A friend of mine posed an interesting question to me this evening. His new brother-in-law decided to start weight training this week. He and his wife are also currently trying to get pregnant (well, he’s trying to get his wife pregnant). The question was simply does introducing a high stress weight training and fatloss routine have any effect on the reproductive system of an untrained male. Also, can a supplement or combination of supplements enhance or damage a males reproductive system. The subject is in his mid 20’s and is almost completely untrained. I believe he may have had some athletic ability and weight training experience in high school, but he is currently a rather plump fellow.
In my limited knowledge I suggested he stay off taking mega doses of protein. I assume taking in 200 grams a day should be sufficient for his purposes right now. I also suggested he stay off fat burners. Since ephedra has gone away, I’m not sure what the active ingredient is in most over the counter fat burners, and I was not sure the effect it would have on him. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Over thinking causes more damage to T then anything you listed except maybe starvation diet. Tell him to relax get his cardio in the bed room and lift some solid heavy weights with good form in the gym.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Over thinking causes more damage to T then anything you listed except maybe starvation diet. Tell him to relax get his cardio in the bed room and lift some solid heavy weights with good form in the gym.[/quote]
Ain’t it the truth…
These aren’t real questions. These are (weak) excuses, designed to conveniently skip past having to sweat or, God forbid, work hard with weights. Tell him to get in the gym and make himself a body that his wife can enjoy.
The main thing to watch out for is zinc and magnesium levels. Make sure he has a good multi-vitamin, eats foods rich in zinc and magnesium (red meats for zinc, broccoli and oats for magnesium, and nuts/seeds for both), and get him to take some ZMA at night.
Charles Poliquin mentioned in an old article on here that he found that just about all of his atheletes at the time were zinc and/or magnesium depleted and some had been having trouble with conceiving a baby with their wives. Once he had them supplementing their performance in the gym and in the bedroom improved.
Also, I think the recommendation against a fat burner is probably a good one, especially if he was thinking of an over the counter one.
Finally, make sure he leaves at least a little saturated fat in his diet, and that he does not start cutting calories TOO deep. He does not want his T levels doing a sky dive.
Thanks for the replies. I was thinking along the same lines. I, however, did not read the article about zinc and magnesium levels getting depleted, so thank you very much for that info. I will, of course, have the newbie come to this site to get a proper starter education.
I remember reading in a few different articles that supplementing with soy can cause estrogen levels to increase. I was going to suggest he stay away from soy based products, and stick with whey or casien based protien products. (Yes, I am going to try to get him to order his supplements from Biotest.) If I am off base with the idea about soy, please let me know. Thanks
I just got my wife pregnant while trying to get leaner, so it is definitely possible. Clean diet 90% of the time, workin’ hard is only going to boost his bedroom abilities.
I also agree with getting the cardio in the bedroom (love that idea…I’m going to tell my wife that).
other than possible micronutrient deficiency the rest is down to being reasonably healthy and free of any condition that lowers his count. It’s more about avoiding the things that negatively affect him rather than adding this or that.