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AN ST
E
GNER
LUCREH

HT

Become a Demigod
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our new ebook on testosterone, the master male hormone.

T: just a single letter, but one that carries a huge amount of meaning these days. And
for good reason, because testosterone levels aren’t what they used to be. In fact,
testosterone levels in the developed world have experienced such a dramatic crash,
along with an equally dramatic crash in fertility, that it may even portend the death of
the species if serious countermeasures aren’t taken. Even if that scenario proves to be
far-fetched – and I’m sure like us you’re hoping it will – there can be no doubt that
masculinity as traditionally conceived is under serious threat from a witches’ brew of
toxic chemicals, toxic lifestyles and toxic food. But how can you reclaim your manhood
in such a hostile environment?

We’ve gathered together a wide variety of our articles in this book to provide you with
a primer on all things testosterone. What it is, what it does, how to know whether you
have enough, ways to increase it and ways to decrease it – or, rather, ways to avoid
decreasing it!

The book starts with an article on how to know whether you have low T, followed by an
article on the fertility apocalypse we mentioned earlier, including some specific advice
on how to minimise your contact with xenoestrogens, a nasty class of chemical that
appear to be responsible for a great deal of the problem. Then there are articles on
some aspects of testosterone related to physical and mental health: the relationships
between testosterone levels on the one hand and sleep, diabetes risk, mental health
and morality – yes, morality! – on the other. Then there’s a section on food and
testosterone, with recommendations of foods to choose and foods to avoid, including
longer articles focusing on two potent estrogenic foods, hopped beer and soy, and a
short article on why low-fat vegetarian diets are about the worst possible kind if you
want to maintain optimum T levels. Next follows a section on test-boosting
supplements, before the book ends with a little wisdom from Vince Gironda, the
famous Golden Era bodybuilder, on how to maximise your testosterone and your
gains.

So what are you waiting for? It's time to begin detoxifying your life and reclaiming
your birthright as a man.

Good luck!

TESTOSTERONE
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SON OF ZEUS Our three FREE ebooks in

one superhuman package
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

HOW TO KNOW
IF YOU'VE GOT LOW T
Let's get started by considering what it's like to have low testosterone and why it's
very definitely a bad thing for you as an individual.

Testosterone is the hormone most associated with

masculinity, and although it is also important to women’s
bodies and their health, the increased levels of THE MAIN SYMPTOMS
testosterone in the male body are responsible for the
host of traits that make men men, rather than women.
• Reduced libido
Body hair, muscle mass, bone density, strength,
aggression, dominance and competitiveness – increases
• Erectile dysfunction
in all of these things are associated with increased • Fertility problems
testosterone in men.
(inability to conceive)
Falling testosterone levels are a fact of life for all men as • Fatigue/low energy
they age. After the age of 30, a man can expect to lose 1%
of his testosterone every year for the rest of his life. • Depression/lowered
But the natural reduction all men can expect to suffer
mood
pales in comparison with the society-wide collapse in • Weight gain
testosterone levels that has occurred over the second
half of the twentieth and the first quarter of the twenty- • Muscle loss
first century.

Men today have considerably less testosterone than men

of the same age even a single generation ago.
Boys with low testosterone may develop slower, with
A 2007 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and little or no body hair, under-developed muscles and
Metabolism showed a significant reduction in the smaller penises; and men with low T will have difficulty
testosterone levels of men since the 1980s. A 60-year-old building muscle, no matter how hard they try.
American man in 2004, for example, had 17% less In extreme cases of low testosterone, usually referred to
testosterone than a 60-year-old American man in 1987. as hypogonadism, men may also develop breast tissue
(gynecomastia) and osteoporosis (reduced bone density).
These findings were corroborated in a study of Danish Hypogonadism has a variety of causes, which include:
men, who displayed a two-digit decline between the
1920s and the 1960s. • Certain genetic disorders
• HIV
The easiest and most definitive way is to have a blood • Pituitary disorders, including pituitary tumours and
test. A normal testosterone level range for men is 300 to injuries
1,000 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl), whereas for • Inflammatory diseases
women, it’s between 15 and 70 ng/dl. If as a man your • Obesity and also rapid weight loss
testosterone is below 300 ng/dl, you have low • Nutritional deficiencies
testosterone. • Steroid use

But this is putting the cart before the horse, because Obesity, in particular, is an increasingly common cause
before you decide to have a test you will experience some of hypogonadism.
or all of the following symptoms, assuming you actually If you suspect you have very low T (hypogonadism), we
do have low testosterone. recommend you contact your doctor to discuss a blood
test and consider clinical advice to restore your
You’ll have good reason to ask the question ‘Do I have testosterone levels, which may include hormonal
low T?, because in some very obvious ways you’ll feel like therapy.
less of a man.

TESTOSTERONE
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TESTOSTERONE
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A COMING FERTILITY
APOCALYPSE?
Low testosterone levels aren't simply a disaster for individuals, either. Here we
consider recent predictions of a fertility apocalypse as a result of, among other things
falling testosterone levels on a civilisational level.

Dire predictions of a collapse in male fertility have finally But why go to the moon in the first place to build such
become mainstream, years after fringe figures warned that a facility? After all, isn’t there already a similar facility
the increasingly toxic environment we have created for in Norway? Do we really need another?
ourselves could be our undoing. Just how bad is the
problem? Might the only effective response to declining male Unlike the proposed lunar ark, the Svalbard Global
fertility be to create a sperm and egg bank on the moon to Seed Vault, buried in the side of a Norwegian
preserve man’s reproductive capabilities; or are there mountain, houses only plant species (around 1 million,
simpler things we can do to preserve the continuation of the to date). In recent years, it has apparently been
species? threatened by global warming, causing flooding of the
entrance to the vault; although the seeds themselves
A group of scientists at the University of Arizona recently have so far escaped damage. If global warming
proposed creating a sperm and seed bank on the moon, continues, the arctic conditions that made the site at
in a bid to protect the planet’s species from Svalbard perfect for the preservation of seeds may
extermination – and that includes humans as well. soon no longer obtain. Once designed to operate
without the help of humans, conditions in the Global
Under this ‘modern global insurance policy’, the Seed Vault now require 24h monitoring.
reproductive cells of nearly 7 million species, including
humans, would be stored in an ‘ark’ below the moon’s And it’s the threat of planetary catastrophe – not just
surface. The ark would use pits in the surface of the global warming, but nuclear war, drought, asteroids
moon, thought to be channels through which lava once and massive volcanic eruptions like the eruption of
flowed, to store the reproductive material using Mount Toba 75,000 years ago – that motivated the team
cryogenic technology. from the University of Arizona to propose the moon
and to include a far greater diversity of species than at
These pits penetrate up to 100 meters underground, and, Svalbard.
according to Jekan Thanga, leader of the group, ‘provide
readymade shelter from the surface of the moon’, which A true planetary-scale disaster could see the loss of a
would otherwise prove hostile. Extreme temperature majority of all plant and animal species on earth. The
variation, solar radiation and meteorite strikes would all moon-based facility would preserve its samples, says
pose a threat to a surface-level facility. Thanga, ‘until the tech advances to then reintroduce
these species – in other words, save them for another
day.’

The inclusion of human reproductive cells may seem

the least plausible, or most surprising, aspect of this
plan. For one thing, if humans are eliminated from
earth by some massive catastrophe – a nuclear war, say
– what good will a load of frozen human sperm and ova
on the moon be? Humans are the linchpin of the
project and if they – we – disappear, surely there won’t
be a thing that can be done about it?

In fact, the notion that we might soon need to keep a

global store of human sperm and ova to stave off a
An artist's impression of the proposed seed catastrophe appears more and more sensible by the
and egg bank on the moon day; although not necessarily for the reasons given by
Thanga and his colleagues. A much more insidious, less

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

The entrance to the Svalbard

Global Seed Vault

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH
less spectacular, process is at work threatening the
survival prospects of humankind. Perhaps it won’t be an
asteroid that makes man go the way of the dinosaurs,
through declining male fertility, but the everyday
products we know, love and rely on so heavily.

Once upon a time, not all that long ago, it was considered
the sole preserve of cranks and conspiracy theorists to
claim that industrial chemicals found in the
environment, especially the drinking water, were causing
serious reproductive effects in animals and humans,
particularly affecting male fertility levels. In 2015, Alex
Jones, the host of Infowars, was roundly mocked for a
rant in which he uttered the now famous line, ‘I don’t like
‘em putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’
frogs gay!’
Professor Shanna Swan, prophetess of
Now, though, just five years later, those previously fringe
concerns have well and truly gone mainstream,
Spermageddon
accompanied by some truly dire predictions. On March in 2006, a statement was made before the House
10, Politico ran an article with the headline, ‘No more Committee on Government Reform about the increasing
babies? The hormone-altering chemicals threatening number of male fish observed to be bearing eggs in the
human procreation’, particularly affecting male fertility, Potomac River. Industrial run-off, as well as
to coincide with the release of a new book on the subject contamination by personal care products and
by Dr Shanna Swan, a world expert on reproductive contraceptives, was identified as the likely cause.
health at Mount Sinai, New York.
Pthalates, first introduced on a wide scale in the 1950s,
By 2045, Swan claims, the majority of men may no longer with the introduction of PVC, are linked to a variety of
be able to reproduce because of the effects of harmful negative reproductive effects. They are used to increase
chemicals from a variety of sources. ‘We’re about 40 plastic flexibility, and as a result have a huge variety of
years behind global warming, in terms of awareness’, she applications: in food containers, water bottles and
notes, and yet the threat to human survival is just as children’s toys, as well as foams, solvents, perfumes,
great as, if not greater than, our concerns about pesticides, nail polish, adhesives and lubricants. Studies
greenhouse gas emissions. have shown that prenatal exposure to pthalates, i.e.
through the mother, may cause feminisation of baby
According to Swan’s projections from available data, in boys and result in smaller penis size, among other
2045 the sperm count of the median man will reach zero, defects surrounding male fertility in later life.
meaning that one half of all men will have no sperm at
all, and the other half will have an amount that is barely Some of the other most commonly encountered
more than zero — pointing to an almost non-existent xenestrogenic chemicals, and their sources (in brackets),
future for male fertility levels. The implications are are:
obvious: no sperm, no babies. Such a scenario has
already been dubbed ‘Spermageddon’. • 4MBC (in sun lotion)
• Hydroxy-anisole butyrate (a food preservative)
The root cause of the massive (59%) decrease in the • Bisphenol-A (a food preservative and plasticiser)
sperm count of the average Western man between 1973 • Dieldrin (a pesticide)
and 2011 appears to be the growing exposure to • DDT (a pesticide. Although it is banned in the US, it is
endocrine (i.e. hormone)-disrupting chemicals, such as used in countries that export food to the US)
pthalates and bisphenol A, which are now ubiquitous in • Erythrosine (a red dye)
the modern developed world. Plastics, electronic goods, • PCB (in lubricants, adhesives and paints)
packaging, pesticides, cosmetics, personal hygiene • P-nonylphenol (in PVC and by-products from
products and, yes, the drinking water and food supply all detergents and spermicide)
contain such chemicals that disrupt male fertility. • Parabens (in lotions)

Many of these chemicals are referred to as Yes, that’s right: the spermicide on the condom you’re
xenoestrogens, because of the way that they mimic the wearing to prevent unwanted pregnancy may, in the
effects of the hormone estrogen. The endocrine- long run, be preventing you from ever getting anybody
disrupting effects of Atrazine, a pesticide which is pregnant – condom or no. So temporarily disabling male
banned in the EU but still widely used in the US, have fertility male have future ramifications.
been known for some time. Beyond human male fertility,

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

Fat tissue is estrogenic

But it’s not just xenoestrogens that are responsible for While the role of phytoestrogens, natural compounds
the precipitous decline in male fertility we’re witnessing. such as soy and hops that also mimic the effects of
Swan also points to a variety of other factors that seem to estrogen, requires little further explanation, the role of
be at work, including the use of contraceptives, obesity, fat tissue in hormonal balance is not widely appreciated
smoking and ‘cultural shifts’, a rather vague term which enough. In basic terms, fat tissue is naturally estrogenic,
would have deserved further explanation. Could it be that and the more of it you have, the more of the hormone
as men behave – or are given less room to behave – in less your body will produce. All in all, it adds up to a witch’s
stereotypically manly ways, they may actually become so? brew of environmental, social and biological factors that
are making it ever harder for men to maintain their
There may be other biological factors at work too, she masculinity and fulfil their biological purpose.
suggests, pointing to the collapse in testosterone levels in
western men over the last half century. And don’t think that women get off lightly either.
Miscarriage rates have increased significantly over the
Although falling testosterone levels are a fact of life for all last two decades, and women are experiencing puberty at
men as they age – after the age of 30, a man can expect to ever younger ages. Such changes will only serve to
lose 1% of his natural testosterone every year for the rest amplify the male fertility problems modern men are
of his life – this natural reduction pales in comparison facing.
with the society-wide collapse in T levels that has
occurred over the second half of the twentieth and the So what’s the solution? Is there any way we can avoid the
first quarter of the twenty-first century. dreaded male fertility destroying Spermageddon?
Here at Herculean Strength we believe nothing is
Men today have considerably less T than men of the same inevitable. What we advocate is a targeted approach that
age even a single generation ago. A 2007 study in the reduces our exposure to endocrine-disrupting
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed substances, whether industrial or natural, as much as
a significant reduction in the T levels of men since the possible, and encourages a healthy, active lifestyle and
1980s. A 60-year-old American man in 2004, for example, diet that maximises natural testosterone production —
had 17% less testosterone than a 60-year-old American and, in turn, boosting male fertility.
man in 1987. These findings were corroborated in a study
of Danish men, who displayed a two-digit decline So act like the fate of the species depends on your choices
between the 1920s and the 1960s. – because this time it really might.

While the collapse of testosterone is likely to be linked to

the ubiquity of the xenoestrogenic chemicals Swan warns
about, sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of
phytoestrogens are also likely to be playing a large role.

TESTOSTERONE
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With Julian Arroyuelo (IG: @julian.arroyuelo)

 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

XENOESTROGENS:
FURTHER NOTES
Given the ubiquity of xenoestrogens and what we know about their harmful
effects, it's easy to give in to the temptation to become blackpilled, as they say in
certain corners of the internet. Yes, the problem really is bad, but there are
plenty of concrete things you can do to reduce your exposure to these dangerous
chemicals and restore your natural hormonal balance.

Here are some simple tips.

• Install a reverse osmosis water filter with an activated carbon filter for
your drinking water

• Choose organic, locally grown, seasonal food

• Always wash properly and peel fruit and vegetables that are non-organic

• Buy the highest quality meat and dairy products you can: aim for local,
organic, pasture-raised products
• Reduce your reliance on plastics, including
water bottles, canned foods, non-stick
cookware and plastic wrappings

Clearly, this may involve a serious change to

habits and some expense, but take it from us:
the immediate cost will be far less than the cost
of slow-burning chemical castration via
xenoestrogrens, not just for you but for the
generations that come after you as well.

Later in this book we'll also talk about

phytoestrogens, a naturally occurring class of
estrogenic chemicals found in foods like
hopped beer and soy.

TESTOSTERONE
HERCULEAN STRENGTH

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

SLEEP AND Double your T by

getting enough Z's
TESTOSTERONE

Proper rest – including proper sleep – is an often- cobstructive conditions like sleep apnoea.
overlooked aspect of the gains equation, with many
lifters prepared to put in the regular hard work at the The study in question, led by Plamen Penev, showed that
gym but unwilling to take their foot off the gas and kick men can sometimes double their testosterone levels if
back when they need to. The most successful they improve their sleep quality. The study builds on
bodybuilders, weightlifters and other strength athletes other studies that have already shown that poor sleep
regularly extol the benefits of adequate rest as an can play havoc with the body’s hormonal balance: one
essential part of their training. night’s bad sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity in young
men by 20%, and that of diabetics by 25%.
One study provides powerful substantiation of this
wisdom with regard to sleep. It’s well known that sleep is It was already known that the body makes most
critical to the body and brain, allowing it to replenish testosterone when we are asleep, so the hypothesis that
energy and carry out critical repairs. Scientists believe reduced sleep might disturb this process was valid prima
that a variety of critical processes occur during sleep, facie. Penev’s study began from the dual premises that i)
such as memory consolidation, information processing, men as they age tend to sleep less and ii) although some
physical growth and muscular repair. Sleep also appears older men experience steep declines in testosterone
to be vital to proper immune function. levels, others maintain high testosterone levels even into
their eighties. A previous study had also showed that,
At the same time, people are thought to be sleeping less while sleeping, men in their forties make less
and less well. In the US, the number of people testosterone than men half their age.
experiencing short sleep (less than six hours a night) has
been steadily increasing since at least 2013, putting the Could the two premises be linked? Do men lose
health of an increasing number of people at risk. Factors testosterone as they age because they sleep less?
usually blamed include the increasingly stressful nature
of modern-day life; the ubiquity of electronic equipment, Penev first established a baseline morning testosterone
especially computers and mobile phones, whose use reading for the subjects, 12 healthy non-smoking men
before bed can interfere with the body’s vital circadian between the ages of 64 and 74. He then got them to wear
rhythms; and rising levels of obesity, which can cause a device that monitored their sleeping pattern.

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH
Theresults clearly showed that those who slept the most
experienced the greatest increase in testosterone levels
when their testosterone was measured the next day.

The men that slept the least had testosterone levels in a

normal to low (200-300ng/dl) range for their age, while
the men who slept the most had levels (500-700ng/dl)
that you might expect today in a healthy young man.
These conclusions suggest that before men consider
testosterone replacement therapy, they might more
sensibly consider measuring the amount of kip they get.
As Penev notes, however, measuring should be done
accurately, because most men estimate their sleep levels
wrongly. Penev’s subjects thought they had slept an
average of 7.25 hours a day, when in fact the average was
only 6 hours.

It's worth adding that the benefits of getting a good night's

sleep extend well beyond maximising your testosterone
levels.

Sleep tips Want to sleep better? Try these simple tips.

Stick to a sleep schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time
every day.
Try to eat your last meal of the day at least two hours before bedtime.
Watch your caffeine and nicotine consumption too.
Try to create an environment conducive to sleep. Dark, cool and peaceful
are the three attributes you're looking for.
Wind down before bed. Having a relaxing bath or using relaxation
techniques such as deep breathing will help.
Try to avoid having naps during the day. While napping may make you feel
better if you're tired during the day, they can prevent you from sleeping at
night.
Glycine is a supplement that is claimed to have benefits for sleep. Take up
to 10g before bedtime.

TESTOSTERONE
HERCULEAN STRENGTH

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

DIABETES AND
TESTOSTERONE

A recent study has found that regular injections of decrease in fasting blood sugar levels, small
testosterone — testosterone therapy — may reduce the improvements to sexual function and increased muscle
risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study, which took mass.
place over a period of two years, is believed to be the
largest ever carried out on the subject, with over 1000 “The proportion of men with diabetes at two years in the
men between the ages of 50 and 74 taking part. testosterone treatment group was significantly lower
than in the placebo group,” says Professor Gary Wittert,
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, with 90 the leader of the study. “Importantly, the men who were
to 95% of them having type 2. Although type 2 most most engaged in the WW healthy lifestyle program lost
commonly develops in people aged over 45, increasing the most body weight.”
number of teens and even children are developing the
disease as a result of unhealthy lifestyles. It’s well known that men with low testosterone are at risk
of a whole host of other chronic conditions beside
The disease develops as a result of insulin resistance, diabetes, including heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
when the cells of the body become resistant to the
hormone insulin, which is involved in regulating blood Although men can expect to lose 1% of their natural
sugar levels. High blood sugar is damaging to the body
testosterone production annually after the age of 30, the
and can cause other serious health problems, such as
last half century has seen an unprecedented collapse in
heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
testosterone levels, which may have potentially
catastrophic effects for the continuation of the species.
During the long-term study, the 1000 male subjects
Changing lifestyles and diets are almost certainly to
were divided into two groups: one received injections of
blame for this precipitous decline, as is the increasingly
testosterone every three months and the other received
toxic environment we are now forced to inhabit, which is
a placebo. Both groups were given access to a WW
awash with estrogenic chemicals. Testosterone therapy
(formerly Weight Watchers) lifestyle program. 30% of
has recently enjoyed considerable popularity as a way to
men across both groups attending the meetings and 70%
combat falling testosterone levels throughout adulthood.
achieved the recommended amount of exercise.

Both groups lost an average of around 4 kg (8.8 lb). After As well as taking up resistance exercise, you can choose
two years, 21% of men in the placebo group had type 2 the right diet. See the section on foods to eat and foods to
diabetes, whereas just 12% of the men who received avoid. You can also invest in testosterone-boosting
testosterone injections had developed the disease. The supplements, such as those described in the section on
men who received testosterone also showed a greater test-boosting supplements.

TESTOSTERONE
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MENTAL HEALTH AND

TESTOSTERONE
A TESTIMONIAL
If, as we’ve seen, the collapse of testosterone rates is
taking place on a civilisational scale, so is another far-
from-welcome event: the collapse of mental health. All

FROM REDDIT
across the developed world, people are experiencing
depression and anxiety at alarming rates. We’ll explore
the link between the testosterone and depression
shortly.
'I have struggled with depression for awhile
Depression rates have been rising for some time, but now. This included fatigue, difficulty
diagnoses and prescriptions for depression have been sleeping, and negative thoughts about life in
increasing at an accelerating rate in recent years.
general. Everything just seemed dark and
Although the rise in rates of depression could be
attributed simply to more people feeling that they can gloomy.
seek help in an environment where mental illness is
stigmatized less and less, the truth is that the data don’t I recently went to my doctor to express these
support this interpretation.
concerns. We had previously tested for
In America, diagnoses of major depression rose by a things like Vitamin D levels, thyroid
third between 2013 and 2016, one report claimed. [R] function, and iron levels. All of which can
Particular spikes are visible among teens and adults up especially effect fatigue and sleep. I was and
to and beyond the age of 35. Around 10% of teenagers and
adults aged 18-25 reported depression in the previous
am currently on an SSRI. This doesn’t help
year. with the fatigue and especially sex drive. My
SO did not appreciate the no sex thing. We
Self-harm and suicidal thoughts are also on the rise, had sex maybe 2 times in the last 3 months?
especially among teenagers, with worrying
consequences and implications.
Because of this I did some more blood tests
“When I started in the field in the late 1980s, young for hormones. Specifically prolactin and
patients with severe suicidal ideation or self-injurious testosterone. Lo and behold I had high
behavior, like cutting, came from very disturbed
backgrounds and often had histories of considerable
prolactin and low testosterone.
trauma,” according to Lisa Cohen, a specialist in
depression. Today, by contrast, many come from stable, After seeing my endocrinologist and doing
supportive families.
more blood tests, I started testosterone
This is obviously a complicated, indeed thorny, subject, replacement therapy and the change in my
and it seems clear that a variety of factors are at work, mood, sleep, and energy levels has been
including diet and lifestyle, the growth of social media, AMAZING. I forgot what it was like to wake
the rise of smartphones, changing work and marriage
up and actually be awake.'
patterns, among others.

One factor that doesn’t get mentioned enough, though, is Common sense might tell us that looking and feeling less
testosterone, especially given the precipitous decline in like a man would of course be associated with feelings of
testosterone levels we’ve seen since the mid-twentieth lower self-worth and happiness.
century.
After all, you’re not going to feel good about yourself if
Reddit is a great source for personal testimonials of just you put on significant amounts of fat, develop man boobs
how awful it can be as a young man, or indeed a man full (gynecomastia), start losing your hair, have no libido and
stop, to have low testosterone. Take this, for instance. can’t develop an erection, are you? These are all
potential negative effects of having low T.

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

If you can avoid joining

r/LowT, you really should

What’s clear, however, is that T-related depression is not

just a product of outward perception (or inward
perception, depending on how you want to describe it); Major depressive disorder affects
that is, it’s not just a result of feeling less attractive or over 17 million adults annually in
being validated less and then feeling worse as a result.
the US
Having lower levels of testosterone in your body clearly
has deep physiological effects that almost unavoidably 1.9 million children aged 3-17 have
alter the way that you feel, and might also alter even the been diagnosed with depression in
way that you are able to think, including memory recall. the US
Testosterone influences the brain and body in complex Adults with a depressive disorder
ways which are not fully understood, and this is also true
or symptoms have a 64 percent
of the role of testosterone in causing depression. There
is still much debate about how testosterone has causal greater risk of developing coronary
effects, especially on cognitive abilities, but what isn’t up artery disease
for debate is that it does have wide-ranging effects on 33-50% of anorexia patients have
mood and mental performance. a comorbid mood disorder, such as
Although depressive disorder is more common in
depression
women than men, the prevalence of depression clearly 1/3 of persons with diabetes
increases in men as they age and plasma testosterone experience depression
decreases. It’s not precisely clear, though, how
testosterone levels differentiate depression in men and
women. One thing that does appear to be clear is that
testosterone has a modulating effect on the serotonin
system, which controls mood
(remember Jordan B. Peterson’s
lobsters, and if you don’t know what I’m
talking about, I’d suggest looking it up).

Testosterone replacement therapy is

already used successfully as a treatment
for depression in older men, and as our
example from Reddit shows, the effects
on young men can be nothing short of
miraculous.

If you think you’ve got low T the

definitive way to establish this is by
having a blood test. You can consult
with your doctor about testosterone
replacement therapy, or you can try
restoring your testosterone through
natural means, including exercise and
changes to your diet and lifestyle.

I'd like to issue a plea to whoever made this

Jordan Peterson cartoon: seek help.

TESTOSTERONE
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MORALITY (!?) AND

TESTOSTERONE
Here's something of a curveball: Do you think having more T would make you
behave better or worse? Two studies have produced some very surprising results
While numerous studies have substantiated in detail the At least two studies have tried to address the causal
clear relationship between having less than optimal relationship between testosterone and moral behaviour
testosterone levels and a wide variety of ailments, in a rigorous way.
including obesity, depression, erectile dysfunction,
fertility problems, diabetes, heart disease and The first study dates from 2012 and was carried out at the
Alzheimer’s, as well as reduced muscle mass, one aspect University of Bonn, before being published in the
of testosterone science that either goes largely prestigious journal Plos One.
uncommented or is subject to a much less thorough
treatment is the relationship between testosterone levels “The disadvantage of many studies is, however, that they
and male behaviour. only correlate their subjects’ testosterone level with their
behaviour,” explained the lead author Dr. Matthias
Of course the stereotypes of the ‘roid rager’ and Wibral. “For testosterone does not only influence
pumped-up young man suggest to most people that behaviour; behaviour, in turn, also influences hormone
more testosterone simply results in more undesirable levels.” Such an approach, using correlation, can only
male behaviour – ‘toxic masculinity’, if you will – but the demonstrate statistical links, not causality.
truth is that scientific studies are beginning to present a
more nuanced picture of the relationship of the master
A total of 91 healthy men were used for the study. Half of
male hormone to male behaviour.
them were treated with the application of testosterone
gel to their skin. The next day, the blood testosterone
While it is true that psychopaths have been shown to
levels of these men were checked to ensure they were
have higher testosterone levels, for instance, and
indeed higher than those of the other half of the test
increased testosterone has been linked to aggressive,
subjects, who received only a placebo gel. Nobody knew
risky behaviour and posturing, such studies rarely
who had or hadn’t been administered the testosterone
address the question of causality in a satisfying way. Is it
gel, in order to prevent behaviour from potentially being
the increased testosterone that is causing the
affected.
psychopathy or not? Or is there some other mechanism
at work?
Next came a series of experiments designed to test the
Pro wrestler Chris Benoit's behaviour of the participants. The subjects played games
terrible murder-suicide of of dice in which they were able to cheat to increase their
scores and thus the amount of money they would receive.
himself and his wife and two
“Due to the separate booths, nobody knew whether they
children was initially blamed were entering their real scores into the computer, or
on 'roid rage'. Analysis of his higher ones in order to get more money.”
brain later revealed
However, the scientists were able to determine later
catastrophic trauma that had
whether the various test subjects had cheated or not,
probably been caused by the using statistical methods.
numerous chair shots and
diving headbutts he had By comparing the results of the two groups, the scientists
were able to show that the test subjects with the higher
performed
testosterone levels had lied less than the subjects who
had had the placebo gel administered.

According to one of the researchers, ‘This result clearly

contradicts the one-dimensional approach that
testosterone results in anti-social behavior.’ The authors
hypothesise that the increased testosterone may result in

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

a greater sense of pride, meaning that the subjects with A rather more Byzantine
higher testosterone were less willing to ‘jeopardize [their]
feeling of self-worth’ for just a small amount of money.
example of a trolley problem

The second, more recent, study, from the University of pyschopaths). But the evidence from the addition of the
Austin, Texas demonstrates in a different manner the exogenous testosterone shows that it is not the
apparently paradoxical action of increased testosterone testosterone necessarily that is causing reduced
on moral behaviour. In this case, the researchers used a sensitivity to moral norms – in fact, probably the
variation of the good old fashioned trolley experiment for opposite.
their investigation.
It stands to reason – or at least it doesn’t offend common
Instead of a trolley dilemma, where the subject has the sense – that a man who feels more secure in his
choice to pull a lever and redirect a trolley to another masculinity is probably less likely to behave badly, and
track, causing the death of fewer people than they had the two studies mentioned above do go some way
not pulled the lever, the subjects were put in 24 situations towards substantiating this, while also leaving us in no
that tested whether they had a preference for utilitarian doubt that the relationship between biological factors
thinking (i.e. acting in the interest of the greatest possible and behaviour is complicated, even before we begin to
good) or deontological thinking (i.e. acting on principle, consider other factors like environmental and social
in respect of moral norms). One half of the 200 causes.
participants were given testosterone, and the other half
were given a placebo. Clearly, increasing your testosterone levels will affect the
way that you feel, and changes to the way that you feel
“The study was designed to test whether testosterone will affect the way you behave in the world. Just visit
directly influences moral judgments and how,” said one Reddit and look at any one of a myriad of positive
of the researchers. “Our design also allowed us to testimonies from low T men who’ve gone on TRT, for
examine three independent aspects of moral judgment, instance.
including sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to moral
norms and general preference for action or inaction.”

While other studies have suggested that testosterone

increases lead to stronger utilitarian preferences, the
researchers found that those administered the
testosterone displayed a much more nuanced attention to
moral norms than utilitarian considerations.
Interestingly, participant with high natural levels of
testosterone showed less consideration for moral norms.

The researchers believe that this is a reflection of the fact

that people with particular personality traits tend to have
more testosterone (as we’ve seen in the case of

TESTOSTERONE
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FOODS TO EAT AND

FOODS TO AVOID

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

FIVE FOODS THAT

BOOST TESTOSTERONE
GARLIC
Garlic contains the compound called allicin which can be
useful for lowering your levels of cortisol, a hormone
that is produced in the adrenal gland.

But what’s cortisol got to do with testosterone?

Under stress, your body produces cortisol, which has an

impact on other bodily functions, including the
production of testosterone. Some, but not all, of a man’s
testosterone is produced in the adrenal gland, with the
rest being produced in the gonads.

And when cortisol goes up, testosterone goes down, as

the following studies show.

Cortisol also competes for the same muscular receptor

sites as testosterone, and so the more cortisol you have PINEAPPLE AND
in your system, the more competition testosterone will
face at the receptor sites.
BANANAS
Therefore, by reducing the amount of cortisol in your
system you allow testosterone to be produced more
effectively by the adrenal gland and prevent it from
facing so much competition to bind to skeletal muscle
receptors.

So while garlic itself act isn’t a testosterone-boosting Surprised? Well, don’t be. Both of these fruits contain
food, it reduces cortisol and as a result can help boost bromelain, a protease enzyme which has been shown to
testosterone levels. have testosterone-boosting effects.

Garlic is most potent in its raw form. You can either eat
One study of cyclists taking part in a six-day race showed
raw cloves (skinned and chopped in half) or you can take
that bromelain supplementation enhanced recovery and
a raw garlic supplement. In our free ebook, ‘How To
also prevented reductions in testosterone.
Lose 20lb and Build Muscle in 12 Weeks’, we give a recipe
for a potent homemade pre-workout formula using raw
Bromelain’s power as a protease enzyme cannot be
garlic.
overstated; pineapple pickers are often known to have
their fingerprints worn down by repetitive exposure to
While we’re on the subject of cortisol and stress, it’s
the fruit. Franco Columbo famously ate pineapples as
worth also saying that both can lead to overeating,
part of his post-workout meals.
weight gain and the storage of unhealthy body fat
around the internal organs, all of which can reduce your
testosterone levels. Bananas are also rich in B vitamins, which have also been
shown to be essential in maintaining healthy levels of
Eliminating as much cortisol and chronic stress from testosterone. A study of rats, for instance, showed that
your life as possible, whether through your diet or deficiencies in vitamin B6 reduced testosterone
through practices such as meditation and visualisation, synthesis.
is an essential part of restoring your natural masculine
balance. Chronic low testosterone levels also seem to be
associated with chronically low levels of vitamin B12, as at
least one human study shows.

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SPINACH CABBAGE AND

CRUCIFEROUS VEG
Don’t forget to eat your greens!

While we don’t recommend eating chicken, rice, and

broccoli ad nauseum, you should not fail to include them
in your diet as they can positively affect your
testosterone levels.

Indole-3-carbinol is a phytochemical found in

cruciferous vegetables (including cabbage, broccoli,
cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale). As well as serving
as a powerful antioxidant and reducing cell damage from
Popeye vindicated? It certainly looks that way.
free radicals, indole-3-carbinol serves to regulate and
In fact, after a study at a German university, scientists
suppress estrogen production.
called for the World Anti-Doping Agency to add
ecdysterone – a hormone found in spinach – to the list of
prohibited substances for athletes. A study at Rockefeller University showed that men who
took 500mg of indole-3-carbinol daily for a week enjoyed
As part of a 10-week study, researchers split nearly 50 a 50% reduction in estrogen. As we’ve seen with
athletes into four groups to assess how ecdysterone ecdysterone, estrogen suppression is a powerful way of
affected their physical performance: one was a control increasing the effectiveness of the testosterone you have
group, another received a placebo, and the remaining available.
groups received a daily dose of either two or eight
capsules containing 100mg of ecdysterone extracted
from spinach. The four groups followed the same
EGGS
strength training programme for the 10 weeks. Eggs are one of nature’s most complete foods. As well as
The group on ecdysterone enjoyed both increased being a source of inexpensive, high-quality protein – they
muscle mass and strength gains. In fact, their strength contain all nine essential amino acids – eggs are rich in
gains were up to three times those of the other various vitamins and minerals including selenium, zinc,
participants. iron and copper and vitamins A, B2, B6, B12, D, E and K.
But it’s a substance that has become almost a bogey-
In another study investigating the compound’s method of
word in health circles that makes eggs a must-have food
action, the authors write:
for raising your testosterone. That’s right: cholesterol –
and eggs have it in abundance. One large egg contains
“The anabolic potency of the ecdysterone was
186mg of cholesterol, over half the recommended daily
comparable or even higher as found for the anabolic
intake.
androgenic steroids [dianabol and trenbolox], SARMs or
IGF-1”
Believe it or not, there appears to be a closer correlation
between cholesterol intake and lean muscle mass gain
Ecdysterone doesn’t, in itself, appear to stimulate
than between the latter and protein intake.
increased testosterone production, but rather to act on
estrogen receptors, suppressing estrogen production.
The work of Steven Riechman, for instance, has shown a
Spinach, though, contains a great many other vitamins linear dose-reponse between cholesterol intake and lean
and minerals, some of which will directly aid your muscle mass increases, and a second study showed
testosterone. Magnesium is one of these minerals. It similar results.
helps to free up testosterone in the blood by preventing
sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) from binding with Another study, specifically on egg consumption, showed
testosterone. Only unbound, or free, testosterone can that consumption of whole eggs stimulated more muscle
actually be used in the body. growth (measured as myofibrillar protein synthesis) than
did consumption of egg whites alone. This is important
It’s worth noting that the dose of ecdysterone given to because it is the yolk that contains the most cholesterol.
the participants in the study mentioned earlier was
equivalent to the amount contained in 4kg of spinach. The anabolic power of eggs is one of bodybuilding’s
Even if you can’t manage that amount on a daily basis, a forgotten secrets. The massive consumption of raw eggs,
decent helping of spinach each day will almost certainly and with them massive amounts of cholesterol, was an
help you balance your hormones and chase those gains. essential part of Vince Gironda’s legendary 36-eggs-a-

TESTOSTERONE
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day diet, which he also dubbed the ‘Hormone Precursor’
diet. Gironda, an anti-steroid advocate his entire career,
claimed that an eight-week cycle of egg shakes was the
closest a bodybuilder could get to taking steroids without
actually taking them. We’ll examine this diet in detail in
another article soon.

We’ve already examined (see Herculeanstrength.com)

Gironda’s steak-and-eggs or ‘Maximum Definition’ diet
as a means of losing fat weight while retaining muscle
mass.

The precise mechanism by which cholesterol increases

muscle mass is not clear at present. It may have
something to do with effects on cell membranes,
inflammation or lipid raft formation and cell signalling –
or all of those things.

There’s evidence from a number of studies on saturated

fat, which is a building block of cholesterol, that diets
high in saturated fat increase testosterone production.
Low saturated fat intake is associated with reduced
testosterone.

If you’re worried about dietary cholesterol intake, there’s

growing evidence that actually you really shouldn’t be. In
fact, there’s evidence that most people’s consumption of
dietary cholesterol has nothing to do with their blood
cholesterol levels, and even the much-vaunted link
between dietary cholesterol and heart disease is now
being re-examined.

VINCE GIRONDA
One of the most legendary bodybuilders
and trainers of all time, Vince Gironda was
famous for his unconventional wisdom and training
methods, and for his extreme unwillingness to suffer
fools gladly. Vince famously referred to a young
Arnold as a 'fat f***'. Arnold had made the mistake of
entering Vince's West Hollywood gym in high spirits,
bragging about his chances at the upcoming Mr
Universe - which he ended up losing, to Frank Zane.
Humbled, Arnold returned to Vince's Gym and submitted to
Vince's rigorous diet and training advice. Soon enough, he
was in the best shape of his life.

TESTOSTERONE
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FIVE FOODS THAT

LOWER TESTOSTERONE
SOY
BEER
We all know about the dreaded beer belly, but did you
know that beer boobs are a thing too?

Hops have traditionally been used as a treatment for

women suffering from menopausal symptoms such as
hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings and vaginal
dryness. And why is that? Because hops are one of the
most potent phytoestrogens known to man.

Phytoestrogens are natural chemicals that mimic the

effects of the hormone estrogen. In fact, the
phytoestrogen levels in hops are so high that menstrual
This unmanly variant of Wojak is known affectionately by
disturbances have been reported in female hop workers
many names. One of them is ‘Soyjak’, and for good
– women who are simply harvesting and handling hops,
reason: regular guzzling of soy products really will make
not drinking them by the pint.
you less manly.
Hops have been used in the preservation of beer since at
least the 9th century, but it wasn’t until much later that Sorry, vegan gainers. Although soy protein used to be a
they became more widely used, replacing the other popular protein powder in the Golden Age of
preservative chemicals such as mugwort, sweet gale and bodybuilding, soy has since been recognised as an
yarrow that were used in the ancient form of un-hopped inferior quality protein, with low bioavailability
beer known as ‘gruit’. compared to whey and milk and egg proteins. In
addition, soy foods, like hops, are also high in
Although hops have a superior preservative power, phytoestrogens, which can lower testosterone levels.
allowing beer for the first time to be shipped long
distances without spoiling – that’s why India pale ale Scientific research has shown that regular consumption
(IPA) was so heavily hopped, to allow it to survive the of soy products like edamame, tofu, soy milk and miso
ship’s journey from England to Indian – this has come at may also lower testosterone levels.
the expense of male hormonal balance.
For example, one study in 35 men found that drinking soy
Needless to say, if merely handling hops can alter your protein isolate for 54 days resulted in lower testosterone
menstrual patterns as a woman, then imagine the effects levels.
on the male body of consuming litres of heavily hopped
craft beer every week… That bald bespectacled As well as lowering testosterone levels, soy consumption
gentleman with the tufty beard and flabby upper chest has also been found to reduce male fertility.
isn’t doing himself any favours by making it his life’s
mission to sample as many varieties of small-batch IPA
as he can.
REFINED SUGAR
Our advice: either cut back on beer totally in favour of
wine or spirits, or try one of the many new brands of Studies have found that consumption of refined sugar
gruit that are now available. can lead to both reduced testosterone levels in men and
reduced sperm motility, reducing fertility.
It’s worth noting, though, that excessive alcohol
consumption in any form has been linked to lower By giving men a 75g dose of refined sugar every day,
testosterone levels too. At least two studies have shown researchers at Oxford University were able to reduce
testosterone decreases in men as a result of alcohol their testosterone by 25% with almost immediate effect.
consumption per se The effects took place within a very short period of time

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and testosterone remained suppressed two hours after consumption of dietary cholesterol.
administration of the sugar dose.
The lie has also been perpetuated by bodybuilders who
To put it in perspective, a single can of Coca Cola use anabolic steroids to create the right hormonal
contains about 40g of refined sugar, so it wouldn’t be environment; they can afford only to eat the egg whites
difficult to consume more than the dose administered by rather than the whole, for instance, or to avoid butter
the Oxford University researchers. and red meat and only eat chicken breast and tuna,
because they do not need the saturated fat and
The massive increase in refined sugar consumption over cholesterol to put their bodies in the necessary anabolic
the twentieth century has been responsible for the state.
explosion of health conditions such as obesity and
diabetes and may also be responsible, at least in part, for Prefer butter and animal fats to vegetable oils and other
the rise of other conditions such as Alzheimer’s. unsaturated fats; there is absolutely no reason in the
world not to eat eggs either, one of the most nutritionally
The next entry in our list, vegetable oil, has also been complete foods in existence.
fingered for its role in this growing health crisis, and like
refined sugar also has anti-testosterone effects.
FLAXSEEDS
VEGETABLE OIL Watch out, wellness-heads: as Instagram-able as your
breakfast yoghurt bowl may look with that liberal
At least two studies have associated vegetable oil (such as sprinkling of flaxseeds, you may be doing yourself as
canola, soybean, corn and cottonseed oil) consumption much harm as good by eating them.
with reduced testosterone levels in men.
Whatever the benefits of consuming flaxseeds – fibre,
These forms of fat have long been advocated as healthy vitamins and minerals – these should be balanced against
alternatives to animal fats but increasingly appear to be their well-documented anti-testosterone effects.
anything but healthy. In fact, their increased
consumption since the middle of the twentieth century Flaxseeds contain lignans, plant compounds which bind
may be associated with the increasing prevalence of themselves to testosterone in the blood and force it to be
some of the worst health conditions of our time, excreted, meaning lower testosterone levels.
including Alzheimer’s, heart attacks, diabetes and
autism. For an in-depth discussion of the deleterious Flaxseeds also contain high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids,
health effects of vegetable oil (and of refined sugar), we which have also been linked with reductions in
recommend reading Deep Nutrition, by Catherine testosterone.
Shanahan.
A number of studies exist showing these effects in action
One study of around 70 men showed that frequently as a result of flaxseed consumption. In a study of 25 men
consuming vegetable oil was associated with significantly with prostate cancer, supplementing with flaxseed and
lower testosterone levels. decreasing overall fat intake was shown to reduce
testosterone levels significantly.
Another smaller study, of 12 men, also reported that
vegetable oil intake was linked to lower levels of Similarly, a case study reported daily flaxseed
testosterone. supplements decreased testosterone levels in a woman
with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition which is
Since we’re on the subject, one of the worst lies marked by increased male hormones in women.
perpetuated about nutrition concerns the nature of
animal fats – saturated fats – and their relationship to
muscle-building. Contrary to much of the received
nutritional ‘wisdom’ of the past half-century, saturated
fats are healthy and essential to creating the right
hormonal environment for muscle growth.

Cholesterol, one of the most demonised substances in

the modern world, is a necessary precursor for a wide
variety of hormones, including testosterone, which is
crucial to building muscle. Dietary cholesterol intake
appears to have nothing to do with levels of supposedly
‘good’ or ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood, and even the
USDA has now reconsidered its guidelines about the

TESTOSTERONE
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BEER: A POTENT
PHYTOESTROGEN

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH
Beer, in case you didn’t know, is an alcoholic drink made The use of hops as a flavouring and preservative is first
from barley, yeast, hops, water and grains. Through a mentioned by a French monk in 822, but it wasn’t until
process of fermentation involving the yeast, the simple the early 16th century that their use became synonymous
sugars in the grains and barley are converted into with beer. In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria,
alcohol. The hops add bitterness to the taste and also act promulgated the famous Purity Law, decreeing that the
as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. only permitted ingredients for beer are water, hops and
barley-malt. The law is still in force today.
Although the basic chemistry has remained the same
throughout the ages – the use of microorganisms to Today, oceans of hopped beer are drunk annually. As of
produce a sweet liquid from grains – the beer our 2006, annual consumption of beer is more than 130
ancestors drank was often very different from the kind billion litres or 35 billion gallons. The world’s largest
we drink today. One of the principal differences is the producer and consumer of beer is China, where 45 billion
widespread inclusion of hops, which came very late in litres were consumed in 2010. Second place goes to the
beer’s history. United States, whose consumption is roughly half that of
China.
The addition of hops has turned beer into a potent
estrogenic substance, as we’ll discuss below. Although
manly men have drunk hopped beer in large quantities
since its creation, the ubiquity of estrogenic chemicals in GIVE UP BEER NOW
the modern world compounds the feminising effects of
hopped beer. The health hazards associated with drinking, especially
frequent drinking to excess, are well known, and hardly
As a result, we recommend choosing a different kind of need to be rehearsed in detail here. One of the health
alcoholic drink instead, such as red wine, which has a hazards that receives much less attention than
number of superfood benefits we’ve already discussed
alcoholism, liver disease or cancer is hormonal imbalance
elsewhere (see the website).
in men.

A CANNED
The bad news for beer drinkers is that, while your
granddad might have been able to get away with drinking
pints and pints of bitter, he didn’t inhabit a toxic,

HISTORY OF BEER estrogenic chemical environment from birth, as

described by Professor Shanna Swan in her new book,
Count Down, which we've discussed earlier.
Beer is one of the world’s oldest known alcoholic drinks.
The earliest evidence for beer preparation comes from Although more detailed scientific research needs to be
the Natufians, a semi-nomadic people of modern-day done on the estrogenic effects of consuming hopped beer
Israel, 13,000 years ago. Unlike the silky-smooth in the long term, especially in male subjects, there is a
substance we know, Natufian beer had the consistency of wealth of anecdotal evidence testifying to the powerful
gruel and was probably used during ritual feasting at effects of hops on female hormonal balance, which are
certain important times during the year. backed up by scientific studies on animals and human
subjects.
Written evidence of beer appears first in the ancient
records of Iraq and Egypt. Some archaeologists have One of the most powerful pieces of anecdotal evidence is
speculated that beer may have been an important the observation that female hop pickers – women who
commodity in the development of the first settled simply touched hops when they were working – would
agricultural civilisations, because it was often used as regularly suffer menstrual disturbances because of their
payment for work. Workers in the ancient city of Uruk, in contact with the plant. Likewise, it is regularly observed
present-day Iraq, were paid a ration of beer, and so were that men who suffer alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver – i.e.
the workers who built the Great Pyramids in Egypt. In men who have consumed huge amounts of alcohol,
this regard, beer has been referred to ‘the midwife of usually including large quantities of beer – often ‘show
civilisation’. testicular failure and symptoms of feminization’.

Beer-like drinks are recorded in ancient China and India. Studies on subjects that produce no natural estrogen –
Beer became widespread in Europe through the spread rats with their ovaries removed and post-menopausal
of the Celtic and Germanic peoples. The early beers that women – have shown that phytoestrogens in beer and
they drank would have contained grains as well as fruit, other alcoholic drinks do exert estrogen-like effects in
honey, herbs, spices and also narcotics like henbane, the body.
which when consumed in sufficient quantity can prove
fatal. Hops were generally absent. Beers that don’t Indeed, one phytoestrogen in hops, 8-prenylnaringenin,
contain hops are referred to today as ‘gruits’. was isolated and shown to have an estrogenic activity

TESTOSTERONE
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‘greater than other established plant estrogens,’ which
was demonstrated in tests on cells from rat uteruses. The
study of 8-prenylnaringenin states that although this
phytoestrogen can be detected in beer, ‘the levels are low
and should not be any cause for concern.’

However, more recent research has shown that levels of

this chemical can be massively amplified within the body
by the body’s own gut flora. Another phytoestrogen in
hops, isoxanthohumol, can be converted into 8-
prenylnaringenin at up to a 90% rate, as one study
showed. [R] This may be one reason why 8-
prenylnaringenin can be detected in the urine of beer
drinkers for days afterwards: because the body’s gut
flora is still continuing to produce it.

Although more work needs to be done on hops and

hopped beer in particular, the evidence for the way that
other estrogenic chemicals upset hormonal balance and
retard masculine development is strong enough that we
can be sure that reducing or even totally cutting your
hopped beer consumption has the potential to do you a
world of good.

If you drink a lot of beer, try switching to another kind of

alcoholic drink. Red wine, for instance, contains
aromatase inhibiting compounds, which actually prevent
the conversion of testosterone into estrogen by the
aromatase enzyme.

Note, though, that consumption of even moderate Resveratrol and quercitin

quantities of any kind of alcohol has been associated with
reduced testosterone.
are two of the compounds
that make red wine a
This is the kind of health intervention that is easy and test-boosting superfood
comes with little cost and no risk. If you don’t like it or it
doesn’t have much of an effect, you can stop. Simple.

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SOY: ANOTHER POTENT

PHYTOESTROGEN

TESTOSTERONE
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MEET SOYJAK one study in 35 men found that drinking soy protein
isolate for 54 days resulted in decreased testosterone
levels.
No doubt you’re already familiar with the pathetic figure
of Soyjak, one of the many variants of the original Wojak As well as lowering testosterone levels, soy consumption
meme. You’ll recognise Soyjak by his bald head, wispy has also been found to reduce male fertility.
beard and glasses. If you don’t encounter him at repose,
you’ll probably find him bawling his eyes out over some ‘There was an inverse association between soy food
form of injustice – NOOOO! YOU CAN’T JUST DO X / intake and sperm concentration that remained
NOOO! NOT THE HECKIN’ Y! – pointing open-mouthed significant after accounting for age, abstinence time,
to a food truck or product billboard some distance away,
body mass index, caffeine and alcohol intake and
or holding a new games console in his hand, a post-
smoking. In the multivariate-adjusted analyses, men in
vasectomy gift from his ‘wife’ perhaps.
the highest category of soy food intake had 41 million
sperm/ml less than men who did not consume soy foods
An overgrown child with no real preferences or
(95% confidence interval = -74, -8; P, trend = 0.02)…
character of his own, Soyjak must consoom an endless
succession of corporate products to animate and validate
‘The inverse relation between soy food intake and sperm
himself and his otherwise entirely empty life.
concentration was more pronounced in the high end of
the distribution (90th and 75th percentile) and among
The hilarious thing is, of course, that Soyjak really does
overweight or obese men. Soy food and soy isoflavone
exist. Like Wojak himself, he is an archetype of a new
intake were unrelated to sperm motility, sperm
type of ‘man’, one created by a new type of environment
flooded with chemicals and social practices that are toxic morphology or ejaculate volume.’
to traditional masculinity.
So not only does consumption of soy reduce your sperm
Put simply, Soyjak is what he consumes – nothing more. count, but this problem becomes even worse if you’re
And, as the name suggests, one thing Soyjak consumes a overweight or obese. It’s worth remembering, as we’ve
lot of is soy. Just what is it about soy that makes it so bad said elsewhere, that fat tissue itself is estrogenic, and this
(assuming, that is, that you want to be a red-blooded is probably why being fat compounds the effects of soy
man and not a simpering, flabby puppet of corporate on male fertility.
interests)?
Interestingly enough, soy protein used to be a popular
Soy is what is known as a phytoestrogen, a plant product protein powder in the Golden Age of bodybuilding.
that mimics the effects of the female hormone estrogen However, it has since been recognised as an inferior
in the human body. No wonder, then, that scientific quality protein, with low bioavailability compared to
research has shown that regular consumption of soy whey and milk and egg proteins.
products like edamame, tofu, soy milk and miso may
cause a drop in testosterone levels. For example, one Sorry, vegan gainers: you’d be better off sticking to meat.

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SOYFACE
degeneration, in his landmark 1939 study, Nutrition and
Physical Degeneration.

Price showed the devastating effects for native

When you see or hear the words ‘soy face’, you inevitably
populations of the transition from their ancestral diets to
think of the hideous, cloying facial expression pulled by
Soyjak every time he learns that a new corporate product the modern, Western diet, especially the introduction of
has dropped for him to consoom. OMG NEW KOREAN grain consumption for the first time. Where the natives
KIMCHI SOYLENT MOUTHWASH! GOTTA TAKE A eating their ancestral diets had strong and properly
PICTURE OF MYSELF WITH MY MOUTH OPEN! EMOJI formed jaws, with evenly spaced teeth without decay, the
EMOJI EMOJI! younger generation, now eating a largely imported
Western diet, had narrowed faces, malformed dental
The social-psychological aspects of this facial display arches and crowded jaws full of teeth that were crooked
deserve some comment. It’s long been known that in the as a politician and riddled with decay.
chimpanzee world opening one’s mouth and displaying
the teeth is essentially a sign of subservience: I am a
friend, not a threat. A ‘submissive grin’, as it’s called:

‘The bared-teeth display, also referred to as the fear grin,

or grimace, is one of the most conspicuous and well-
studied facial expressions in ethology and has been
reported in a variety of mammalian species from canids
to primates. Research has shown, however, that the
communicative function of this expression can differ
quite broadly depending on the species, their type of
social organization and social context. In wolves, for
example, retraction of the lips horizontally over the teeth
results in a ‘submissive grin’ which is used by cubs and
subordinates when actively greeting adult conspecifics, or
humans’

Why would humans be so different? We are, after all,

naked apes, as Desmond Morris put it in his famous 1967
book.

Essentially, what Soyjak is saying with his soyface is: I am

a good man, not like those other bad men. Because Soyjak
has no way of ascending the traditional dominance
hierarchy of males, based as it is upon physical Some of the famous facial studies from
dominance, aggression and prowess (but also, let it not be
forgotten, cooperation, self-sacrifice and very often
Weston Price's great work
serious privation too), he must find another way to get Part of the problem with these modern diets, as Price
ahead in life. He does so by rendering himself totally recognised, is that they are too soft. Our ancestors would
harmless, at least ostensibly, and conspiring in the spend hours a day chewing their food – bone, cartilage
downfall of traditional masculinity. and connective tissue, tough cuts of meat – as well as
using their teeth and jaws for practical tasks like working
By doing so he hopes to emerge from the ruins of leather and other handicrafts, whereas we moderns
tradition attractive to the opposite sex – an otherwise essentially slurp our food.
impossible task. Funnily enough, though, all this
soyfacing and constant declarations of being free from As well as forgetting how to chew in the first place, many
the stain of ‘toxic masculinity’ – ‘I’m with HER!’ / ‘This is of our foods, especially soft grains, barely require any
what a feminist looks like’ / ‘I voted Hillary’ – don’t make chewing at all; even our modern meat preferences, for
these men immune from the sexual assault accusations fillet over flank steak say, predispose us to the least
that are supposed to be the exclusive province of amount of chewing possible. And so, as a result, the
unreconstructed men – in fact quite the opposite. [R] But musculature of the jaw and face do not develop as they
that’s a matter for another day… should, leading to the effects Price documented.

When I write ‘soy face’ in this context, though, I’m talking

Use it or lose it, or so the saying goes: this is precisely the
about the deleterious effects of liquid soy consumption on
risk of a liquid diet. If you don’t use the muscles of the jaw
the human face. This should hardly be a surprise. Dr
for mastication AT ALL, then the muscles aren’t going to
Weston A Price, the famous physiologist, wrote about the
stick around. In our ebooks we’re often at pains to
phenomenon of physical degeneration, especially facial
emphasise how metabolically expensive the maintenance

TESTOSTERONE
realherculeanstrength

herculeanstren1

herculeanstren1

realherculeanstrength

herculeanstrength
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

of muscle tissue is, and it’s for this reason that your body
will move to get rid of muscle it feels it doesn’t need.
An essential of the struggle to be muscular, then, is to
‘convince’ your body it needs the extra muscle through
the constant targeted application of stress and proper
nutrition and recovery.

The effects of an all-liquid diet can be aptly illustrated by

the founder of Soylent, Rob Rhinehart. On the left, at an
early stage of his journey to the status of a fully
automated luxury liquid Redditor, we see that he is still
recognisably possessed of a jaw; on the right, further
down the line, we see his transition to chinless wonder
proceeding at a pace.

Basically, if you subsist on a liquid diet, you’re doing the

opposite of what all those looksmaxxers with their
mewing and mastic chewing are doing. If you want to
have a jaw, you’re going to have to eat solid food: it’s that Soylent CEO and founder Rob Rhinehart
simple. before and after adopting an all-liquid diet
day, sending passive-aggressive emails to HR. But if
you’re an athlete or even just an active person, this won’t
do at all and no amount of Soylent shakes will be of
benefit to you, beyond providing you with your bare
caloric needs – and there is much, much more to being
healthy than consuming a set number of calories a day.
At the very least, you’ll have to add other foodstuffs to
your diet, meaning you won’t be able to be authentically
Reddit. We suggest you don’t buy the stuff in the first
place and just try to eat like a human instead.

NUTRITION? Here's a picture of some

perfectly cooked steak, to
It’s worth adding, too, that the nutritional content of
cleanse ourselves with
Soylent is basically garbage. Although Soylent may have
improved on the meal-replacement products of the
1990s, the basic ingredients are as follows:

• Soy protein isolate

• High oleic canola oil
• Maltodextrin
• Isomaltulose
• Soluble corn fiber
• Modified food starch

We've already discussed vegetable oil here and at length

on our website. Well, the entire fat content of Soylent
comes courtesy of the truly satanic canola oil, seen here
in a ‘high oleic’ version supposed further to con you into
believing that it is in fact healthy. Besides the soy content,
this is reason enough not to consume Soylent.
In addition, the general macronutrient balance of Soylent
is 1:1:2 for fat, protein and carbs, which is perfectly
acceptable if all you’re intending to do is sit at a desk all

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

A LOW-FAT VEGETARIAN
DIET WILL KILL YOUR T

A shrivelled carrot? What could we

possibly be trying to suggest?

If you were looking for a reliable way to cause your testosterone levels to sink faster than the
latest Ghostbusters remake, what kind of diet would you choose? At least try to act surprised
by the findings of a recent study...

A new study conducted at the University of Worcester has Studies such as the University of Worcester study are helping
revealed that a low-fat diet decreases testosterone levels by us better to understand an increasingly worrying trend of the
between 10 and 15%. past fifty years: the precipitous decline of men’s testosterone
levels. The average man today has considerably less
The University of Worcester study combined a systematic testosterone than a man of the same age even a single
review and meta-analysis. The results of six controlled studies generation ago.
with a total of 206 participants were considered. These studies
first put men on a high-fat diet (40% fat), and then transferred A 2007 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
them to a low-fat diet (20% fat), and found that it decreases Metabolism showed a significant reduction in the testosterone
testosterone by 10-15% on average. levels of men since the 1980s. A 60-year-old American man in
2004, for example, had 17% less testosterone than a 60-year-
Worst of all was the transition to a low-fat diet combined with old American man in 1987. These findings were corroborated in
vegetarianism, which decreases testosterone by up to 26%. a study of Danish men, who displayed a two-digit decline
between the 1920s and the 1960s.
The authors also noticed an ethnic component to the research,
with a stronger effect for European and North American men This decline is linked to a worrying collapse of male fertility
(i.e. a larger decrease in testosterone on low-fat diets). The (sperm counts), with one expert predicting that by 2045 the
reasons for this variation are not immediately clear, and majority of men may no longer be able to reproduce, a scenario
would reward further research; although such research sometimes dubbed ‘spermageddon’.
regularly proves controversial.
In her new book, Count Down, Profressor Shanna Swan points
Evaluating their results, the authors considered other studies the figure of blame at xenoestrogens in particular, industrial
that showed similar results, particularly studies showing that chemicals that mimic the effects of the female hormone
high consumption of monounsaturated fats, such as those estrogen in the human body. We have already devoted articles
found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts, can boost testosterone to xenoestrogens and to phytoestrogens, plant chemicals that
production. also have estrogenic effects.

Polyunsaturated vegetable oils, by contrast, should be avoided Studies like the University of Worcester study remind us that
at all cost. Elsewhere, we have discussed in detail their diet is also a very significant part of the equation. Dietary
dreadful health effects, which mainly result from their habits have changed considerably over the last century, and
chemical instability and high proportion of Omega 6 fatty the demonisation of dietary fat, especially saturated fat, by the
acids. scientific community and media – often for less than honest
reasons – must rank as one of the most prominent dietary
The issue of saturated fat consumption, however, is more trends during that period. Indeed, the notion of a low-fat diet
vexed, largely because of decades of anti-saturated-fat for health almost certainly did not exist before the second half
messaging, including the claim, which now looks increasingly of the twentieth century.
spurious, that increased saturated fat and therefore
cholesterol consumption is directly correlated with increased The University of Worcester study is also likely to dismay
risk of heart disease and death. Indeed, studies have shown proponents of plant-based diets who claim that vegetarianism
that saturated fat and cholesterol have extremely beneficial or veganism can be just as healthy or even healthier than
pro-hormone effects, including increasing testosterone levels. meat-eating.

TESTOSTERONE
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TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

THREE TEST BOOSTERS*

*actually two, but the 'third' does something you'll find very interesting

We've already reported how a new study has shown that to treat vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, sexually
a low-fat vegetarian diet is about the worst diet you can transmitted diseases, diabetes and rheumatism.
follow if you want to maintain optimal testosterone
levels. Only recently, though, has the plant come to the attention
of western practitioners as a potent testosterone booster
While a low-fat diet on its own may decrease a man’s and libido enhancer.
testosterone levels by 10-15%, a low-fat vegetarian diet
may decrease levels by as much as 26%.

This is a significant blow for advocates of vegetarian and

vegan diets, who like to claim that these diets are just as
healthy as – if not more than – diets built around or
containing animal products.

Instead, the study highlights what we have known for a

long time: that a diet rich in traditional whole-food
sources – the foods our ancestors have been eating since In a study conducted at the University of Fort Hare, South
time immemorial – is the best way to be a healthy, high- Africa, rats given a dose of the plant had a serum
functioning man. testosterone level that was 347% that of the control group
that did not receive the plant. The dosed rats also had 35%
As well as choosing your foods carefully – red meat, less estrogen and observably more libido.
eggs, butter, among others – there are additional things
you can do to optimise your testosterone levels, In rats, at least, the plant appears to work because it
including taking supplements. Here we’ll consider three increases testosterone levels in the testes and blood,
test boosters you should try that will help you achieve which in turn causes testes to grow and secrete more
that aim. testosterone. It does this by raising levels of hormones

BULBINE
and compounds that are used in the production of
testosterone. In addition, it raises levels of an enzyme
that ensures health sperm.

NATALENSIS There are very few human studies of the effects of

bulbine natalensis, since it is a relatively new health
Bulbine natalensis is a plant that is indigenous to South product. Its long-term effects are unknown, but a clinical
Africa, where it is known by many names, such as study of its use in men for a period of 28 days stated that
ibhucu, ingcelwane and rooiwortel. the supplement is safe according to various markers of
health, including blood, kidney, liver and heart markers.
It has been used in traditional remedies for a number of Although more research needs to be done, there is plenty
different purposes. The sap has long been used for of anecdotal evidence for its efficacy, both in online
treating wounds, burns and rashes, and the root is used product reviews and forum posts.

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

TRIBULUS
TERRESTRIS
Tribulus terrestris, a herb belonging to the
zygophyllaceae family, is indigenous to southern Europe,
Southern Asia, Australia, and Africa.

It is often used in the treatment of infertility, low sex

drive, and erectile dysfunction. It is also used by athletes
to increase muscle strength and improve performance in
sports. Soviet and eastern bloc athletes in particular are
known to have used preparations of the herb for some
time, just like our third booster, ecdysterone.

Its supposed libido-enhancing properties have been

studied and verified in a number of studies. In men,
higher dose preparations have been shown to produce
Soviet weightlifter Anatoly
significant improvements in erections and sexual Pisarenko: average ecdysterone user
satisfaction. It also appears to show beneficial effects by
improving blood sugar levels and reducing levels of Although ecdysterone resembles the testosterone
harmful blood cholesterol. molecule in structure, there’s no evidence that it works
like testosterone. In fact, it appears to have its anabolic
The testosterone-boosting potential of this herb, despite effects not by binding to the body’s androgen receptors
its widespread use for this purpose, especially in the like testosterone or SARMs, but by working on the body’s
eastern bloc, is actually quite hotly debated. It should be estrogen receptors. This may explain why ecdysterone
noted that actual studies of the effects of tribulus also appears to have promising potential for the
terrestris are limited, but one review of the studies treatment of certain breast cancers.
concluded that it does not affect testosterone levels
beneficially. At least two recent studies have demonstrated the
powerful anabolic effects of ecdysterone in a clinical
Another study, however, showed significantly increased setting, in both animals and humans. It would appear that
levels of testosterone in animals but not in humans the studies, both of which were conducted under the
unless as part of a wider regime of supplementations. supervision of Professor Margaret Parr, were initiated at
Despite this, the study concluded that there were the behest of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was
observable physiological effects of tribulus, including aware of the long tradition of ecdysterone use by Soviet
increased release of nitric oxide, and that these may have and Russian athletes.
beneficial effects.
The first of the two studies was conducted on rats and
In short, the jury’s out at present, at least until further noted the following:
research is conducted. But that’s no reason not to try
tribulus, especially since it has other beneficial effects ‘Ecdysterone exhibited a strong hypertrophic effect on
that have been substantiated. the fiber size of rat soleus muscle that was found even
stronger compared to the test compounds metandienone

ECDYSTERONE (dianabol), estradienedione (trenbolox), and SARM S 1, all

administered in the same dose (5 mg/kg body weight, for
21 days). In C2C12 myotubes ecdysterone (1 µM) induced a
Actually, technically ecdysterone isn’t a test booster, so it significant increase of the diameter comparable to
shouldn’t be on the list. But studies have shown that it dihydrotestosterone (1 µM) and IGF 1 (1.3 nM).’
has amazing potential as an anabolic substance, so we’re
including it anyway. Ecdysterone is a phytosteroid that is Yes, you read that right: a stronger effect than dianabol,
found in many plants, including spinach — making its trenbolox, the SARM S1 and IGF 1 (insulin-like growth
effects worthy of placing it on the “test boosters you factor 1).
should try” list.
After this first study, Parr cautioned that ‘ecdysterone
Like tribulus, ecdysterone has long been used by Russian should be considered to be included in the class “S1.2
and eastern European athletes to provide a competitive Other Anabolic Agents” of the list of prohibited
edge. Indeed, ecdysterone is often referred to as ‘the substances of the World Anti-Doping Agency.’
Russian secret’ for that very reason. More recently, a double-blind study, again involving

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH
Professor Parr, tested ecdysterone on humans.

Athletes were divided into two groups, with one group

getting a daily dose of ecdysterone and the other
receiving a placebo. After ten weeks, the results were
unmistakeable: the group that had received the
ecdysterone experienced significantly greater increases
in muscle mass and strength than the placebo group.

‘Significantly higher increases in muscle mass were

observed in those participants that were dosed with
ecdysterone. The same hypertrophic effects were also
detected in vitro in C2C12 myotubes. Even more relevant
with respect to sports performance, significantly more
pronounced increases in one-repetition bench press
performance were observed.’

Although ecdysterone still remains legal, Professor Parr I have it on poor authority
again cautioned that it should be added to the World
that this is what Soviet
Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances.
ecdysterone pills looked like
These are striking results, and in combination with the
anecdotal evidence of Soviet and Russian usage, suggest
that ecdysterone could have a powerful role to play in
fueling your gains. Ecdysterone supplements are
commonly available and are not expensive. What’s more,
since it’s not a testosterone booster, per se, you could
even try stacking it with other “test boosters you should
try” — something like bulbine natalensis or tribulus
terrestris for a 1-2 knockout punch.

Ecdysterone also appears to be more or less perfectly

safe to take. Unlike with other anabolic agents, no side
effects have been noted, such as liver or kidney toxicity,
either in Parr’s studies or in another earlier study.

Chemical structure of
ecdysterone

TESTOSTERONE
Just a few days ago I received an email from a fitness First of all, it’s worth saying that, chemically, we might
website I’d downloaded a free ebook from: ‘30% off our expect butea to increase testosterone because one of its
test-booster, containing butea superba’. Butea superba? active compounds is a strong cAMP phopshodiesterase
Never heard of it. Bulbine natalensis, tribulus terrestris – inhibitor. Inhibition of this molecule has been shown to
sure, I’d hear of those test boosters. Ecdysterone too; increase testosterone levels.
although that’s not strictly a test booster, but does have
strong anabolic effects. Another trial in rats, however, showed a decrease in
serum testosterone, as well as other important blood
But butea superba? Never. markers including white blood cell count. But this
doesn’t necessarily mean that the butea was simply
The list of benefits was certainly impressive: testosterone reducing testosterone production. At the same time as
booster, erectile hardness and libido, anti-oxidant and this decrease in serum levels of testosterone was
anti-aging, anti-estrogen, hair growth. In addition, the observed, androgenic, that is masculinising, effects were
email claimed their product was ‘a rare premium strain observed such as increased spleen weight. What this
which is more potent than 95% of all the other products suggests is that the reduction in testosterone may have
on the market’. been caused either by the conversion of testosterone to
dihydrotestosterone (DHT) or by increased use of
As often seems to happen, that same day I had a client
testosterone by the androgen receptors. Another study
ask me about butea superba. Should he use it to increase
showed similar androgenic effects in female rats.
his testosterone levels? Well, I wasn’t sure. For one thing,
In a three-month human study, butea increased the
I wasn’t sure he had low testosterone, and I still didn’t
testosterone levels of men with erectile dysfunction by
know what butea superba actually was or did, so I
11%. It’s worth noting that the study was small-scale,
decided to do a little research of my own.
involving just 39 men, and because other androgen
markers, such as DHT, were not measured, it’s hard to
Before we address the question of whether butea superba
draw firm conclusions on this basis alone.
is a potent test booster, let’s talk a little about what it
actually is.
Finally, there is a case study of a Thai man who was
Butea superba, also known as red kwao krua in Thai, is a diagnosed with hyperandrogenemia – excess androgen
flowering plant in the pea family. Like the clematis, it is a hormones – as a result of taking an undisclosed amount
crawler plant that grows around other larger plants, of butea. As well as experiencing an insane sex drive, the
especially trees. The plant is native to India and man also experienced hair loss. One of the principal
Southeast Asia. causes of baldness is DHT (see above), which the Thai
man experienced a significant increase in; although
Butea has long been used in Thailand as an aphrodisiac under measurement, his serum testosterone levels had
to increase sexual appetite and performance, which has only increased 1.7%.
clearly been the basis of its use as a testosterone booster.
The evidence for its efficacy, however, is far from clear. On the basis of the scientific evidence, we’d argue that
In short, the scientific evidence for the efficacy of butea there are better test boosters on the market, two of
superba isn’t tremendous. As far as the aphrodisiac and which we discuss elsewhere in this book. The evidence
libido claims are concerned, two studies have shown that that butea superba is a potent test booster – with the
butea enhances erections in rats. Another study suggests emphasis on ‘potent’, as in the email I received –
that butea might be more effective than Viagra in definitely isn’t there. In time, perhaps, more studies will
humans, although the study appears to have been substantiate its effects.
conducted in a slipshod manner.
Or maybe they won’t.

TESTOSTERONE
HERCULEAN STRENGTH

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

36 EGGS A DAY: VINCE'S

HORMONE PRECURSOR
Eat eggs, and then eat some more eggs for Golden Era gains. Vince's 36-
DIET egg-a-day diet is intended as a mass gainer diet, to be performed in a
'cycle' of eight weeks.

Decades before the Atkins diet brought the idea of low- building diet, rather than one for contest preparation.
carb diets to the mainstream, Vince Gironda was It’s worth stating that Vince adamantly maintained that
advocating fat rather than carbs as the body’s primary specific diets were for specific purposes: no diet should
energy source. continue once its specific purpose had been met. So once
you’ve built the mass you’re looking for, or got into
‘Personally, I prefer to use fats as energy sources over contest preparation shape, you should cease the specific
carbohydrates since they sustain the body’s blood-sugar diet you’re on. You were not supposed to eat 36 eggs a
level for up to six hours and as fuel sources burn slowly. day forever.
In fact, due to the difficulty the body has in breaking fats
down into energy, it actually burns body fat in the The purpose of the Hormone Precursor diet is not just to
process.’ provide a ready flow of the highest-quality protein,
which is necessary for building muscle, but also a huge
Back in the Golden Era of bodybuilding, it was much infusion of cholesterol. Consumption of cholesterol has
more common for bodybuilders to consume large been proven to have a closer correlation with lean
amounts of fat, and Vince was largely responsible for muscle gain than protein consumption (more on this in a
this. By contrast, most modern bodybuilders shun high- moment). Vince claimed, famously, that a cycle of 36 eggs
fat diets. Tom Platz, in a series of recollections on
a day could have the same anabolic effects as a cycle of
nutrition that we’ve included in our Golden Era 5×5
steroids.
programme, remembers Larry Scott wandering around
drinking pints of heavy cream, for instance.
The diet involves building up to eating 36 raw eggs a day,
in a series of three shakes. Each one contains 12 raw eggs
Whether Vince was advocating strictly ketogenic diets is
and half a litre of half-and-half (milk and cream in a half
a moot point – they may have been too protein-heavy to
and half ratio). Protein powder can also be added to the
constitute the strictest kind of ketogenic diet – his diets
shake, which in the Golden Era would have been Rheo
certainly look much more modern than you might
Blair’s protein powder, which contained milk and egg
expect. There’s nothing archaic or primitive about his
protein.
nutritional views, or indeed his views on exercise more
generally.
Vince recommended that the cycle should last no more
As in so many other ways, Vince was way ahead of his than eight weeks.
time when it came to dieting. In our article on the
Maximum Definition Diet (see the website), for instance,
we mentioned that the diet could also incorporate
intermittent fasting, a practice which is generally seen as
an innovation, but was in fact practised by other Golden
Era bodybuilders like the great Chuck Sipes, whose long
trips into the California wilderness convinced him of the
value of periods of food-deprivation for renewed health
and vigour. As in the case of the Maximum Definition Diet, Vince
advocated supplemental carbs, in this case twice a week,
Indeed, rather than being pie-in-the-sky or blue-sky on a Wednesday and a Saturday, with one of the meals.
thinking, Vince’s experiments with diet were actually Recommended sources were whole-grain carbs such as
informed by evidence: by the latest scientific thinking oats, rice, and pasta, as well as potatoes.
and historical and ethnographic accounts of the diets of
groups like the Inuit, who survived on a high-fat diet
Vince being Vince, there was also an extensive list of pills
with virtually zero carbohydrates and fruit or vegetables.
to be consumed, including many of his favourites such as
The Hormone Precursor diet, as we’ve said, is a mass-
liver tablets and kelp tablets.

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HERCULEAN STRENGTH

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH
These are the tablets he recommended taking each day:
• 1 multivitamin
• 1 zinc tablet
• 10 kelp tablets
• 5 alfalfa tablets
• 3 wheatgerm tablets
• 1 RNA-DNA tablet
• 3 digestive tablets
• 1 HCL tablet
• 3 lysine tablets
• 3 multi-glandular tablets.

In addition to this, Vince recommended swallowing 10

liver tablets every three hours, 5 yeast tablets with each Is this...
protein drink, 4 orchic tissue (i.e. dessicated bull’s hardgainer?
testicle) tablets before and after each workout, and 6
tryptophan and calcium tablets before bed.
That’s a lot of pills!

Vince actually used this diet himself and with his

students. That means Larry Scott, for certain, and
probably also Arnold as well, who went to Vince’s Gym
after his loss to Frank Zane in the 1968 Mr Universe
contest. Vince’s claims about the efficacy of the diet were,
of course, based on his own experience of actually using
it, then, but they were also more than anecdotal. (It’s
worth mentioning that consuming raw eggs is now a big inflammation or lipid raft formation and cell signalling –
thing in online fitness circles, especially on Twitter, and or all of those things.
many users attribute incredible feelings of vitality and
serious muscle gains to it.) There’s evidence from a number of studies on saturated
fat, which is a building block of cholesterol, that diets
Vince appears to have based his thinking about the high in saturated fat increase testosterone production.
anabolic powers of eggs on the fact that, in the early 20th Low saturated fat intake is associated with reduced
century, it had been common practice to give burns testosterone. It may not be for nothing that cholesterol
victims a diet of 36 eggs a day, in various forms, both raw and testosterone are so similar on a molecular level.
and cooked, as a means of countering the devastating
effects of burns on muscular tissue. This diet, which If you’re worried about dietary cholesterol intake, there’s
proved very effective, was then replaced by treatment growing evidence that actually you really shouldn’t be. In
with steroids like dianabol, leading Vince apparently to fact, there’s evidence that most people’s consumption of
conclude that the effects of eggs and such steroids were dietary cholesterol has nothing to do with their blood
similar. cholesterol levels, and even the much-vaunted link
between dietary cholesterol and heart disease is now
This notion is not at all fanciful – far from it. The key being re-examined.
element appears to be cholesterol, which is found almost
entirely in the yolk; hence the reason why many But why raw? The consensus seems to be that it protects
bodybuilders and health freaks refuse to consume yolks. the cholesterol from the effects of heat, which ensures
Recent scientific research, which we have discussed that the cholesterol enters the body as it is, rather than in
elsewhere, shows that there is a linear dose-response oxidised form. It will require more evidence to
between cholesterol intake and lean muscle mass substantiate this claim, but it certainly is the case that
increases. cooking eggs makes some nutrients more bioavailable at
the same time as making others less so.
Another study, specifically on egg consumption, showed
that consumption of whole eggs stimulated more muscle Beside the clear hormonal benefits and the fact that
growth (measured as myofibrillar protein synthesis) than consumption of large quantities of eggs will provide a
did consumption of egg whites alone. This is important positive nitrogen balance throughout the day, one of the
because it is the yolk that contains the most cholesterol. main recommendations of this diet is the ease with which
you can consume a massive amount of calories. Many
The precise mechanism by which cholesterol increases people find it extremely hard to consume enough
muscle mass is not clear at present. It may have calories to build muscle effectively, especially those we
something to do with effects on cell membranes, tend to label ‘hardgainers’.

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

DON'T SKIP LEG DAY

(EVEN WHEN IT'S ARM
DAY)
If you want big arms, train legs. Huh!? You may think that makes no
sense, until you learn about the hormonal benefits of leg training.

It has of course become something of a fitness cliché: the

gymbro with an enormously well-developed upper body
and matchstick legs. Bicep curls get the girls, as they say.
But what about squats? Heavy squats give you the trots?
It’s certainly a more likely outcome than gaining the
attention of the opposite sex with your amazingly well
developed thigh biceps.

Which is of course why so many people avoid training

their legs like the plague. Leg exercises are just plain
hard, and they don’t have the same poolside payoff. But
it’s still no reason to skip leg day.

The bodybuilders with the greatest leg development,

men like Tom Platz, went to the edge and back, every
session, to ensure that their legs would grow. Whether
he was squatting 500lbs for 23 or more reps, as in his
famous contest with ‘Dr Squat’ Fred Hatfield, or
squatting 200lbs for a no-less-insane 100 rep set, Tom
Platz knew that only a kill-or-be-killed attitude to leg
training would produce the results he wanted.

In recent years, the top-heavy matchstick-leg physique

has been given legitimacy through the creation of the
men’s physique class of competition, which even takes
place at competitions as prestigious as the Arnold Classic
and the Mr Olympia — something that has been subject
of a lot of memes deriding those who skip leg day. In Hugh Jackman famously skipped leg day on
men’s physique, instead of wearing the bodybuilder’s
his way to a sick upper body in the later
famous posing pouch, the competitors wear long board
shorts, reaching to the knee. No need to be embarrassed Wolverine films
about those chicken legs: all eyes are on the competitors’
upper bodies. generates the greatest amount of nerve force of any
single bodypart.’
But what if these competitors were actually missing out
on a trick? What if, as Golden Age bodybuilders like It’s worth noting that Vince wasn’t the first person to
Vince Gironda knew, training your legs was an essential make the link between leg training and overall mass gain.
part of not just leg but whole-body development? One of the touted benefits of the old-school ‘squats and
milk’ routine – in which you consume large quantities of
It’s in one of Vince’s many pamphlets, ‘Balanced Arms’, whole milk and perform high-rep squats – was whole
that he lays out the link between training legs and having body mass gain, and this claim has been repeated in
bigger arms. He writes: favour of other squat-heavy programmes like Randall
Strossen’s Super Squats, which claimed that you could
‘Another point I must make is that to acquire bigger arms gain 30lbs of muscle in six weeks just by adding high-rep
you must include some leg work. You will gain 15% more squats to your routine — so you have even fewer excuses
arm size by including leg work on the off day. The reason to skip leg day.
for this is that muscle is developed only in ratio with the
amount of nerve force developed. And leg work So is there any truth behind the claim? We’ve already

TESTOSTERONE
 HERCULEAN STRENGTH

You don't have to squat

four plates before you curl
to see the benefits

seen that, in the case of the 36-eggs-a-day diet, many of What Rønnestad’s findings show is that this principle really
Vince’s claims about the anabolic powers of whole eggs are does have a carry-over across muscle groups.
being proven by scientific studies, and in the case of leg
training improving your arm growth, Vince wasn’t wrong Okay, so if performing leg exercises before arm exercises
either. yields better results, how can I incorporate this into my own
workouts? Quite simply, you can try performing leg exercises
The Norwegian researcher Bent Rønnestad and his colleagues before you work your arms, shoulders and even your chest if
have vindicated Vince’s claims about the effects of leg training you want. We would suggest that you don’t need to perform
on whole-body muscular development. Yes, compound leg extra leg exercises before you train your back, especially if
training does cause the greatest amount of nerve stimulation, you’re doing deadlifts, because you will already be stimulating
as Vince claimed, and it also boosts the metabolism and causes large slabs of muscle. It might be the case that you are already
natural increases in growth hormone and testosterone. training legs and back together anyway.

In their experiments, Rønnestad et al compared the effects of Although the bench press, the foundation of most chest days,
training arms alone with training them directly after is a classic compound lift, less muscle is involved
performing leg exercises. They carefully screened the than in the deadlift or other back compound movements, so
participants to ensure that they had ‘the same nutritional and we would hypothesise – and I have deliberately used that word
genetic environment’. – that even chest training might benefit from the added
stimulation of some leg exercises beforehand.
‘Serum testosterone and growth hormone was significantly
increased during the L+A [leg and arm] training session, while So, here’s what we recommend. First, if you aren’t already
no hormonal changes occurred in the A [arm] session. Both A performing leg exercises, you should be: you should have a
and L+A increased 1rm in biceps curl, peak power in elbow dedicated leg session at least once a week. Second, on days
flexors at 30% and 60% of 1rm, and muscle volume of the elbow when you are training arms, shoulders or chest, we
flexors (p<0.05). However, only L+A achieved increase in the recommend performing compound leg exercises – basically
CSA [cross-sectional area], while no changes occurred in A. squat variations (back or front squats) – before you get on to
L+A had superior relative improvement in 1rm biceps curl and the arms, shoulder or chest exercises you are set to perform.
favorable muscle adaptations in elbow flexors compared to A
(p<0.05). In conclusion, performing leg exercises prior to arm There's no reason to kill yourself. Three or four sets of 10 reps
exercises, and thereby increasing the levels of serum with a weight you can handle for 15 would probably be more
testosterone and growth hormone, induced superior strength than enough. Rønnestad’s study certainly gives no indication
training adaptations compared to arm training without acute that his test subjects were killing themselves with high-rep
elevation of hormones.’ breathing squats before they performed their arm exercises,
and neither should you. ‘Train to stimulate, not annihilate’, as
Of course, in a sense this shouldn’t be a surprise, because we Lee Haney put it.
all know that compound lifts are the best for stimulating
muscular growth. This is why so many beginner programmes,
including our Golden Era 5×5, focus on using compound lifts to
achieve the best possible results, instead of isolation exercises.
More muscle fibres activated = more growth.

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