Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ten Easy Ways To Increase Your Testosterone Naturally

By Ricardo d Argence

The amount of muscle you can achieve is regulated by testosterone, also known as the Holy Grail of muscle growth. Quite simply, testosterone is the most important muscle-building hormone in your body and is one of the limiting factors that determines how much muscle you can ultimately build. Here is just a small handful of the many amazing benefits that increased testosterone levels will provide you with: Increased muscle size and strength, decreased body fat levels, increased sex drive and sexual endurance, improved mood and decreased levels of "bad" cholesterol.

It sounds pretty good because it is great, and in this article I'm going to outline 10 simple steps to naturally increase your testosterone levels and achieve all of these incredible benefits. While these steps will not result in "steroid-like" muscle gains, they will definitely contribute to your overall bottomline results.

1) Utilize combination exercises as the foundation of your fitness routine. I'm talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, chin-ups, dips, lunges and military presses. Going to the gym and following the training that places your muscles under the largest quantity of pressure will compel your body to add to testosterone production.

2) Always train with 100% effort and intensity. If you want to see real muscle gains, you must be willing to push yourself to the limit in the gym. Again, greater muscular stress in the gym translates to higher testosterone output.

3) It is necessary to train your legs with the same intensity with which you train your upper body. As you might already know, you can stimulate the growth in the back of your chest as well as arms, by doing some intense leg training. This is partly because your testosterone increases from your leg training.

4) Increase your EFA consumption. Sources such as peanuts and avocadoes, will be the source of Essentail Fatty Acids. One interesting way of naturally boosting testosterone levels is through the regular use of olive and canola oils in one's diet.

5) Minimize your consumption of soy. There is a direct negative effect on testosterone levels when the estrogen levels in the body increase, which can be caused by soy protein.

6) Limit your consumption of alcohol. Alcohol has been shown to have quite a dramatic effect on testosterone levels, so try to limit your "binge drinking" nights and keep your alcohol consumption in moderation.

7) Increase your dietary intake of cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, turnips, cabbage and brussel sprouts have all been shown to dramatically reduce estrogen levels, thereby raising testosterone.

8) Lower your daily stress levels. Being overly stressed stimulates the release of "cortisol", a highly catabolic hormone that will cause your testosterone levels to plummet.

9) Have more sex. Becoming sexually aroused increases oxytocin in the sytem which increases the production of endorphins and raises levels of testosterone.

10) Make sure to get adequate sleep every night. A lack of sleep contributes to cortisol production, and this will lower your testosterone levels.

Begin implementing these procedures on a regular basis and you will probably experience a substantial growth in your muscle size and strength gains. - 15683

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