OK an article for you guys, or girls read it for your guy.
Are you struggling to lose weight, is your belly growing or have you developed moobs? well then please read on.
You’re a middle-aged man with an expanding waistline and cholesterol levels just edging into the danger zone. Your muscles are a little flabby and so is your sex drive. You’re probably blaming it all on lack of exercise and a little too much wine.
But the problem could be something more insidious – you could have too much of the female hormone oestrogen.
As Professor Richard Sharpe, a senior scientist with the Medial Research Council Human Reproductive Science Unit, explains: ‘Both sexes need to keep their levels of oestrogen and testosterone in balance for good health. There is no absolute level of either for men and women – it is the relative levels that are important.’
The problem is that the balance between our male and female hormones can change. And it seems that men are particularly affected – indeed, over his lifetime a man will have more oestrogen circulating in his body than a woman.
And too much oestrogen is not good – it raises men’s risk of blood clots, encourages middle-aged spread (bad for heart health and diabetes) and possibly even affects their prostate.
The balance between oestrogen and testosterone doesn’t usually cause problems in men until middle age. That’s when their testosterone levels go into a downward spiral.
‘First, you produce less because of general ageing, but to make things worse, more of what you do make is turned into oestrogen,’ explains Professor Ashley Grossman, an endocrinologist at Bart’s Hospital, London.
Too much oestrogen in the body is known to increase body fat. This body fat then pumps out more oestrogen!!! AGGHHH, not good news….plus it’s not just age-related changes in the testosteroneoestrogen balance that affect men – you will also be getting more oestrogen from the environment:
Oestrogen is found in parts per billion in UK waters, we become receptive to these hormones in parts per trillion!!! These hormones are also found along with every other chemical you could imagine, inc.
- Chlorine
- Fluorine compounds
- Trihalomethanes (THMs)
- arsenic
- radium
- aluminium
- copper
- lead
- mercury
- cadmium
- barium
- Hormones
- Nitrates
- Pesticides
‘We know that pesticides and other chemicals have oestrogen-like effects,’ says Professor Banks. ‘When you add it all up, it’s clear that men are being increasingly feminised.’
Below we look at a couple of adverse effects high levels of oestrogen have on men.
WEIGHT GAIN: Rising levels of oestrogen encourage the development of male beer bellies.‘Oestrogen encourages fat to accumulate around the central part of the body,’ explains Professor Grossman. ‘The problem is that the fat cells, in turn, produce an enzyme that encourages testosterone to be converted into oestrogen.’
So you end up with even more oestrogen and lower testosterone levels than normal – as well as weight gain, this can lead to tiredness, flabby muscles and reduced libido.
ENLARGED PROSTATE: It’s thought too much oestrogen might contribute to an enlarged prostate, an age related condition where the gland surrounding the man’s urethra grows, affecting urine flow and causing the need to use the lavatory more often at night.
MALE BREASTS: Male breasts are common in puberty, explains Professor Stafford Lightman, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at Bristol University.
‘At this time, young boys start to produce sex hormones in large quantities for the first time.
‘Normally, the body recovers from this and the breasts vanish without the need for treatment.’ However, in older men the change in hormone balance causes fatty deposits to settle in the breast area, creating ‘man boobs’ or ‘moobs’.
So what is the answer?
Get a personal trainer FAST, one that will prescribe you the correct exercises, not the ones you see the guys in the local gym doing, you know the ones doing the mirror muscle workouts, biceps curls and tricep kickbacks!!! starting training like a coached athlete.
Your programme needs to include:
- Compound weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups, and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example squats, deadlifts, cleans and bench presses.
- Get the weight right, throwing around 2 kg 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.
- Do more sets and less reps. 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, third and forth sets.
- Rest, going everyday to the gym, will break your body down. 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.
Don’t starve yourself.
When you want to trim down quickly, you probably starve yourself. 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.
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.
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.
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. getting drunk can reduce your testosterone by up to 25% for 48hrs!!
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.
Buy the Fried Tortilla Chips, no really you need some FAT!!
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 the internet 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.
For more info, or to book your anabolic drive consultation call 01202 671783 or email us on info@180degreesgym.com.
Alternatively click on this link and fill out the online form www.180degreesgym.com
