So How Are Testosterone And Muscle Mass Building Linked?
Read on To Discover The Truth, It May Well Shock You!
Are testosterone and muscle building truly linked?
People take anabolic steroids on the basis that they are and as result, they flood the body with testosterone. This enables the body, to build muscle at a faster rate. So based on this, the simple answer is yes increasing your testosterone does lead to an increase in muscle growth.
It isn’t as simple as that though, as synthetically increasing your testosterone levels with anabolic steroids, isn’t a true representation of natural testosterone levels that occur. In fact , artificially flooding your body with a high amount of testosterone like this comes with a host of negative health impacts. You can learn more about the dangers of steroids in bodybuilding here!
If you want to learn more about how to have success with natural body building check out this blog by my friend Voicu: trainyourbodywithvoicu.com He will help you to achieve the body you desire and achieve bodybuilding without having to take anabolic steroids!
So what effect does naturally occurring testosterone levels have on muscle building?
Numerous studies have been conducted looking at the link between testosterone and muscle building. The outcomes of the different studies while slightly varying tell the same “story”. That story is having low testosterone levels has a negative impact on the amount of muscle you can gain & you may in fact lose muscle mass. On the flip side having the highest testosterone levels you can reach naturally.
Will likely see a small impact in terms of increased muscle growth but not a huge one. Where a key difference can be found in terms of testosterone and muscle mass is increasing levels from low to higher/optimized. So if you suffer from low testosterone levels, you can see a big difference in terms of the amount of muscle mass you can pack on by getting your testosterone to a naturally high level.
What Studies To Check Out
So I’ve referred to the results of numerous studies that have been conducted in to the links between testosterone and muscle mass. So I thought it would be useful to direct you to some of these studies, so you can have a more in depth read for yourself.
Testosterone and Muscle building study 1
Testosterone and Muscle building study 2
Testosterone and Muscle building study 3
The three studies above, give you an idea of the effects low levels & high levels of testosterone have on male bodies. Have a read through the overviews to gain a more in depth understanding of how testosterone and muscle building are linked.
The Effect Of Low Testosterone On Muscle Mass
As we’ve mentioned above and you’ll be able to see in the studies, people with low testosterone levels tend to have less muscle mass. They also struggle to add muscle and may even begin losing existing muscle mass. Having low testosterone levels also leads to retaining & increased body fat. The more body fat you’re carrying the less muscular your body looks. Men with very low testosterone levels are often overweight or have that “skinny fat” type look to them.
How Increasing Testosterone Can Increase Muscle Mass
Testosterone signals for the muscle cells to increase the rate at which new muscle protein is laid down, this process is called protein synthesis. The more testosterone your body can utilise, the more protein synthesis can take place & the increase of protein synthesis, Over time, this increase in muscle protein synthesis leads to large & stronger muscles.
It’s not just outright levels of testosterone that dictate the levels of protein synthesis though, it is the amount of testosterone your body can utilise. That is dictated by your androgen receptors, the more androgen receptors that you have, the more of your available testosterone can be put to use. I’ll be putting together a couple of articles, on androgen receptors & how to increase them as well, so keep an eye out for those.
How To Know If You Have Low Testosterone
There are multiple physical and mental/ psychological signs that someone may be suffering from low testosterone. You can find out more about these signs here – Testosterone And Health – The Symptoms Of Low T A definitive way to know if you are suffering from low testosterone levels is getting them tested. There are organisations that offer this, which has mainly come about due to getting these types of tests through most doctors and national health services being extremely difficult!
I’ve actually done an article on this, providing an overview of my recommended testosterone testing service in the UK. You can find out more about it and how these services tend to work as a whole in the below article.
Home Testosterone Test – My Recommended UK Service
Final Thoughts On How Testosterone and Muscle Mass Are Linked
So in conclusion we can say that testosterone and muscle building are linked. In fact your testosterone levels effect your muscle mass in a couple of different ways. If your testosterone levels are low, you can experience a loss in existing muscle mass and/ or struggle to gain muscle mass. When suffering from low levels, if you increase them naturally you can see an increase in muscle mass gains.
You can even begin to see results, where progress to date may have felt slow or non-existent. If you have normal or moderately high testosterone levels. You can see a minimal increase in muscle mass by naturally increasing your testosterone levels;
This isn’t the same impact you get from synthetically increasing levels by taking something like anabolic steroids. So the main scenario in which testosterone and muscle building effect each other is when you’re suffering from low testosterone levels. As we’ve covered having low levels leads to a lack of muscle and being able to add further muscle. If you suspect your levels are low I suggest you check out the below article.
Testosterone And Health – The Symptoms Of Low T
I always recommend getting your testosterone levels tested, which you can find out more about below.
Home Testosterone Test – My Recommended UK Service
I hope you’ve found this article useful! If you have any questions or thoughts about how testosterone & muscle building are linked, just drop me a comment. I’ll get back to you, please share this article with anyone else you think may find it interesting and feel free to follow me on my social media sites. I’ll be covering more about how testosterone and muscle mass are linked and all things related to testosterone.
