Article contributed by Drew Stegman

Your testosterone level will be the deciding factor in how much muscle you will gain. A person with a high level of testosterone who barely watches their diet, doesn’t sleep enough and misses half of his workouts could blow away the competition who is completely strict with all of these things but has a low testosterone level. But with modern society constantly lowering this critical muscle-building hormone, it can be difficult to maintain normal levels. Luckily for you, I have provided you with five ways to naturally increase your level of this hormone.

Tip #1-Fat Is Not The Enemy

The mainstream media, government and other organizations such as the USDA have demonized fat as being a killer, cause of heart disease, different forms of cancer and so on. Many people have what I call ‘fat phobia’, fearing that fat will kill them; when in reality, the complete opposite is true. Fat is not bad for you, it is absolutely essential to include in your diet for optimal health. A truly nutritious diet contains a large chunk of calories from fat. It is this single macronutrient that promotes immune health, protects the liver, heart, brain, kidneys and so on. The way I see it is this – the more fat you include in your daily diet, the healthier you will be.

So now that we’ve gotten that out-of-the-way, why is fat important if we’re trying to gain muscle?

Fat is derived from cholesterol, a waxy like substance found in almost every single cell in your body. When you eat more fat, the more your cholesterol is increased. To put simply, it looks like this.

Fat —————> Cholesterol —————->Testosterone

And for those of you, who think that having high cholesterol is a bad thing, take a look at this article on the truth about saturated fat & cholesterol.

Tip #2-Heavy, Compound Movements

If I see you in the gym performing bicep curls instead of squats, you can bet you’re a$$ I’m going to laugh in your face. Seriously though, if you want to increase your testosterone levels then you need to be performing heavy, compound movements. It’s been proven time and time again, that when your body is stressed to the point of no return it has no choice but to increase anabolic hormone production, which also means higher testosterone concentrations. So instead of doing bicep curls and tricep kickbacks, do exercises such as squats, deadlifts and the bench press. These are all great examples of heavy, compound movements.

Tip #3-Cold Showers

Although modern society has deemed hot showers completely normal, it comes at a price. You guessed it, every time you put the water nozzle on full steam your testosterone production takes a significant drop.

When your testicles are a few degrees colder than the rest of your body, the result is increased sperm production which also means higher testosterone levels. This is not my opinion, it is proven science. So for this reason, we should be taking icy cold showers all the time. Now I know that doesn’t sound so pleasant, but if you want to increase your testosterone levels it must be done.

Here’s what I do: Turn the water nozzle all the way to the left and wait for it to get as cold as it can possibly get. Once this happens, jump right in. No excuses! Don’t be a wimp about it and especially don’t think about it too much. Hell, if my 90-year-old grandma can still handle cold showers on a daily basis then I think you can too!

Tip #4-Sleep Like A Baby

When you fail to get at least six hours per sleep at night, your bodies anabolic hormone production drops and gives rise to catabolic hormones such as cortisol. Now cortisol is a hormone that burns muscle and stores fat, something we do not want if we are a bodybuilder. Cortisol also plays a direct role in lowering testosterone and growth hormone levels, which basically means that if you’re not sleeping enough at night then cortisol is dictating how much muscle you will gain. Don’t let cortisol take control, fight back! Get at least eight hours of sleep per night and if your schedule permits, get even more sleep than this.

Tip #5-Get Your Daily Zinc

Zinc plays a direct role in lowering estrogen levels in the body and converting estrogen back into testosterone. When you get plenty of zinc in your diet or in the form of a supplement, the body will do exactly what is explained above.

Food such as oysters, toasted wheat germ, veal liver, roast beef, roasted pumpkin & squash seeds, dried watermelon seeds, dark chocolate & cocoa powder, lamb, peanuts and crab all contain high amounts of zinc. If you hate all of the foods I just mentioned above, taking a zinc supplement is another option.

Testosterone is absolutely crucial if you’re trying to gain muscle. You could have the best nutrition and training in the world, but if your testosterone level is not in check then good luck trying to add significant strength and size. After all, why do you think guys can get so muscular while girls cannot? You guessed it, high testosterone is the key to building muscle fast.

Author Bio:

Hi there, my name is Drew and I am the owner of the site, how2gainmusclefast.com. I have also been a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym for 15 years, helping my clients gain muscle, lose fat and get into killer shape. One thing I’ve learned throughout my decade and a half of training clients, anyone can get into killer shape with the right information, which is why I love what I do. If you want to learn how to lose weight, gain muscle or get into killer shape, visit my site, how2gainmusclefast.com.

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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