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Originally Posted by Spoomonkey Building muscle increase testosterone...
Cardio can tear it down...
If you are doing weight lifting "here and there" you're short changing yourself. Also - you don't mention diet, but you mention cholesterol and blood pressure. Cardio can knock these down a lot - so my guess is (and it is just a guess) that your diet is less than optimal.
Two things to think about... 
Spoomonkey |
I know you said you dislike weightlifting, Uomo, but perhaps you should consider doing it anyway in a more regular fashion. Before you start any other kind of prescription therapy. Just add it to the list of things to do like brushing your teeth. I personally enjoyed weightlifting when I was doing it regularly (and I'm just a guuuurl
). It really makes you feel super strong and vigorous. I loved the feeling when the bag boy offered to help carry my grocery bags to the car and I say, "No thanks! I can manage." and then hoist the whole lot of them effortlessly. No sweat! And I felt somewhat more sexually aggressive - partially because of the physical sense of well-being, and equally because I was proud of the way I looked.
I'd suggest trying weights - HEAVY weights, not the sissy little 2 1/2 lb dumbells either! Start with one set of moderately heavy weights (if you've been doing them already) the first week. Work out one day, then rest at least one day in between (this is when you actually build the muscle you just tore down). When you increase your weights, do it gradually, but a few tips:
- Focus on excellent form - sloppy = lazy = a waste of time and sweat. AND it's not a matter of IF you hurt yourself with this bad habit, but WHEN.
- Train HARD. Go to failure. Don't be a pansy.
- Don't dick around in the gym. Get in, get sweaty, and get out. I'll have to see if I can find it, but a study has shown that if you're taking longer than 45 minutes to work out, you're wasting time. You need to move from station to station quickly, and avoid resting more than 1 minute between sets.
-Big muscle groups first, then smaller ones; you need those stabilizing triceps to be fresh and ready if you're going to use good form when working out your pecs doing benchpresses. Form is everything. You can finish wearing your secondary muscles out later.
- Eat something light but high in protein before and after working out. Before, obviously, to fuel up, and within 30 minutes afterward to provide your muscles the protein/nutrients it needs. For some reason, there's this 30 minute window when your body is most receptive to absorbing the protein.
You sound like a bit of a health buff, so you likely knew this already. But whatever!
Maybe others didn't.