The following post was written by Exercise prescription specialist Jack Miller.
A few weeks ago I was asked by somebody in the gym, “why is the hormone testosterone so important when increasing muscle mass and trying to lose weight?”
I went on to explain that testosterone increases the building of new proteins, such as muscle, and can also aid weight loss due to increased metabolism since muscles require energy to fire and work. Therefore, more muscle means burning more calories in any state of activity.
I was then asked, “How you can naturally boost testosterone production?” This is of even greater importance for the older individual because as we age our free testosterone levels start to decrease in both men and women. More specifically, men show declines in testosterone from the age of 35 onwards at roughly 1.2% each year and women showing a reduction of 50% from peak values by the age of 40.
This reduction in testosterone levels can have health implications. In men, it has been linked with diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions, reduced bone and muscle mass, impaired sexual function, decreased quality of life and an increase in the fat that surrounds your organs. In women, low testosterone levels have been linked with depression, osteoporosis, declining libido, dyspareunia and an increase in total body fat mass.
Therefore how can we prevent this? Unfortunately it’s just part of ageing. However Training can increased testosterone production in the hours after exercise and can work against the natural declines that occur. But what is the most effective training to boost secretion of testosterone?
Below is a summary of the conclusions of the current research explaining the best way to train in order to produce optimum secretion of testosterone.
- Do exercises that recruit large muscle mass (such as squat or deadlift).
- Lift heavy (using between 80-95% of 1RM) (1RM = the biggest weight that can be lifted for 1 repetition).
- Use high volume training (more specifically performing 6-9 sets per muscle group and >15 to 30 sets total).
- Exercise large muscle first.
- Recovery intervals below 2 minutes.
- Do at least 2 sessions per week.
“Easy right”
Nutrition may also be able to aid hormonal control after training. A recent study published in 2013 (Kraemer et al, 2013) demonstrated that consumption of whey protein increased total testosterone levels after exercise compared with consumption of soy protein (figure 1).
This same study also showed that consuming whey protein way able to return, the hormone cortisol, to pre exercise levels faster than soy protein or carbohydrate consumption.
Figure 2: cortisol secretion before, during and after exercise after consuming whey protein, soy protein or carbohydrate.
This is important because cortisol has the potential to cause muscle breakdown having the opposite effect of testosterone. Therefore the quicker we reduce the hormone cortisol the lower the risk of muscle loss.
Therefore the message is simple, firsttrain regularly in the correct way mentioned above to fight off the natural decline in testosterone that occurs with ageing and enjoy the many health and physical benefits that it brings. Second consume protein, preferably whey, after workouts as this can improve testosterone secretion and reduce cortisol leading to reduced muscle breakdown.
If anyone wanted to read the research I have spoken about during this blog, I have included the references below.
Best wishes
JM
References
Kraemer, W. J., & Ratamess, N. A. (2005). Hormonal responses and adaptations to resistance exercise and training. Sports Medicine, 35(4), 339-361.
Rohr, U. D. (2002). The impact of testosterone imbalance on depression and women’s health. Maturitas, 41, 25-46.
Tsai, E. C., Boyko, E. J., Leonetti, D. L., & Fujimoto, W. Y. (2000). Low serum testosterone level as a predictor of increased visceral fat in Japanese-American men. International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders, 24(4).
Travison, T. G., Araujo, A. B., Kupelian, V., O’Donnell, A. B., & McKinlay, J. B. (2007). The relative contributions of aging, health, and lifestyle factors to serum testosterone decline in men. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 92(2), 549-555.
Vingren, J. L., Kraemer, W. J., Ratamess, N. A., Anderson, J. M., Volek, J. S., & Maresh, C. M. (2010). Testosterone physiology in resistance exercise and training. Sports medicine, 40(12), 1037-1053.
Zumoff, B., Strain, G. W., Miller, L. K., & Rosner, W. (1995). Twenty-four-hour mean plasma testosterone concentration declines with age in normal premenopausal women. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 80(4), 1429-1430.
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