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undescended testicle, a testicular
injury, a pituitary gland disorder or even prescription drugs. It usually
goes undiagnosed until a man hits his doctor with a telltale complaint: "I
can't get an erection."
"If you have reduced levels of
sexual desire, have your
testosterone level checked
immediately," says Dr. Allen Seftel, a urologist at Case Western Reserve
University Hospitals of Cleveland. You can replenish your testosterone
stores with injections, gels, pills or patches, but these medical treatments
are no panacea: Side effects include acne, high cholesterol, shrunken
testicles and liver damage. Further, don't take supplements like DHEA or
androstenedione to boost testosterone; they might increase your risks of
prostate cancer and heart disease.
"For men with borderline
testosterone scores, I advise them to try to raise their levels through
exercise and weight loss before going on testosterone therapy," says Dr.
Goldberg. And it might pay to start young. "Since your testosterone declines
at a steady rate, it's conceivable that raising your hormone levels
naturally in your 20s and 30s could help you maintain higher levels later
on," he says. Either way, the reward can be a stronger physique and better
bedroom sessions than you'd otherwise deserve. Below are 13 tips designed to
get your juice up -- safely.
Get Rid of the Flopping
Belly
Or you'll grow a pair of fetching breasts to complement it. Carrying excess
body fat elevates your estrogen levels, and that may cause your testosterone
levels to sink, says Joseph Zmuda, an epidemiologist at the University of
Pittsburgh. Louie Anderson is proof enough of this. Two or three extra
pounds won't cause this hormonal shift; it really occurs once you're 30
percent over your ideal body weight. "Unfortunately, that's pretty common
now," says Dr. Dobs.
But Lose Only One Pound
a Week
When you want to trim down quickly, you probably starve yourself while
exercising like a madman. One of the many reasons this stops working in your
30s, when your natural testosterone levels start dropping, is pretty simple:
Cutting your calorie intake by more than 15 percent makes your brain think
you're starving, so it shuts down testosterone production to wait out the
famine. "There's no need to reproduce if you're starving," explains Thomas
Incledon of Human Performance Specialists in Plantation, Fla. Ironically,
this dive in circulating testosterone stops you from burning body fat
efficiently, so you're actually thwarting your hard efforts to melt that
tire off your gut.
Skip the Atkins Fad
Research suggests that eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet can
cramp your testosterone levels. High amounts of dietary protein in your
blood can eventually lower the amount of testosterone produced in your
testes, says Incledon, who observed this relationship in a Penn State study
of 12 healthy, athletic men.
Your
protein intake should be about 16
percent of your daily calories, Incledon says. So, if you're the average
170-pound man who eats 2,900 calories a day, you should eat about 140 grams
of protein daily, which is about the amount in two chicken breasts and a
6-ounce can of tuna.
Have Morning Sex
German scientists found that simply having an erection causes your
circulating testosterone to rise significantly -- and having one in the
morning can goose your natural post-dawn testosterone surge. It's a sure bet
you'll burn a little fat, too.
Stick With Tough
Exercises
To beef up your testosterone levels, the bulk of your workout should involve
"compound" weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups,
and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example, studies have shown
that doing squats, bench presses or back rows increases testosterone more
than doing biceps curls or triceps pushdowns, even though the effort may
seem the same. This is why doing squats could help you build bigger biceps.
Make Nuts Your Midnight
Snack
Nuts are good for your nuts. Research has found that men who ate diets rich
in monounsaturated fat -- the kind found in peanuts -- had the highest
testosterone levels. "It's not known why this occurs, but some scientists
believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes," says
Incledon. Nuts, olive oil, canola oil and peanut butter are good sources of
monounsaturated fat.
Squeeze Out Five
Repetitions per Set
Throwing around 5-pound dumbbells won't help you effect a rise in
testosterone. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only five
times. That weight is about 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum. A
Finnish study found that this workload produced the greatest boosts in
testosterone.
Do Three Sets of Each
Weight-Lifting Movement
Researchers at Penn State determined that this fosters greater increases in
testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest a full minute between sets, so
you can regain enough strength to continue lifting at least 70 percent of
your one-rep maximum during the second and third sets.
Rest Harder Than You
Work Out
If you overtrain -- meaning you don't allow your body to recuperate
adequately between training sessions -- your circulating testosterone levels
can plunge by as much as 40 percent, according to a study at the University
of
North Carolina. The symptoms of
overtraining are hard to miss: irritability, insomnia, muscle shrinkage,
joining the Reform Party. To avoid overtraining, make sure you sleep a full
eight hours at night, and never stress the same muscles with weight-lifting
movements two days in a row.
Drive Home Sober
To maintain a healthy testosterone count -- and titanium erections -- cut
yourself off after three drinks. "Binge drinking will kill your testosterone
levels," warns Incledon. Alcohol affects the endocrine system, causing your
testes to stop producing the male hormone. That's one reason drinking often
causes you to go limp at the moment of truth.
Have a Sandwich
at 3 p.m.
As any sensible woman knows, the way to put hair on a man's chest is to fill
his stomach. Your body needs a ready supply of calories to make
testosterone, so regularly skipping meals or going for long stretches
without eating can cause your levels of the hormone to plummet. Then again,
that's probably the warden's plan.
Buy the Fried Tortilla
Chips
If you want to raise your testosterone score, eat a diet that includes about
30 percent fat, and not much less. Your body needs dietary fat to produce
testosterone, so eating like a vegetarian aerobics instructor will cause
your testosterone levels to sink drastically. This is bad, unless you
actually are a vegetarian aerobics instructor.
Stop Surfing for Porn
at 2 a.m.
Sleeping less than seven to eight hours a night can screw up your circadian
rhythm. That's why it's no wonder your testosterone levels are higher in the
morning after a good night's sleep. So if your work or social schedule keeps
you stooped in perpetual jet lag, don't be surprised if you stop craving
sex. At least that'll make it easier to stay out of bed. | 
