I want to ask you something about products I see advertised called testosterone boosters. My friends tell me I should try them because they might help me gain more muscle mass and strength. My goal is to pack on 20-30 pounds of pure muscle and get big! Do testosterone boosters actually work and will they help me gain weight and build muscle?
It depends on what type of testosterone boosters you’re talking about. Over the counter nutritional supplements or medically prescribed pharmaceuticals? If you are interested in a “testosterone booster” supplement you read about in a muscle building magazine or a TV commercial, save your hard-earned money and forget about them. The FDA will not allow any nutritional supplement company to sell real hormones over the counter in vitamin stores or on the Internet. If a product actually substantially increases testosterone levels and builds a significant amount of muscle, there is no way it will be legal. Any type of substance that really works, will only be available by prescription. If you believe the fancy marketing hype that some of these companies push, I feel bad for you because at the end of the day you will be wasting a lot of your hard-earned money on useless sugar pills.
Testosterone is considered the most essential muscle building hormone in the human body. It increases the rate at which lean muscle tissue can be built along with increasing strength gains and enhancing recovery. Testosterone also increases the formation of red blood cells which provides additional oxygen to the blood allowing you to train harder and longer.
Since testosterone builds muscle mass, it also stimulates the overall metabolism in the body allowing you to consume more calories in order to maintain the new muscle tissue that has been built. The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn so you can literally turn your body into a lean fat burning machine.
Young men between the ages of 18 and 25 have a much higher chance of packing on muscle than a man in his 40’s and 50’s. The reason for this is due to the natural testosterone levels being at their highest during the early years of a man’s life. This allows high school and college kids to easily build up a significant amount of muscle when they implement an intense weight training routine into their overall fitness program. Stick with solid training, a lot of clean nutritious food and a few key supplements which have been proven to work. These include:
- Whey Protein Powder
- Multivitamin
- Creatine
Since testosterone is believed to hit its peak in men around this age, men over the age of 40 have a very difficult time building new muscle since their levels of natural testosterone start to diminish each year at a rate of about 10% per decade which accounts to about 10 solid pounds of muscle lost every 10 years. Consequently, overall muscle mass and strength levels start to decrease and this is why many middle-aged men feel so tired and weak. Along with the physical issues men experience as their testosterone levels decline, what is even more damaging is that their mental capacity and sexual drive also starts to diminish which results in issues like memory loss, feeling foggy and losing interest in sex. This condition is usually restored by boosting the production of testosterone in the body by starting on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to increase the levels of the muscle building hormone to a much higher range which causes dramatic effects on the man’s physique and overall sense of well-being.
You should always consult with a specialized anti-aging doctor to ascertain that testosterone therapy is right and safe for you. The most important thing to do is to get a complete metabolic panel (blood labs) which will show your current levels of many key hormone levels including total testosterone, free testosterone, estrogen (estradiol), growth hormone (IGF-1), glucose and DHEA. By having a full metabolic panel completed you will be able to easily see where you fall within the range. This will allow you to work closely with your doctor to choose the right hormones and the right dosages to take in order to get your levels into the optimal range.
If you are under 40 years of age, it’s recommended to continue with your workout and diet plan since your levels are still probably in the normal range. However, if you are under 40 and you are experiencing issues with having a low sex drive, reduced sense of well-being, depression, memory loss, loss of concentration and erectile dysfunction, it is more than likely that you have a testosterone deficiency and getting started on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is most likely the best course of action for you. Normally, a doctor will prescribe intramuscular injections for higher dosages, or testosterone patches or gels on a lower dose regimen.
By starting on a hormone replace therapy program, you will ensure that the levels of testosterone in your body are restored back to their optimal levels which are in the high range for your age in order to get the best results. Just make sure to do it the right way and find a qualified professional hormone doctor or anti-aging physician in your local area that you can actually meet with to discuss all of the possible options to help get you back on track and feeling better.