The Androgen Lab

Do you know what one of the most ridiculous—and perhaps even dangerous—myths in the world of biohacking is when it comes to optimizing testosterone? Semen retention/celibacy. The biohackers’ idea is this: don’t have sex, and your rising testosterone levels will give you incredible motivation, focus, and otherworldly energy......:))) ) You’ll be a super alpha...: D:D Now imagine this: your partner is walking around the apartment in a short robe—attractive, fragrant, sexy—and you’re avoiding sex because you want more energy :))) If you can manage to hold back, that means... you need to get your testosterone, DHT, and prolactin levels checked:) If you can hold back, it doesn’t mean you’re an alpha—it means you have a hormone problem:)) Unfortunately. Do you know how well-regulated hormones work? You make love to your woman on Monday at 7 p.m., and on Tuesday you wake up with a raging erection. And that’s it. Biohackers cite a single study that showed testosterone levels rose by 145% after seven days of celibacy. So what?? And then it dropped below baseline levels. Are you going to abstain from sex for 6 days just to have skyrocketing testosterone on the 7th day, only for it to drop lower than it was on day 1? And what’s the point of that??:)) Of course, neither extreme is good, because having sex several times a day will keep prolactin levels high. But we’re not talking about extremes—we’re talking about normal life. So go ahead and make love :))

@BaagaddBilla Thank you very much:)

@androgen_lab Thanks for sharing. Informative posts. 👍 keep posting

You could have a total testosterone level of 700 ng/dl and still feel like you're running on 350. The culprit? SHBG. It’s a protein that grabs onto your testosterone and locks it away, making it biologically useless. Your blood tests might look great, but the actual tissue in your body isn’t getting the goods. At the end of the day, free testosterone is the only thing that matters, and SHBG is the gatekeeper. Here’s what’s jacking up your SHBG (and killing your free T): → Chronic stress and high cortisol levels. → Alcohol—it’s a direct trigger for your liver to pump out more SHBG. → A low-fat diet. → Excess estrogen (remember: body fat is basically a factory for aromatase). → Not getting enough zinc and magnesium. How to actually get those SHBG levels down: → Boron—10mg daily for a week can drop SHBG by about 28% (Naghii, 2011). → Stinging nettle root—it binds to SHBG, freeing up your T. → Zinc—aim for 25–40mg a day. → Cutting down visceral fat. → Cutting out the booze. Before you waste money on another "testosterone booster," go get your free T and SHBG checked. Turns out, your body might be producing enough just fine—the problem is in the delivery.

@thegarybrecka Elegant protocol:))

Your Saturday night sleep sets your recovery for the entire weekend. Do this before you sleep... 1️⃣ Dim every light in your home by 9 PM 2️⃣ Make a warm cup of chamomile or passionflower tea 3️⃣ Take your magnesium glycinate 4️⃣ Write down one thing that went well today 5️⃣ Phone out of the bedroom. Room at 67 degrees. Two nights of real recovery change everything about next week. This one starts right now. 💪🏻

@td1fferent @ted_ryce That's interesting... thanks for the information, I'll try such a break during my next training session :)

@androgen_lab @ted_ryce When I do heavy squats in 8-12 rep range (180-200kg) I need 6min or sometimes more. It’s whole body devastation, need lot of rest. It’s highly glycogen consuming exercise and some ATP. When I do 90%++ sets of 1-3 reps I rest about 8min, sometimes more.

Taking 2 minutes rest between sets feels like doing nothing. It's not. Your muscles need ATP recovery to perform again. Short rest = incomplete recovery = weaker sets = less muscle growth. Rest longer. Lift heavier. Build more muscle. Stop rushing.

The longevity zone in Sardinia is specifically the mountainous Barbagia region — not coastal cities. The shepherds and farmers there don't gym. They walk 8–10km daily on steep terrain carrying loads. That's the point. Olympic medals and sports participation rates are population-wide statistics that have nothing to do with what 95-year-old shepherds in Nuoro do on a Tuesday.

@androgen_lab @thegarybrecka "Nobody in Sardinia goes to a gym" Sardinia actually has one of the highest rates of regular sports participation among Italian regions. Plus, it ranked fourth in Italy for the highest rate of Olympic medals won per capita at the last Summer Olympics. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

The communities that live the longest on earth share five things. 1️⃣ They move naturally throughout the day, not in a gym 2️⃣ They eat mostly whole, minimally processed food 3️⃣ They have a clear sense of purpose 4️⃣ They prioritize sleep and genuine rest 5️⃣ They have strong, close relationships Not a supplement stack. Not a biohacking device. The fundamentals of longevity are remarkably simple. The question is never what to do. It is whether you are willing to do it. 🙏🏻

There's no research on fiber alone without a correlation with a low-fat diet—that's why I wrote that fiber is okay in people with a good diet. On a low-fat diet, which itself lowers testosterone, fiber may enhance the effect, but no one has conducted research on high doses of fiber. People in Africa consume over 50 grams of fiber per day (in some regions), and there's no evidence that they suffer from testosterone deficiency because of it.

There's no evidence I'm aware of showing that fiber lowers testosterone in people eating a normal diet. Lower fat diets can reduce testosterone levels. That's not the same thing. In practice, the biggest testosterone issue I see reading blood work is excess body fat, insulin resistance, poor sleep, and inactivity. If you have evidence supporting your claim, share it.

Nobody wants to hear this: Fiber is the #1 longevity supplement. Not NAD. Not Urolithin A. Not Resveratrol. Boring? Yes. Cheap? Yes. Unsexy? Absolutely. But it works for the diseases that actually kill people. Take your fiber.

Most men who have heard of Tribulus thought the same thing I did before the experiment — that it’s about raising testosterone. That if testosterone doesn’t go up, the supplement isn’t working. That is a fundamental misunderstanding. Testosterone alone does not determine how you feel. What determines it is hormonal balance — the relationship between testosterone, estradiol, prolactin and DHT. You can have testosterone at 900 ng/dL and feel terrible if prolactin is too high and blocking the conversion to DHT. Prolactin is the silent saboteur of testosterone. High prolactin blocks the enzyme 5-alpha reductase — the same one that converts testosterone into DHT. No DHT means no drive, no libido, no motivation in the gym. You can have great testosterone and near-zero DHT at the same time — and that is exactly what happened to me in 2019. When I saw the results of my Tribulus experiment — the number that hit me hardest was not the +23 ng/dL of testosterone. It was the drop in prolactin of nearly 27 percent. My article about tribulus: androgenlab.substack.com/p/i-tested-tri…

Calcium - divided into morning and evening servings - if you consume dairy products, supplementation is not necessary. Furthermore, consuming calcium without vitamin K2 and D3 causes tissue calcification because vitamin D and K2 direct calcium to the bones. A lack of these is a surefire path to calcification, so I don't recommend calcium supplements. Vitamin B complex - early in the morning = vitamin B should not be taken daily; they accumulate in the body. Collagen - early in the morning or before bed, before training or before bed. Before training = joint prevention. Before bed = for "beauty." Ashwagandha - before bed. Before bed for a more restful sleep. In the morning to lower cortisol. Don't take too high a dose before bed as it can significantly lower cortisol, which is produced at night.

WHEN TO TAKE YOUR SUPPLEMENTS 🌙Magnesium -1hr before bed ☀️Vitamin D - with breakfast ⚡️Electrolytes -during or after workouts 🩸lron -on an empty stomach 🫀CoQ10-with lunch 🛡Zinc - 2hrs away from iron 🍊Vitamin C- in the morning with water 🦴Calcium -split am & pm 🐟Omega-3-with fatty meal 🦠Probiotics-empty stomach 🔋B Complex-early morning 🥦Vitamin K - with meals ✨Collagen -early morning or before bed 🥗Multivitamins - with breakfast 🌿Ashwagandha-before bed.

@drjamesdinic Good advice...and if you have a lot of thoughts, put everything down on paper 10 minutes before bed – it will clear your mind.

If you have trouble falling or staying asleep and you haven’t tried: - Inositol (1-3 grams dissolved in the mouth twice daily) - Glycine (3 grams before bed) - Magnesium glycinate (200 mg before bed) - Theanine (200 mg before bed) You don’t know what you’re missing.

@thegarybrecka And I would add 6 - 10 minutes of writing before bed, getting out your worries, unfinished business, and the next day's plans. We go to bed with a clear head.

Do these five things right now before you sleep. 1️⃣ Phone in another room. Not on silent. Out of the room. 2️⃣ Thermostat to 67 degrees 3️⃣ Take 300mg magnesium glycinate 4️⃣ Block every source of light in your bedroom 5️⃣ Take 3 slow belly breaths through your nose before closing your eyes 📈 Friday night sleep sets your recovery for the entire weekend. Two nights of quality sleep change how you think, feel, and perform all of next week. It starts right now. 💪🏻

• BCAAs - I agree, if your diet is high in protein, this supplement is pointless. It's suitable for calorie restriction or protein deficiency. • Curcumin - but I disagree with this, as curcumin has well-documented health-promoting properties. • Resveratrol - I agree - it has very low bioavailability. • Testosterone Boosters - I completely agree, the only thing I can do is supplement the deficiencies.

4 Overrated supplements: • BCAAs • Curcumin • Resveratrol • Testosterone boosters 8 Underrated supplements: • Fiber • Taurine • Glycine • Creatine • Citrulline • Berberine • Vitamin D • N-acetylcysteine

The current state of biohacking: ❌ Meditation — "I don't have time" ❌ Liver — "I can't stand the taste" ❌ Walking without a phone — "boring" ❌ Sleeping before 11:00 PM — "impossible" ✅ Methylene blue — "I'm ordering it right away" ✅ Gray market peptides — "where to buy?" ✅ NAD+ drips — "when is the deadline?" We're optimizing increasingly expensive things on increasingly weak foundations.

Caffeine is doing two opposite things to your DHT at the same time. Topically: it inhibits 5α-reductase in hair follicles → less local DHT → less follicle miniaturization. That's why caffeine shampoos actually work. Systemically: it stimulates the HPA axis and androgenic pathways → more DHT throughout your body. Same molecule. Two contradictory effects. Depends entirely on whether you're talking about your scalp or the rest of your body.

Yes, it's true. The more we want to have a great night's sleep, the more we want to fall asleep quickly and get enough sleep, the more we want to have fantastic quality sleep because of hormones, the gym, training, etc., the more we can't fall asleep. We never force ourselves to perform any physiological activities...any kind...or force ourselves to eat when our stomachs are full? No. And sometimes we do sleep...and that creates stress...not much, but still stress, even after sleep. Sleep comes naturally when we don't force it :)

High cortisol is the real reason you wake up at 3-4 AM. It also shaves 5 years off your life — tanks testosterone, locks belly fat, literally shrinks your brain. If I wanted to fix it without medication, here are 8 things I'd do every day: 1. No food 3 hours before bed.

I haven't tried this, but I'd love to check it out. I wonder if 20 minutes before bed, it might be better to get all your thoughts out on paper. It's a form of "emotional objectification." Writing down what you have to do tomorrow, what worries you, what's bothering you. Then these thoughts lose their power. Furthermore, because threonate crosses the blood-brain barrier, it can interfere with falling asleep in some people. It can be stimulating instead of calming like magnesium glycinate.

Andrew Huberman’s sleep cocktail is a game changer. Magnesium threonate + Apigenin + Theanine. He says this combo shuts down racing thoughts, calms anxiety, and helps you fall asleep fast, all backed by solid science. I’ve been using it myself and it actually works. Deeper sleep, no grogginess the next day. When you’re wired from screens and stress, a simple, effective tool like this can seriously improve your recovery and energy. Tried this stack yet, or what’s your go-to for better sleep?

@LambdaStrength Good point.

@androgen_lab Same with training. Two lifters on the same program land in different places. You only know which one you are by logging your own numbers.

"Optimize your testosterone naturally" is good advice wrapped around a lie of omission. The optimization works. But nobody tells you the ceiling is genetic. Two men. Same protocol. Same diet, sleep, training, supplements. One hits 700. One hits 950. Both are at their maximum. Neither knows it.