Whether you are male, female, gay, straight or transgender, if you are going to the gym and are serious about your workouts then your hormones and what they are up to should be a serious consideration for you.
by Elektra Pavlou | 2nd August 2013
Aside from your hard work, your testosterone (T) levels are one of the most important aspects of determining how much muscle you build or how much weight you lose.
The more T the stronger and bigger the muscles for men, for women, the more T, the quicker your recovery, stronger you are and the leaner your body will be. For all of us, the higher your T levels the more likely you are to keep the weight off. Please bear in mind that the following information aims to give you information about how you can raise your natural T levels I am NOT referring to steroids or testosterone injections, or anything of the sort. The information will neither stimulate aggression in males, cause females to have a male voice, or grow facial hair, or any of the other side effects that steroids produce. The information provided should not be used if contrary to your medical practitioners advice as nutritional needs vary from person to person.
Always consult your GP before starting or making changes to your diet or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications.
To start off, let us look at the Vitamins that are required for T production.
Nearly all vitamins are essential for us to consume for normal functioning (except Vitamin D & Biotin). There are however, some specific vitamins that your body requires to aid the natural production of T.
First up we have Zinc (Zn). This micronutrient plays an important role in the structure of proteins. Like most theories; one only needs to look at what happens when someone has a Zn deficiency to see why we need it in our diets. Among many issues that arise, the most applicable to you is the fact that it slows down growth and development. If you have made the wise choice to start an exercise program then adding more Zn into your diet will help you to get those results you are looking for. Even more so when you are on T and your fat begins to redistributed to various other parts of your body. Wouldn’t you like to burn those calories and build muscle? Zn, in conjunction with an exercise program will help you retain and build muscle mass and help prevent you from becoming overweight…
However, everything in moderation is always the best way to go. Do not go over board with your Zinc intake as too much Zn over too long a period can result in a copper deficiency.
Next we have Magnesium (Mg). This is a vitamin that is more accessible and readily available for our bodies thus our chances of
Mg deficiencies are pretty low (if you follow a healthy balanced diet of course). Bearing this in mind, strength training increases your requirements for Mg so make sure you are getting enough as your training increases in intensity.
Mg is like a god to the supplement world, in my opinion, for numerous reasons. The benefits that will mostly apply to you are that it aids better sleep (when you sleep your body produces testosterone) and helps you to feel less fatigued, it helps your body get rid of stress… and of course it helps with protein synthesis (needed for recovery and growth of muscle) and… T production. Mg is important because it helps your body to get ample time to recharge and recover otherwise YOU WILL sabotage your results and having a good workout is not the end of the story. You may be familiar with Protein shakes and pre workouts advertising the benefits of their supplements. Don’t be surprised to hear that many of them have Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs), which… have both Z and Mg, contained... Also, overdosing on Mg can be fatal so you have been warned, do not over do it.
In addition to Zn and Mg, Vitamin B6 is essential to any training
program and it helps with protein metabolism. If you are in regular
exercise you will be losing this, as it is a water-soluble vitamin the body
does not store. B6 plays a major role in breaking down proteins and
helping with hormones, nerve functioning and various other benefits.
In simple terms this is the formula
Zn+Mg+B6 = T
To Be Continued
Visit Elektra's website on http://www.efitt.eu
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