Testosterone can be deemed as the “holy grail” of growing muscle, if there was one substance. The most important hormone for building muscle is testosterone; it determines how much muscle a person can build. These are only a tiny handful of the abounding spectacular benefits that come with increased testosterone levels: Increased muscle size and strength, decreased levels of “bad” cholesterol, increased sex drive and sexual endurance, improved mood and decreased body fat levels.

It sounds pretty good because it is great, and in this article I’m going to outline 10 simple steps to naturally increase your testosterone levels and achieve all of these incredible benefits. While these steps will not result in “steroid-like” muscle gains, they will definitely contribute to your overall bottomline results.

1) Your workout exercises should have compound exercises as a foundation. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, chin-ups, dips, lunges and military presses. At the gym, you can maximize your workout with these exercises because they provide the greatest muscle resistance and make your body produce more testosterone.

2) Always put forth maximum exertion and intensity when preparing. You must be willing to really push your body to its physical limits if you hope to build muscle. The more stress you put on your muscles in the gym, the more testosterone your body will create.

3) It is necessary to train your legs with the same intensity with which you train your upper body. As you might already know, you can stimulate the growth in the back of your chest as well as arms, by doing some intense leg training. This is partly because your testosterone increases from your leg training.

4) Increase your EFA consumption. Necessary fatty acids that come from origins such as peanuts, avocadoes, healthy oils such as omega 3 fish oil and flax seed. To boost testosterone levels naturally, nothing beats olive or canola oil.

5) Minimize your consumption of soy. There is a direct negative effect on testosterone levels when the estrogen levels in the body increase, which can be caused by soy protein.

6) Limit your consumption of alcohol. Alcohol has been shown to have quite a dramatic effect on testosterone levels, so try to limit your “binge drinking” nights and keep your alcohol consumption in moderation.

7) Up your dietary consumption of cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, turnips, cabbage and brussel sprouts have all been shown to dramatically reduce estrogen levels, thereby raising testosterone.
Reduce your everyday stresses. When you have too much stress, your body releases the catabolic hormone “cortisol” and this makes your testosterone levels drop dramatically.

9) Have more sex. Becoming sexually aroused increases oxytocin in the sytem which increases the production of endorphins and raises levels of testosterone.

10) Be sure that you are getting a decent amount of sleep each evening. Your level of testosterone will decrease when cortisol production increases, which can happen when you don’t get enough sleep.

To boost your muscle size and gain strength, implement these techniques regularly for a noticeable difference.