Best Shape Ever, Lowest T Ever
What happens to your hormones when you get stage-lean or Instagram-ripped? Well, it's not good. Here's how to prevent the drop.
Bodybuilders and physique athletes are lucky they compete in competitions based solely on looks. To paraphrase coach Christian Thibaudeau, by the time you hit the stage, you look the best you ever have while being the unhealthiest you've ever been.
The combination of strict dieting, hard training, and stress wreaks havoc on the body, especially on hormones. Here's what the studies tell us and how to reduce the damage.
Hormonal Chaos
Based on a couple of studies using competitive physique athletes, here's what happens hormonally during contest prep (or to a person following a very strict diet combined with intense exercise):
- Total Testosterone: T-levels can fall 30-50% in male physique athletes as they reach stage-ready leanness. For example, studies recorded reductions from normal baseline values (500-700 ng/dL) to levels closer to 200-300 ng/dL during peak contest prep.
- Free Testosterone: This is the biologically active form of testosterone. Free testosterone levels can fall by 50% or more, exacerbating the effects of low total T. This drop is linked to an increase in sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which binds testosterone and reduces its availability.
- Cortisol and SHBG: Cortisol levels can rise significantly due to the combined stress of contest dieting and hard training. Elevated cortisol further suppresses testosterone production, while SHBG levels may rise by 20-40%.
Usually, hormone levels return to baseline after a competition, but this could take weeks or even months. In females, T3 and testosterone took up to four months to recover. And obviously, many physique competitors do back-to-back shows, which further monkey-wrenches their hormones.
Why Does This Happen?
- Energy Conservation: Your body sees extreme calorie restriction and very low body fat as an emergency, and it lowers T as a response. Lower energy availability impacts the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which regulates testosterone production.
- Increased Cortisol and Stress: Add training and psychological stress to a diet and cortisol rises, especially a very low-carb diet. High cortisol lowers testosterone.
What To Do About It
Many researchers think that even the use of anabolic steroids doesn't completely prevent these hormonal issues. Your body's survival mechanisms can still override their effects. For example, total T may be high, but free, unbound T is low due to SHBG.
Practically, a person could diet down slower and maybe avoid the crazy-strict final few weeks. Training could also be adjusted: lower volume, less intense sessions in the final weeks, where you wouldn't gain muscle anyway.
Supplementally, Longjack – also called Eurycoma or Tongkat Ali – increases free testosterone levels by controlling and lowering SHBG production. Longjack also lowers cortisol levels (helps the body manage stress) and increases androgen receptor sensitivity, improving the effectiveness of available testosterone and fighting against suppression.
Take 300 mg daily during contest prep, weight cutting for a sport, or any strict fat-loss phase. Only take the LJ100 form using a self-emulsifying delivery matrix to ensure bioavailability. Biotest Omega-Man High Absorption Longjack (Buy at Amazon) fits the bill perfectly.
