Testosterone Muscle Building and Manipulating Other Hormones Naturally

Understanding the principals of how hormones affect the shape of your body will increase the effectiveness of your nutrition and workouts. 

As a personal trainer and nutritional coach I need to know how my clients can get the most out of all their hard work. Knowing the basics about testosterone muscle building and other hormones allows you to manipulate them naturally. 

Testosterone Muscle Building

Male professional swimmers will spend 4 - 6 hours a day in the pool plus do other dry land work with resistance (weights) and cardiovascular training. Their shape will have developed as their testosterone was pumping in their formative early teenage years.

Testosterone is responsible for the development of masculine characteristics in the body; muscle mass, fat distribution, strength and also sexual characteristics. It is the primary hormone for muscle building. Young male swimmers have high testosterone levels which helps muscle building. As you get older this diminishes and can be further depleted through our diet.

To get the shape of a swimmers body you must manipulate the hormone levels in your body with food and exercise. It is important that your diet contains enough quality "good fats" when you are regularly exercising. The optimum amount of good fats should provide at least 15% of the calories in your diet. A very low fat diet reduces testosterone muscle building which is an important naturally occurring anabolic steroid hormone.

 
Anabolic & Catabolic

Anabolic means building up body tissue, like muscle building. Anabolic metabolic reactions build molecules from small units. Anabolic hormones help build muscle such as; growth hormone, IGF1 and other insulin-like growth factors like testosterone.

Catabolic means breaking down tissue and muscle. Catabolic metabolic reactions break down molecules into smaller units to release energy. Catabolism is governed by hormones; examples of these are cortisol, glucagon, adrenaline and noradrenalin.

The biggest conflicting goal of most men trying to get an amazing body is trying to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Losing fat is catabolic and gaining muscle is anabolic. Instead it should be done in two separate stages; you should add muscle first and then cut your fat to reveal definition.

Insulin

Other hormones like insulin are easily manipulated by the types of food you eat. Insulin is an important anabolic hormone as it takes glucose and amino acids to the muscles for repair and growth. Complex carbohydrates make the body release a steady supply of insulin (some protein foods like fish also create a big insulin response). By following a few simple principals you can also have fewer cravings because your blood sugar levels and insulin are at a more constant level.

Pre-training and Post-training Nutrition

Having pre-training and post-training foods that contain the right proportions of protein and complex carbohydrates creates a positive insulin response and a muscle building environment. Before strength training (it is different for cardiovascular work) you should have a light meal of 2/3 protein and 1/3 complex carbohydrate (Low GI). You should have finished the meal 2 hours before the workout. Some people benefit from a small High GI sugar burst just before the exercise from half a banana or chocolate 30 minutes before.

After weight training you will need protein to aid the muscle repair. You will also need a small amount of complex carbohydrates to help absorption. Try and get the protein as soon as possible after training, particularly with weights. It is particularly important to get it within 40 minutes of your last exercise, but the sooner the better. If you do not, your body will start to turn your muscle tissue into amino acids for energy. In addition to this, after weight training you should then wait up to 30 minutes before you eat properly. This allows the blood in your body to take that initial protein and first concentrate on repairing the muscle tissue.

The right food encourages testosterone muscle building, a steady insulin response and anabolic reactions. The Swimmers Body program will teach you how to construct a core diet that will have less insulin spikes and give you hormonal and metabolic advantages.