Q: What’s the deal with testosterone? I just got the results of some recent blood work, and all my testosterone levels (total, free, and bioavailable) are low. Do you think I’m experiencing pregnenolone steal that everyone’s talking about these days? Should I push the doc for medication? I don’t want this to affect my training!
A: Don’t sweat it—literally! Research from West & Phillips, 2010 indicates that exercise-induced increases in testosterone (T) availability are not necessary for, nor do they enhance, strength and hypertrophy adaptations. And I recall clearly from a lecture by Dr. Duncan MacDougall that hypertrophy is not hormonally dependent—it still occurs in castrated rats, for instance—so does it really matter?
When it comes to T, blood work is not the holy grail. A fat, out-of-shape guy who has never stepped foot in a gym can have the same T levels as a muscular guy who has been training religiously for years. It’s not about how much T you have flowing through you—it’s about what you can do with it.
Here’s an analogy: The fat guy owns two minivans, and the muscular guy owns four sports cars. They both have four sets of keys each (think of that as their T levels). The fat guy can only start two cars (think of them as his T receptors), and they’re not exactly high-performance vehicles. The muscular guy can start all four of his cars (he has more T receptors), and when those beasts hit the road, they fly!
Bottom line: The more strength training you do over the years, the more receptors you’ll have for T to do its job.
Now, you can increase T instantly by having sex—but if that sex leads to a baby, your T levels will soon plummet! It’s well documented that a father’s T levels drop around the time their child is born. It’s nature’s way of keeping them home to protect the family rather than going out to “procreate” some more. If your goal is to raise T and not necessarily kids, then go through the act of procreating but stay clear of the delivery room!
The point is that hormone levels fluctuate constantly. One snapshot at one time isn’t necessarily indicative of your true status. And there are plenty of ways to manipulate these tests, but that’s another discussion in itself.
By the way, unless you’re female or over the age of 35, don’t worry too much about pregnenolone steal. In sexually mature males under 35, more than 95% of testosterone is produced by the testes. Only a small amount is secreted by the adrenal glands, making it of little physiological significance.
Now, it’s true that elevated stress increases adrenal production of glucocorticoids like cortisol, which in turn suppresses gonadotropin-releasing hormone and boosts gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone. This lowers pituitary production of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, which can ultimately decrease T production. It’s also true that in cases of adrenal fatigue, total T is lower and free T is more likely to be bound up. There are excellent supplements available to help modulate the stress response if this is the case, but adrenal function is just one piece of the puzzle.
Perhaps you have a dietary deficiency of zinc. Low stomach acid decreases zinc absorption, and low zinc levels reduce T production. If that’s the issue, take a comprehensive multivitamin daily and include digestive support in the form of hydrochloric acid and broad-spectrum enzymes. Did your blood work include a red blood cell (RBC) zinc test?
An excellent book on the topic is The Testosterone Factor by Dr. Shafiq Qaadri. Read it before pulling your hair out trying to find a cause—unless, of course, your hair has already fallen out!
Now, while we’re on the subject, here’s another interesting fact about our favorite hormone: low T can result in mood swings, irritability, and aggression. Yes, aggression. While many reports link aggression to high T levels, something I learned years ago from Dr. Datis Kharrazian is that hormone overload and hormone deficiency often produce the same symptoms. When T levels drop, men may become more aggressive as they attempt to assert themselves. In fact, it’s possible that “roid rage” is actually due to low T—not high T. More specifically, it may stem from low endogenous T as a result of high exogenous T from steroids. When your natural T production is shut down, your body fights to restore its alpha male status.
As for medication, T pellets, gels, creams, and injections all work well—my preference is the latter two. I’ve seen some impressive transformations in a short period when paired with a solid diet and training plan. However, I’d exhaust all natural options before resorting to drugs.
