After sharing my latest blood test results, with my highest ever testosterone level of 845 ng/dL I received the following question from Collin:
“Wow. I was told it’s impossible to get above 850 without steroids, so you’re near perfect. What is your personal regimen Logan? Can you write a post about it? Including herbs, diet, exercise routine, sleep and other habits…!”
First of all, 850 is definitely achievable without steroids. In fact, some people get over 1000. The reference range, which is quite a range, is from 280 – 1100 ng/dL. Breaking the thousand mark is a personal goal of mine, just because I think it would be a fun marker to hit.
There are some theories, and evidence for them, that our ancient ancestors had even higher levels of androgens.1 Perhaps early human men or Neanderthals all had well over 1000 ng/dL.
Why is that important? Well, if we live our lifestyle a little closer to our ancestors, we too can have better testosterone.
But the truth is we know our near ancestors, meaning our fathers and grandfathers, absolutely did have higher testosterone! What we are seeing is a population level decline of testosterone. It’s not just age. It’s not just weight. It’s not any “known” factor. This is bad news!
Men who put on weight intensified their testosterone decline, some greatly so, but even among those who held their weight constant or lost weight during the study, mean testosterone declined 117 ng/dl (19%) over 20 years. We have not identified the reason for secular decline in testosterone.2
This comes from a review, not just a single study, meaning several different ones in different parts of the world are pointing to the same thing.
Actually, the factors are known. It’s because of how many endocrine disrupting chemicals are everywhere these days. Food, water, air, home, office, car, etc. Everywhere.
At the current pace and direction, there’s a good chance this stuff could snuff out the human race, in a couple of generations, rendering everyone infertile.
Yes, it may well be that bad. Certain people say technology is going to save us, even make us immortal. Even if that is possible, that is only if our technology doesn’t kill us off first.
The good news is that you can do a lot about it, at least personally.
At the time of writing this, I’m 32 years old. You may be thinking I’m young, so I should have good hormone levels, right? Well…in addition to being in a spot to suffer this population level decline, I’m the third of three kids and appear to be worse off constitutionally than my older siblings. This means that I’m naturally likely to have lower than average testosterone. It is quite clear from my youth that this is true.
But by doing the right things I’ve reached this point, and continuing to do them will likely reach higher.
So what have I done to support my testosterone? Here are the things that Collin asked about:
Herbs and Supplements for Testosterone
We have lots of great hormonal supporting herbs here. The fact is I feel that our most popular ones, pine pollen tincture, and tongkat ali, are a bit too strong for me, as I’ve written about previously. But if you have low testosterone, they’re likely a excellent choice for you. At least they’re worth trying.
Right now, I’ve regularly been working with Nettle Root Tincture and Ashwagandha Tincture.
I also have one cup of coffee each morning in which I add Chaga and He Shou Wu.
Besides that, I’m pretty random with my herb taking. Some regular ones in the mix that may indirectly support testosterone include cistanche, mucuna and shilajit resin.
Some people would say that supplements aren’t the main thing for hormone health. I would agree, but they can be powerful allies. Besides I think of herbs more as a part of our diet, then supplements.
Supplements are more along the lines of taking an isolated zinc, boron, or vitamin D, which can all be very helpful for testosterone if you’re deficient in them, which many people are.
Diet for Testosterone
As much as possible I eat quality food. This means organic, non-GMO and minimally processed. Local and fresh where possible.
It means food that ate good quality food itself, whether that’s cow’s eating grass, wild caught fish eating their natural diet or vegetables grown in quality soil.
More specifically, what this looks like is I eat eggs almost every morning. I eat green leafy veggies every day. I eat beef or fish on most nights. I eat sweet potatoes regularly and white rice or quinoa less so. I eat fermented foods every day.
I eat a lot of fat, because it is the best fuel source as well as being structurally significant. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter and ghee, meat and fish, nuts and seeds.
Oysters may well be one of the best testosterone foods. I eat them as often as I can.
Exercise for Testosterone
Here I do some crazy shit! If you’re not familiar with the strength stuff I do, I recommend checking out my Best Of video page here on Legendary Strength, to see me juggling flaming kettlebells and pulling fire trucks by my hair.
But those aren’t my typical workouts. Depending on what I’m focusing on at the time it may be lifting heavy weights, swinging kettlebells, or bodyweight exercises. There’s always some form of resistance training.
I don’t typically go all out. I work less hard than most people would assume. There are a time and a place for balls to the walls, but overdoing that is likely to hurt hormone health (by jacking up cortisol) more than enhance it. I choose anaerobic conditioning over aerobic. You won’t find me on a treadmill or running long distances. But you may find me sprinting up hills
Hill sprints are great for testosterone and growth hormone.
Depending on what I’m doing at the time, this can be three to six days a week. If I go harder it’s less. If I keep things easier, it’s more often.
In addition, I do seek to move often, meaning going for walks or hiking around pretty regularly, on top of my training.
Sleep for Testosterone
I sleep well. This has never been a difficulty for me.
Typically, I sleep around eight hours a night. Sometimes nine.
And it’s not just about the quantity. I do lots of things to maximize the quality too like seeing bright light in the morning and stopping blue light before bed.
Other Habits for Testosterone
I’m working on getting a whole lot more sun, the benefits of which extend beyond simply vitamin D. This is a newer habit for me.
I do a form of meditation every single day. (Self-hypnosis)
I have a great marriage and sex life with my wonderful wife.
I love my work.
And I do some fun, amazing things fairly regularly. I have a good amount of control over my life. That’s by design.
All of this is necessary for a high testosterone lifestyle.
What to Avoid for Testosterone
In addition to what I do, there is what I avoid. More detailed articles on some of the horribleness of this stuff are coming soon.
I avoid plastic as much as possible. It may be unavoidable, but we can all cut way down. BPA is horrible stuff, but, and this is a big but, BPA-free is not necessarily any better.
I don’t use typical skin care products at all. Even most so-called “all natural” stuff is just as bad. Just some soap and essential oils.
As mentioned I eat organic predominately, which means fewer chemicals are coming in from my food. The same holds true of the air I breathe and the water I drink.
The principle is to do more that is good for your health and your testosterone, and less bad. Ultimately, you need to work on both.
This is just an overview. If you want the nitty gritty details, please pick up a copy of Upgrade Your Testosterone, where I deliver well over 100 pages packed with testosterone boosting tips. That’s one of my best works and tells you more about the step by step things you need to do.
References:
1. Emma Nelson, Campbell Rolian, Lisa Cashmore, Susanne Shultz. Digit ratios predict polygyny in early apes, Ardipithecus, Neanderthals and early modern humans but not in Australopithecus. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2010.
2. Mazur, A., Westerman, R., & Mueller, U. (2013). Is Rising Obesity Causing a Secular (Age-Independent) Decline in Testosterone among American Men? PLoS ONE, 8(10).
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Lost Empire Herbs
I think it important for men to take DIM and Indole-3-Carbinol to combat all the xenoestrogens in the environment today.
I’m 70 and got a testosterone level above 1000. I especially liked your Tincture Bundle of Pine Pollen, Ashwaganda, Nettle Root and Blue Vervain.
Thanks,
I read your emails. I had a problem with one of the points you talk about….drinking beer cuts down test., and increases cortisone. Is that with craft beer too? I’m a big craft beer drinker, & I have amazing “special time”, with my wife. I do workout, 2ce a week, but I’d really hate to give up my craft beer. I usually drink a flight or 2 on Sunday night’s, while watching football.
I don’t like LAWNMOWER BEER, aka; bud, Miller, Heineken, or any popular beer. (We were at a beer fest., & my sister in law said she wanted a bud. The guy handed her the beer, & put it in a small Brown paper bag. We asked, “what’s up with the brown bag?” He said, “your at a craft beer festival! Anyone that orders a LAWNMOWER BEER; like that, they need to hide that beer!” I laughed. I dont drink lawn mower beer. I drink craft beer. But I’ve been snipped, should I be concerned? We didn’t want kids.
When I shower; I don’t use soap, & I bought that “bergamot, lime” tolerant, that you suggested, but I stopped using the stuff. It seemed like it was blocking my sweat glands, when I use the stuff. And my grandpa had to have a hunk taken out of his armpit, he was using “ANTIPERSPIRANT”, & that’s what it seemed like. So I stopped using deoderant all together. (I don’t stink either.)
What hebs and or supplements can I take to increase my seman? Not sperm.
Thanks.
Interesting question. I believe that those two tend to go hand in hand. That is that anything that supports one typically supports the other. And I’m not aware of anything that specifically just addresses the semen.
That being said the basics will help. Hydration, good quality food, not wearing tight underpants. Certain micronutrients such as zinc and amino acids are needed. I’ve heard that coconut milk is useful according to the doctrine of signatures. Many of the herbs we have that help with sexual function may help in this area too.
The numbers are not saying much. Listen to:
Dr. Ben House: We can get free testosterone but I mean the ment—the mental strain of that for guys like, “Hey you’re inadequate, you have a testosterone of 5.”
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Dr. Ben House: I don’t like to do that.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Do you see correlations, though? Do you see like, “Hey, these are the althletes that are responding the best, that are recovering the best or getting the best results” Here is where his numbers at. Do you see any correlation there?
Dr. Ben House: Yeah. I think—we can’t really make that correlation—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Okay.
Dr. Ben House: inside of physiological ranges. Uh—we don’t have a lot of data on that as far as research. Anything I would say would be anecdotal there. Uhmm—do I think, do I have a hunch that it’s better to be at 800 than 380?
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. Yeah. Totally.
Dr. Ben House: Do I know that 800 is better than 600 or 500? I don’t know. I haven’t seen that. I’ve seen—I’ve seen some beast that are in the 500 range like 10% body fat, like 210—like they’re front squatting 400 pounds. Like, so—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Testosterone can be really variable. I think it peaks more in the AM right? And they can drop down in the afternoon. It can be the variables. So you may just catch it at the wrong window.
https://justinhealth.com/dr-ben-house-enhancing-testosterone-and-improving-your-health-podcast-130/
Makes sense when you consider what they are finding out about SHBG and how it can activate the same physiological responses that testosterone does. Low T and High SHBG seems to work just as good as high T and low SHBG. Clearly a lot more research needs to be done but in general, I would say that having higher T is a good thing. As well as that men are losing out a lot hormonally because of things like plastic.
Hi Logan I need your help. I have prostate cancer and in April radiation seeds were implanted in me for reasons being cancer may leave prostate and spread. Is there anything that can help me with my testosterone levels and with overall health? I’m healthy right now I work out drink lots of water. I want something that can help me with gaining muscle and endurance , I like to run. Any information would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you ???
We shall email you, Armando. Logan is a pretty busy guy. There is a lot of info on the site but I will send you some more stuff.
Personally, I would take aspirin. Pure aspirin, no additives at all, you can find this from horse supply places. I would take Cayenne pepper, as potent as I could handle. I would eat garlic cloves with a spoon full of raw honey. I would take 5 grams of ascorbic acid, pure with no additives. I would do this five or more times a day. I would stop eating ALL grains. I would eat plenty of cultured and fermented foods, yogurt, kefir, raw milk, kombucha, ect.
Lion’s Mane mushroom might reduce DHT, which is, I think, a goal of prostate cancer treatment.
So what is the men’s sex potency package and hormone package ? Consist of.
I think you are referring to this?
https://lostempireherbs.com/product/mens-hormone-package/
https://lostempireherbs.com/product/thors-hammer-customization/
Hey Logan just a quick question for you. I have purchased From lost Empire herbs twice now . Both times I have ordered Tong kat Ali and pine pollen. To be quite honest with you I didn’t have the morning wood or morning steel effect. I’m a very healthy guy at 28 years-old I practice intermittent fasting 5 days a week with a low carb and high fat diet. I’m also very fit and active in the gym focusing on heavy low back squats and heavy dead lifts. However, just recently I found out from my parents that I was born 9 weeks premature. This was brought-up because I was trying to figure out why my ADD has gotten worse over the years-and my ability to learn and comprehend is becoming more difficult. My question is, the very fact that I was born 9 weeks premature, could this be a reason a possible reason as to why I’m not having this morning steel effect?
It’s certainly possible. Keep working at it though.
Maybe try the opposite of intermittent fasting and see what the result is. It may be that your body type needs a continuous supply of nurishment and the intermittent fasting isn’t working for you. I know of people that function far better that way. Just a thought!
I am 56 years old and in only one week of an intermittent fast(16/8) I jacked my test up from 349 to 582! I eat healthy also.I ordered the Tongkat Ali and am anxious to see what it does for me.
One drawback of blood tests is that hormones can fluctuate a fair amount. Fasting doesn’t get enough respect, so keep it up.
I have been taking the sexual potency package and using one each day as directed for cycling herbs. And I also take pine pollen tincture 2 times a day it has been 3 weeks and has made a major difference in my whole life the bedroom is awesome No more cialis. And my mood and overall attitude has really changed. I am so glad I found your website it has changed my life. Thanks Logan
Changing lives, that’s what we’re aiming for. :)
Excellent article. And great advice. For me the pine pollen powder and tincture have been great. I use all the herbs in the mens hormone package and can see the benefits. I just started with aswhagandha, maca, and horny goat weed which I use somewhat randomly. |So far I am really loving your products and appreciate all the tips and info you share. Thanks!
Great to hear it Jonathan!