Test drive: dramatically boost your testosterone levels and muscle gains with this six-week training, nutrition and supplement program

Flex, Jan, 2006 by Jim Stoppani, Steve Stiefel

Testosterone. Test. The Big T. Whatever you call it, as a bodybuilder, you need more of it in your system. The equation is unfortunately simple--if your body isn't releasing an adequate amount of T, you flat out won't grow.

Now the good news. By manipulating your training and diet, you can naturally escalate your levels of this anabolic male hormone. Intrigued? If you call yourself a bodybuilder, you'd better be.

UNLEASH THE BEAST | A natural increase in your testosterone levels can have a dramatic impact on your ability to add muscle mass, improving your physique through several different mechanisms: by stimulating protein synthesis, it helps to increase muscle mass; by encouraging fat cells to store less fat and pull more from storage, it promotes fat loss; and by enhancing the firing of motor nerves that supply muscle fibers, it immediately increases muscle strength.

Of course, higher levels of testosterone are also associated with aggression in male athletes. Often, this is portrayed as a negative, but to a point, it can be a huge positive for bodybuilders seeking to improve results and performance in the gym. Both strength and aggression can be important tools for your workouts--if you train when your strength and aggression are highest, your intensity and your results will be magnified.

Increasing testosterone is one of the best ways to get more from your bodybuilding program. With that in mind, FLEX designed this six-week training, diet and supplementation regimen to boost your testosterone levels and, ultimately, your bodybuilding results.

TEST TRAINING | While you're on this program, your training will focus on multijoint exercises performed with heavy weights and low-to-moderate reps. This protocol involves using more muscle mass for each rep, which helps to stimulate greater testosterone release.

As noted in "The Testosterone Workouts" sidebar, you'll follow a simple two-day bodypart split, training chest, shoulders, back and abs in workouts one and three, and legs and arms in workouts two and four.

When to Train | Ideally, you should train in the morning when testosterone levels are at their peak (up to double nighttime levels). In fact, guys who lift in the morning have been found to have 10-15% higher resting testosterone levels than those who lift in the evening.

Also, research shows that training in the morning leads to a higher testosterone-to-cortisol ratio (about double the ratio for training later in the day). This is beneficial because cortisol inhibits testosterone's functions within muscle cells.

When a high testosterone-to-cortisol ratio is maintained, cortisol is less effective at inhibiting testosterone and, therefore, testosterone function is maximized. Keeping testosterone high is not only important to stimulate muscle growth following weightlifting, but lofty levels before and during weightlifting can immediately increase muscle strength as well as aggression (needed for kick-ass workouts).

When to Rest | There are two crucial rest factors built into this testosterone-boosting program. First, rest between sets. Testosterone levels are increased with the stimulation of heavy weights when muscles are well rested. By resting for a significant period of time between sets, you can better improve your body's anabolic response to weight training and also improve the amount of weight you can lift per set. During this program, heavier weights, fewer reps and longer rest periods between sets are encouraged.

Second, rest between workouts. On this program, the schedule dictates that you take a full rest day after each workout. This is ideal for maximizing your training and your testosterone levels: more frequent training can drive down testosterone levels. One rest day between workouts allows for full recovery and optimal workouts, encouraging higher testosterone levels.

When you start this program, perform workout one on Monday and workout two on Wednesday. On Friday, go to workout three, training the same bodyparts that you did on Monday, but utilizing different exercises. Perform your fourth and final workout of the week on Sunday, training the same bodyparts as on Wednesday. Then, after taking a full day of rest, start the cycle over. (See the "Training Split" sidebar.) In total, you'll do seven workouts over two weeks.

How Much to Train | Another key difference between a standard bodybuilding regimen and this program is that it calls for more total sets per session, in that you are training more bodyparts per workout. Although total training volume is increased, you perform fewer sets per bodypart. That's part of the design of the program.

Testosterone levels will increase more dramatically when you do not take each individual bodypart to full exhaustion. (Full exhaustion can be equated to higher levels of cortisol, which, as explained previously, can reduce testosterone levels.) Therefore, train each bodypart twice a week using only about half the number of sets that you normally would.

Another important element of the program is that, with the number of sets and the amount of rest between sets, your workouts may be a bit longer than traditional bodybuilding training sessions. Keep this in mind as you commit to the program.