Times are tough — so we will dispense these actionable ways you can boost your testosterone without spending a penny.
After a year of inactivity, delivery fast food, and streaming services, the average person gained considerable weight in 2020.
All of those negative attributes listed above contribute towards plummeting testosterone levels.
However, you testosterone levels can be recovered — even if you didn’t have low testosterone levels to begin with.
Excessive bodyfat is the number one reason why you might have low testosterone — and losing fat will be our first way to boost testosterone on our list.
How to Boost Testosterone on a Budget
We will look a ways you can boost testosterone on a budget.
This means you will be able to boost testosterone levels without having to fork out hundreds of dollars on test boosters or expensive programs.
A lot of the changes you can make to your lifestyle to boost testosterone are very actionable and straightforward.
However, if you are willing to spend cash to boost testosterone levels, we have an article on 20 easy strategies you can employ to boost testosterone.
1. Lose Fat
Losing fat is the number one way you can boost testosterone.
Belly fat, in particular, is highly estrogenic in addition to being linked with a higher risk of insulin resistance.
A 2012 found that a drop in bodyfat boosted testosterone levels in middle-aged men [R].
“Weight loss can reduce the prevalence of low testosterone levels in overweight, middle-aged men with prediabetes by almost 50 percent,” the study found.
“Doctors should first encourage overweight men with low testosterone levels to try to lose weight through diet and exercise before resorting to testosterone therapy to raise their hormone levels,” one of the researchers said.
The researcher added: “Losing weight not only reduces the risk of prediabetic men progressing to diabetes but also appears to increase their body’s production of testosterone.”
If you need help losing fat, we recommend that you take a look at our nutrition bundle to help the weight fall off.
2. Lift Weights
I know this article is about how to boost testosterone on a budget and gym memberships or building a home gym is expensive, but we will provide you with a free eBook bundle below to give you some home workout ideas to help you start improving your life for the better.
Lifting weights is also one of the best ways to boost your testosterone levels.
In addition to boosting your testosterone levels, lifting weights will improve your posture, increase your bone density, improve your insulin sensitivity, strengthen your connective tissue, along with a host of other positives that comes with lifting.
A study found that different intensities of weight lifting boosted testosterone levels — the important thing is to just get lifting!
The study noted [R]:
“The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of moderate weight lifting (MWL) and light weight lifting (LWL) on concentrations of serum testosterone in males. Baseline testosterone concentrations were determined via an indwelling catheter in the median cubital vein.
“An initial sample of blood was followed 7 min later by five samples taken at 4-min intervals. A final sample was taken 10 min after the last 4-min blood draw. Blood samples were obtained at similar times and intervals on the weight lifting days. The MWL consisted of four sets of six squats at 90-95% of a six-repetition maximum (RM), while the LWL consisted of four sets of 9 or 10 repetitions at 60-65% of the weight used for the sets during MWL.
“There was a significant increase in serum testosterone concentrations following the fourth set for both MWL and LWL when compared with baseline concentrations and both MWL and LWL testosterone concentrations returned to baseline levels at 10 min postexercise. These results indicate that MWL and LWL caused increases in serum testosterone that were greater than those associated with baseline levels. Postexercise responses for the MWL and LWL were similar.”
Click here to download our FREE eBook bundle to help you start lifting from the comfort of your own home.
3. Get More Sun
A simple way to boost testosterone is to just go outside, bro.
Now, this goes without saying, but you should go outside to improve your life significantly.
The past year hasn’t helped matters, with lockdowns keeping people hemmed in their homes.
According to a study reported by the Hindustan Times: “An hour of sunshine can boost a man’s testosterone level by up to 69 per cent, a study has revealed. Vitamin D is a vital nutrient produced in the body after exposure to sunlight.”
They continued: “Vitamin D is a vital nutrient produced in the body after exposure to sunlight and contained in fish and meat.
“In their study, the researchers found that men with more Vitamin D per millilitre of blood had much more of the main male sexual hormone circulating than those with less.”
If you live somewhere cloudy like the Pacific Northwest, New England, Northern Europe, or somewhere like that, you may have to supplement Vitamin D — but beware that some brands contain soybean oil!
Suns out guns out if you want to boost testosterone.
4. Avoid Certain Foodstuffs
This is paramount if you’re looking to boost testosterone on a budget.
What better way to avoid spending money by avoiding certain foodstuffs?
Soy
This has become something of a meme in recent years, but avoiding soy can help you boost testosterone levels.
The following is from our article on soy:
Soy is what is known as a phytoestrogen, a plant product that mimics the effects of the female hormone estrogen in the human body. No wonder, then, that scientific research has shown that regular consumption of soy products like edamame, tofu, soy milk and miso may cause a drop in testosterone levels. For example, one study in 35 men found that drinking soy protein isolate for 54 days resulted in decreased testosterone levels. [R]
As well as lowering testosterone levels, soy consumption has also been found to reduce male fertility.
‘There was an inverse association between soy food intake and sperm concentration that remained significant after accounting for age, abstinence time, body mass index, caffeine and alcohol intake and smoking. In the multivariate-adjusted analyses, men in the highest category of soy food intake had 41 million sperm/ml less than men who did not consume soy foods (95% confidence interval = -74, -8; P, trend = 0.02)…
‘The inverse relation between soy food intake and sperm concentration was more pronounced in the high end of the distribution (90th and 75th percentile) and among overweight or obese men. Soy food and soy isoflavone intake were unrelated to sperm motility, sperm morphology or ejaculate volume.’ [R]
So not only does consumption of soy reduce your sperm count, but this problem becomes even worse if you’re overweight or obese. It’s worth remembering, as we’ve said elsewhere, that fat tissue itself is estrogenic, and this is probably why being fat compounds the effects of soy on male fertility.
Beer and Alcohol
If you want to boost testosterone levels, you may have to give booze a break for a while.
Not only is alcohol extremely calorie-dense (see point number 1) but it can also lower your testosterone levels.
Hopped beer — containing phytoestrogens — can raise your estrogen levels. Studies found that male sufferers of cirrhosis also tended to be more feminized than their peers.
Low Fat Vegetarian Diet
In a previous article, we found that: “A new study conducted at the University of Worcester has revealed that a low-fat diet decreases testosterone levels by between 10 and 15%.”
Researchers for another study found: “Men who adhered to a fat restrictive diet had lower serum testosterone than men on a nonrestrictive diet.” [R]
A diet rich in protein and animal fat, on the other hand, can help boost testosterone levels.
Xenoestrogens
These endocrine disruptors affect the hormone levels of both sexes. In men, however, they can lead to a whole slew of issues from infertility to shrinking penises.
For more information, check out our lengthy article on xenoestrogens.
5. Avoid Excessive Cardio
If you want to boost your testosterone levels, you might want to avoid long distance running or cycling.
Although some studies state that men with higher testosterone levels have a greater capacity for long distance running, it is important to note that men with lower bodyfat percentages will, naturally, be better long distance runners and have higher testosterone levels than their chubbier peers.
But excessive cardio may lower your testosterone levels [R].
For those doing too much cardio to lose fat may reconsider the type of cardio that they do.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio may even have a positive effect on testosterone levels in men.
6. Get More Sleep
The final inclusion on our list to help you boost testosterone for free is to get more sleep.
A recent study found that better sleep can boost testosterone levels by almost double.
The study in question, led by Plamen Penev, showed that men can sometimes double their testosterone levels if they improve their sleep quality. The study builds on other studies that have already shown that poor sleep can play havoc with the body’s hormonal balance: one night’s bad sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity in young men by 20%, and that of diabetics by 25%.
It was already known that the body makes most testosterone when we are asleep, so the hypothesis that reduced sleep might disturb this process was valid prima facie. Penev’s study began from the dual premises that i) men as they age tend to sleep less and ii) although some older men experience steep declines in testosterone levels, others maintain high testosterone levels even into their eighties. A previous study had also showed that, while sleeping, men in their forties make less testosterone than men half their age.
Check out the Path to Manliness Blog to learn more.
