Does Lifting Heavy Increase Testosterone?

So you’re looking to build some muscle.  You’ve heard that having high levels of testosterone is the key to getting big.  Unless you’re on “stuff”, and have testosterone levels of a silverback gorilla, you may be wondering how you can increase your levels of testosterone.  Well, read on and get learned!

We all know that the goal when going to the gym is to work out your muscles.  However, did you know that when you go to the gym you are working out something else too?  This “thing” is the key to better muscle development!  This thing is called your central nervous system.  Going to the gym to work out nerves?

GET NERVOUS!

That’s right, and more specifically your central nervous system connection.  When you improve the connection between the muscular system and the central nervous system you are actually allowing for more muscle fibers to be recruited.  Now here’s the simple answer to the million dollar question: Performing heavy weight training trains this connection, and as a result, increases testosterone. 

Here’s How It Breaks Down:   

More muscle fiber recruitment means more micro tears occurring in the muscle fibers, more micro tears means more repairs required, these repairs are done by protein synthesis - and protein synthesis is the key.

Testosterone binds to receptors on the surface of muscle cells and amplify the biochemical signals in muscle tissue that result in protein synthesis. With more repairs needed (caused by lifting heavy weights), more testosterone is recruited to allow for more protein synthesis. This is why training legs is so important for increasing testosterone levels, being such a large muscle group - you’ll have more tears that need to be repaired.

So What’s The Best Way To Do This?

Here at FITvocate we preach to keep your workouts challenging - Challenging means that for every rep of every set you’re using a weight that requires maximum effort to properly perform the prescribed number of reps.  This means that if the workout calls for 3 sets of 8, you better be able to lift that weight for all 24 reps with proper form; and the weight you use should be a percentage of your one rep max.  Read this article to figure that out: Choosing The Right Weight

Now if you’re ready to increase your testosterone naturally, check out our Workout Generator for over 150 trillion free workout routines, and keep it challenging!

So that’s it, lifting heavy weights works your central nervous system which allows your body to recruit more muscle fibers, causing more muscle tears, causing a higher demand for protein synthesis which is alleviated by higher levels of testosterone binding to receptors allowing for recovery. So lift heavy!

Heavy weight training increases testosterone.