Gain Muscle by Skipping Exercise - How "Weekend Warriors" Get it Wrong
Here you are, knee-deep in June.
In the Northeast, where I am, June brings peonies, crickets, and 9 pm sunsets. June also celebrates our boys - Father’s Day, of course! Also, Men’s Health Month.
I specialize in Women’s Health. I work with women to balance their hormones so they can get pregnant, regulate their cycles, and on many other conditions and symptoms women struggle with.
But female and male hormones are so interrelated, that you can’t understand one without understanding the other. And since “Men’s Health” is a topic that typically gets little attention, I’d love to celebrate this month by sharing a common issue modern men face and rarely seek help for - usually chalking it up to aging.
With hormonal health, the key word is balance. You don’t want levels to be too high or too low - in general and in relation to each other - as this can result in unpleasant symptoms. Hormones are such powerful modulators in your body that an excess or deficiency (or imbalance) of them causes symptoms on the physical, emotional, and cognitive level.
With women’s health, you hear a lot about estrogen and progesterone. What hormone comes to mind when you think of men?
Testosterone.
The growing trend for men in recent years has been one of low testosterone.
A landmark observational study showed that average levels of serum testosterone in American men have decreased close to 1% per year since 1987. This means that a 35 year-old-man in 1995 had 25% more bioavailable testosterone than a 35 year-old man today.
Since testosterone is vital and protective for so much of a man’s general health and well-being, this decline isn’t great news.
Hormones are potent and powerful. You can feel the difference when they decrease. Even people around you sense when they decrease or increase. If you’ve ever been around a woman the week before she gets her period, you understand. Swift drops in estrogen and progesterone at this time of the month are responsible for the volatile mood swings that typify PMS.
With lower testosterone, men might experience the following (all too common) symptoms:
Fatigue
Inability to gain muscle mass (getting “softer”)
Low libido
Trouble focusing and less mental clarity (unable to make quick decisions)
Low motivation and drive
Fertility issues (sperm abnormalities and others)
Erectile dysfunction
Many things contribute to this decline and most are tied to lifestyle – not due to aging.
So many men today have high-stress, career-focused lifestyles. Some are commuting long distances every day. Some have young kids and a family to support. There are bottomless responsibilities, pressures, and productivity addictions. To manage the weight of all of this, something’s gotta give. And the first thing to fall by the wayside is usually sleep.
Late night, early morning. Repeat.
With less sleep, the buffer against everyday stressors wears away. So does your testosterone level, insulin sensitivity, muscle tone, sex drive, and well, “manliness.”
To compensate for this, many men inject intense weekend workouts into their routine thinking it’ll force their body back into gear. “Weekend Warriors,” they’re termed . . . Because they’ve been told that exercise is good for you and builds muscle.
It does, but context is everything (as you’ll see in a second).
What expertly builds muscle, boosts mental acuity, restores sex drive, and literally and figuratively grows hair on your chest is testosterone.
The goal here is to optimize natural testosterone levels. Without prioritizing this, everything will be an uphill battle. And for this particular high-stress, career-driven, responsibility-plagued guy – the best way to optimize testosterone is through REST, not intense exercise.
A 2017 study looked at healthy men who had patterns of chronic sleep restriction during the week – they were averaging 6 hours per night.
When they had 3 consecutive nights of “catch-up sleep” over the weekend (clocking 10 hours each night), their:
Testosterone levels increased
Insulin sensitivity increased by 45%
Inflammatory metabolic markers decreased
Fasting insulin levels decreased
Those who skipped the “catch-up sleep” did not experience any of these benefits.
And, these changes were noted after just 3 nights. It’s that quick. Sleep is amazing.
When you want to achieve a certain goal, the natural tendency is to do more. But sometimes, you need to do less.
If you’ve had a long week, and you’re wondering if you should get up early and push yourself to sweat?
Sleep in.