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.
