Sex and Muscle Growth

Ever wonder if your sex life is hurting your ability to build muscle mass?


Ever wonder if your sex life has to come at the expense of your ability to build muscle mass in the gym? If so, you aren't alone. Many people wonder if regular bedroom time is something that's really going to hurt their progress and some are even willing to make sacrifices if it's true.

While it is definitely true that there is a connection between sex and muscle building, it's important to understand fully what this connection is.

Potentially one of the most critical connections between sex and muscle building is the zinc status within the body. Whenever a male has an orgasm, zinc will be released in the semen. Zinc is a critical nutrient that is required for proper sperm growth and development and when levels fall short, infertility is often the consequence.

In addition to this, zinc also plays a key role in muscle development as well, as it is closely tied in with total testosterone levels. When zinc levels are low in the body there is more likely to be a noticeably lower sex drive as well as a difficulty shown with generating more lean muscle mass.

So then because zinc is lost through orgasm, if you're frequently having sex but not replacing this lost zinc through your diet, it is very likely that you're going to fall into that deficit.

In order to prevent this from happening and make sure you not only maintain healthy libido levels but also keep progressing towards your goal of muscle building, you'll want to fill your diet with foods rich in zinc such as oysters, shellfish, wheat germ, liver, cashews, pine nuts, and pecan nuts.

Sex and Strength Levels
The next connection to know about when it comes to sex and muscle building is the connection it has with your strength levels. If you've ever taken notice of yourself, most guys will find that immediately after sex they feel very relaxed and often want to fall asleep.

At this point there is a very high release of oxytocin in the body, which serves to really relax you and could cause you to feel slightly weaker than before the sex took place. This relaxation phase does not last for an extended period of time, however, and you will return to your usual hormonal levels in the body, but the take home message is that trying to attempt a training session immediately after you're involved in sexual activity may not be the best of approaches.

Aim for at least a 3-4 hour time span afterward to allow the hormones to normalize again and for you to recover your strength and energy.

Impacts Of Sex On Overall Testosterone Levels
With the issue of zinc and the effects on testosterone aside, another correlation to look at is the overall impact of frequent sexual activity on testosterone and libido levels. For most men, the more frequently they are engaging in sex, the higher their libido levels tend to be. If a large break is taken for whatever reason, at first libido will increase, but over time if release is not achieved, levels may begin to drop.

Studies have also demonstrated that when testosterone levels are elevated in the body, it has a positive impact on libido levels. Therefore, when testosterone levels are higher, this will, in return, keep you interested in sex and the act of sex will serve as a positive reinforcement, further maintaining the cycle.

Since testosterone levels are one of the primary predictors of muscle growth and development, having higher levels in the body will help to induce greater muscle gains.

Obviously the workouts must be performed in conjunction to simulate the muscle growth response, but doing everything possible to maintain high testosterone will work to your benefit.

Sex and Focus
Finally, the last impact of sex on muscle building is going to be with regards to your focus levels. Maintaining focus both in the gym and out for the actual gym sessions will be critical to see optimal results. In some extreme cases if you become too fixated on sexual activity, you may prioritize this ahead of regular workout sessions, which will then have a large impact on the overall results you experience.

Obviously this will be to the extreme and most people will have no trouble maintaining a normal balance between the two, but if you feel like you may be pushing the barrier between an unhealthy balance it is worthwhile to seriously consider.

For many people this will never be an issue as their workouts are directly tied in to their desire to become more sexually appealing as they workout for a large part to look good for members of the opposite gender. So by keeping up with their workouts regularly, they will help promote the chances of frequent intercourse.

Conclusion
So next time you find yourself questioning what the impact of sex is on your muscle building efforts, keep these points in mind. The good news is that those who do take a more active role in regular workouts and maintaining a good diet are far more likely to be healthy and thus experience fewer sexual problems such as pre-mature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction, so you won't have to worry about either of those impacting your overall ability to perform in bed.

As with anything in life, balance is key and as long as balance is achieved, you should have no worries about maintaining a healthy sex life while making the absolute most of your muscle building efforts in the gym.

How bodybuilding will affect your sex drive

If you are a bodybuilder, then you already know how pumping iron changes your physique. More than likely, you will also know how just the look of a lean muscular body becomes a psychological turn-on, even if it's your own. Whether male or female, bodybuilding is more than just mere muscle; it's an aphrodisiac and it gets its power from the same hormone that stimulates growth in both sexes, 'testosterone'.

Researchers have found that testosterone levels in both sexes are higher following an intense workout. When you train at optimum levels, you have the highest amounts of testosterone in your system and it remains high even after you have completed your workout. This intensity is caused by the blood flow circulation of the sex glands.

The overwhelming urge to have sex after a workout (sometimes even during a workout) is created by the consistent stimulation of the body through strenuous activities such as bodybuilding or weight training. You may find yourself experiencing an excess of sexual fantasies, even while training. It is also not too uncommon for males and females to experience near ejaculation while training during this heightened level of testosterone. Your muscles become hard, round and full. When you're seeing your body transform, you begin to feel powerful, desireable and sexy. The reason is bodybuilding promotes a more positive body and self image. When this happens, it sparks your confidence and ignites a fire that transends into your sexual desires, fantasies and romantic or sexual relationships.

It may come as a surprise that certain exercises are responsible for the increase in testosterone in the body. One of the main exercises is the 'squat'. Squats are very important for building powerful quadriceps but squats also utilize huge amounts of muscle fibers which causes an increase in testosterone resulting in a heightened sex drive.

You will find that your body's hormones will send signals to your partner due to your heightened levels of self-esteem and confidence. In fact, your body language will send signals to others who come in contact with you that you have an ora of confidence which will become an attraction as well. Because you feel sexy, your actions automatically create sexual desire. If you are a bodybuilder with a partner who is also a bodybuilder, you both will come from a place of raging hormones since you both will experience the same elation that bodybuilding and heavy lifting brings.

Some males have higher levels of testosterone in their systems than other males. When bodybuilding, a male with a higher level of testosterone will also have a stronger sex drive than a male with less. This is because the male is consistently building muscle which gets the blood flowing, which produces the testosterone, which peaks during and after his workout. In most cases, he becomes a walking hormone able, willing and ready.

On the same token, female bodybuilders experience this heightened sensation just as the males do. Even though females do not normally produce great amounts of testosterone, some females will have higher levels than other females. When this happens, these women can pack on more muscle mass naturally and will experience the overwhelming sex drive that men experience.

The body also has ways of letting you know when something is off. Surprisingly, you can judge your body's response to your training simply by your sex drive. For instance, if you normally have a heightened sex drive, especially after a rigorous training session and you find that your appeal towards sex is weaning, it can be a sure indication that you may be overdoing it in the gym. One of the best ways to combat this problem is to allow the body to get adequate amounts of rest and to reduce the amount of time spent in the gym. This will allow the body time to repair itself and grow.

Experiencing great training sessions followed by great sex is a bodybuilder's dream. If you are not experiencing this phenomenon, maybe you should get into the gym and start lifting. Before long, you too will feel like a human hormone.

What is the Right Age to Start Using Steroids?

This article is being published in hopes of reaching some of the younger people, involved in our great sport of body building, reach their goals without making the great mistake of using steroids too early in their long lives. The problem with this is that most young bodybuilders (BBs) cannot grasp the concept of the future and how long the road ahead really is even with the use of steroids. How do you convince a 14 year old that it will take years before he can look like the Pro BB's in the magazines, and that he may never look like that even with all the drugs available in the world. Well that is what I hope to accomplish within this article.

At what age should you be, before you consider using steroids? This question is not as easily answered as you may think it is. You cannot randomly just pick an age and say that this is the point at which you can now start to consider using steroids.

Between the ages of 12 and 26 a male's hormone levels are on a steady rise until the age of 26. This is when these levels slowly start to decline until they are almost nonexistent by the ripe old age of 40.

When puberty starts in males at the age of 12 there is a huge flux in hormonal patterns in the body, which cause the growth of male characteristics, (deepening of the voice, growth of body hair, growth in height, etc.). These hormone levels increase by themselves so much that they can be compared to that of a mild steroid cycle. Therefore trying to add to what the body is doing on its own by adding in exogenous (outside) Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) is very counter productive.

Whenever any extra amount of AAS is added to the body, the body recognizes this extra level through a feedback loop in the human body known as the Hypothalamus. Once the Hypothalamus recognizes the increase in hormones which happens usually between 14 and 21 days, the body will shut off its own production of hormones until these levels decrease, along with increasing hormones to decrease these extra levels in the body (cortisone, estrogen). Cortisone and Estrogen are 2 hormones in the body that BBs do not need any extra. The easiest way to try to explain this without getting to complicated, is that the more AAS you put in your body, the more your body will try to lower those levels. When this happens BBs get all the side effects that are normally associated with AAS use, gynecomastia (growth of fatty tissue underneath the breasts in males), hair loss, kidney damage, liver damage, and high blood pressure, just to name a few).

Before you consider the use of AAS you should have already reached your genetic potential. What is your genetic potential? To figure this out you should first look at the weight, height and build of other members in your family. Is this exact, no, but it is somewhere to start. If every male on both sides of your family is approximately 5'7" and weighs between 150lbs and 170lbs and they are all bald by the age of 25, then it would be a good guess that you will also fall somewhere in those ranges by the time you stop growing. Now with working out and eating correctly for 4 years lets say, you would be able to put on 15 or more pounds of muscle tissue (that would mean you now weigh 165-185 lbs.). This is what your genetic potential would be. Now if you started to use steroids at that point, 165-185 lbs you may be able to put on another 15-20 lbs (180-200lbs). If you had started using when you were 125 lbs., and gained 25lbs through the use of steroids, you would still be well short of what you could have gotten naturally (150lbs as compared to 180-200lbs), and now it will be much harder to try to gain another 30-40lbs.

So for a starting point lets say that you need to be at least 18 years of age before you consider using steroids. Now that we have a starting point, lets look at a few other factors that should be considered. Steroids DO NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM makes up for a good diet and workout program. Most people who use AAS feel that this is the time where they can be a little more relaxed in their workouts and diet. Actually this is when they should be even more strict. So before you can think of using at the age of 18, you will need 3 more solid years of good training and eating habits. Minor changes in diet and workouts can result in great gains in mass and muscle as well as strength.

No matter how much assistance you get from AAS, without proper nutrition and workouts you will be lucky to have any gains at all, let alone keep them after the cycle is over. The goal of using any substance, legal or not should be that after you stop using it you don't loose all of that which you have fought to get. What would be the point of spending all that money (steroids are not free) to gain that 30lbs when you will loose it after the cycle is over anyway?

So the better question to ask instead of when can I take steroids, should be, what can I do to get all that I can out of my body without needing steroids?. In order to calculate my progress, I need to talk with my family and doctors, before I try to make a choice like that.

We will start with the age range of 14-16; this is when your hormones are raging. Your body is in full swing of making the best steroids that you can ever get, and it does all this without you even needing to do a single thing. At this point you should start with a solid exercise plan and a basic supplement plan in addition to the regular food that you need to be eating on a regular basis.

For workouts focus on the basic compound movements (Bench Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Barbell Curls, etc.) Working out 4 days a week with at least 8 hours of sleep a night is a great start. Add to that the extra protein that you should be taking and you will definitely start seeing a difference in your body. As for supplements, at this point all I would suggest is a good Meal Replacement Shake, multi-vitamin and creatine. Any shake will work, just add 2 shakes a day to the 3 solid meals that you should already be eating. Creatine has more benefits then I could start to explain in this article, but what I can say is that it will help your strength, muscle, speed, and recovery without any negative side effects.

By the age of 16-18 you will have had most of your growth spurts and you will be ready to change a few more things in your overall plan. You workouts can become a little more specialized as you start using different exercises. As for your nutrition program, all that I would think of adding now would be something such as extra glutamine before bed and maybe a ZMA supplement. You still don?t want to take anything that would alter what your body is doing on its own, so using ZMA and glutamine is just what you need.

Somewhere between 18 and 21 you should be just about done growing, so what should you do differently now? Add more protein! You should be getting at the very least, your body weight in grams of protein per day! And that?s at the very least! By now you will have been working out consistently for quite a while and should know your body very well. What will work and what won?t work should be old news. There isn?t really anything new to add to what is already a great program, other than Tribulus and maybe a pre-workout supplement such as Ultimate Orange. After this point, you can start to consider the use of steroids. What about them? Are they as terrible as everyone seems to think they are? As long as they are used correctly, I don?t think so. When considering their use, I feel that orals should be used as late as possible. These are most harmful on the body and therefore should not be used for a very long time.

Another thing to consider, other than the side effects I have already spoken of, is your sex drive. Some AAS will make your sex drive almost nonexistent and will have a big effect on your sperm count. These drugs in particular should try to be avoided. That leaves mild anabolics. Although they are the safest to use, they are expensive, illegal, and require the use of a needle. Which most first time users do not want to use.

I told you that this is not something that should be passed off very easily; you shouldn?t have to make the mistakes that most of us make by using steroids to early in your life. If used correctly, I think they are fine, but look at what it takes in order to use them correctly. Have you been working out for 5 years straight without more the 2 weeks off every 6 weeks? Do you eat every 2-3 hours, 6 times a day without missing a meal? Do you get 8 hours of sleep every night? This is something that can have a huge effect on your body for the rest of your life, so don?t make that choice in 10 minutes. Good luck and keep growing