Testosterone

Testosterone is very important in bodybuilding (and sports in general) and while it can\t (legally) be supplemented, it is a target for "testosterone boosting" supplements such as Tribulus Terrestris, Fenugreek and Methoxy Isoflavone (and many, many more!). Why is testosterone so important? Testosterone is the main hormone that affects muscle growth - and the more testosterone you have in your body, the more protein synthesis and muscle growth you can expect compared to someone with a lower level - this is why anabolic steroids work.

Free Testosterone?
Saying "more testosterone = more growth" is true in a broad sense, but you should really mentally split testosterone into \bound\ and \free\ testosterone. Don\t worry about what this means internally, just be aware that only free testosterone is actually used to produce muscle growth. With this in mind the method some supplements use to help muscle growth is to stop as much testosterone being bound - therefore increasing the amount that is free.

Stop Testosterone Converting
Another way that you can increase testosterone levels is by stopping testosterone being converted into other substances - particularly estrogen. An example of this would be Saw Palmetto - whether or not this really works is subject to some controversy.

Natural Testosterone
An important thing to remember is that testosterone in men is produced in normal quantities naturally - each person will have a different level, but in young men (under 30) this is generally pretty high. This leads people to say that unless you are taking anabolic steroids (synthetic/artificial testosterone boosting) then there is little point in taking expensive supplements, as your testosterone levels are already high enough to enable good muscle gain, and you would be much better off changing other factors such as training, diet and rest than \investing\ in expensive testosterone supplements. Whether this is true or not is hard to gauge - the placebo effect is strong, and many people train harder to avoid \wasting\ their supplements which in turn leads to greater muscle growth anyway!

Testosterone has no reported side effects - if you think this is incorrect please mail us on: info@whatthesupp.com