Testosterone Boosting Methods With David Becker
So I frequently chat with my peers about the work they do with their clients and different testosterone boosting methods that they are testing out at the moment.
Someone I speak with more frequently than anyone else is my good friend David Becker.
He runs a site very similar to mine
Androgenhacker.com
We were having one of our many chats about different things we were looking in to that can help boost testosterone.
When we had the idea that you guys would gain a lot of value from what we’ve been discussing.
So we’ve decided we’re going to do a series of articles where we interview each other.
So this is what I’m sharing today, the interview I did with David on how he got started with Androgenhacker & what some of his recommended testosterone boosting methods are.
Why did you first begin looking for ways to increase your testosterone production?
This whole thing started early in 2019.
My wife and I had just had our 2nd child. With two children under 2 years old, I was stressed out and sleeping very little.
I don’t know that I would say ‘depressed’, but I was definitely not myself.
I lost my quote-unquote lust for life. I wasn’t even interested in sex anymore. Something was wrong.
I did what any self-respecting person would do in my situation and went to the doctor as an attempt to find an answer.
The doctor and I talked and I had several labs done. One of those labs was my testosterone levels.
My total testosterone was …
Drum roll, please …
412 ng/dl.
*Womp Womp*
I asked him about TRT and he almost laughed as he said no. At the time I was pissed about it, but in hindsight I’m grateful.
How long have you been doing this?
My doctor wanted me to get on antidepressants. I considered it. I even took the prescription home with my tail tucked between my legs.
It was a horrible feeling.
I just couldn’t bring myself to get it filled though. Instead, I started to do a little research of my own.
I read an article on the art of manliness. The guy claimed to have doubled his testosterone levels naturally.
I was inspired, but skeptical.
Nonetheless, I continued down this path. I became obsessed with the idea of increasing my testosterone levels naturally.
I started AndrogenHacker a few months later. I think it was May 2019.
It started it as more of a traditional blog. It was used to keep track of the things I learned about testosterone.
I never expected it to become so popular and become what it is today.
What sort of results have you personally seen to date?
Since those early days, I’ve read over 20 books on testosterone and men’s health.
Based on what I’ve learned and on my experience in the medical field, I’ve taken a scientific approach to testosterone optimization.
I’ve built an entire testosterone optimization system around auto-analytics and biohacking techniques.
Using this methodical and evidence-based low-fat approach, the highest I’ve ever been able to achieve so far is 982 ng/dl (total).
I’ve never been able to break the 1000 ng/dl mark which is frustrating. It’s my primary goal right now.
I’m constantly experimenting and changing my protocol. My most recent level took a dip back down in the low 900s.
This came after a (failed) experiment with pine pollen.
That’s what I do though. I do blood work before and after interventions while keeping everything else in my life as constant as possible.
It’s a core principle of my process.
What are your thoughts on lifestyle change versus TRT and steroids?
This may come as a surprise, but I’m a big advocate for TRT. You can’t argue with the massive body of scientific evidence proving it’s benefits.
It’s truly a miracle drug.
Here’s the catch:
The benefits we see in the TRT research are indicative of the benefits a man sees when his testosterone is optimized in a more general sense.
I believe 99.99% of men have a “baseline” testosterone level that is artificially low.
The problem is that unless you have specifically researched testosterone optimization, you don’t know what you don’t know.
Even men who are living an otherwise legitimate healthy lifestyle are often living with testosterone levels below their true baseline.
We see this as a result of popular diet and fitness trends (doing cardio, low-fat diets, etc).
Most men will at some point in their life get a testosterone test. When their results come back low, they jump on TRT without hesitation.
I know because that would have been me (had my doc said yes).
This is a huge problem though.
Unlike other medicines, testosterone replacement therapy is a lifetime commitment.
Getting on TRT is a HUGE decision that should only be made after properly educating oneself on your options.
There are literally hundreds of science-backed and non-pharmacological interventions a man can use to increase his testosterone levels.
The problem is that the market is saturated with shady companies trying to take advantage of us.
They feed us misinformation and try to push their crappy testosterone boosters and other bullshit products.
That’s where AndrogenHacker comes in.
As a registered nurse and CCRN, community health and wellness is something I intrinsically care about.
I don’t have a hidden agenda. My goal is to fill the knowledge gap with unbiased information.
I want men to be able to make informed decisions about their health.
If a man has educated himself on his options and still elects to use TRT, then I’m in full support of that decision.
Concerning steroids:
My stance on them used to be a hard “no”, but that is no longer the case after meeting and becoming friends with Nelson Vergel.
Long story short, he has been able to overcome HIV and wasting syndrome using physician-prescribed steroids.
He’s since become a pioneer in men’s health and is also a personal role model for me.
If you don’t know about Nelson, I highly recommend you check out what he’s doing over on excelmale.com.
What surprised you the most when it comes to what impacts testosterone?
The first thing that comes to mind is nicotine.
We’ve been told our entire lives that nicotine and cigarette smoking is one of the worst things that you can do.
This is true, but it may be beneficial for testosterone and estrogen management.
It’s very counterintuitive, but nicotine is a fairly powerful aromatase inhibitor (AI).
I’ll admit that I have experimented on myself with nicotine patches.
It even resulted in a positive impact on my hormone profile, but I would never recommend it to someone else.
It should go without saying, but traditional forms of nicotine consumption are not going to help your case.
The evidence suggests that regular use of nicotine is detrimental to your health.
The negatives outweigh the positives and therefore nicotine is not currently part of my protocol.
In your experience what are the key areas people struggle with most when it comes to low T?
#1 is a lack of knowledge (as discussed above).
#2 is being able to commit to necessary changes.
#3 is being honest with themselves about their efforts.
Optimizing testosterone levels naturally takes massive commitment and often a complete lifestyle overhaul.
There’s also a catch 22:
When your T levels are low you are going to be docile and unmotivated. It’s hard to get the ball rolling.
Also, this transformation process is something that often takes months before you start seeing any results.
Big commitment +
No immediate positive feedback +
Lack of motivation =
A high rate of failure.
This recipe for disaster. It’s why there is a persistent dogma on testosterone community forums claiming natural optimization doesn’t work.
It’s hard. I get it.
Testosterone optimization is a lifestyle. It takes relentlessly vigilance and brutal honesty with yourself.
What is your favorite testosterone boosting meal/food?
My favorite meal:
A big fatty steak, potatoes, and a rainbow of veggies on the side.
“Steak and potatoes” – Cliche I know.
The best part about the testosterone diet is that 30-40% of it should come from fat.
How important do you think healthy T levels are for women?
I’ll be honest here. I don’t know much about this area.
I will say that I’m surprised at how often women reach out to me with questions. I never expected females to be reading my articles.
Some of them are just looking for information for their husbands, but there is definitely a handful of the woman looking for information for themselves.
I’ve read enough on the subject to know that it’s very important. I plan on digging deep into the research at some point.
Any new areas in regards to optimizing testosterone that you are currently looking into?
One thing that’s been hot on my radar recently is red light therapy.
Two men that I deeply respect, Ben Greenfield and Jay Campbell, speak very highly of it.
I have a couple of reservations about it though. It’s very expensive and it’s so cutting edge that very little research has been done on it.
If you could list the three most important things to help people boost testosterone, what would they be?
It’s not ‘sexy’ or revolutionary:
1. Sleep
2. Diet
3. Fitness
I know. I know.
Most men will hear this and think “*yawn* Yes David, we know”.
These three topics are talked about so often in health circles that most people gloss over them.
Diet and fitness is something of a religion. People think they already know what’s best and it’s hard to change their minds despite the evidence.
The fact of the matter is that nutrition and fitness with an end goal of testosterone production are very different than anything else out there.
I’ll add that of these three, sleep is king.
Did you know?
For every hour of quality sleep that you get (or don’t get) your testosterone levels will be 15% higher (or lower) the next day? (source)
Most men get it wrong and often jump on the testosterone booster market thinking that it’s some magic potion or something.
The truth is that while there are a few select supplements and herbs that can help, they should only be considered an afterthought.
Sleep, diet, and heavy lifting come first.
Where can people learn more about you?
The best way is to simply go to my website at https://androgenhacker.com.
I also provide a free blueprint that outlines the initial steps I took to increase my testosterone levels from 412ng/dl to 923ng/dl.
I’m also on pretty much all social with the username ‘AndrogenHacker’, but am most active on twitter.
Great interview, Nate!
Kind Regards,
David Becker, RN, CCRN
Final Thoughts
I’d just like to thank David for taking the time to share his background and his testosterone boosting tips with us!
Please check out his site, in the near future you’ll an interview where David is interviewing and I’ll be answering the questions, so keep an eye out for that!
Same as always, please share with anyone you think may find this useful, you can follow myself & David on our social media sites as well, where we both share out testosterone boosting tips.
If you have any questions, please just drop a comment below, I can respond & I’m sure I can David to pick up and respond to any questions that he can specifically answer!
