Guidelines for Optimum Testosterone & Growth Hormone Production

Although there are many hormones that play important roles in strength training, none are quite like the “Big T” – Testosterone. Testosterone plays a VITAL role in protein synthesis, and makes other hormones more anabolic (or AWESOME) just by showing up! Several factors stimulate Testosterone production; however, production is optimized when the “Fab Five” are included into exercise training programs.

The “Fab Five”:

1.       Large Muscle Group Exercises – These are movements or lifts that utilize large and multiple muscle groups. For example, the dead lift involves back, abdomen, hip, and leg muscles.     

2.       Heavy Resistance Training – This means lifting weight that is at 85-95% of 1-repetition maximum.

3.       Moderate to High Volume – This is done by including multiple sets and multiple exercises.

4.       Short Rest Intervals – In between sets, rest time should be between 30-seconds to 1-minute.

5.       Two or More Years of Resistance Training Experience.  

Growth Hormone (GH) is extremely important for growth and development, AND it also targets our skeletal muscle and fat cells. GH increases protein synthesis and also increases lipolysis, or the breakdown of fat cells (we love that!). The “Fab Five” helps with the production GH, but the primary time that GH is released is during REM sleep. Mom and Dad were right all those years…WE NEED SLEEP TO GROW. Getting an appropriate amount of sleep allows our bodies to adequately rest and recover. Below is a picture of the average amount of sleep needed according to age; please note that these durations vary according to health and lifestyle.

 
A quick recap --- to manipulate and optimize the benefits of Testosterone and Growth Hormone it is important to include the “Fab Five” into exercise programs and get the proper amount of recovery time and sleep.