question from a user
What do you recommend for someone that experiences low T as a result of endurance activities? Specifically, I was training for my first marathon last year and during the last 2 months of training, I definitely felt the effects of low T (without realizing it at the time). I hadn't realized that heavy endurance training could affect testosterone that way. And, it took months for things to slowly get back to normal after my marathon season was over. Unfortunately, because I was unaware of the relationship between T and endurance activities, I didn't think to get tested when it was at it's worst. As I mentioned, it took about 3 months after the season for the symptoms of low T to resolve. I was tested after that and my levels were unsurprisingly back to normal (and, thus, required no TRT according to PCP). Regardless, I've started my marathon training for this year and I know what's going to happen. I would really like to be proactive about that testosterone crash that's coming. Any recommendations?
AlphaMD's Answer
Someone else from our team may hop on and expand on this, but in my personal opinion:
Working in resistance training to ensure muscle mass retention unless you really do need to cut overall weight can help. Natural supplements like ZMA before bedtime are a big help, I'd recommend them to everyone. In the same vein, healthy fats for your main meal at night are very good as well.
Your normal Testosterone production/release happens primarily during your REM cycles. Obviously this means ensuring you have good long restful sleep is important. It also means that your body needs the building blocks to do so. Being lipid based Testosterone like many hormones needs those good fats & Testosterone specifically needs Zinc & Magnesium (ZMA). If you're health focused then you probably get some from your normal vitamins, but what's important to note is that those are water soluble, so if you take them in the morning they're already gone for that REM sleep.
Sleep well, eat your good fats for dinner, take some ZMA, and get your levels tested before/during/after so you have more data.
Even though you may be healthy that doesn't mean it's fair for you to work harder with low T, if it continues to be an issue consider TRT outside of those ideas. Many people in competitive events like cycling or marathons have had testicular cancer and take TRT to make up for the fact that they no longer produce nearly as much as before. They're just using what they need to so that their efforts don't go to waste despite physiology setbacks.
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