing blood pressure.

But then again, coffee contains plenty of antioxidants, which in this study where shown to increase the enzyme nitric oxide synthase, which converts arginine into NO.

So the antioxidants in coffee increase nitric oxide, but the caffeine in it constricts blood vessels at the same time.

So it’s probably a plus, minus, zero kind of a situation, except if you drink decaffeinated coffee, then you would get a boost in NO, without the vasoconstrictor effects

17. Raw Cacao

raw cacao powder for dropping blood pressure

Raw cacao – and by this I mean real unheated cacao that has been cold pressed from the bean – is a super food that contains A LOT of antioxidant and polyphenols.

And that’s the reason why it also skyrockets nitric oxide production, and relaxes the inner lining of arteries (study, study, study).

Raw cacao actually contains the same nitric oxide boosting active compound as Pycnogenol and grape seed extract do (protocyanidin), along with many other NO boosting antioxidants.

However, when purchasing raw cocoa, remember that it has to be raw and cold pressed. Heat destroys the antioxidants.

18. Icariin

horny goat weed icariin and nitric oxide

Icariin is a flavonoid that can be found in a herb by the name of horny goat weed (epimedium).

The herb itself is known for its aprhodisiac benefits, and animal research suggests that it can boost testosterone levels quite significantly (more here).

The active compound in the plant (icariin) is great for nitric oxide production, and it also acts as a mild PDE-5 enzyme inhibitor. Meaning that it works similarly as ED drugs (study, study, study, study) So in a way you could say that icariin is natural viagra with circulation enhancing, nitric oxide boosting, and testosterone boosting benefits.

You can get the herb here, or extracted icariin here.

19. Omega-3 Fatty Acids

fish oil is a cheap nitric oxide booster

Omega-3’s are pretty damn healthy. There’s just no way around the fact.

They’re are anti-inflammatory, they significantly increase blood flow and nitric oxide levels, and they’re extraordinarily awesome at lowering stroke risk and blood clots (study, study, study, study).

The simple truth is that we’re eating way too little of these essential fatty acids, as the modern diet favors processed vegetable oils, margarines, and trans fats over healthy natural alternatives such as: butter, olive oil, avocadoes, fish oil, cod liver oil, fatty fish, chia seeds, etc…

Basically we’re eating way too much of the omega-6’s and way too little of the omega-3’s. Correcting that is simple, just start eating more omega-3’s and less omega-6’s. Your overall health will improve dramatically, and nitric oxide levels will increase in the process.

20. Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a polyphenol flavonoid present in grapes and red wine.

The compound caught my interest when I found few studies about it increasing testosterone levels and reducing estrogen levels, which was exactly what I’m interested in…

…But then I found something more.

Not only was reservatrol good for the hormonal balance, it’s also a very potent nitric oxide booster, as it stimulates the nitric oxide syntase enzyme (study, study, study, study).

So to increase nitric oxide production naturally, drink red wine, eat grapes, and perhaps supplement with resveratrol (which should also be supercharged with piperine due to its low bio-availibity as an extract).

Conclusion

So there you go, 20 ways to increase nitric oxide levels naturally, and a brief explanation of why you should do just that.

Also remember that you can monitor your NO levels easily at home with this kind of nitric oxide testing strips. They’re pretty easy to use and accurate.

Thanks for reading!

The post Nitric Oxide: 20 Ways to Boost NO Levels Naturally appeared first on Anabolic Men.

↧

Everything You Need to Know About Pre-Workout Supplements

September 19, 2015, 2:33 pm

≫ Next: Bromelain and Testosterone: Could We Finally Have Something that Preserves T Levels from Endurance Training?

≪ Previous: Nitric Oxide: 20 Ways to Boost NO Levels Naturally

Pre-workout supplements or “boosters” are all the rage right now.

Just look around the bodybuilding supplement industry, and you can see all the new pre-workout buzz words tied around the ever so clever marketing tactics…

“skin tearing pump”…
“laser sharp focus”…
“explosive strength”…

Just like most of the previously hyped up supplements, pre-workout boosters tend to be over-marketed, over-priced, and often under-providing…

…However, there are proven compounds that do work, and those are what we will be focusing on this article:

How Effective Are Pre-Workout Ingredients Anyway?

The term “pre-workout booster” loosely describes an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that can give you a boost before exercise, whether this is strength training, running, cycling, or whatever really…

…Most notably however, they are being pushed to gym-rats.

These pre-workout supplements are usually sweetened powders that contain various amounts of “clinically proven” (read: quite often unproven) vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, alkaloids, stimulants, or any other legally approved compounds that should, could, and in some cases will, improve your workout energy, mental clarity, and focus.

Another option is to buy these “pre-workout ingredients” separately in bulk powder or tablet form, if – for example – you would like to mix up your own pre-workout booster, using the ingredients you want, with the amounts that are suitable for your goals. Quite often this also allows you to leave off the propiety blends, binders, fillers, sweeteners, and colouring agents (this is the strategy I use personally, although I don’t recommend it, since it gets to be expensive as f@#k).

Whether your goal is to mix your own “booster”, purchase a ready-to-go mixture, or you just want to know if you even should use pre-workout supplements at all, here’s a list for you to see how effective the most common ingredients really are:

Caffeine

Notably the most popular “booster” out there is caffeine. It’s also – not that surprisingly – the main ingredient in multiple pre-workout supplements. You can get clinically effective dosages (150-800mg) from few cups of coffee, caffeine pills & powders, or simply through a pre-workout supplement.

Research suggests that caffeine:

boosts muscle strength
improves aerobic and anaerobic performance
increases metabolic rate
boosts focus and alertness
can ward of “morning sickness”

Bottom line: Caffeine is safe, and highly effective for pre-workout needs. It will not magically help you add 10 lbs more to your lifts (though some people really claim BS like this), but it will give you a slight boost in performance and focus.

Creatine

After whey protein, creatine is probably the second most popular bodybuilding supplement of them all.

Unlike many other bodybuilding supplements which come and go without standing the test of time, creatine has actually been very solidly up there with protein supplements for tens of years.

Why? More than likely because there’s a TON of research backing up its effects in:

(examine.com has a great list showcasing hundreds of studies about the benefits of creatine supplementation for strength gains, more lean mass, and reduced fatigue (along with some other stuff).

Bottom line: Creatine could be added to the pre-workout supplement, and many brands sure have it, but in my opinion it’s not really needed before workouts, since you need to “saturate” your cells with creatine (often through a loading phase) before it really starts to have a noticeable effect. There’s no quick burst of energy or performance if you just guzzle it down before a workout. So yes, it’s highly effective, but it doesn’t really matter at what time you take it.

Betaine

Betaine or trimethylglycine (TMG) is identical to the amino acid; glycine, except for the fact that it has 3 methyl rings attached to it, hence the name: tri-methyl-glycine (supposedly the name betaine comes from the fact that the compound was first discovered from beetroots).

Because of the three methyl groups, betaine acts as a “methyl donor” in the body, and can thus donate methyl groups to other parts of the body, which in turn helps with the chelation of estrogen and homocysteine (these in turn possibly improving testosterone to estrogen ration more in favor of T, while also being cardioprotective).

But why do we often see betaine in pre-workout supplements?

Answer: Betaine is considered to be an “osmoregulator”, meaning that it would balance the water in cell membranes from becoming either too diluted or too concentrated, thus improving performance.

However, the studies on that claim are somewhat inconclusive (some showing improved exercise markers, some showing no change) and when its tested along side creatine (which has similar – though stronger – osmoregulative properties), it’s clearly not as effective.

Bottom line: there are some benefits to betaine supplementation due to its methyl donoring effects. However, the reasoning for its addition to pre-workout supplements is not standing on a very solid foundation when looking at the studies. I like to get my betaine from beets and spinach anyway, because with this, you get the added benefit of dietary nitrates, which can improve NO production and therefore vasodilation, and therefore; the “pump”

Taurine

Taurine is a semi-essential amino acid that comprises for about 0,1% of the weight of the human body. Human breast milk is relatively high in taurine (suggesting that it might be very important for the developement and normal growth). Taurine also comprises roughly 50% of the amino acids in cardiac tissue.

The name originates from the fact that it was first isolated from bull testicles (and no, don’t be stupid, the supplements are not isolated from there

)…

Aside from being heavily used in energy drinks (Red Bull, etc…), taurine has some interesting testosterone boosting benefits that have so far been proven only on animals.

Why some pre-workout supps have it as an ingredient is not that clear to me, since the studies I’ve seen show it to be pretty inconclusive in improving exercise performance (study, study). The only real benefits of taurine supplementation (in my opinion) are: the possible T boosting effect (remember that this hasn’t been studied in humans yet), and the fact that one human study shows taurine to be fairly effective in increasing blood flow.

Bottom line: Aside from a slight increase in blood flow (better muscle pumps), taurine is likely not going to do much for your focus or workout performance.

Arginine

Arginine is one of the 20 most common amino acids present in nature, some rich food sources include: raw cacao, meat and poultry, egg yolks, and various nuts. It’s also one of the most popular ingredients in pre-workout supplements, and this is due to the claims of it improving nitric oxide production in the body, thus increasing blood flow, and improving the muscle “pump” effect (which would of course also improve the delivery of oxygen and nutrients into the muscle tissue).

Arginine is a direct precursor for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), and in regards of nitric oxide production, vasodilation, and increased blood flow, there is good amount of evidence speaking in behalf of arginine supplementation.

arginine has been shown to “restore” the natural NO production in subjects with heart problems
arginine has been shown to improve exercise efficiency and exercise tolerance in healthy humans
arginine raises nitric oxide levels in the body, resulting in lower blood pressure and increased blood flow (study, study, study)

Bottom line: Arginine is fairly effective at increasing blood flow, and this is likely because the human body uses arginine in the synthesis of nitric oxide, which is a compound that dilates blood vessels. It’s addition in pre-workout supplements is obviously not for nothing.

Citrulline

All the benefits of arginine, can be achieved with citrulline supplementation. That is, because the liver naturally converts it into arginine.

So, just like from arginine supplementation, citrulline will give you:

What makes citrulline better than arginine, is the fact that citrulline supplementation is better at increasing plasma arginine levels than direct arginine supplementation itself is. And not only that but citrulline provides a much longer, steady elevations in plasma arginine, whereas arginine supplementation spikes the levels which then quickly fall back to normal.

Bottom line: citrulline is just like arginine, except better at increasing plasma arginine levels, and therefore more effective.

Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine is slightly modified version of the amino acid; alanine. It’s a very common ingredient in pre-workout formulas, and when taken in excess (doses exceeding 5 grams), causes tingling all-around the body.

How beta-alanine works is simple. Once ingested, it quickly converts into a compound called carnosine, and carnosine then acts as an acid buffer in the body, promoting performance.

Beta-alanine has some interesting research behind it:

beta-alanine can increase muscle endurance (study, study, study, study)
beta-alanine can increase lean muscle mass growth relative to placebo (not much and probably caused by increased work load, not the actual compound)
beta-alanine can effectively decrease the feelings of fatigue during exercise (study, study)

Bottom line: Beta-alanine should be somewhat effective for pre-workout needs. Most people who have used the compound tend to report that it gives a slight boost in higher rep ranges, and since its an acid buffer, that claim makes sense.

BCAAs

BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. The name comes from their branch chained looking chemical structure, and these are the only three amino’s that go directly into the muscle, instead of being first metabolized in the liver. BCAAs also comprise roughly 25% of the muscle tissue and are considered to be the most important amino acids for protein synthesis.

Because of the fact that they go directly to the muscles after ingestion, BCAAs can be used in pre-workout and intra-workout supplements as a source of “energy for the muscle”.

I’m personally a huge fan of BCAAs, and this is because I train in a fasted state (meaning that I do not consume any food before my workouts). Because of the BCAAs that I sip during exercise, I can avoid muscle breakdown and give my body amino acids during the training, all while remaining in that fasted state since BCAAs are so low in calories.

I wouldn’t use BCAAs if I would eat before workouts, and this is because you can easily get plenty of BCAAs from everyday foods. Whey protein is 25% BCAAs, animal protein is roughly 18% BCAAs, dairy proteins have around 13%, and last (definitely also least) vegetable proteins (beans, legumes, nuts) have only 2-4% BCAAs.

Bottom line: If you’re doing intermittent fasting and working out on a fasted state, BCAAs are exceptionally useful, same would be true for vegans since plant-based protein sources are so low in BCAAs. However, for someone who eats normally all-around the day, BCAAs won’t do much. Not because they would be bad, or suck, or anything else, but simply because you already get plenty of BCAAs from the foods you eat before the workout (for example: 100 grams of chicken breast is enough to give you roughly 2x the average amount of leucine, isoleucine, and valine you’d get from a BCAA supplement).

Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate, aka. baking soda, can be found in some pre-workout supplements in relatively small doses, but most brands tend to leave it out due to the facts that they either don’t know how effective it really is, and/or they are aware of the fact that it can cause gastrointestial distress in higher dosages (read: explosive diarrhea), so they choose to not include it.

However, if you start from lower dosages and find an amount that suits you, baking soda before exercise can have a very positive effect on your workout performance. This is because sodium bicarbonate is a natural pH-buffer, making your muscle cells more alkaline during workouts, which in turn increases oxygen uptake and therefore also performance and strength. Very similarly to beta-alanine, baking soda is an acid buffer.

I was completely unaware of how effective sodium bicarbonate really is, until I found multiple interesting articles about it on my favorite exercise science blog; Suppversity, including:

Bottom line: Baking soda is a true ergogenic aid and you should include it into your “pre-workout ritual”. Just work up to a comfortable dosage, the stuff loses all of its pre-workout magic if you take too much and end up shitting your pants while squatting.

Supplement Recommendations and Dosages

The possible combinations of creating your own “pre-workout” powder mixes are nearly endless, but what are the clinically effective dosages and most effective forms of the compounds above?

Also what if you don’t want to spend crazy amounts of money on isolated powders, what would be good options for ready-made pre-workout combinations?

And lastly, do you even need a pre-workout?

Let’s start from the scenario in which you’d want to get pure bulk powders of whatever the hell it is that you decide to use for your pre-workout needs (this is the expensive way), here’s a quick list of dosages and effective forms of each compound examined earlier in this article:

Caffeine anhydrous (100-800mg)
Creatine monohydrate (3-10g)
Betaine anhydrous (1-3g)
L-Taurine, free-form (500-3000mg)
L-Arginine AKG (3-9g)
L-Citrulline malate (1-8g)
Beta-alanine, free-form (2-5g)
BCAAs, instantized 2:1:1 ratio (6-12g)
Baking Soda, any (start from 1 tsp, work upwards)

For the ready-made pre-workout powders on the market, these are my top 3 recommendations:

1. Rebellion by Brandon Carter
2. PreJym by Jim Stoppani
3. Legion Pulse by Mike Matthews

Lastly, let’s tackle the big question. Do you even need pre-workout supplements?

Answer: The truth is, that you don’t need them for building muscle. I can say with 100% confidence that you can build an amazingly aesthetic and strong body without any pre-workout supplements or compounds ingested ever. Don’t buy into the hype of the marketers.

Pre-workout supplements can help you focus a bit, they can help you squeeze out an extra rep here and there with lighter loads, and they can slightly increase your blood flow, “pump”, and so forth, and in these cases, pre-workout “boosters” DO work…

…Just never assume that you CAN’T build muscle without a pricey pre-workout combination, because you definitely CAN. These compounds are just a nudge towards your goals, you still have to do the work yourself, since there are NO. MAGIC. PILLS.at least in legal markets that is

Thank you for reading.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Pre-Workout Supplements appeared first on Anabolic Men.

↧

Bromelain and Testosterone: Could We Finally Have Something that Preserves T Levels from Endurance Training?

September 22, 2015, 6:02 am

≫ Next: Testosterone and Weight Loss: Does the Big T Really Help you Burn Fat?

≪ Previous: Everything You Need to Know About Pre-Workout Supplements

Bromelain extract is a combination of proteolytic (protein breaking) enzymes, which are most commonly extracted from either the stem or fruit part of pineapples.

It’s mainly used as a meat tenderizer, and this is simply because the catalytic enzymes break down the peptide bonds that link amino acids together, making the animal protein (read: meat) more tender.

Old school bodybuilders were also known for using bromelain for protein digestion. In Randy Roach’s book called Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors the author describes how Irvin Johnson and the 1966 Mr. America, Bob Gajda, started a new trend of creating protein puddings where they would instruct their clients to stir raw pineapple into a glass of protein powder.

Could this proteolytic meat tenderizer enzyme blend also have an ergogenic testosterone protective effect in endurance athletes? One recent study suggests so:

Bromelain for Testosterone Maintenance?

A study from the University of Tasmania by Shing et al. had fifteen young elite cyclists as their test subjects…

…The subjects were racing in a competitive cycle race for 6 consecutive days, and the researchers divided the participants into two groups. First one consisted of 7 cyclists who received 1,000 mg’s of daily bromelain. The second group consisted of 8 cyclists who received a visually similar placebo pill.

During the six days of the cycle race, the researchers took blood samples from the cyclists at days 1, 3, and 6, and they examined these samples for various exercise markers, including testosterone.

What they found out was very interesting. As to be expected, the high amount of endurance exercise significantly reduced blood testosterone levels – however – only in the placebo group. The group receiving 1,000 mg’s of bromelain, noted relatively stable levels of testosterone throughout the 6 days of cycle racing! Yup, that’s not a typo. 6 consecutive days of elite level cycling with no significant reductions in T levels.

The researchers conclude: “Consecutive days of competitive cycling were associated with increased markers of muscle damage and a reduction in circulating testosterone across the race period. Bromelain supplementation reduced subjective feelings of fatigue and was associated with a trend to maintain testosterone concentration.”

Mind you, this study is peer-reviewed, randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled.

Not bad results from a gram of meat tenderizer per day I might say…

NOTE: Another study from 2009, associated bromelain supplementation with increased power output and lower levels of inflammatory cytokines after resistance training.

Conclusion

Maybe there’s more to bromelain than being a meat tenderizer, maybe not, but even with this low amount of scientific evidence, it’s much more “scientifically proven” than the majority of bodybuilding supplements flying off the shelves at GNC.

Could you get same benefits by eating pineapples? Probably, but since the majority of the bromelain is in the stem part, you’d probably be better of with supplementation.

Or blend the stem if you want to, I don’t care.

The post Bromelain and Testosterone: Could We Finally Have Something that Preserves T Levels from Endurance Training? appeared first on Anabolic Men.

↧

Testosterone and Weight Loss: Does the Big T Really Help you Burn Fat?

September 25, 2015, 5:25 am

≫ Next: Carbohydrates and Testosterone: This is why Carbs are Essential For T Production

≪ Previous: Bromelain and Testosterone: Could We Finally Have Something that Preserves T Levels from Endurance Training?

If you type “the benefits of testosterone” to Google, you’ll find dozens of articles which list increased ability to burn fat as one of the main benefits of having high T levels…

…Does testosterone really do that though? And if so, why would it happen? Can guys with low T lose weight?

Hopefully you’ll get some answers out of this article:

How Testosterone Levels Affects Fat Loss

Considering the fact that you’re not on steroids, losing weight means that you MUST burn more energy (calories) than what you consume. In other words, you have to put yourself into a state of negative energy balance.

No matter what you’ve heard from the so called gurus and experts, weight loss always means that you have to feed your body less energy than what it burns, in this case your body has to tap into its own energy reserves to keep its functions running.

Science has – without a shade of doubt – proven multiple times that energy deficit is the only REAL way to lose weight, irregardless of macronutrient ratios, or insulin, glycaemic index, gluten, or any other fad-trick-claim-scam-hype that’s out there (study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study).

Heck, professor Mark Haub got so sick of the claims of calories-in vs. calories-out not being true, that he ate Twinkies, Doritos, Oreos and protein shakes for 2 months, while constantly being on a calorie deficit of ~800 kcal per day.

Guess what happened? He lost 27 pounds. Some clean-eating experts would argue that the amount of weight lost is not important, rather it is the amount of lost fat, so it’s important to mention that Mark’s body fat percentage also fell from 33.4% to 24.9%.

The point? You will lose weight as long as you feed your body less energy than it burns, even if you eat the most absolute junk. Yes, the human body is an “open system”, but still, you can’t really escape the laws of thermodynamics. Period.

So, does this mean that having high or low levels of testosterone makes no difference for the body’s ability to burn fat? Yes, and then, no.

As long as you’re in a state of negative energy balance, you will lose weight, irregardless of your testosterone levels. However, having high testosterone levels can still help you shed of the layers of fat faster with the following ways:

Higher levels of testosterone make it easier for your body to burn adipose tissue (fat), instead of muscle mass.

Increased T, boosts metabolic rate, which increases the energy burned, and thus creates a bigger calorie deficit.

Having high levels of testosterone in the blood stream, directly inhibits the creation of some new fat cells.

So, how big of a difference does testosterone really make? If we look at things from a natural perspective, fluctuating in-between the normal range of total testosterone (250-1200 ng/dL), a decrease from ~600 ng/dL to ~300 ng/dL (achieved with the administration of a GnRH antagonist drug), caused a staggering 36% increase in the fat mass of healthy human subjects.

So, bottom line is that testosterone fluctuating in the normal subphysiological ranges isn’t going to get you lean if you are on a caloric surplus (although it slightly increases metabolic rate), but high T will improve your body composition with increased lipolysis and prevention of new fat cell creation…

…Which in turn leads to the following two benefits:

increased amount of lean mass gained, with lower amounts of fat mass gained on a caloric surplus
increased amount of fat mass lost, with more lean mass preserved on a calorie deficit

The post Testosterone and Weight Loss: Does the Big T Really Help you Burn Fat? appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Carbohydrates and Testosterone: This is why Carbs are Essential For T Production

September 28, 2015, 2:23 pm

≫ Next: Vitamin A and Testosterone: The Impact of Active Vitamin A and Carotenoids on Testosterone Production

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It’s trendy right now to omit from certain macro nutrients. Some years ago it was the low-fat craze, and not a big surprise, people got sicker than ever because of it. The mass media always needs something to demonize, and currently carbohydrates are considered to be the “root of all evil”.

You may have read the “10 Ways to Boost Testosterone” and such lists from other websites, which often claim that you should avoid carbs to boost testosterone, but that just goes completely against the current scientific evidence.

To be honest, carbs are not bad, carbohydrates are pretty fucking important for testosterone optimization if you ask me.

Let’s take a closer look:

Carbs and Testosterone Production

People often claim that low-carb diets are superior to anything else, simply because they would be better for losing weight.

Fortunately the above is a load of bullshit, because weight loss is all about energy balance. If you consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you consume less calories than you burn, you lose weight. There’s a mounting pile of scientific evidence to prove this fact, and anyone who tells you that you could bend this law of physics by tricking around with macro nutrients, is a nutcracker.

Heck, Professor Mark Kraub lost 27 pounds by eating only Twinkies, little Debbie snacks, Oreos, sugary cereals, and Doritos chips. Why? Because he simply ate less calories than what his body used. You simply cannot escape the laws of physic with fad diets.

The only time when you could actually benefit from low-carb diets, is if you have some serious issues with insulin-resistance, or leptin-resistance, or if you’re prepping up for a bodybuilding show. If you don’t, then there’s really no need to omit from carbohydrates.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to the meaty part of this article…

…Here’s why carbohydrates are essentially important for testosterone production:

a) In this study, the researchers divided their subjects into 2 groups. The other group ate a high-carb low-protein diet, whereas the other group ate a high-protein low-carb diet. Fat intake and calories were identical. Ten days into the study, the results showed that the high-carb group had significantly higher free testosterone levels (+36%), lower SHBG levels, and lower cortisol levels when compared to the high-protein low-carb group.

b) In this study, the researchers found out that in exercising men, the stress hormone cortisol increases rapidly when they’re put on low-carb diets. Needless to say that this is pretty bad thing for testosterone production.

c) Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is the hormone that basically starts the whole cascade of events that eventually leads to testosterone synthesis, adjusts its pulsation rate according to the glucose levels of the body. When there’s high amount of glucose present, the hypothalamus inside our brains releases more GnRH, and thus your body synthesizes more testosterone. And when there’s low amounts of glucose present in the body, the brain releases less GnRH, which slows down testosterone synthesis (study).

As glucose is mainly generated from carbohydrates, it’s quite obvious that low-carb diets also mean lowered blood, muscle, and brain glucose levels, leading to slower release of GnRH, and therefore also lower testosterone.

d) In this study, the researchers had 2 groups of men who performed three consecutive days of intensive training, the only thing different between these groups was the carbohydrate consumption. The other group ate 60% of their daily calories from carbs, whereas the other group ate only 30% (note that this isn’t even low-carb anymore). The final post-study measurements which were taken in the third day, showed that the group which got the lower amount of carbs, had significantly lower free testosterone levels, and higher cortisol levels (this is one of the reasons why I recommend more carbs on training days). Similar results were observed in this study too.

“See? That’s why I don’t recommend low-carb diets”.

But are all carbs created equal? Should you just slam your face with spaghetti, sugar, and hamburger buns?

Answer: There’s differences between carbs, and when it comes to boosting testosterone, I usually divide them into 2 groups.

1. Starchy tubers and veggies: potatoes, yam, pumpkins, batates, beets, carrots, turnips, squash, etc.

2. Grains: wheat, rice, cereals, pasta, corn, bread, etc.

If your goal is to eat the testosterone boosting carbs, you should eat most of your carbs from the group 1, and less from the group 2.

Here’s why:

a) Most grains contain a lot of gluten, and gluten is known for its prolactin increasing effects (study, study). Prolactin on the other hand is known for reducing testosterone levels.

b) Grains (at least the refined kind) are known for causing systemic inflammation in the body, and inflammation promotes cortisol, which reduces testosterone.

It doesn’t kill you or wipe away your testosterone tank if you have bread or pasta once in a while, but eating mostly from the group 1 is a good staple to follow if you want to increase your natural testosterone production.

Personally I like to eat a lot of potatoes, I consider them to be the god-tier when it comes to carbs, and if I have some grains, I try to have some that contains no gluten and preferably has some androgenic effects (read: sorghum).

Conclusion

Carbohydrates are essential for testosterone, and they’re not unhealthy at all. Just stop believing the mass media craze, they’ll always need some food group to demonize, and currently it’s carbohydrates.

Be aware of this especially if you exercise a lot.

Thanks for reading!

The post Carbohydrates and Testosterone: This is why Carbs are Essential For T Production appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Vitamin A and Testosterone: The Impact of Active Vitamin A and Carotenoids on Testosterone Production

October 1, 2015, 2:29 pm

≫ Next: Protein and Testosterone: Does Dietary Protein Intake Affect T Levels?

≪ Previous: Carbohydrates and Testosterone: This is why Carbs are Essential For T Production

Vitamin A, unlike the name indicates, is not a single compound. Instead its a blanket term for a group of active unsaturated molecules including: retinal, retinol, and retionic acids, along with multiple provitamin A carotenoids such as: α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein, and lycopene, which the human body can convert into active Vitamin A.

The recommended daily intake for vitamin A for a normal sized male is about 900-3000 μg/day of retinal, retinol, or retionic acid, or about 12-24 times that of carotenoids, since they have a significantly lower bio-availibity in the human body and are also poorer sources of the active vitamin A.

Vitamin A is also noted as one of the “24 essential vitamins & minerals for human survival”, and this is definitely for a good reason…

…Because without adequate amounts of vitamin A, you would slowly go blind, your immune system wouldn’t function normally, not to mention that you would also become infertile, and your body would have a really hard time absorbing dietary fat (which in turn would cause colossal damage all-around the body).

Anyhow, here’s what vitamin A does to testosterone levels:

Vitamin A and Testosterone Production

vitamin a and male testosterone production

There’s not much research behind vitamin A’s effect on male testosterone levels, but a handful of studies has shown some positive associations between the vitamin and androgen production.

Vitamin A is found inside the testicular sertoli cells in retinal form and when needed it can be converted to more biologically active form; retoinic acid. It’s also seen in rodent studies that if there’s no active vitamin A present inside the testicles, testosterone levels drop rapidly and estrogen levels inside the testes shoot up.

If you’re deficient in vitamin A, your body cannot properly utilize dietary fat for its many processes. As a good intake of the right fats is one of the utmost important building blocks of testosterone, vitamin A deficiency will more than likely impact T production in a negative manner.

Also, your body uses a compound called transferrin to transport cholesterol molecules into the testicular leydig cells in order to convert them into testosterone. Without vitamin A, the body can’t synthesize transferrin, and the transportation of the principal testosterone precursor gets impaired.

Here's Some Research:

a) There’s a lot of evidence suggesting that vitamin A is an essential part of male reproduction, since the synthesis of sperm cannot fully occur without retinoic acid (study, study, study).

b) In a human study consisting of 155 twin males, vitamin A was found to have a significant positive correlation with testosterone production.

c) In this animal study (which had guinea pigs as subjects), vitamin A deficiency significantly lowered testosterone production.

d) In this human study, 102 young boys with delayed puberty and short stature were divided into 4 groups: first one was a control group, second group was given synthetic testosterone, third got vitamin A and iron supplements, and the fourth group got a combination of TRT, vitamin A, and iron. As you can imagine the control group didn’t gain any significant height or begin puberty at an accelerated rate. However, both the vitamin A group and testosterone treated group noted similar improvements in height growth, puberty rate, and testicular volume (yes, that’s right. Vitamin A + iron was as effective as hormone replacement therapy in jump-starting puberty).

e) In this rodent study, it was noted that the testicular system of rats contains several receptor sites for vitamin A, and that it can be stored in testicular sertoli cells. What’s more interesting is that when the rodents diets were cut off from all vitamin A, testosterone production rapidly decreased (up to the point of where sexual organs literally athropied), and estrogen exposure inside the testes rose rapidly (as humans share nearly identical testicular systems with wistar rats, this becomes very interesting).

There’s definitely some evidence that being deficient in vitamin A is not a good thing for your testosterone production or testicular health. And it’s more than likely that men with low vitamin A levels can see significant improvements in their testosterone levels after supplementing with vitamin A or consuming a lot of it in their diets.

However, there’s no evidence to support the claim that superloading with vitamin A, or even supplementing with it in the presence of already optimal intake would increase testosterone levels..

It’s likely that the same thing happens with vitamin A, as does with vitamin D, where dose-dependent increases in testosterone are seen up until the point where optimal levels of the vitamin in blood are achieved and the rising testosterone stops going higher after that.

“What is the best form to supplement with?”

Answer: The provitamin A carotenoids are the most common form, since they’re the easiest ones to extract and/or synthesize in a lab. However they’re not as bioavailable as the active forms, and your body has to convert them to actual vitamin A. On a bright side, you can’t really overdose on carotenoids since the body converts only what it needs. The active forms however, accumulate in the body since they’re fat-soluble and basically “ready-to-use”. But, the body can use and absorb them much better than carotenoids. Just don’t start superloading with them.

What works fine for me is that I take a multi-vitamin which contains carotenoids, and also liver tablets which have the more active forms of vitamin A. If I would have to choose either one of the two, I’d go with liver tablets though.

What are the best food sources for vitamin A?

Answer: You can fill up your daily intake with provitamin A carotenoids easily by eating a sweet potato (100g is 380% of RDA), or couple carrots (100g is 340% RDA), or a few handfuls of dark leafy greens (100g is 270% RDA).

To get the active forms of vitamin A (retinal, retinol, and retionic acids) your best option would be beef liver (100g is 1411% RDA), or a teaspoon of cod liver oil (which is about 100% of the RDA), or just some salmon (100g is 50% RDA).

Conclusion

Vitamin A has an essential role in testosterone production, and deficiency in the vitamin will most definitely hammer your testosterone levels.

However, deficiency in vitamin A is not that common, unless you live in a developing country or if you’re eating a low-fat diet (the body has hard time absorbing vitamin A when there’s no fat with it).

Anyhow, if you want to make sure that you get enough vitamin A, the simplest way would be to just to buy some liver tablets, or to make your own

The post Vitamin A and Testosterone: The Impact of Active Vitamin A and Carotenoids on Testosterone Production appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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Protein and Testosterone: Does Dietary Protein Intake Affect T Levels?

October 4, 2015, 2:25 pm

≫ Next: 7 Foods and Foodstuffs that Could Significantly Lower Testosterone Levels

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Protein is by far the least demonized macronutrient at the moment, and it’s considered to be the holy grail of nutrition. It’s not uncommon to see gym rats and bodybuilding websites recommending to cut down on fat and carb intake, just for the sake of getting in more of the god given protein.

Protein might be the most important nutrient for maintaining lean mass, but for testosterone production? It’s the least important.

That’s right, more protein is not cool for your balls, no matter what the bodybuilding sites (the guys who try to sell you their powders) say.

Here’s why:

How Dietary Protein Impacts Testosterone Production

dietary protein intake and testosterone levels

I have personally never enjoyed high protein diets. Many guys swear by them, but they’re often the guys who sell the powders too.

For these 6 or so years that I’ve been hitting the gym, I have been mostly focusing on fats, carbohydrates, and total caloric intake.

Surely I do eat protein, but I eat a lot less than the bodybuilding sites recommend for a guy of my size. To give you a hint of numbers, I eat probably around half of that.

Yet I have never had any problems building muscle, EVEN when I didn’t have freakishly high testosterone levels.

The reasoning behind me not eating a high protein diet is simple. I want to maintain high testosterone levels naturally, and high protein diets are detrimental for T production. The more you eat protein, the more you have to cut out from your carbohydrates and fats, and the more you cut from those two, the lower your testosterone production will be.

And that’s because fats and carbs are superior to protein when it comes to natural testosterone optimization.

This is obvious when you take a look at the research:

a) In this study, the researchers divided their subjects into 2 groups. The other group ate a high-carb low-protein diet, whereas the other group ate a high-protein low-carb diet. Fat intake and calories were identical. Ten days into the study, the results showed that the high protein group had significantly lower free testosterone levels (-36%), higher SHBG levels, and higher cortisol levels.

b) In this study which had 1552 men as test subjects (aged 40-70), Longcope et al. found out that when men eat low amounts of protein, their levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) increase. This occurrence is believed to lead to reductions in free testosterone levels (SHBG is a protein which binds to free testosterone molecules in blood, making them ‘unavailable’ for direct use of the body). So at least in older men, low-protein intake might be a bad idea. What is low-protein according to these researchers though? Much lower than the amount recommended below in this article

.

c) In this study, the researchers found out that diets high in protein, lower testosterone levels in men who practice strength training.

d) In this Finnish study, Hulmi et al. found out that consuming a drink with 25 grams protein (whey and casein) right before a strength training workout, significantly lowered testosterone and growth hormone levels in human subjects.

So as you can see, protein truly is the least important macronutrient when it comes to boosting testosterone. I wouldn’t say that it’s necessarily a bad nutrient or anything like that, but eating a high protein diet leaves room for less carbs and fat, which are superior when optimizing natural T production.

The source of protein also seems to be important. For testosterone optimization, animal sources are superior to plant sources, especially if your goal is to build muscle.

If you’re actively lifting weights, I would recommend that about 25-30% of your daily calories come from animal proteins. This is easily enough for muscle building purposes (if, for some weird reason, you would still want to consume more protein than that, it would be best to consume more protein in your workout days, and less in your rest days, in a way that your total weekly protein intake would still be about 25-30% of your calories).

What about protein powders like whey and casein?

Answer: I honestly wouldn’t even recommend protein powders. The way I see it, it’s just that the companies which sell them are making some big time bank of off people who believe that they need to have that protein drink after a lifting session, if they don’t, the whole workout was useless.

Just get your protein from fatty cuts of meat, and if you absolutely can’t meet your daily goal from animal sources, then maybe take a sip of casein before bed, or whey after a workout.

But whatever you do, please don’t be as enthusiastic about protein as the guys below.

Conlusion

Protein is the least important macronutrient for testosterone optimization, but is quite important for lean muscle mass…

With that being said, I believe that the recommended intake of protein pushed by the fitness industry is way too high. You could easily build muscle with lower intake, without compromising your testosterone levels in the process.

Aim to get about 25-30% of your daily calories from animal protein, if your goal is to build muscle while maintaining high testosterone levels. If you don’t workout at all, then 20% should be enough.

The post Protein and Testosterone: Does Dietary Protein Intake Affect T Levels? appeared first on Anabolic Men.

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