Why My Testosterone Is 2X Higher Than the Average Man

29:18Shawn Stevenson:So the bottom line with this S, simple, clean nutrition, is that for me personally, I eat real food the vast majority of the time. When I say real food, this means foods that you can still recognize where they come from, you know, with this ultra-processed food paradigm. Unfortunately, we get into this place where we're like, what does that even mean? And I tried to circumvent that early on when I was elevating the conversation. but we're talking about foods that you cannot really recognize where they come from. They've been so distorted, so processed, so mutated into something that is so far removed from anything real that it no longer really holds that quality of something that our genes can even recognize, you know?

30:05And so what I mean by that is we can eat a tuber, right?

30:11Shawn Stevenson:A potato, sweet potato. right? Very, very simple process, but we could take that potato and we can make sweet potato fries. We can make mashed sweet potatoes. We can make sweet potato hash. You can still tell there's a sweet potato there. You can even get crazy and make a more processed version of it, make a sweet potato donut. Okay. So it's levels to this. That's the ultra process. It's levels to it. some ultra processed foods are things like one of my favorite foods. When I met my wife, I would eat this every night. Actually, this is my evening routine. Honey nut Cheerios. All right. So far removed from where it comes from.

30:54Shawn Stevenson:And don't even get me started on my favorite cereals like the Crunch Berries, you know, Captain Crunch Berries. Now apparently they got all Crunch Berry version of the Captain Crunch Berries. There's so many, the innovations in children's cereal, which is really adults be killing that stuff too, is crazy. Like I've missed so much, but the Fruity Pebbles, the Apple Jacks, that's another one of my all-time favorites. And these different cereals, whether they are corn derived or wheat derived, rice derived, they're so far removed from where their origin is with all of these newly invented chemical additives and colorings and flavor enhancers and the list goes on and on.

31:37Shawn Stevenson:It's just so, this is the definition, levels to it, top tier ultra processed food. And what does that do to our gene expression? Neutrogenomics, nutrigenetics, this isn't just a superficial thing of like, oh, these foods are not so bad. Ultra processed doesn't, what does that even mean? You know what it means. All right. And there's levels to it. And so with this being said, most of my diet, real food. All right. And I know this plays a huge part and I don't pay that much attention to the macronutrient ratios of my food because it just tends to balance itself out. You know, sometimes I'll eat meals that have a higher percentage of protein than the other two macronutrients or a higher percentage of fats or a higher percentage of carbohydrates.

32:23Shawn Stevenson:It just kind of tends to balance itself out, but I can share that the overall ratio of macronutrients in my diet are pretty similar. You know, there isn't one that's just like super far in a way dominating the other macronutrients. Now, I want to share a particular food that I just think that I have been consistently having this food pretty much every day, all of these years, that it might just play a part in this equation with testosterone. And that one food that's been inconsistent for me for years is eggs. In a 2021 randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, scientists took 30 resistance-trained young men and assigned them to consume, after training, either three whole eggs or six egg whites, providing approximately the same amount of protein.

33:22Both groups performed the same resistance training program three days per week for 12 weeks. Here's the fascinating part. The whole egg group experienced a significantly greater increase in serum testosterone than the egg white only group. They also had greater improvements in hand grip strength, knee extension strength, and body fat percentage. Now, to be clear, cholesterol is indeed the precursor molecule from which testosterone and other steroid hormones are synthesized.

34:00Shawn Stevenson:But that does not mean that eating more cholesterol automatically means making more testosterone. Please hear me. Testosterone synthesis is a tightly regulated system by the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis with multiple metabolic signals being involved. The egg yolks aren't just about the cholesterol. Again, please hear me. They're remarkably nutrient-dense packages containing proteins, fats, cholesterol, choline, selenium, fat-soluble vitamins, and other bioactive compounds. All of these nutrients and more help shape the environment. It's all about the environment within our biology that supports the testosterone production.

34:55Shawn Stevenson:And I've personally been eating an average of three to four eggs a day for years and years and years. Again, whole food sources of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates from both plant and animal foods make up the vast majority of my diet. And if you feel like you need a great resource for specific foods and recipes, make sure to check out the Eat Smarter Family Cookbook. The answer to better health and improving our testosterone levels is in many ways just too simple when it comes to nutrition. Eat mostly real foods, ensure your macro and micronutrient needs are met and avoid the things that are noted to suppress your testosterone.

35:36Shawn Stevenson:And another one of these things that I want to make a special note of was highlighted in a study published in 2019, finding that alcohol consumption can heavily disrupt your metabolism by disrupting your sex hormones. The study cited in the Journal of Clinical Medicine affirmed that excessive alcohol consumption does in fact decrease levels of testosterone in men and it also increases aromatization of testosterone, which in turn leads to higher levels of estrogen. I personally don't drink alcohol at all. I never have. I never will. There were some little trysts, you know, like college, you know, I had a couple sips.

36:21Shawn Stevenson:One time it was the, it's the peer pressure, but I just couldn't do it. For me, my story is just seeing it in my environment growing up and seeing the dysfunction that it created with the excessive use of this very powerful psychoactive substance. And also, you know, just kind of having my palate not attuned to it and really just listening to my body. I'm pretty sure it's rare for most people the first time they take a sip of a beer to be like, oh my God, this is delicious. ever in their life, the first sip? No, it just doesn't happen. We acclimate our taste buds to it. And of course we could find the deliciousness in there and, you know, find the subtle things about it and the differences and all the things.

37:04Shawn Stevenson:Same thing with wine, you know, same thing with the good tequila, whatever the case might be. But our body's instincts are kind of to revolt against those things. It's like a, you know, but all that being said, I would implore you if your testosterone is important to you, I would be very, very mindful of alcohol consumption. It's one of the strongest things that we can consume that can create a lot of dysfunction around the production of our sex hormones. Now, when I mentioned making sure that your micronutrient needs are met, I'm talking about the array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that help to create the environment for optimal testosterone production.

37:50The vast majority of these

37:53Shawn Stevenson:nutrients are accessible if you're eating a diversity of real nutrient-dense foods. And I personally don't take that many supplements. At this point in my life, I more so cycle supplements. There are things that I take more consistently, some of those being a vitamin C, food-based vitamin C supplement because of all the things that it does for helping to modulate stress. Of course, we know about the immune system component. It's excellent for supporting our skin health and just the list goes on and on and on. Vitamin C is critical for a myriad of things in our bodies, the benefits for our cardiovascular system.

38:33Shawn Stevenson:And it's one of those things that we have to get as human beings. we gotta seek this out in food. And with the stressors of our world today, our bodies do kind of run through our vitamin C supply. And so a food-based vitamin C supplement is something I consistently do. Turmeric, a real food-based turmeric concentrate. I'm a big fan of a very high quality omega supplement as well, the omega-3s. And I actually get all three of those supplements from Paleo Valley. They go above and beyond. No binders, no fillers. The very best sourcing you are going to find. And just incredible people, incredible people.

39:21And by the way, if you go to paleovalley.com forward slash model, you're going to get 15 % off store wide. Their new omega-3 supplement is phenomenal.

39:35Shawn Stevenson:phenomenal. You can check out the science behind everything as well. Their food-based vitamin C is based on camu camu berry, amla berry, acerola cherry. It's just, again, so good, backed by science. And if I am taking supplements on a consistent basis, it's generally those three supplements. But again, I'll cycle in some other stuff, other fun stuff from time to time as well. And yeah, so food first, add in supplements to supplement an already healthy diet. And these are helping to support that pathway to optimizing that testosterone. And now we're going to move on to number four of our four S's for optimizing your testosterone.

40:20And number four is stress optimization.

40:25Shawn Stevenson:When I got my testosterone levels checked, this was actually after one of the most stressful years of my life. So if I'm not handling stress well and my testosterone levels were that high, who knows what they might have been without that added stress? I might have been growing antlers at that point, you know, but I don't think that that's the case. I think that I was really just with my practices and in building up that resilience, I was able to manage that stress somewhat healthfully. But I'm telling you, it did. It definitely made an impact. It definitely made an impact. But it's important to keep in mind that stress is not at odds with testosterone.

41:10In fact, acute stress often supports testosterone. But chronic or excessive intense stress can drive testosterone levels down. Again, severe or prolonged physiological slash psychological stress can absolutely suppress the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal access. An example of intense stress impacting testosterone was shown in a study cited in the journal, Biological Psychiatry. Researchers followed 109 people through an extremely stressful military survival course involving captivity and interrogation. During captivity, their cortisol levels rose significantly. Their testosterone was significantly reduced within just 12 hours.

42:01Shawn Stevenson:Their thyroid hormones were also suppressed and cortisol remained elevated into the recovery period. Now, obviously, this is an extreme stress example, but that's precisely why it's useful. It gives us a very clear demonstration that when the human body perceives an intense survival threat, reproductive hormone production can be rapidly deprioritized by our bodies. Now, here's the good news. Even in the context of an extreme stressor like this military training, A recent study titled Impact of Military Training Stress on Hormone Response and Recovery followed soldiers through an eight-day military training exercise followed by recovery.

42:49Field training significantly reduced testosterone, but once the high-stress training period ended, testosterone recovered within four days. So again, even in the context of intensive stress, if we're allowed that recovery period,

43:06Shawn Stevenson:if we give our bodies the opportunity to recover, they will. And oftentimes it can bounce back even better. Now, it's not the presence of stress itself. Again, it's the overarching psychological state around the stress. A remarkable study analyzing testosterone levels of men ages 30 to 55 who had similar cortisol levels but were classified as having high versus low psychological stress based on anxiety, hostility, and depression measures. After analyzing the data, it was found that the high-stress men had significantly lower serum testosterone than their low-stress counterparts. Again, cortisol was not significantly different between the groups.

43:53They all had stress rolling in their bodies, but the mindset above the stress was radically different. So how do we better respond to the stress in our world today? It's inescapable. Well, we actually have a randomized controlled trial involving stress management that fits perfectly here. This recent randomized controlled trial cited in the journal Stress had young men to complete seven 20-minute mindfulness sessions using integrative body-mind training or an active relaxation control. Researchers then subjected them to acute psychological stress. Following the stressor, an additional mindfulness session produced higher testosterone concentrations and lower cortisol responses relative to the relaxation control.

44:50So the researchers interpreted this as evidence that mindfulness can modulate the interaction between the HPA stress axis and the HPT reproduction axis. All right, so mindfulness, meditation, being able to channel our focus, being able to control our breathing, all of these things are backed clinically to help us to better associate, to better manage stress

45:19Shawn Stevenson:and also have this protective effect with our testosterone. If we look at what this really means, that testosterone production and this relationship between our motivation and our drive to accomplish, to succeed, to protect, and even to reproduce. When we are in an environment with excessive, intense stress consistently, this is an environment that's signaling that reproduction is no longer a biological priority. And so it's keeping all of this in mind. In our stressful world today, this is a very, very different type of stress than our ancestors were exposed to. So the question is, for me personally, how do I de-stress and manage my stress?

46:12Shawn Stevenson:Well, I've been meditating for over 20 years now. So it's a big, big part of my life. And I know that I carry that with me now into my day-to-day life. This practice of meditation, there's so many different iterations of what that can look like. But finding something that works for you will be incredibly valuable in our world today. And this doesn't mean you have to sit quietly. this can be even a standing meditation, moving meditations. Some people would say, no, those aren't going to, those don't cut the mustard. Whoever cut mustard, by the way, where does that come from? But keeping in mind that, you know, even walking, there are walking meditations, mindfulness as well is a certain flavor that fits into this umbrella of meditation as well.

46:55Shawn Stevenson:And just being able to focus on certain things, paying attention to your environment, paying attention to how you feel, what's going on in your internal environment. many different ways to slice and dice this. For me, a big part of my ability to manage stress is saying no to things. I'm so inspired by this work. Sometimes it can be very seductive. And so I've made it a priority to shut things down at a certain time each day and just unplug, especially again, going outside, going for long walks, hanging out with my family as well, and spending time with community is so critical for managing stress.

47:35Shawn Stevenson:You know, coming from an environment to where I was very kind of isolated and just really understanding the value of these relationships. And also, I'll tell you, probably my greatest secret sauce with managing stress for, you know, this recent version of my life has definitely been just simply walking. just simply unplugging not you know listening to anything or you know having my devices on and that kind of thing but just being with myself you know being with my my thoughts and being with the environment and all these natural inputs to the best of my ability it's really really been a huge part of this kind of superhero utility belt when it comes to managing stress and de-stressing so these are just some things for me.

48:25Shawn Stevenson:And another big part of this is prioritizing my sleep. Definitely more stressful, you probably notice for you as well, when you are sleep deprived, you're more irritable, you know, so prioritizing my sleep as well. And so again, this is a big part of this equation, stress management being number four of these S's. We're going to move on to number five here. And number five on this list of these seven S's to help you to optimize your testosterone. Number five is sex. The evidence suggests a bi-directional feedback loop when it comes to sex. Testosterone supports sexual desire and function while sexual activity, arousal, intimacy, touch, and the neurochemistry surrounding them feeds information back into the endocrine system.

49:15Now we have actual human evidence that sexual activity can in fact increased testosterone. A fascinating study published in the journal Physiology and Behavior tracked the testosterone levels of men and women in four heterosexual couples. They tracked their data for 11 evenings before and after sexual intercourse and 11 evenings on which there was no intercourse. After compiling the data, it was found that testosterone increased across the evenings when there was intercourse and decreased when there was none. The pattern was the same for

49:54Shawn Stevenson:both men and women. Now, this is one of the most important parts of this study and I don't want this to be overlooked. The participants' early evening testosterone levels were the same on nights when they had sex and nights when they did not, meaning they didn't have sex because their testosterone was already higher. The data suggests that the sexual activity itself triggers the higher testosterone effects. Now, please keep this in mind. This effect is primarily acute. This is not a long-term, quote, testosterone hack. Healthy sexual activity is part of an overall testosterone-supportive lifestyle, creating this testosterone-supportive environment that we've been talking about.

50:44Shawn Stevenson:Now to complement that study, a longitudinal study following nearly 1 ,300 men over the age of 70 for two years concluded that reducing sexual activity is more likely to reduce testosterone than the reverse. So again, it's not merely because testosterone goes down with aging and therefore you have less sex. Reducing sexual activity is actually more likely to lower your testosterone. So the question is what's going on behind the scenes with our physiology? It is this dynamic interplay between dopamine, testosterone, sexual motivation, and sexual activity that are all at work here. Add to the mix the neuroendocrine effects of oxytocin, prolactin, and more, and you have a recipe that creates these outcomes.

51:39Now, it's so critical. Please hear this. This is one of the most important takeaways from today. Testosterone is not being produced in isolation. And sex isn't controlled by a single, quote, sex hormone. It's truly a whole body neuroendocrine event that has inputs and outputs that feed into one another and fit together very much like that very popular yin and yang symbol, which also coincidentally sort of looks like the number 69. But I digress. On top of all that, pun intended, dang, on top of all that, in this conversation around sex helping to support testosterone, we understand the connection with the stress reduction and testosterone increase, right?

52:36We've already covered that. There is one of the most powerful stress reducers in our universe when we're talking about the interaction between human beings and close proximity and the power of touch, the power of affection, the power of love. Shout out to Huey Lewis and the News. So keeping in mind, the power of love, the power of connection, it's one of the greatest forces in our reality. And truly it alters our biochemistry, especially in the context of our romantic relationships. The physical touch from our partners, we have multiple studies affirming this have a powerful impact on reducing levels of cortisol, for example.

53:24But being in this whole kind of environment that we're wanting to create with increasing testosterone, physical touch, being a part of sexual activity, this is yet another reason why this is so valuable in this

53:39Shawn Stevenson:whole equation. Again, creating the environment for testosterone to really be optimized. Now, There's a very important reason that this is on our list of these seven S's in relationship to optimizing our testosterone. This is, if we're looking at this strictly through the lens of biology, this is what we're made for. We're born for this. There's going to be an evolutionary thrust, a biological thrust towards creating our biology, our chemistry, to be able to support this activity should we choose to do the activity. All right. So our interest in it in and of itself is a signal for our biology.

54:22Right. And also, of course, our capability to do this informs our psychology.

54:28Shawn Stevenson:And so they feed into each other. And this is why it's not a matter of just, okay, my testosterone is high. And so I have this desire to do it. It's also engaging in the things that support the activity of doing it, that support the production of testosterone. Again, it's a very intimate system that feeds into itself. And so creating intentionally an environment and a relationship to where you have that connection. Another really important takeaway for us today is that testosterone, even though it's labeled as this quote, sex hormone. It's not all about sex, obviously. There are these factors for both men and women related to motivation, to drive, to aspirational behavior, to activity, to energy, and so much more.

55:26Shawn Stevenson:And we already talked about the relationship with building muscle and metabolic health. The list goes on and on and on. So to put testosterone in this pithy box, And also this conversation itself, when we're trying to, quote, boost testosterone, this is not the goal because testosterone in no way also has a complete monopoly on manhood. It's not about that. It's an aspect. It's an aspect of humanhood. It's an aspect of humanity. and of course this can add to certain experiences or certain biology but no matter where we are on that testosterone spectrum does this qualify a man to be quote more manly there are other capacities that can come packaged with this testosterone or not and it's not about this aggression it's not about this domineering or this striving.

56:25It's also about honor. It's also about protection. It's also about being of service.

56:32Shawn Stevenson:And again, this doesn't matter where our numbers are with our capacity to engage in these things. And so I don't want this conversation also to be this superficial focus on testosterone. It is important. It is important for our biology, Absolutely. But it's not everything, nor is it most of the things. But today, why this matters, why this conversation matters, and why I wanted to do this for you today is because our environment is plummeting our testosterone, as well as several other sex hormones. Like we, again, we put in this category of sex hormones and our ability to reproduce is changing, but it's not just about reproduction.

57:19Our ability to have a strong perspective, our ability to perspective take, our ability to stand up for what's right. So many different things are in question and flux right now. And we need these qualities more than ever.

57:37Shawn Stevenson:Now, with all of this being said, yes, when it comes to investing in this S and this sex component of supporting our testosterone, it's really cultivating beautiful relationships, you know, and creating an environment to where this is just a part. It's not just about the sex. It's about the connection. It's about the intimacy, you know, and this is something that I value very, very much. I value this very, very much because I love my wife. I'm obsessed with her in the most appropriate ways. All right. And so this again feeds into itself. It's not just about high testosterone makes me want to do it.

58:19Shawn Stevenson:It's also the acts itself supporting the healthy testosterone levels. So that's number five on our list. We're going to move on to number six on these seven S's to support healthy testosterone optimization. Number six is this again, this is what I've done. This is what I'm doing in my life, oftentimes unconsciously, that created these results. Number six is safe, natural products. I grew up in a generation that didn't think anything about the chemicals in our personal care products, for example. I washed my body with caress soap because that's what my mom would buy. I had the caress. I slathered my body up after I got out of the shower with the suave lotion.

59:08Shawn Stevenson:I threw on some degree deodorant baby powder scent baby baby powder scent had they had that you know that that essence of the baby and then I hit myself with a few sprays of the Armani Aqua De Geo I was one of the cleanest smelling human beings on the face of the planet easy but in many ways it's an illusion it's a it's as as smiegel aka golem says it's false so the capaces it's a false premise all right it's an illusion all of these chemical fragrances to create a mask in many ways of my natural chemistry. And so we didn't think anything about it. And here's the thing. These artificial fragrances are typically stabilized in these products by using thylates.

1:00:11Thylates are a large group of chemical compounds that help fragrances to last longer. In fact, if the product ingredient label says, fragrance on it, it's extremely likely that you're looking at the handiwork of thylates. And depending on the product, thylates are also frequently used as solvents and plasticizers. Thylates have been ubiquitous in the personal care industry for decades with no awareness of them pretty much at all by the general public.

1:00:45Shawn Stevenson:Now, what you don't know can't hurt you. That's a saying, But when it comes to these thylates, this is where it gets messy. A multi-pollutant study titled, Thylate Exposure is Associated with More Rapid Body Fat Gain in Midlife Women, was conducted by the University of Michigan School of Public Health. And it found that thylates were explicitly associated with more rapid increases in body fat in women. Now you might think, well, that's too bad for the ladies. I'm a dude and I'm here to be even more dude. That's why I'm in this testosterone conversation. Those thylated things can't hurt me. Aha.

1:01:32Aha. An analysis cited in the journal Healthcare in 2021 states, quote, quote, thylates are a series of widely used chemicals that demonstrate to be endocrine disruptors and are detrimental to human health, unquote. This means for everyone. And multiple studies have found an explicit link between thylate exposure and testosterone, including a 2014 study and the researchers stated, quote, multiple thylates were associated with significantly reduced testosterone in both sexes and in differing age groups, unquote. And most notably, the study found that men between the ages of 40 and 60 had the most significant reduction in testosterone with thylate exposure.

1:02:28And keep in mind, this is an observational study and it doesn't

1:02:33Shawn Stevenson:assign causality. But again, this is one of many studies showing the same thing. And when there's smoke in your testicles, there's probably a fire. Thylates, parabens, bisphenols, and so many other newly invented chemicals that are proven to disrupt hormone function are overwhelmingly abundant in our personal care products. It isn't just one questionable product, and this is what's so important here, or one questionable chemical. It's the entourage effect. It's the exposure, the accumulation of multiple of these newly invented chemicals that really creates the metaphoric, but in reality, poison when it comes to our testosterone.

1:03:25Shawn Stevenson:But the goal isn't to live in a bubble. It's to identify the exposures that you have the most control over and simply reduce the unnecessary exposures. So for me, with my personal care products, the same thing holds true with household products as well. Things for your home, cleaning your home and things like that. many of these chemicals, these endocrine disruptors are found in those types of products. But if you're putting it on your body, come on. So this is one of those places where I keep it really, really simple. Keep it super simple. I'm using oftentimes one ingredient products like for my body, coconut oil.

1:04:05Shawn Stevenson:I'm a huge fan of coconut oil. I've been using coconut oil for decades now. And so it's a fantastic, you know, alternative to the lotion paradigm that I once lived in. All right. So we've got, for me personally, I use coconut oil, the same thing, you know, even with my beard, I'm using coconut oil. And, you know, when it comes to deodorant, I'm getting deodorant with very few ingredients, quote, natural ingredients, but I found one that works for me. Some of those deodorants, you know this, maybe making people who are trying to put on a deodorant, it make you smell, it make you smell stinky. All right.

1:04:44Shawn Stevenson:So you got to find, and don't give up experiment. You know, once you go for the aluminum free and the, you know, this and that it's finding one that works for you. For some people that got that rock, that crystal, you know, and it works for some people to rub the crystal on and they, they start smelling like outdoors. All right. They start smelling like something. All right. So it's finding what works for you. So again, I do my best to really keep it as simple as possible. Same thing when it comes to, you know, things like toothpaste and, you know, just the list goes on and on your whole suite of personal care products.

1:05:18Shawn Stevenson:I'm not putting cologne on. Okay. And it's just not my thing. You know, maybe like twice a year, maybe I might like just have a little change up, maybe. But, you know, I'm just not overdoing it with those types of things. So again, when it comes to these personal care products, I keep it very, very simple. The same thing holds true with, you know, the dental care, toothpaste and things like that. And chances are you're not going to be around me. And I've got some cologne blasting on my body. Very, very, very rarely. maybe, maybe once a year I might put some cologne on. All right. It's just not for me.

1:05:57Shawn Stevenson:I'm just not thinking in those terms. I have my, my natural vibe going on that, you know, people seem like my wife loves it, you know, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm not here smelling like, you know, Charles Manson or, you know, that whole gang or none of that, you know, it's just keeping yourself clean and using some natural products. If anything, I got a little like island, got an island boy smell, you know, with the coconut oil. So, you know, just keeping this in mind and just a word on the biggest sources of these chemicals, it's not just things like personal care products and cleaning products.

1:06:32Shawn Stevenson:Those compounds that we discuss are abundant in our food supply as well. Most frequently found in ultra-processed foods. A study titled Ultra-processed Food Consumption and Exposure to Thylates and Bisphenols was conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and it revealed some shocking findings. The scientists found that higher intakes of ultra-processed food does in fact lead to higher levels of phthalates showing up in human bodies. After analyzing over 2 ,000 study participants, they discovered that for every 10 % of your diet that consists of ultra-processed foods, it leads to an additional 8 % higher level of thylate metabolites.

1:07:17The scientist stated, quote,

1:07:19Shawn Stevenson:higher energy intake from minimally processed food was associated with lower concentrations of thylates and bisphenols, unquote. Again, these are endocrine disruptors. That's their name. They've been well-vetted to do just that. And so in this conversation around optimizing our hormones, Let's be aware of this stuff. Let's, you know, throw the Reggie Bush, the Heisman Trophy. Should we give it back? Give him, get that man his trophy back. Anyways, we sidestep these to the best of our ability. Choose simple, especially for what we're putting on our bodies. There are literally, they're called hormone creams.

1:08:00There are hormone creams that are prescribed. You rub it on your skin and it changes your hormone function. What you're rubbing in your skin and is disappearing, it's not just vanishing to an alternate universe, it's going in your body.

1:08:13Shawn Stevenson:So be mindful of what you're putting in and on your body. And now we're at number seven on our list of these seven S's for you to focus on to optimize your testosterone. And number seven is strength training. Yes, strength training done in specific ways can reliably increase testosterone temporarily after a workout. But please note that this does not necessarily mean that your resting total or free testosterone is increased in a notable way with a session of resistance exercise. It's really the cumulative effect of strength training consistently over time that transforms your biology in ways that create a hormonal environment where testosterone levels remain strong.

1:09:04And we'll circle back to that in just a moment. But first thing, what kind of strength training provides the most notable short-term testosterone boost? Well, a study cited in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology had researchers looking at nine resistance-trained men and had them perform either one set of 10 squats or six sets of 10 squats. One set produced no significant testosterone increase, but after six sets, serum testosterone increased approximately 16 to 23%.

1:09:43Shawn Stevenson:These results were found immediately after exercise and remained significantly elevated at 15 and 30 minutes post-workout. But then again, it goes back to baseline. Now, the question is how much weight are they using on those squats? In this study, it was about 80 % of their one rep max. That's a lot of weight. That could be a heavy jump off right there. And then to do six sets of 10, that's something. Now, this is affirming that casually doing a few squats here or there doesn't send your testosterone soaring. Not at all. But please understand, this is not required to get that kind of testosterone boost.

1:10:35Shawn Stevenson:This was just what was seen in this particular study. Keep in mind, yes, real challenge is required, but that signal through strength training can come in a variety of ways, right? So it's not just like this one set hitter, and it's also not doing an hour and a half or two hours of not enough resistance to where it's not really even challenging. Another fascinating study had researchers put younger and older men through 21 weeks of progressive strength training, two sessions per week, roughly 10 different exercises, two to four sets each exercise and they were doing five to 15 repetitions at 40 to 80 % of one rep max.

1:11:20Shawn Stevenson:So it could be as low as 40%. So you can really get focused more on hypertrophy. And that's what this program designed was to cover hypertrophy with moderate weight and higher reps, as well as overall strength progression with heavier weights and lower reps. Now, when researchers tested their hormonal response to a demanding leg workout, the testosterone rose acutely, of course, they saw the spike in testosterone, even though their resting testosterone didn't significantly change over the training program. Again, it shows that even this structure of a workout can provide short-term boosts to testosterone.

1:11:59But what's most interesting about this study is seen in the training-induced changes in their muscle androgen receptors. The training sparked a holistic sequence of events acutely boosting testosterone and the androgen receptors on the muscles. Essentially, it primed the muscles to receive the growth and adaptation signal from the testosterone, absorbed it completely, and then brought the testosterone and androgen receptors back to baseline. So on paper, it looks like the resting testosterone doesn't go up. But in reality, the muscles and strength gains are showing what the testosterone helped to create.

1:12:48Testosterone isn't merely a number floating around in your bloodstream. Please hear me. It's part of an adaptive system. And one of the clearest ways to tell that system that you still require strength, you require muscle, you require resilience and physical capability is to regularly ask your body to produce them by strength training. So what are some of the other pieces here when it comes to resistance training creating this effect? it's resistance training again creating a hormonal environment that supports testosterone production because muscle itself is an endocrine organ it's a hormone producing and utilizing organ resistance training also acutely boosts a variety of anabolic hormones we see those body composition improvements as well.

1:13:47We see incredible insulin sensitivity improvements because muscle is the number one source of glucose disposal in our bodies.

1:14:01Shawn Stevenson:We see this incredible amplification with our mitochondria function. We also see the feedback loops that happen when we get stronger, when we put on some muscle with our confidence and that psychology feedback loop as well starts to feed into itself. So what does the ideal strength training look like? Well, we need sufficient intensity to trigger your body to change. That's the key. So we want to be in a place where this could be moderate, again, moderate to heavy weight, 5 to 15 reps according to the data. But regardless of where we're at there, when we get to those last three, two, maybe final rep in that range, it should be very, very difficult.

1:14:49Shawn Stevenson:Or we're questioning, can I do that last rep? I really wanna challenge ourselves. But of course, do this safely, intelligently, progressive overload. So for me, I'm really dedicated, especially the last few years, to focusing on sufficient volume. For years prior, so maybe like a decade ago, I was doing the really kind of glorified bodybuilding split where we have a leg day, we have a chest day, you have an arms day. And you might just obliterate the muscle group and then come back about a week later and do it all over. But sometimes you're really not accessing adequate volume doing that. And also just having those signals to come in more frequently.

1:15:35Shawn Stevenson:So for me, I love to do a split where I have two days each week of upper body training and two days of lower body training. So I like to split it up like that. But you could do full body, which is what they did in the study that we referenced earlier. But having that two days a week or maybe three days a week where you split it up. And so I'm generally strength training four days a week. And I split it up as mentioned. But also, I'm not walking around as sore as I used to be as well. I do get some soreness, of course, but, you know, that's what works for me. And that's what I'm doing currently.

1:16:09Shawn Stevenson:But I want to tell you this, I change it up. I change it up, you know, every couple of months I'll do something different. I might do supersets. You know, I start my, I might start integrating supersets where I'm doing a push and then go right to a pull or, you know, hamstring move and then a quad move, you know? And so there's many different ways to slice and dice it. But I generally, especially when I'm doing splits like this and where the research shows and encourages us to go for testosterone support, compound movements, compound movements are the most valuable. So we're working multiple muscle groups at the same time, right?

1:16:52Shawn Stevenson:So that's why the squat is so valuable. That's why a press, you know, a chest press is so valuable because chest, shoulders, triceps, right? Versus a fly, you know, a pec deck or chest fly, which is great for you get the chesticles, but it's not as valuable from a testosterone perspective. All right. So focus on those compound movements and get that sufficient volume each week. minimum number of sets to target, 6 to 12 sets per body part per week is where we want to place that, again, minimum effective dose, 6 to 12 sets per body part per week. Equally as important in this conversation, in this dedication to strength training, is what is this all for?

1:17:44This is signaling to the environment that I am strong. I am capable. I am able to contribute to this life and to this society. I need to be strong. I need to maintain those testosterone levels so that I can be of service in this world. And this is what it's all about at the end of the day. It's what are you using your body for? It's making yourself useful. and pouring, it creates another positive feedback to support this testosterone optimization, which is for me, using my body to be of service.

1:18:23Shawn Stevenson:And I do this, man, I proactively think about ways and I actually put this in my journal, like how did I serve today? And just the other day when I was preparing this episode, I went for a walk and I went outside of my block and I went around a corner and I don't know, I just felt compelled. And I just started, I was just like, well, let me go back to my block. But I was just like, I'll just go a little bit down the street here. And I crossed the street. And on the other side of the street, I saw an older woman. I'm guessing she was probably in her mid seventies. And she was carrying some like a big thing of paper towels, but she was like, she was struggling.

1:19:01Shawn Stevenson:She was limping and having a hard time getting to her door. and my spirit was like, you should ask her if she needs some help. And, but then my, my conscious rationalizing brain was like, man, you, you, you look a little swole out here, a little, a little cocky. Cause I was out there cock diesel in it. All right. Maybe, you know, you don't want to intimidate this lady, you know? And within two seconds of that thought, she yelled across the street, excuse me, young man, can you come and help me? And I was like, absolutely. I felt like my number was called to come on down for The Price is Right.

1:19:40Shawn Stevenson:All right. So I jogged over there and I just grabbed the stuff that she asked me to get. And I started to carry them in, put them into her garage. And then I came back. She was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Can you help me? She has so much stuff. I took like seven trips, no exaggeration. but on those trips I was taking you know maybe there's six five six seven bags of groceries at a time and she's like oh you're so strong and I was like you know this is what I trade for you know to be helpful in these moments and I literally just told her I didn't say that I was you know I didn't say that but I just said you know this is easy it's easy I got you it's no worries you You know, I wanted her to make her feel like it wasn't a stress for me or it wasn't something I had to go, quote, out of my way to help her.

1:20:31Shawn Stevenson:I wanted her to feel seen, to feel like she mattered. And so I took all of her stuff, sat them into, you know, her garage. And then, you know, she was on the way out. I was walking by and she was like, thank you so much. You're just like my, you're like my son. And man, I mean, I was just like overwhelmed with emotion. And I'm so grateful that I was called to make that trip around the corner because she would have really had a difficult time had I not shown up. So asking for ways and being proactive about using your body in ways to be of service in the world and also feeding into that part of this support with testosterone is also to collaborate, is to compete as well.

1:21:17It's a part of that. Competition makes us better. Competition brings out qualities in us that often are dormant.

1:21:25Shawn Stevenson:And so this is something that I focus on as well. And the data confirms high-intensity sports like soccer, basketball, have been found to temporarily increase circulating testosterone levels, right? It's not an accident. And so nature rewards these things. For myself personally, I found that ensuring that my body fat is not too low is actually very supportive of my testosterone levels. Again, this is very counterculture because you see the magazines. You're like, man, this dude shredded. His testosterone must be just shooting off the page. Let me close this magazine. All right. But in reality, when your body fat gets abnormally low, your testosterone levels can significantly drop as well.

1:22:11Shawn Stevenson:A remarkable 12 months case study cited in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance followed a drug free male bodybuilder through six months of contest preparation and six months of recovery. His body fat went from 14.8 % to 4.5%. And his testosterone went from 9.22 nanograms per milliliter to 2.7 nanograms per milliliter. That's equivalent to approximately a 75 % reduction in testosterone. now after the competition he regained his body fat and increased his energy intake six months later his body fat was essentially back to the same place and his testosterone had recovered and was actually just slightly a tiny bit higher at 9.91 nanograms per milliliter other similar studies have found the same thing another one included nine bodybuilders and saw similar results with significantly low body fat dropping total testosterone by approximately 40 % and dropping free testosterone by nearly 50%.

1:23:27Shawn Stevenson:So one of the things that happened in that era of the most stressful time of my life, I changed the way that I was training. I dropped the intensity. I actually dialed the volume down a little bit. I was doing less of the kind of high intensity interval training. I spent more time outside just more like parasympathetic I was walking more and I wasn't necessarily lifting as heavy and as frequently so I dialed that back and I and I was eating a little bit more and so what that did for me and I could see it just in my body like I was more as somebody put it my muscles look so much more dense and also I just felt stronger in my body and this coincided with, that's when I got my testosterone levels checked versus walking around at, you know, six, seven, 8 % body fat for many years.

1:24:26Shawn Stevenson:And that is one way to be. And by the way, there's a range here. There's a range here. And so I might have some of my colleagues who might say like, you should be 8 % body fat. From my perspective, for longevity, for optimal testosterone levels, long-term, I would suggest from person to person depends, but somewhere in the range of 8 % to 14, 15 % body fat for men. All right. Now, again, having that higher body fat is still minding all of the things, right? So making sure that we're active, make sure that we're minding our nutrition and all these other things, but it's not glorifying just being super shredded.

1:25:09Shawn Stevenson:Like Because many people don't know this, but the shredder himself had low T. That's why he kept trying to fight the turtles. What I do for my fitness today, I strength train four days a week. And I do a lot of walking. I'll add in some, most of the time for the high intensity piece, I'm not doing quote high intensity interval training as frequently. I'm playing. I'm playing sports. I'm playing basketball. and if I don't do that, I love the jump rope as well. You know, just doing something to really get my heart rate up and you can do some fast, intense rounds of something like that or stationary bike or, you know, sometimes I'll do sprints but a lot of that sprinting, I'll translate that over into playing and it all feeds into itself.

1:25:58Shawn Stevenson:And so in closing, your reproductive system isn't sitting in isolation, merely waiting for enough Cialis or blue chew or whatever else to come in. It's listening to your life. Whether you're sleeping enough, whether you're well-nourished, whether you're constantly under threat, whether you're physically capable, and even whether you're connecting intimately with other human beings. All of these things are truly the key to creating an environment where your testosterone can be optimized for you. in the life that you desire. I hope that you enjoyed this. If you did, please share your voice in the comment section below.

1:26:41Shawn Stevenson:Share this out with somebody that you care about. Let's keep this conversation going. And I appreciate you so much for tuning in with me today. We've got some epic masterclasses and world leading experts coming your way very, very soon. So make sure to stay tuned. Take care. Have an amazing day. And I'll talk with you soon.

1:27:05Thank you.