Description
For tips on how to build Ageless Strength and Unlock Muscle Growth Over 50, check out my free Guide: https://fitand50.ca/free-guide-to-unlocking-muscle-growth-over-50/
If you'd like help losing excess body fat and building muscle, visit my website at https://fitand50.ca/ for information on my personal training services.
Does having more testosterone build more muscle, or does having more muscle lead to having more testosterone?
To answer it, we'll cover five daily habits that preserve both after 50.
Heavy compound exercises spike testosterone, but it's a myth that that spike builds muscle. The real muscle building signal is resistance training.
When you train a muscle, mechanical tension is converted into chemical signals inside the muscle cell. These signals activate pathways, including mTOR, that increase muscle protein synthesis.
This acute intramuscular signalling is more closely associated with hypertrophy than the temporary rise in circulating testosterone post workout.
Resistance training also supports testosterone indirectly. It builds muscle, strength, improves insulin sensitivity, and body composition. Because excess fat and poor metabolic health can suppress testosterone, those changes create a healthier hormonal environment.
In one ten-week study, resistance training younger men increased resting free testosterone, while the older men’s free T didn’t change, their thigh muscle size and strength increased, developed a stronger testosterone response to exercise, and lowered resting cortisol. Unfortunately, there's no research on how years of training positively affect testosterone in older men. That's a study we have to do on ourselves.
Another myth promoted in the fitness community and backed by supplement companies trying to make money is that there is a food or supplement that boosts testosterone.
Oysters, eggs, red meat, honey, zinc, vitamin D, ashwagandha, tongkat ali, tribulus there is always another "testosterone booster" being sold to men over 50.
These foods and nutrients can be part of a healthy diet. But no single food is testosterone therapy, and no over-the-counter supplement replaces training, sleep, healthy body composition, and enough of the right foods for recovery.
Now, correcting a real deficiency matters. If you are low in vitamin D or zinc, getting that fixed can support normal health.
But more is not better. I recently had vitamin D toxicity, and I can tell you firsthand: too much vitamin D makes you sick, not superhuman.
So habit two is focusing on improving diet and not supplements promising higher testosterone. Get any deficiencies identified and corrected with your doctor.
Time in bed relaxing with your eyes shut is not the same as quality sleep.
If you have trouble falling asleep, quiet rest isn't worthless, but don't confuse it with sleep. It can calm your nervous system and give your mind a break, but it doesn't provide the same muscle-recovery benefits.
If you're lying awake and getting frustrated, get out of bed, keep the lights low, do something relaxing, and return when you feel sleepy.
If poor sleep continues or you snore heavily, wake up gasping, or are exhausted despite spending enough time in bed, talk with your doctor about insomnia or sleep apnea.
Develop the habit of getting 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep; it's not a luxury, it’s part of training recovery.
I’m sure you’ve heard weight loss boosts testosterone. But it’s a myth that any weight loss increases T levels. Losing excess body fat improves body composition creating an environment for healthy testosterone. But losing weight to fast can mean losing muscle, and testosterone, putting us in a worse spot than when we started.
After 50, the habit we should develop is to lose fat while preserving or even building muscle by lifting, eating sufficient protein, and having a sustainable calorie deficit.
That's why we need to track our waist measurement: if it's shrinking and your strength is stable or improving, that's profit.
A study found a reduction in daily steps by 80% resulted in a significant decrease in muscle protein synthesis in older adults: essentially anabolic resistance. Staying active is a key piece of the recovery process.
Another study found that people with the lowest daily step counts had higher odds of being hypogonadal.
Take a walk after dinner, get up and stretch during the workday or go outside at lunch anything that gets your body moving.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0078636
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1999.87.3.982
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/brv.70133
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/110/9/e3125/8058933?login=false
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11745839/
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/19/3328
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/98/6/2604/2537326?redirectedFrom=fulltext
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8159788/