Anyone who’s serious about their fitness careers have at one point asked the following question in one way or another… “How do I boost my testosterone?”
And rightfully so, with testosterone being at an all time low in our generation, it is necessary to get your T levels in check.
From poor lifestyle habits that keep your testosterone lowered, to foods and chemicals that raise your estrogen, most men do not have an optimal level of male sex and aggression hormone.
Testosterone is the main hormone associated with building mass amounts of muscle, shredding fat, drastically improving your confidence, happiness, and overall quality of life. It is no coincidence that highly successful business people and athletes alike have elevated T levels.
Fortunately, not only can you increase your T levels, you can outright EXPLOIT them, in this article I’m going to unwrap the various tips and tricks backed by science and personal experience, to help you skyrocket your testosterone levels.
What is Testosterone?
Put simply, testosterone is the defining hormone that separates the guys from the gals. It is responsible for for regulating how much muscle you can put on, and how quickly you do so.
Testosterone also helps regulate your fat levels (which is why men with low levels of testosterone usually develop “bitch tits”), as well as your dominance, confidence, assertiveness, and energy in your daily life.
This Hormone is also the primary sex hormone in guys, and plays a key role in the development of the male reproductive organs.
Not only this, but it also is one of the fundamentals of bodybuilding due to its key role in muscle mass and fat loss, this is why men (usually) have more muscle than their female counterparts.
Reasons to Boost Testosterone
| Physical | Cognitive |
|---|---|
| Improved Blood and Heart Health | Improved Verbal Memory |
| Stronger Bones | Increased Libido |
| Increased Muscle Mass | Reduces Risk of Depression |
| Increase in Lean Tissue or Reduced Fat | Faster Processing Speed |
In short, the more testosterone you have, the better your life will be.
With that said, let’s get into the specific steps to EXPLOIT this hormone…
The Don’ts
Before we begin, it would be wise to eliminate the things that are keeping your levels low in the first place. A lot of these habits are things that people don’t even realize are harming them in any way.
This is why they are so dangerous, because they’re super easy to do, and you won’t always notice an immediate decrease to the quality of your life.
These are things that will affect you over the long term, leaving you with less confidence, less energy, depression, and much much more. Take the steps to cut out these negative habits as much as possible for your life.
There are many habits that can lower your testosterone, but these are some of the worst that you should cut out TODAY:
- Jacking Off
- Consuming Soy And BPA’s
- Excessive Alcohol
- Eating Junk Food/Convenience Meals
Again, there’s a lot more things that you can do, like filtering your water, avoiding dairy, etc. But when you’re getting started, cutting out these habits will give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to boosting testosterone.
Quit Jacking Off (NoFap)
If you are still jacking off to porn, it’s time to stop, or at least severely reduce how often you are doing so. Jacking off daily is one of the worst habits that you could have as a man.
Jacking off to porn consistently leads to drastically decreased energy, depression, lack of confidence, increased anxiety, and lower test levels.
When you jack off to porn, you essentially “fry” your brains dopamine receptors (basically the chemical for motivation).
We have evolved to reproduce and spread our genes along successful generations, and so when your brain sees all these hot naked chicks AND you’re getting off to it? It floods your brain with an unnatural level of feel-good chemicals.
In fact, in a study conducted by The Department of Life Science at Hangzhou Normal College, researchers found that participants who did not jack off were able to boost testosterone by an INSANE 145% and that people who jacked off consistently had severely lower test levels.
If you MUST masturbate, the key would be to do so around once every 8 to 9 days, as the peak of test production usually occurs around the 7th day. (give it a shot and you’ll see what I mean, you’ll literally feel like Zeus with all of that energy and confidence) In general though, it’s best to cut it out of your life for good.
Avoid Soy and Any BPA products
Soy just by itself, has been proven in a study to wreak havoc on a guy’s hormones, by decreasing testosterone and increasing estrogen levels.
So if you are looking to develop bitch tits and develop anxiety and depression as a man, then this may be the path for you, otherwise, it’s best to steer clear and eat good foods.
BPA’s on the other hand, will also increase estrogen levels and jack up your cortisol (the stress hormone) as well.
As you’ll see later, keeping cortisol levels low are an imperative part of not just higher T levels, but also better overall health in general.
BPA’s are in nearly everything that’s plastic, so as much as possible stick to glass cups and containers. Or if you do buy plastic water bottles try to ensure that they are labeled “BPA free”.
In short, cut out as much soy from your diet as possible and switch to glass and “BPA free” containers as soon as possible and your testosterone levels will thank you for it.
Cut Out Excessive Drinking
Alcohol has been show to have both negative short and long term effects when it comes to alcohol. Not only does alcohol decrease your testosterone over time but it has also been shown to plummet T levels in as little as 30 minutes after consumption in the short term.
Alcohol is also probably one of the worst things you could do to your body if you’re trying to build muscle quickly, as it literally puts the brakes on the muscle building process.
When you drink alcohol, you flood your body with foreign toxins. During this time, your body FREAKS OUT and stops many health protocols so it can focus on removing the toxins as soon as possible… including muscle building and hormonal optimization.
Now, I’m not saying to never drink, but for the sake of this article it may be best to skip the extra beer or glass of wine for now.
Skip the Fast and Easy Meals
Frozen meals, convenience food, and fast foods are all warehouses for something called trans fats, an unhealthy type of fat that attempts to sabotage your entire health as a whole and thus test levels too.
These types of unhealthy fats clog up your arteries, reduce good cholesterol, and promote heart and liver disease.
Now, cholesterol can be very good for your hormonal health but only if it’s the right kind. (more on this later)
A good rule of thumb to follow is look at the back of the foods your eating, at the ingredients section.
If it has ingredients you cannot pronounce, then it’s best to steer clear as these are the preservatives, various chemicals, etc. that will mess up your health as a whole.
Instead, stick to organic foods with healthy fats, and lots of natural vitamins and minerals such as avocados, egg yolks, garlic, veggies, and more. Your diet is the biggest factor in your overall health so it’s best to optimize it as much as possible.
The Do’s
Now that we’ve covered the things that keep your levels low, let’s begin the fun part of ACTUALLY starting to boost testosterone and experiencing all of the amazing benefits that come with it.
The following is a series of habits that done over time, can lead to incredible results:
- Heavy Compound Lifting
- Reducing Stress
- Eating Healthy Fats
- Getting 8-9 Hours Of Rest
- Get Laid
- Get Some Sun
- Take Cold Showers
Some of these will take a little bit longer before you start to notice the results, like eating healthy fats and getting QUALITY sleep. While others you may be able to notice immediately, such as heavy lifting, getting laid, and especially cold showers.
Heavy Compound Weight Lifting
Ah, heavy compound lifts. One of my personal favorite ways to boost testosterone simply because of the IMMEDIATE feedback it gives you. That feeling you get after you deadlift 315 for reps, or bench press twice your body weight is incredible.
Personally, when I lift extremely heavy (like wondering if I’ll pass out afterwards) I can feel the effects even up until the next day! You’ll understand once you start, the feelings of confidence and being unstoppable is pretty amazing…
With that being said if you want the most bang for your buck then it’d be best to focus on the following compound lifts:
- Heavy Squats
- Heavy Deadlifts
- Heavy Bench Press
- Heavy Shoulder Press
- Heavy Pull-Ups
Other compound movements work too but these have been proven to the best for boosting your hormones naturally. [R]
You’ll notice that the key here is HEAVY. When you’re body is literally recruiting every muscle fiber, and pushing itself to its absolute limit and you are straining yourself intensely, JUST to lift the weight, you’ll boost testosterone. Guaranteed.
Reduce Stress
Stress. Let’s get one thing clear. If you do not get your stress levels managed in way or another, EVERY part of your life will suffer as a result. Period.
Stress is one of those things that can absolutely wreak havoc on various aspects of your life, and in this case your hormones.
If you think of someone with high test levels, do you picture him always being stressed and anxious? No!
Stress has been proven countless times to sabotage just about every system in your body so it is in our best interest to get these levels managed.
In a study published in 2016, it was found the stress severely affects testosterone levels, whether it be physical, emotional, mental or actual stress such as a surgery procedure.
“Recently, research evidence suggests that testosterone levels are reduced in response to stress. For example, low levels of serum testosterone have been reported during psychological stress, physical stress and actual stress (such as surgery). Moreover, unlike the men with normal testosterone levels, men with low testosterone levels tend to have more anxiety and irritability”
[R]
Although there are many ways of reducing cortisol, (stress) here’s 3 surefire ways to put you on the right path…
- Meditate – Meditating is one of the best habits you could have period. 10-20 minutes of meditation in the morning and at night will drastically improve your mood, help you stay calm and focused, and will severely reduce your cortisol (stress) levels.
- Spend Time In Nature – If you find yourself particularly stressed on a given day, walk into the middle of some tress and just stay there and listen for a bit. I’m not quite sure what it is yet, but spending time in nature seems to suck out the negativity you might’ve accumulated during the day and helps me to feel serene. Personally when I do it which isn’t as often anymore, I always feel much better.
- Improve Your Health – Lastly, you want to make sure you’re living a healthy lifestyle in general. It’s simple really, workout 4-5 times a week, don’t put garbage in your body, and make sure you’re getting all of the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs to remain happy, healthy, and less stressed.
The bottom line is that reducing stress will boost testosterone and a whole host of other hormones that gets inhibited while cortisol (stress) levels are high.
Ultimately, it will be up to you to find out what works best for you, but whether you’re trying to get Greek God Abs, or be healthier in general, reducing stress MUST be a priority.
Sleep 8-9 Hours A Night
This may seem like common sense, but it’s important to get your sleep. Sleep is one of the most underrated ways to boost testosterone out there.
When you’re sleeping your body is churning out hormones like a goddamn factory.
Anyone who’s serious about lifting or anything in life knows that in order to maximize your time during the day, you have to get adequate rest at night.
In addition, make sure you’re it’s QUALITY sleep as well, keep it cool in your room, block out all light, stay off your electronics at least an hour before bed. Maybe also consider investing in some melatonin for the nights where it’s harder to get to sleep.
Make sure you start using these methods, as getting high quality sleep is one of the best ways to boost testosterone.
Another good option, is a sleep mask to help block out any other light during the morning so you don’t wake up before you want to. I use this one personally, as I can also play audio tracks to help me get even deeper sleep.
Get Laid
I won’t get into the nitty-gritty details of this one, but the more sex you have, the higher your testosterone will be. End of story.
Ideally, you want to be having sex 2-3 times a week, and only ejaculating during maybe one of those times.
Again, this is an ideal situation, sometimes you might want to cum more, but if you do make sure it’s during sex and not while jacking off.
Don’t worry though, if your life isn’t at the point where you can consistently have this much sex that’s fine, stick to NoFap and get your ass back in the gym and go on more dates until it is.
The truth of the matter is, is that if you want sky high T levels, having sex (which has been shown to boost testosterone by 72%) will increase your T levels whereas masturbation lowers them.
Bask In The Sun
Sunlight, when in contact with your skin will be synthesized into Vitamin D. Vitamin D is responsible for assisting over 1,000 different bodily process and hormones, Testosterone being one of them.
Men who get adequate levels of sunlight have significantly higher testosterone than their more “nocturnal” counterparts.
Although there is no set amount of time for how long you should let your body bask in the sun, it is often recommended, to get at least 20-30 minutes of sunlight exposure per day in order to get the most results in the least amount of time.
Vitamin D is crucial for your overall health and your hormones, which is why it’s listed as one of the best supplements for helping hardgainers boost testosterone production naturally.
Take Cold Showers To Boost Testosterone
Cold showers are on of those fitness model habits that can change your life in as little as 10 minutes a day.
Waking up and dousing your body in freezing cold water has been shown numerous times with scientific studies and my own personal experience as well as millions of other men, that they can drastically improve your mood, make you more decisive, disciplined and for the sake of this article shoots up your testosterone.
Personally when I take cold showers first thing in the morning it sets the stage so to speak for the rest of my day.
You’ll be able to tackle life’s obstacles with a type of ferocity that you may have never experienced before.
Cold showers are one of my all time favorite habits that you can use to boost testosterone.
I’ll be making an article about them in the future, but for now just aim to spend 5-10 minutes in the shower on the coldest setting possible, first thing in the morning.
Get Your Diet In Check
A key part of boosting your testosterone comes down to your diet, You want to make sure you’re getting enough HEALTHY fats. Yes, that’s HEALTHY fats.
Fat has been continuously demonized by the mainstream media. The truth is however is that certain types of fats have been scientifically proven to increase testosterone levels in men.
Incorporating healthy fats in your diet is one of the quickest and most effective ways to boost testosterone production out there.
Healthy fats are am absolute godsend for any man trying to boost testosterone levels naturally.
To utilize this superpower you’re gonna want to start incorporating foods such as egg yolks, almonds/brazil nuts, avocado, animal fats, etc. into your diet.
That being said, if you do this for 30 days you will boost testosterone and will experience a HUGE surge of confidence and energy. So much so, that you’ll wonder why you ever had such a terrible diet in the first place.
Supplement Effectively
Finally, and potentially most importantly is supplementing effectively.
It is no secret that supplements can help improve every aspect of your life, and in this case your testosterone levels.
Below I have compiled a list (In order of their effectiveness) of the top 3 best natural supplements that you can use to boost testosterone levels to a near GODLY level.
Although you don’t need these supplements, and can get by with everything listed above, if you combine all of that WITH these god like supplements, you will absolutely SKYROCKET your testosterone levels in as little as a week.
So without further ado, here’s 4 great supplements to boost testosterone…
- Zinc, Magnesium and Aspartate (these nutrients work synergistically to raise your T levels because they are precursors to testosterone meaning that your body needs these 3 in order to build it
- Ashwagandha (Not only does this raise your hormone levels significantly but many men have reported that they also feel significantly less stressed and is often used as a stress management supplement)
- Vitamin D (You can get this in the form of sunlight or if it’s winter and/or you live in an area that doesn’t receive much rays, you can also get it in capsule form from just about any store that sells supplements)
- Natural Testosterone Booster (Many of the ingredients have been scientifically proven to boost testosterone by nearly 50% PER INGREDIENT, just make sure you get the right kind)
Bonus: Beginner Routine to Boost Testosterone
I realize that this can seem like a lot at first, especially if you are just getting into lifting or improving your health. That being said I believe it’s important for you to get started so I’ve put together a daily routine that you can use to boost testosterone levels through the roof.
I recommend that you stick with this routine for at least 30 days and see how you feel. If you do, you will experience a powerful body filled to the brim with confidence, energy, assertiveness, and dominance, if this sounds appealing to you then let’s get started…
- Wake Up and IMMEDIATELY hop into a cold shower.
- Go outside and bask in the sun for a bit, maybe thinking about what you would like to accomplish for the day. (Research shows that optimal sun time is between 6-8 am).
- Meditate (Meditating first thing in the morning trains your brain to be more calm, and less stressed throughout the day).
- Eat your healthy fats, get some avocado, a handful of almonds, and some egg yolks to get you started and maybe a steak for dinner if you can afford it.
- Go to the gym, and DESTROY your compound lifts.
- (Optional) Take another cold shower after working out.
- Instead of going out to drink, maybe hit up a girl, or girlfriend, spend some time with her and get laid.
- (Before bed) At least 30 minutes to an hour before bed make sure you use the supplements I listed above, I say before bed because while you sleep is when you’re body helps to synthesize, and create more free testosterone for your body, so it’s best to maximize this time for yourself.
- Make sure you block out all lights in your room, cool it down for the night, and that you are getting a quality 8-9 hours of sleep per night
How To Boost Testosterone: The Bottom Line
In conclusion if you want to gain muscle at blinding speeds, incinerate your fat all while boosting your confidence then it’s ESSENTIAL that you start using some of the tips in this article, to boost testosterone immediately!
I recommend using the routine listed above for at least 30 days and see how you feel, feel free to share your personal experiences with me by sending a dm at my Instagram (@realmatthewcarter).
And if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to hit me up or shoot me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Until Next time,
-Matthew Carter