By Mike Shaw, Founder, 1205 Fitness, Inc.
Do you remember when you were a little kid and your father seemed like the strongest man in the world? You can still picture him performing Herculean tasks and rewarding himself with a big steak dinner. And he always kept a smile on your mom’s face. Now that was a “Real Man.”
So what happened?
Why are men in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s walking around with a low/no sex drive? The symptoms of Low -T are ravaging an increasingly younger demographic. More than five million American men have been diagnosed with low testosterone, or “Low-T.” In addition to the obvious horror of not having your master blaster at the ready when you need him, low testosterone can also leave you feeling fatigued, weak, melancholy, and at risk for diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. In other words; these men are fat, tired, impotent, and waiting to die.
Scared yet?
While this Low-T epidemic is great for pharmaceutical companies peddling one pill to make you happy and another to get you hard, Low-T is a problem that needs a solution…not a band-aid. The solution needs to help you restore viable Total and Free Testosterone levels for restoring your MOJO.
The True Toll of Low-T
Without testosterone, men lack a desire for sex and have poor energy. Both of these Low-T symptoms create stress, diminish confidence, and chip away at the fiber of your life. If you’re a man experiencing these symptoms, it can permeate every part of your life, especially your relationship. If you are the partner of a man who is suffering from Low-T, then you already know how it is affecting your relationship and how much you wish you could turn back the clock to when your partner boasted a supercharged libido and performance level.
What’s the Solution?
Definitely visit an endocrinologist to have your testosterone levels tested (it’s a simple blood test). If your results show low levels of free testosterone and/or total testosterone, your doctor will most likely prescribe testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). While these do work, they also come along with significant risk and side effects. Prolonged use can run the risk of elevated PSA levels which can lead to prostate problems. Also, instead of re-starting your own natural testosterone pump, you are replacing your testosterone with a synthetic replica hormone. This will get you back on your horse, but it won’t solve the problem. To address the problem at the source you need an exercise and nutrition plan that is designed to naturally boost your testosterone.
Exercise
Want to maximize your physical performance safely? Get to the gym and start pumping iron. Regular intervals of resistance training (that’s lifting weights to those of you who’ve been too busy growing your beard to build your muscles), will kick-start the Big T. You should look to get in three to four sessions per week, about 45-60 minutes each.
Nutrition
You know you need to lose weight and you would love to feel strong and vital again. But you’re probably wondering how you’re going to drag your ass to the gym if you barely have the energy to get out of bed. This is the time to tap into the genes your dad and grandfather passed down and channel that masculine alpha male you idolized as a child. MAN UP and give it One WEEK. That’s all it takes to get your gears going and your engine pumping high octane again. How? Change your eating habits! Notice that I titled this section Nutrition… and not Diet. Diets are for women. Seriously, the parameters for almost every popular diet were created for the female body. These diets will actually lower your testosterone. Nutrition and Exercise, Nutrition and Exercise, Nutrition and Exercise!!! The truth shall set you free and get your man card back. Here are a couple of simple tips to get you started:
- Only eat foods that were once alive or grew in the ground
- Drink at least eight full glasses of water per day
- Stay away from sugar – lose the soda, sweet juices, cakes, candy, etc.
- White is bad – rice, potato, bread – ALL BAD
- Cook with extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, organic butter
- Eat at least one gram of protein daily for each pound of bodyweight
- Restrict your eating to an eight hour period each day
Crank your memory back to when you were in High School… when you took the zero instead of going to the chalkboard because you had a raging boner for no apparent reason? Those raging hormones still reside within you. They’ve just been suppressed. They want out, believe me. I don’t care how old you are, 30, 40, 50, 60…YOU ARE A MAN! The world needs you to be everything that is AWESOME about manhood. Start simple. Follow the tips I just gave you and commit to 30 minutes of push-ups, bodyweight squats, and shadow boxing each day for one week. As your testosterone ramps back up, you will sleep better, feel the energy surge, get reacquainted with your libido, and start feeling like a Real Man again.
Michael Shaw began his professional fitness journey in 1994 in Short Hills, New Jersey. During the ensuing 28 years Michael has helped thousands of loyal followers achieve their best life through superior exercise and nutrition programming. Along the way, he competed as an amateur bodybuilder, triathlete, spartan racer, and most recently, at the age of 50, competed in the U.S. Muay Thai Eastern Regional Championships. Michael makes his home in Monmouth County with his wife Jodi and children Veronica and Remington. Michael maintains an exclusive training client roster in addition to working with teenagers and young adults helping them build healthy self-images, life skills, and strong bodies. To inquire about working with Michael, please contact him at mikeshaw.1205fitness@gmail.com
