does anyone know how to naturally increase one's testosterone levels?

[musclebound2007]

Does anyone know any natural ways to increase your testosterone, for assistance in developing muscles? I read that zinc, egg yolks, high intensity workouts and garlic, are some things that help to increase testosterone levels. So by adding more of these things to your diet/workout, you can produce more testosterone to develop muscles?

Is this true, or does anyone in here have any personal opinion on what else may work? Thank you.

[beerbaron105]

saturated fats.

[xl Achilles lx]

saturated fats.

Wrong. In the absensce of dietary fats such as omega-6's, omega-3's and saturated fats, testosterone levels (including other vital hormone levels) will drop. Saturated fats only help maintain healthy hormone levels, including test lvls.

[SDC77]

Eat sufficient fat, high intensity workouts, heavy lifting, adequate sleep, adequate rest. Basically everything you should be doing already.

[-Aaron-]

Wrong.

x2

It has a negligible effect on testosterone, that's science.

EFA's have more of an impact than Sat. Fat.

[RU4A69]

Red meat inhibits SHBG formation

Any high cholesterol food will help. Chicken livers are about the highest cholesterol food there is- they are delicious.

[beerbaron105]

Wrong. In the absensce of dietary fats such as omega-6's, omega-3's and saturated fats, testosterone levels (including other vital hormone levels) will drop. Saturated fats only help maintain healthy hormone levels, including test lvls.

what food is going to magically raise test. levels, all the above play a roll in healthy test levels, but lets get realistic, you arent going to see dramatic gains in any respect.

[in10city]

x2

It has a negligible effect on testosterone, that's science.

EFA's have more of an impact than Sat. Fat.

Not all EFAs. SFAs and MUFAs have been shown to increase/optimize T levels, while PUFAs have the opposite effect.

[musclebound2007]

Uh so after reading all of these responses, I guess the cholesterol one is the best option? Or should I just go with animal test, although I wanted to try to do this naturally.

[Aindreas]

Stress reduction will do much more for your test levels than any specific food.

[Keeloo]

apart from test boosters like novadex xt it's said that ZMA (zinc magnesium aspartate) can help increase test levels

[BlueFenix13S]

Well most of the diet aspect has been mentioned, so for training focus on heavy compound/olympic style lifts (squats, benches, deadlifts, cleans, etc). The best NATURAL supplement IMO is ZMA. It works wonders with sleep too. Tribulus is also safe and won't screw up your endocrine system.

Do NOT get f**ked up with prohormones and all that crap.

Have you been to a doc? If you have low T, they can prescribe treatment, but think carefully before taking it. Once you go on, it's usually for life.

[musclebound2007]

Well most of the diet aspect has been mentioned, so for training focus on heavy compound/olympic style lifts (squats, benches, deadlifts, cleans, etc). The best NATURAL supplement IMO is ZMA. It works wonders with sleep too. Tribulus is also safe and won't screw up your endocrine system.

Do NOT get f**ked up with prohormones and all that crap.

Have you been to a doc? If you have low T, they can prescribe treatment, but think carefully before taking it. Once you go on, it's usually for life.

I figure I must have, or it's just that I am expecting huge change, while I have only been working out for 2 and a half months. So, I will check out the ZMA product. I am not going to mess with pro-hormones, because as you said, HRT is a one track road, can't generally come back from it.

Thanks for the help!

[willldabeast]

I can talk from experience, my levels were off the charts low a few months ago. the easy road is to take supps, but you dont know how that will effect your levels in the long run.

i have been lifting hard, resting, eat whole eggs and red meat, taking zma (incase i am lacking) and my natural levels have gone up dramatically.

and at 23, ya your doctor probably wonnt give you anything just like i wasnt given anything. most things make you infertile.

[xl Achilles lx]

what food is going to magically raise test. levels, all the above play a roll in healthy test levels, but lets get realistic, you arent going to see dramatic gains in any respect.

...wut?

[Rodzilla]

nothing dose dependently...SO DON"T EVEN FCKING SAY IT LAYZIE

Stress reduction will do much more for your test levels than any specific food.

back that **** up playur

apart from test boosters like novadex xt it's said that ZMA (zinc magnesium aspartate) can help increase test levels

novadex is AI be specific sukah

[BlueFenix13S]

Stress reduction will do much more for your test levels than any specific food.

back that **** up playur

Cortisol and testosterone are antagonistic hormones. When cortisol is high, T is low, and vice versa, which is why you always hear 1 hour or less on workouts to keep T high and cortisol low.

[tonymachado123]

lamb fries,

just the thought of eating another animals testies just jacks up yout test.
lol jk,
but yeah what the guy said about reducing stress is true, that and more importantly....sleep!

[Rodzilla]

Cortisol and testosterone are antagonistic hormones. When cortisol is high, T is low, and vice versa, which is why you always hear 1 hour or less on workouts to keep T high and cortisol low.

I meant with a study, and it wasn't that I don't believe him.

I agree for the most part, hour or less part I think is less important. I think most of those studies were done on endurance athletes and/or fasted. I think its less of an issue so long as you are eating enough.

[I-Am-Iron-Man]

apparently most athletes are deficient in zinc, so a zinc supplement can help boost your test levels.

[Aindreas]

I meant with a study, and it wasn't that I don't believe him.

Lol ok smartass, you realize from now on I'm going to ask you for a study to quantify anything and everything you say?

(Yes this first one is tree shrews, stfu...)

Chronic psychosocial stressnext term affects corticotropin-releasing factor in the paraventricular nucleus and central extended amygdala as well as urocortin 1 in the non-preganglionic Edinger-Westphal nucleus of the tree shrew

T. Kozicza, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, L.A.P. Bordewina, B. Cz?hb, c, E. Fuchsb, c, d and E.W. Roubosa

aDepartment of Cellular Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, IWWR, EURON European Graduate School of Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 ED Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, The Netherlands

bClinical Neurobiology Laboratory, German Primate Center, G?ttingen, Germany

cDFG Research Center for the Molecular Physiology of the Brain, G?ttingen, Germany

dDepartment of Neurology, University Medical Centre, University of G?ttingen, G?ttingen, Germany

Received 5 September 2007;
revised 20 February 2008;
accepted 20 February 2008.
Available online 3 April 2008

Summary

Stressful stimuli evoke neuronal and neuroendocrine responses helping an organism to adapt to changed environmental conditions. Chronic stressors may induce maladaptive responses leading to psychiatric diseases, such as anxiety and major depression. A suitable animal model to unravel mechanisms involved in the control of adaptation to chronic stress is the psychological subordination stress in the male tree shrew. Subordinate male tree shrews exhibit chronic hypothalamo?pituitary?adrenal (HPA) activation as reflected in continuously elevated cortisol secretion, and structural changes in the hippocampal formation. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is the major peptide released upon activation of the HPA axis in response to stress Recent evidence suggests that besides CRF, urocortin 1 (Ucn1) also plays a role in stress adaptation. We have tested the significance of CRF and Ucn1 in adaptation to chronic psychosocial stress in male tree shrews exposed for 35 days to daily psychosocial conflict, by performing semi-quantitative immunocytochemistry for CRF in the parvocellular hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (pPVN), extended amygdala, viz. central extended amygdala (CeA) and dorsolateral nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTdl) as well as that for Ucn1 in the non-preganglionic Edinger-Westphal nucleus (npEW). Compared to unstressed animals, psychosocial previous stress resulted in an immediate and sustained activation of the HPA axis and sympathetic tone as well as reduced testosterone concentration and decreased body and testis weights vs. non-stressed tree shrews. In the pPVN, the number of CRF-immunoreactive neurons and the specific signal density of CRF-immunoreactive fiber terminals in the CeA were strongly reduced (−300 and −40%, respectively; P<0.05), whereas no significant difference in CRF fiber density was found in BNSTdl. The npEW revealed 4 times less Ucn1-immunoreactive neurons (P<0.05). These clear effectsnext term on both Ucn1- and CRF-neuropeptide contents may reflect a crucial mechanism enabling the animal to adapt successfully to the stressors, and point to the significance of the pPVN, CeA and npEW in stressn-induced brain diseases.

This one is not from tree shrews and is specifically tracking aggression.

Cortisolnext term Moderates the Relationship between previous termTestosteronenext term and Aggression in Delinquent Male Adolescents

Arne Popmaa, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Robert Vermeirena, e, Charlotte A.M.L. Geluka, Thomas Rinned, Wim van den Brinkc, Dirk L. Knolb, Lucres M.C. Jansena, Herman van Engelandf and Theo A.H. Doreleijersa

aDepartments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam

bClinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam

cDepartment of Psychiatry, AMC University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam

dDepartment of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden

eFaculty of Law, Leiden University, Leiden

fDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Received 13 September 2005;
revised 3 March 2006;
accepted 1 June 2006.
Available online 1 September 2006.

Background

In animals, strong evidence exists for an association between testosterone and aggression. In humans, and particularly in children and adolescents, findings have been less consistent. Previous research has suggested that this may partly be due to moderating effects of other factors, e.g., hormones. This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of cortisoln on the relationship between testosterone and subtypes of aggression in delinquent male adolescents.
Methods

Participants were 103 boys (mean age 13.7) referred to a delinquency diversion program. Testosterone and cortisol levels were determined from saliva samples collected during resting conditions and related to self-report scores on overt and covert aggression.
Results

Linear regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between pcortisol and testosterone in relation to overt aggression, with a significant positive relationship between testosteronen and overt aggression in subjects with low cortisol levels but not in subjects with high cortisolnext term levels. Using the same model for covert aggression, no significant effects of testosterone, cortisol, or testosterone ? cortisol interaction were found.
Conclusions

These results indicate a moderating effect of cortisol on the relationship between testosterone and overt aggression in delinquent male adolescents. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

I could dig up more, but I don't really want to because it's a waste of time and it's basically common knowledge. I'm not really sure what the hell you're getting at by calling me out on a study.

Edit: A GLARING DEFICIENCY in someone's diet is another matter, but that's not what we're talking about here.

[Rodzilla]

I don't really know why I did either? I don't think there are actual ways of measuring test increase from adding fat vs more rest. I was just curious to see one, and again..not sure what I was getting at.

going to make my pubmed list now for future proof

[TheWaffleIron]

fats won't necessarily raise testosterone levels, but rather support them.

[US_Ranger]

Well most of the diet aspect has been mentioned, so for training focus on heavy compound/olympic style lifts (squats, benches, deadlifts, cleans, etc). The best NATURAL supplement IMO is ZMA. It works wonders with sleep too. Tribulus is also safe and won't screw up your endocrine system.

Do NOT get f**ked up with prohormones and all that crap.

Have you been to a doc? If you have low T, they can prescribe treatment, but think carefully before taking it. Once you go on, it's usually for life.

Maybe it's just me but ZMA did a whole lot of nothing for my test and my sleep.

[SomeoneStopMe]

you can do it through lifting, high intensity, drop sets, ect... especially bigger exercises like squat and dead lift.

[rock_ten]

Maybe it's just me but ZMA did a whole lot of nothing for my test and my sleep.

ZMA ruined my sleep.

I agree with the stress-reduction side of things. Chances are that there's not a lot people here could do in their diet to have any real effect, unless they were like eating a very unusually low amount of fat in their diet.

OP - if you have any particular reason to think your T is "low", please explain.

[echelon101]

http://www.t-nation.com/article/body...r=bodybuilding

1. Train with Big, Complex Movements

The simplest alteration you can make to your training program to boost Testosterone is by incorporating complex, compound movements. But not just any compound movement: the bigger, the better. A snatch is a better T-booster than a bench press; and a deadlift is much better than a one-arm dumbbell row. By recruiting more total muscle mass along with a challenging motor pattern it leads to a big metabolic stress on your body. This is the perfect formula for releasing more Testosterone.

2. Train with Plenty of Volume

Not only do you need complex, compound exercises to boost T levels, but you also need plenty of volume. Three reps of the snatch for one set isn't going to do much. Indeed, one set of any exercise isn't ideal. You need a sufficient number of sets. More specifically, you need a total number of reps with each lift that's high enough to maximize Testosterone without burning you out.

3. Train with a High Intensity

I've already discussed proper exercise selection and the need for sufficient volume, but you also must bust your ass in the gym. If you pussyfoot around with your sets you'll never boost T levels as high as they could be. You must respect the relationship between volume and intensity. If you simply focus on only one or the other you'll be relegated to either buying your wardrobe in the little boys section, or you'll waste your bank account on those metrosexual lines that are made for emaciated boys.

4. Consume a Carb/Protein Drink Before and After Training

You could fill a hefty tome with the research that demonstrates the benefits of a carb/protein drink taken post-workout.

5. Eat Enough Cholesterol

Testosterone is derived from cholesterol. There's no other way for your body to produce it naturally......Whole eggs, beef, shrimp, cheese, and other cholesterol-rich foods are essential to maximizing Testosterone.

What about the potential health ramifications of cholesterol-rich foods? The latest research is demonstrating that we may have been dead wrong with cholesterol. There appears to be very little correlation between cholesterol intake and bad cholesterol in your blood.

Those are pretty much the most proven ways. I can relate to the first one big compound moves really get the juices going.