Monday, July 21, 2008

10 Easy Ways To Elevate Your Natural Testosterone Output

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) Your workout exercises should have compound exercises as a foundation. I'm talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, chin-ups, dips, lunges and military presses. At the gym, you can maximize your workout with these exercises because they provide the greatest muscle resistance and make your body produce more testosterone.

2) Your intensity and effort should always be at 100% when you are training. If you want to see real muscle mass increases, you have to push yourself to your limit when you work out at the gym. Increasing muscular stress by working out will produce more testosterone.

3) Exercise your leg muscles just as hard as your exercise your upper body. You may already know that growth in the chest, back, and arms will be stimulated by intense training of the legs. The increased testosterone produced through leg training exercises is one of the reasons for this.

4) Increase your EFA consumption. Essential Fatty Acids from sources such as peanuts, avocadoes, fish and healthy oils like flax seed, olive and canola are a great way to naturally boost testosterone levels.

5) Reduce your intake of soy. Soy protein raises the body's levels of estrogen, the main female hormone, and this has a direct negative effect on testosterone levels.

6) Do not drink so much alcohol. It has been revealed that alcohol has a remarkable affect on testosterone production, therefore try to limit the nights you might "binge drink" and consume alcohol in moderation.

7) Take in more 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) Increase your sexual activity. Sexual stimulation causes the body to increase the production of oxytocin which increases endorphin production, the "feel-good" chemical, and this also raises testosterone.

10) Be sure that you are getting a decent amount of sleep each evening. Your level of testosterone will decrease when cortisol production increases, which can happen when you don't get enough sleep.

To boost your muscle size and gain strength, implement these techniques regularly for a noticeable difference.

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