Hey guys! It’s Sean Nelawanyj of Musclegaintruth.com and schoolofmuscle.com here with another muscle building video lesson for you. And in this installment, I’m going to be talking about the most important muscle building substance circulating through the human body and how you can increase your body’s levels of this substance using natural dietary and training techniques. I’m talking of course about testosterone, the holy grail of muscle growth. Quite simply, testosterone is the most critical muscle building hormone in your entire body and is one of the main limiting factors that determines how much muscle you could ultimately build. The higher your levels of testosterone are, the faster and more easily you can pack on size and strength.
Here’s just a small handful of the many amazing benefits that increase testosterone levels that will provide you with increased muscle size and strength, decreased body fat levels, increased sex drive and endurance, improved mood and decreased levels of bad cholesterol. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Well it is. And in this video lesson, I’m going to outline eight simple steps that you can start using right away to naturally raise your testosterone levels and achieve all of these incredible benefits. All these steps are not going to result in steroid like muscle gains. They will definitely contribute to your overall bottom line results if you incorporate them properly.
Natural testosterone booster number one. Use compound exercises as the cornerstone of your workouts. Forget about bicep curls, leg extensions and tricep kickbacks. Yes, these small isolation lifts can still play a supplemental role in your training routine. But, if you want the most muscle building bang for your buck possible and if you want to stimulate the greatest increase in anabolic hormone production within your body, you have got to place the majority of your focus on big basic compound exercises. I am talking about the proven bread and butter list like squats, dead lifts, bench presses, rows, chin ups, dips, leg presses, lunges and military presses. These exercises will place your muscles and body under the greatest amount of stress in the gym possible, and as a result, will force your body to rev up its production of testosterone.
Natural testosterone booster number 2: Always push yourself to the limit during every workout. If you want to see real muscle gains, you must be willing to train with real effort. I would recommend that every set you perform in the gym would be taken either all the way to the point of concentric muscular failure which is the point in the set where no further positive repetitions can be completed using proper form or at least one to two reps short of concentric muscular failure. If those last few reps of the set don’t force you to dig down deep and give it your all, then you simply aren’t training hard enough. Low training intensity will result in a low testosterone production response. So, start buckling down and getting serious if you really want to rev up your body’s production of this important hormone.
Natural testosterone booster number 3: Train your legs equally as hard as your upper body. Do you ever wonder what body building experts mean when they say that trimming your legs will actually make your upper body grow? Anabolic hormone production is what they are referring to. Muscle growth is not just a localized event that happens at the level of the specific muscles being trained during your workout. Muscle growth also results as the entire body is placed under stress and is forced to secrete higher levels of testosterone and growth hormone as a adaptive response. This increase in anabolic hormone circulation results in gain in muscle, size and strength in all of your body’s major muscle groups, and there is no better way to produce this total body stress than through the use of hard, heavy and intense leg workouts. If you have not been placing equal focus on your legs as you have it on your upper body and if you are not regularly performing in ten sets of squats, leg presses, lunges, and stiff legged presses as part of your workout routine, be prepared for a huge increase in total body gain once you do.
Natural testosterone booster number 4: Increase your EFA consumption. Essential Fatty Acids are knows as the good fats and are found in unsaturated fat sources such as nuts, seeds, avocados, fish and leafy green vegetables. Among a huge list of muscle building and overall health benefits, EFAs also play the important role of increasing testosterone production in the body. If you’re still stuck with the notion that all fat is bad and you are not paying attention to your EFA intake, your testosterone levels and bottom line muscle gains are going to suffer. Make sure that at least 20% of your total daily calories are being derived from fat and that you’re consuming food sources high in EFAs. A great way to ensure is to supplement with flaccid oil and extra virgin olive oil by consuming one to two tablespoons of each daily.
Natural testosterone booster number 5: Reduce your intake of soy. Soy protein raises the body’s levels of estrogen which is the main female hormone and this has a direct negative effect on your testosterone levels. Nearly all soy products on the market contained the phytoestrogens knows as Isoflavins which have been shown to measurably decrease testosterone levels in men. Stay away from high amounts of soy protein powders, soy milk, soy beans, soy nuts or any other foods high in soy protein as this can definitely add have a noticeable negative on your results over the long term.
Natural testosterone booster number 6: Limit your consumption of alcohol. Not only does excessive alcohol consumption decrease protein synthesis, increase fat storage, deplete the body of vitamins and minerals and cause dehydration, but it also lowers your level of testosterone as well. Some studies have shown that at a person’s most intoxicated state, testosterone levels can drop by up to 25%. If you’re serious about building as much muscle size and strength as you possibly can, alcohol should be consumed rarely and in small amounts.
Natural testosterone booster number 7: Lower your daily stress levels. Being overly stressed stimulates the release of cortisol, a highly catabolic hormone that is every serious muscle builders’ worst nightmare. Not only does cortisol break down muscle tissue and stimulate fat storage, but it has a direct negative impact on testosterone levels a well. There are many different things that can trigger cortisol production such as overtraining and inadequate sleep and a stressful lifestyle is also one of them. Try to reduce your daily levels of stress by following simple steps such as performing activities that you enjoy, planning your schedule in advance and maintaining a positive outlook and attitude.
Natural testosterone booster number 8: Make sure to get adequate sleep every night. Everyone knows that a quality sleep every night is extremely important for improving your recovery in between workouts, sharpening mental focus and raising energy levels. But, a good restful sleep also appears to ramp up testosterone and growth hormone production as well. Not only that but it also decreases the production of cortisol. I would strongly recommend that every serious body builder out there aimed to get around eight hours or more of high quality sleep every single night to keep anabolic hormone production at its highest.
And there you go. Eight simple practical steps for speeding up your body’s natural production of testosterone in accelerating your muscle size and strength gains as you result. Start implementing these techniques on a consistent basis and you should experience a noticeable improvement in your bottom line muscle building progress.
If you enjoyed this video article and are looking for more useful tips and tricks for building muscle, gaining strength and burning fat quickly and easily, make sure to visit my personal website using the link in the description box. There, you can sign up for my free online muscle building email course where I reveal all kinds of highly effective strategies for speeding up your progress both in and out of the gym as well as access of digital downloadable bonus gifts to help accelerate your progress even further. Go ahead and click the link in the description box and I’ll see you there.
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