TestoFuel Blog : Make Gains & Pack on the Muscle
You’ve been hitting the gym hard and you’re starting to notice some differences in your physique.
You’re looking leaner, more muscular and you’re strength is ramping up nicely. Why? Because you’re beginning to optimize your hormones and you’re getting fitter.
Testosterone is a key regulator of all things masculine – from muscle mass to stamina. From libido to metabolic health. When your levels are optimized you’ll look and feel better.
But could improving your testosterone levels naturally help you to become more powerful too?
In this article we take a look at what the research says…
Testosterone (T) is the king of male hormones.
Produced in the Leydig cells of your testes, T regulates everything from your physical endurance to strength, muscle mass and bone density.
It promotes the development of male characteristics, helps you maintain health and wellness, and also promotes libido, sexual performance and bedroom stamina.
As you reach puberty your T levels begin to rise sharply. They peak during late teen years and then remain high through your twenties.
By the age of thirty though, testosterone begins to decline by around 1% each year.
Key Point: Normal testosterone levels are between 300 ng.dL and 1000 ng.dL
Although some men are able to maintain a healthy hormone level as they age, many suffer the effects of low testosterone otherwise known as hypogonadism.
From a clinical perspective, hypogonadism occurs once your T levels drop below the minimum threshold of 300 ng.dL
The side effects of low T this include:
There are many important factors that can affect athletic ability. These include speed, strength, agility and power and all of these factors can make the difference between winning and losing.
Explosive power is the combination of sped and strength and is simply the act of being able to generate force quickly.
Key Point: Power is being able to apply high amounts of strength and force in relatively short time periods.
Being powerful makes you explosive – fast and strong. These are important characteristics in practically all sports.
But it’s not just athletes that benefit from being more powerful.
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) state that power training is also an important component of a typical gym member’s program too [1].
And as hard working a gym goer, improving power can help you:
Key Point: The ability to move and generate power is crucial to overall function and safety during movement.
It has long been known that optimizing your T levels can lead to an improvement in athleticism.
Testosterone is a key influence in human metabolism and muscle mass.
Low T levels lead to a loss of lean muscle tissue, whereas higher levels help you gain mass and strength.
Combining strength and power training with optimal T enhances the amount of muscle you have as it speeds up how much your cells repairs themselves.
“Evidence suggests that the effects of T on muscle mass result from its positive influence on protein synthesis” [2]
Optimal T levels also help you to improve maximal strength ability.
A study by Storer et al [3] found that T booster supplementation helped a group of 61 athletes increase maximal strength whilst at the same time improving lower body power.
So if testosterone can improve strength it can improve power too?
Most definitely.
There are a number of factors that influence explosive speed and strength production.
These include age, gender, fitness levels, muscle mass and testosterone levels [4].
So how could testosterone effect power production?
Biology of Sport [4] published a paper in 2002 that showed high T levels were associated with higher velocity, and mechanical power in men when compared to women.
In a range of power-based tests, men were found to exhibit better:
After the differences between weight, height and muscle mass were factored in, the research team suggested that the better explosive jumping seen in men was down to higher testosterone.
They concluded that “high T levels in men might be a factor that ensures superiority in explosive power and speed”.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research [2] found that having higher testosterone levels resulted in better power production in a group of 70 athletes.
Using 22 female and 48 male elite track and field athletes, the researchers firstly measured their T levels using blood tests.
They then asked the athletes to perform various countermovement jump tests – gold standard measures of explosive ability.
The result?
The research team reported that female jump ability was around 86% that of men. But for both genders, higher T levels meant better jump scores and more power.
Key Point: Higher T levels helped a group of athletes improve explosive power.
Being powerful makes a big difference to your athletic ability, and being able to move at high speed, deliver explosive movements and move heavy weight quickly are all markers of a good athlete.
Research suggests that those with higher explosive ability also have higher levels of testosterone. It is therefore important that you train to improve power but also aim to optimize your hormones too.
That way you can maximize your chances of being a high-power athlete.
There are a number of natural nutrients and ingredients that can elevate your T levels safely and without side effects.
TestoFuel has used exhaustive research to combine the best of these nutrients into a muscle boosting formula that has the ability to:
Containing natural ingredients such as zinc, magnesium and oyster extract, TestoFuel is the next generation of testosterone booster.
