How to boost your testosterone. Learn how to naturally increase testosterone without steroids or performance enhancing drugs.

Testosterone is a man’s best friend when it comes to working out. The male hormone is essential when it comes to increasing muscle mass and stamina, so it’s important to keep your levels high if you’re trying to beef up.

Boost testosterone levels naturally

Lose the belly

While you may be working toward a muscular physique, gaining too much weight is a definite testosterone killer. Excess pounds lead to elevated estrogen levels, but there’s still room for muscle – according to Joseph Zmuda, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, this hormonal shift only occurs once you’re 30 percent over your ideal body weight.

Lose weight slowly

Reducing your calorie intake by as little as 15 percent can make your brain think you’re starving. Once this happens it shuts down testosterone production until your food intake picks up. Thomas Incledon of Human Performance Specialists in Plantation, Fla, sums this up very simply, “there’s no need to reproduce if you’re starving.”

Sudden drops in testosterone also stop the body from burning fat efficiently, so it’s important to keep levels up in order to fight excess fat.

Consume the right amount of fat

Bearing in mind that too much fat is bad, too little can also have a negative effect on testosterone production. This is because the body needs dietary fat to produce testosterone – a diet consisting of 30 percent fat is considered to be the most effective.

Have morning sex

German scientists found that having an erection can increase testosterone circulation. They also found that having sex in the morning can boost your early morning testosterone surge.

Stick with hard compound exercises

Research has shown that compound exercises that work larger muscles groups increase testosterone production. For example, squats, bench presses and back rows will have your testosterone circulation racing more than bicep-curls or tricep-dips.

Eat 6 times a day

By eating 6 meals a day (not over eating, but rather spacing out your daily food intake) instead of 3, you naturally regulate your hormonal process more often, thus helping the body to maintain more consistent testosterone production.

Snack on nuts

Research has shown that foods high in mono-saturated fats such as peanuts can help boost testosterone. Incledon said: “It’s not known why this occurs, but some scientists believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes,”

Don’t eat soy products

Soy proteins increase the body’s estrogen production – enough said.

Lift the right sized weights

A Finnish study found that when weightlifting, testosterone production is at its highest when you lift 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum. To work this out, simply find a weight you can only lift 5 times, increase the load when you can lift more.

Do three sets of reps

Penn State researchers found that doing 3 sets of reps was encourages greater testosterone production than 1 or 2. Make sure you rest for at least a minute to regain strength between exercises, and make sure you lifting at least 70 – 85 percent of your one-rep maximum.

Get sufficient rest

It goes without saying that you’ll need to rest between works outs. A study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina found that if you don’t rest adequately between workouts, your testosterone levels can drop as much as 40 percent. Overtraining can lead to symptoms of irritability, insomnia and muscle shrinkage, so make sure you’re getting the right amount of rest.

Sleeping less than 7-8 hours a night can also mess up the body’s circadian rhythm – the system responsible for the high early morning testosterone level.

Have enough sex

Sexual activity causes the body to produce oxytocin, endorphins, and also raises testosterone levels. Having sex at least once a week is ideal, because after that point testosterone levels rapidly decrease.

Cut down on alcohol

Alcohol messes with endocrine system, which can cause your testes to stop producing testosterone. That’s one reason why drinking often induces those one-night erectile dysfunction symptoms.

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