#10 How To 2x Your Free Testosterone

Most men over 30 think they’re just “getting older”

They have low energy, stubborn fat, no motivation, poor recovery and low confidence.

But what if the real issue is your testosterone?

In this podcast, I break down why testosterone levels are collapsing in modern men… the lifestyle habits destroying your hormones… and what you can actually do to naturally optimise your testosterone, energy, body composition, and confidence again.

We cover:

• The difference between total vs free testosterone
• Why men today have dramatically lower levels than previous generations
• How body fat, sleep, stress, and modern lifestyles suppress testosterone
• The biggest hormone killers most men ignore
• Nutrition and training strategies that actually support testosterone
• The supplements backed by research
• My thoughts on TRT and why I believe most men should optimise naturally first
• How improving your hormones changes far more than just your physique
  
  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In this video, we're talking about testosterone, specifically how it affects your body, your energy, your confidence, and why most men over 30 are walking around with levels far lower than it should be. And here's what got me thinking about this. Over the years, I've coached hundreds of men through successful body transformations. And when I look at the most common thing between the guys who get the best results versus the guys that stay stuck, who couldn't build muscle, couldn't shift fat, and just felt like they were grinding with nothing to show. This one keeps coming back up. Specifically, that's the testosterone. And more specifically, free T levels, free testosterone. Because most guys don't know the difference. Total testosterone is how much you have. Free testosterone is how much your body can actually use. And roughly 2% of your total that's unbound and active, you can have a decent total number, but still terrible free testosterone. And it's the free testosterone that actually drives everything from muscle, strength, energy, confidence, and body composition. So when I see men struggling, doing everything right and still not progressing, this is usually the thing to blame. And the numbers tell a scary story because 40 years ago, the average man's testosterone was sitting around 700 nanograms per deciliter. Today, however, most men in the 400 range, some even in the 300, and that's a 40% drop in a single generation, which isn't just a fitness problem, it's an energy, confidence, quality of life, and a mental health problem too. Like it's quite worrying when you look at that in one generation. So, why is this really happening? Is a lot of it comes down to environment, microplastics, chemicals that are found within most mainstream body washes, like soaps, synthetic fragrances, and absorb it straight through your skin every single day, like the deodorant you wear, you know, the things you use to wash your face and your skin, the phone that's sitting in your pocket for eight hours, radiating right next to the place that you don't want radiation, polyester underwear. And I know that sounds like a strange thing to bring up, by the way. There's so much research on it that it's generally alarming. Synthetic materials, absorbing and sitting around your skin all day, absorbing into your body. It's just it's not good. Right, and then you layer on top of that, like a broader lifestyle picture than men have that are carrying more body fat than ever. Food quality and access to low-quality foods has become easier than it ever has before. Like there's way less nutrient density, there's a lot more seed oils, and a lot more takeaways and habits entirely different, which obviously will influence your hormone production and that compared with less sleep, more stress, the lifestyles, you're all compounds, and your testosterone pays the price. So that actually moves the needle forward. Because let's get into it, what you need to do about it, because this is fixable for most men. You know, firstly, I'm gonna say sleep first. This is a non-negotiable, I can't emphasize it enough, but poor sleep can tank your testosterone by 20-30%, not even just 10%. Research suggests that you can even go much higher when you're consistently under-sleeping, which is where you need to make sure you have a deep quality sleep. You know, cold room, dark room, constant schedule. This is the foundation everything sits on. Second, get lean. Excess body fat, specifically around the waist, directly suppresses testosterone. It also raises estrogen, and the relationship is direct. Your waistline and your testosterone are externally inversely linked, and this is the most powerful thing that you can do. And it reinforces that you get leaner, better hormones, better body composition, and it also makes it easier to stay lean year around. After that, you've got eating and nutrition, the whole things that I probably dive into almost too much. And I don't just mean I mean actually properly, like not the extreme approach that dominates the fitness space, like going too low on carbohydrates, going too low in fats. Like they both suppress testosterone. So balance matters. Like your body needs to produce enough hormones effectively. And I'm a big advocate of quality animal protein, beef especially, and red meats, because the micronutrient profile of a good steak is exceptional. Like, and it tastes amazing. There's zinc, there's creatine, there's L-conitine, there's B vitamins, there's a whole lot, which supports everything we're talking about here. Pair that with some good carbohydrates, quality fats. You've got a nutritional foundation that supports everything with your hormones. And like, who doesn't love a good steak? Like, if you're vegan, have a steak, if you don't like steak, have a steak, just have a steak. Then after that, we've got lifting weights. Three days a week is more than enough. Compound movements, progressive overload, get strong. You need to give your body a reason to maintain high testosterone. If you don't use it, you'll lose it. Heavy lifting does that, and it doesn't just mean grinding through two hours, you know, a session and six hours a week, because that'll actually hinder your testosterone. Like three focus sessions is the sweet spot. I found that to be the case for myself with the client's side coach. Beyond that, looking at what you're putting on your body, fragrance products and go for more natural alternatives, cotton underwear over polyster. More at your pocket when you're sitting down or aeroplane mode, especially in bedtime. Like these small things do add up massively. And then diving into the supplementation that is actually worth knowing about. Obviously, we can't directly increase testosterone, but there's so much well-supported research around this that will help you over time doing it in a sustainable way. Unless obviously looking at TRT, that's a lot more of an instant shot, which I wouldn't recommend by the way. So, first thing you've got zinc, which supports immune function and free testosterone. Then magnesium, which most men are usually deficient in, and most people are deficient in, borderline low, which both have generally been shown to increase total testosterone in pretty much every man. Boron itself is particularly interesting because it's anti-estrogenic, which helps your body eliminate and reduce estrogen and excess in estrogen, which directly supports with your overall free T levels and testosterone. Tonga tally as well, obviously, that's got a lot of hype nowadays. It's solid research behind it. Go over 200 to 400 milligrams a day, which is obviously going to be helping you with increasing both total and free testosterone and helping your body composition. But I also, like I mentioned earlier, these just support you. They are gonna make a meaningful difference, they can do, but it's not overnight, and they just help you do everything you're doing even better. But then diving into it, like I mentioned earlier about TLT, I get asked this a lot, almost every day. My honest answer, I wouldn't go down that route, and here's why. Because when you inject testosterone, you're signaling to your body to stop producing it on its own. So it's kind of like a one-way door, and you do that for so long, regardless of how high, how low your dose is, your natural production is going to be compromised, possibly permanently. Your fertility takes a hit, and most men doing it who say they're just doing just TRT levels, don't realize even the smallest amounts of it will still have this effect. And most times people say TRT, they're pushing, pushing levels above natural levels, anyways, which carries into our set of long-term risks. My lens is always long-term, not just a year, not just five years, but what does the best health for you look like over decades? Because you know, it's like a credit card, you'll, you know, get the benefits, and then you have to pay it off later, and you have to pay off forever in this case. So, like my personal recommendation is to optimize naturally. And here's the thing that most people miss about natural testosterone is a feedback mechanism. It'll tell you whether what you're doing is working. So if your levels drop, something in your lifestyle is working against you, which is useful information. And the thing is, when you inject, you lose that signal, and you can be doing everything wrong, which by the way, most guys do, by the way, and your numbers still look fine on paper, but they just mass the problem. It's not optimization at all either. This case. So TRT, I wouldn't recommend it. It's one-way door, it's a decision you have to make for life. It's you can speak to any bodybuilder, they probably wouldn't recommend you doing it as well. Like most people, at least, or at least eventually they'll say the same thing. Now, what I've seen, however, is what's possible is I've seen men go from 400 to 800 naturally. It doesn't happen in a month, it took about six months consistent work, consistent sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle, but it happens. And even more commonly, I've seen men increase their free testosterone dramatically, which obviously we signify the difference of, which is often what's generally limiting them. And suddenly the training starts to work, the muscles start to build easier, the energy comes back, and they feel like themselves again, they get the confidence back, they get out of depression hits, and so on. Because the men who struggle the most are often the ones whose low levels of testosterone are crystallized into how they see themselves. Constantly feeling like they're just comparing themselves, they're always behind. They're kind of like an inner victim mentality a lot of times that keeps cortisol high and testosterone low. Because it's a two-way relationship, right? Your mindset affects your hormones, just as your hormones affect your mindset. Like you'll see it that when you go into a grocery shop, you have confidence, you don't think everyone's looking at you, you feel a lot more dialed in as well, and you feel like yourself. To bring it all together, is obviously the confidence that isn't just psychological, it's biological, right? Is your hormones telling you something that you need to listen to? And these silent noises, these silent little things that it tells you, you still need to pay attention to it. Pay attention to that. Hope you find this video useful. Dive into a lot, so take it away, take one hit, go implement it, and go from there. But guarantee paying attention to this will change your life for the better.