BJJ is one of the biggest strength-based sports out there, without a doubt. Everyone that ever had an experience rolling on the mats knows that this sport is not a joke. You will be tired beyond believe after a single training session – every muscle in your body will work to keep you alive, so to speak. That being said, if there is one hormone that you’re in need of, it would have to be testosterone. Testosterone is in big part responsible for your strength levels. Also, it’s responsible for your confidence, muscle size, bone strength, will power, and even libido. So, it’s typically a good hormone to have more of. So, how can you maintain or increase testosterone naturally?
Increasing testosterone for BJJ
There are two main ways in which you can increase testosterone. The first one is the tried and tested anabolic steroid method. If you would use steroid injections, then your testosterone levels will shoot through the roof. You will start packing on muscle size and strength, regardless if you’re a woman or a man. If pure strength is your goal, then anabolic steroids are the way to go.
However, anabolic steroids are proven to be extremely harmful to whoever uses them, especially in the long run. A person may have various health issues, including heart failure and organ enlargement, hair loss, deepening of the voice and mood swings. So, steroid use is not something that we would recommend to anyone.
What we would recommend is for you to take the wholesome, natural way of increasing your testosterone. There’s no need to inject steroids at all. And there are several things that you could do in order to increase your testosterone naturally for BJJ. Read the following section for more information.
Natural testosterone boosters for Jiu Jitsu
One of the most powerful ways in which you can increase your testosterone, completely, naturally, is by providing your body with adequate sleep. Sleep is one of the most important factors in increasing your testosterone – there are powerful hormones at work when you’re getting that deep sleep during the night. The production of human growth hormone happens during the night, while you sleep. So, testosterone is strongly connected to your sleep patterns. If you fail to give your body the opportunity to sleep properly, then, among other things, you will be depriving yourself of increasing your testosterone in a natural way.
Good diet
Food is another important factor that you can use to your benefit in order to increase your testosterone levels naturally. Do you eat processed foods that are laden with sugar and that are nutritionally empty? This is one of the worst things that you could do for your body. What you should do instead is eat a diet full of nutritionally-dense foods. One thing that we’d like to pronounce here is that you shouldn’t be afraid to eat fats. In fact, fats play a large part in the production of testosterone – by eating grass-fed beef you will be satiating your body’s needs for fats, and your body will have no problem in the process of increasing your testosterone levels.
Check also:
- Pescatarian diet of Kron Gracie
- Carnivore Diet for BJJ – Advantages & Disadvantages
- Paleo Diet for BJJ
Lift Heavy
Another thing that you can do in terms of increasing your testosterone levels naturally is to lift heavy weights. If you’re training BJJ, it means that you’re already doing this to an extent, as you will be using your body’s full strength trying to maneuver your opponent’s body in sparring or competition. However, you can improve the gains that you get from this process by hitting the gym and lifting heavy weights. The emphasis is on heavy weights, since if you lift lighter weights, you will not be getting the testosterone-boosting effects of exercise – at least not as much.
Our recommendation is for you to do compound compound exercises – like barbell squats, bench press, lat-pulldowns and deadlifts, among other exercises. This will activate multiple parts of your body in a fully –functional way – significantly increasing your testosterone levels in the process. However, we still urge you to take things slowly with this. There is such a thing as overtraining – and this can paradoxically make your testosterone levels plummet. Make sure that you make the best combination of weight-lifting, sleeping, and eating a healthy diet, for the biggest gain.
Supplements
Vitamin D is also a very important ingredient in the process of creating and boosting your testosterone levels. It’s an essential vitamin that our bodies can’t produce on their own – we need to get sunlight to do so. So, going a bit more often under the sun may be a smart thing to do if your goal is to increase your testosterone levels. Also, you can try getting vitamin D supplements to increase the levels of vitamin D in your body. We urge you to get the more expensive supplements that are of higher quality, as this can make a huge difference in how your body will absorb the vitamin from the supplements.
Reduce Stress
Stress can be a very big factor in determining your testosterone levels. Stress may increase the levels of cortisol in your body – the main stress hormone – which is an antagonist to testosterone. Of course, a little bit of stress is normal – if not even healthy – for you. It’s when you’re overstressed for a long period of time that it begin to show its ugly head – and one of the main symptoms of this is the steady decline of your testosterone levels.
In conclusion
If you form a few simple habits like the ones that we have mentioned above, then you too can increase your testosterone levels in a completely natural and safe way. This will give you increased levels of strength and endurance on the mats as you train BJJ – and this is very important for any and every BJJ athlete. Follow the advice from above and you will do well for your body – not just in terms of naturally increasing your testosterone, but also of keeping yourself healthy and fit for a long time to come.
