Tag: strength

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Boosting Testosterone on a Budget

natural ways to boost testosterone

Testosterone is a hormone that you could consider to be the essence of men. While the hormone is found in females as well, men’s elevated testosterone levels are a large portion of what makes them different from women.

From increased muscle and bone size to libido and energy levels, testosterone is one of the most important hormones for men to optimize, especially active or aging men.

There are a few ways to regulate and boost testosterone. Activity levels, diet, and sleep are all essential to proper testosterone levels, but supplementation can play a large role as well. Knowing this fact, many supplement companies have created testosterone-boosting supplements that sometimes cost a fortune.

Luckily, these expensive supplements aren’t the only option and there are some individual supplements that can help you boost your testosterone without breaking the bank.

Benefits and Importance of Optimal Testosterone Levels

Before we discuss the individual supplements that can boost testosterone, let’s lay some more detailed groundwork for why proper levels are so important. As mentioned above, testosterone is found in both men and women, but for men the impact is far greater. When men with low testosterone achieve optimal levels of testosterone, they describe it as if they were truly awake for the first time ever and are ready to conquer the world. Are you ready?

Testosterone is responsible for:

  • General Mood and Energy Levels. Low testosterone levels have been linked to sadness and feelings of sluggishness.
  • Libido. As a sex hormone, testosterone is in charge of driving libido. Low sex drive and sexual difficulty are often symptoms of low testosterone.
  • Muscle Growth. Testosterone increases protein synthesis, resulting in faster recovery and muscular gains.
  • Bone Strength. Testosterone increases bone density. Elderly men with low bone density have also been shown to have low testosterone levels.
  • Hearth Health. Doctors are finding evidence that cardiovascular disease can be prevented when testosterone levels are healthy.
  • Body Fat Regulation. Testosterone regulates many other hormones that impact body composition and there’s a correlation between bodyfat and testosterone.

Best Testosterone Boosters

Now that we’ve established that every man should optimize his testosterone levels, let’s look at some inexpensive supplements that can boost testosterone and libido.

DHEA

DHEA is a hormone naturally produced in a few places in the human body and is the most prominent steroid hormone in humans. It serves a number of functions, but the most important is its impact as a precursor to sex hormones including testosterone.

Natural production peaks around 25 years old and can decrease with age. There have been a few studies that show the impact and benefits of DHEA for men.

One study showed that DHEA raised free-testosterone levels following high-intensity exercise. Another study showed that daily treatment with 100mg resulted in positive body composition and strength gains in males only. With the former study in mind, recommended dosages can range from 25-100mg/day.

Arginine

While arginine isn’t linked specifically to testosterone, it has been shown to help boost libido and is a popular pre-workout supplement. Arginine creates NO (nitric oxide) within the body, which dilates blood vessels.

During a workout, this dilation helps to drive more nutrients to the muscle. It also helps to improve overall circulation, which is essential for proper sexual function. In one placebo-controlled study, men were given arginine for six weeks.

At the conclusion, the arginine group reported improved sexual performance. The measured results showed nitric oxide levels that began low and doubled within the six week period. For libido and exercise performance, recommended dosages start around 5-6g daily.

Tribulis Terrestris

While it has many regional nicknames, the herb known as tribulis terrestris is regarded by some as the holy grail of natural testosterone boosters.

Tribulis is used for erectile dysfunction, libido boosts, strength improvement, exercise performance, and overall testosterone boosts. For men, the potential upside of this supplement makes tribulis a must-try.

Like other super-herbs, it has other potential benefits as well, like improved mood and chronic fatigue relief. Dosage and cycling can vary since it may be considered adaptogenic, but starting dosages are around 85-250mg/day. Since it’s an herb that goes through a process, it’s also important to get a high quality source for maximum effectiveness.

The best thing about these supplements is that they shouldn’t counteract each other and would make a great stack. The mechanisms of action for each are so different that combining the three as a daily testosterone-boosting stack would make a fantastic way to improve your health, libido. and testosterone levels without spending a fortune.

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L-Citrulline vs L-Arginine For Pre-Workout Supplementation

L-Citrulline and L-Arginine are good pre-workout and provide for muscular gains.

Introduction to Pre-Workout Supplementation:

Athletes everywhere have used supplements to enhance and improve their workouts ever since the nutritional industry was in its infancy. There are a number of things that should be considered when choosing such a product. The first of these considerations is energy. Obviously, in order to power through an intense workout you need a lot of energy. Of course, you also want this energy to come from a natural source since having to deal with side effects like an energy crash an hour or so later is just not worth it.

Another benefit sought from pre-workout supplementation is an ability to support muscular gains. This way, you will also put yourself in the best position to recover faster from your workouts and to translate the hard effort into real benefits. Some of the best supplements to be used before a workout are L-Arginine and L-Citrulline.

L-Arginine Benefits:

L-Arginine is an amino acid that has a number of positive benefits associated with its supplementation. These benefits include the ability to help the body produce and synthesize proteins. Proteins are essential in the process of muscular repair and growth. It is also thought to stimulate the production of growth hormone like natural sterols. These are also quite effective in helping the muscles rebuild and grow larger after an intense workout.

This supplement is also thought to help remove cortisol and other waste products in the body. Cortisol is chiefly responsible for stress levels throughout the body. Therefore, its removal can lead to a more focused and intense workout, potentially even helping one to remain more energetic throughout.

L-Citrulline Benefits:

One of the most popular benefits associated with L-Citrulline is its ability to help reduce body fat levels. It is also incredibly helpful in maintaining your natural energy production, which can often drop off considerably during a hard workout. Another excellent benefit is that it acts as a vasodilator. This has the effect of helping to open and expand blood vessels. This may be also why it can lead to a reduction in blood pressure levels.

For weight and strength training athletes, this supplement also helps in the release of nitric acid. This chemical helps to build proteins and re-form muscles that have been torn down from intense training. Citrulline acts in the urea cycle to remove lactic acid from the body which is produced as working muscles become fatigued. Couple this together with the ability of the supplement to enhance ATP (energy) production and it easy to see how this can lead to a much improved workout.

Citrulline vs Arginine Pre Workout

Overall in the question of L-Citrulline vs L-Arginine, both of these supplements can certainly be helpful as a before workout addition. Instead of being forced to choose one or the other, why not stack them together and take both?

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Protein Timing and Its Effect on Weight Training

protein for weightlifting

Introduction:

One of the topics that is discussed on a regular basis by weight lifters, body builders, and other athletes is protein. This discussion usually involves the typical “how much to take” and “which form is the best.” However, an interesting idea is protein timing. There has been some new research that delves into the idea of how important it is to take your protein at specific times. Combined with the answers to those typical questions along with the actual effects can lead to a much improved understanding of how to improve muscular gains and development.

How Much Protein to Consume:

A 2012 study released in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) comes to some interesting conclusions about how much protein we should ideally be consuming. The bottom line is that we should take between 1.2 and 2.0 grams of high quality protein per kilogram of body weight.

This should be consumed on a daily basis, whether or not we workout that day. This is critical since most muscle growth actually occurs during our “off” days. In the past, many athletes simply did not take any extra (or at the very least, significantly less) protein during their non-workout days.

Effects of Protein Consumption:

The study has also shown that protein will have tremendously beneficial effects. This is certainly not a surprise, but it is nice to see in print again. Better still, these finding also indicate that there are significant benefits whether the protein is consumed before or after your workout. It will increase performance, recovery, lean body mass, hypertrophy (i.e. muscle growth), and strength.

Pre and Post Workout Supplementation:

The best types of supplements to use with a pre-workout meal or energy hit are branched chain amino acids. It is also interesting to note that most of the serious and professional level bodybuilders and strength athletes tend to also use handfulls of these BCAA’s during their routines as well.

The post-workout meal should be squarely focused on recovery. The study shows that 3 to 4 grams of leucine will help to promote the maximum amount of protein synthesis. You would also want to use a fast-acting carbohydrate source like glucose or maltodextrin in order to help provide the needed insulin to allow for protein production.

Which Supplements to Use:

According to this study, the best type of protein supplement to use during the pre-workout is the aforementioned BCAAs. They can also be used during the workout itself to help supply vital ATP energy to the working muscles. After the workout is finished, a high quality whey protein powder is recommended. Of course, you could also take other forms of protein powder (although whey is still best) and add in some leucine supplements along with a carbohydrate drink that includes either glucose or maltodextrin.