How To Optimise Your Hormones for More Gains

When we live a healthy and balanced life, our hormones are balanced and healthy. When our hormones are balanced, we are most likely feeling great.

Hormones have always been connected to bodybuilding, mainly when it comes to exogenous injections. Testosterone and growth hormone are the most well-known hormones influencing our muscle growth, but did you know that a lot of other hormones significantly impact our hypertrophy?

This article will describe 4 different hormones and how they affect us on our road to getting jacked. We'll also give you a few tips on optimising them. And no, I'm not talking about steroids.

Testosterone

Starting with the most infamous muscle-building hormone, testosterone.

Testosterone has androgenic and anabolic effects. Androgens promote protein synthesis, which is vital for muscle growth. Without protein synthesis, there is no hypertrophy. The anabolic effects of testosterone include an increase in bone density, strength, and muscle mass.

Not bad, huh?

So, what should you do to naturally increase your test levels?

1. You should engage in high-intensity resistance training.

2. Eat a well-balanced diet, and don't ditch carbs and fats because they are crucial to testosterone synthesis.

3. Check for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. We need optimal vitamin D and zinc levels to optimise our T levels. Since many people are deficient in zinc and vitamin D, supplementing with these can bring your T levels up. Having a blood test is a great way to check your levels.

4. Get enough high-quality sleep. Research shows that we should get around 7-9 hours of sleep per day for optimised test levels.

5. Minimise stress as much as you can because too much stress can suppress your testosterone. Practising some form of mindfulness is a great way to reduce stress and realign yourself.

6. Research ashwagandha, tongkat ali, and fadogia agrestis. These supplements were shown to increase T levels in some individuals, although some side effects may occur.

Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Hormone

Growth hormone (HGH), like testosterone, is an anabolic hormone. Among other things, its function is to repair muscle and collagen tissue. It also promotes the secretion of Insulin-Like Growth Hormone or IGF-1 for short.

We release less HGH when we get older, and a lot of our lifestyle choices affect how much growth hormone we release.

Here are a few ways to increase your HGH levels:

1. Growth hormone is released in your sleep, so make sure you get plenty of high-quality sleep.

2. Don't eat anything at least 2 hours before sleeping because our blood glucose levels need to be low for HGH release during sleep.

3. Exercise releases HGH and IGF-1, especially high-intensity weight lifting. In addition, you can release these hormones locally by using a method called occlusion training, also known as blood flow restriction.

4. As funny as it might sound, sauna and meditation also increase our HGH levels. You obviously don't have to do these two things simultaneously, but 20 minutes of each have shown increases in HGH and IGF-1 levels.

Insulin

Another anabolic hormone, but people usually don't think it has any effects on hypertrophy.

Although its primary function is to regulate blood glucose levels, insulin also increases muscle protein synthesis, stimulates the cellular pathway responsible for muscle growth, and increases blood flow into the muscle.

When our glycogen stores are full, we are helping maximise protein synthesis. This is why bodybuilders inject insulin.

Working out can increase our insulin sensitivity, which decreases our risk of developing diabetes.

There are a few things you can do to optimise your insulin.

1. Remove processed sugar from your diet.

2. Get enough high-quality sleep.

3. Lose a bit of weight. An increase in fat decreases our insulin sensitivity, increasing our risk of developing diabetes and insulin resistance.

4. Try to minimise the stress in your life.

5. Eat more soluble fibers; they increase your insulin sensitivity.

Cortisol

Contrary to all of the hormones mentioned above, cortisol is a catabolic hormone. In the context of this article, that means that it breaks down our muscle cells.

Although we can't escape its effects, and it's absolutely necessary to release cortisol after a workout, too much cortisol is bad.

It’s triggered by stressful situations, from hard workouts to cursing out a bad driver on the highway. The effects of too much cortisol are noticeable in the quality of your life, not just when it comes to optimising gains.

This is what you can do to optimise cortisol levels:

1. Get a pet. No, seriously. A ton of data shows that having a pet reduces cortisol levels.

2. Once again, get high-quality sleep and clean up your diet!

3. Try to recognise the stress in your life and do your best to take it easy. I often take a walk in nature and turn off technology, this gives me a release and allows me to be present with my thoughts and feelings.

4. Start meditating. Deliberate breathing and mindfulness are great tools for stress management and, therefore, cortisol management.

Final thoughts

Hormones play a fundamental role in our bodies. We have to start prioritising things like stress management, and getting enough sleep, fueling our bodies with great nutrition.

These are some hacks to help you optimise performance and achieve greater gains in building muscle.