Fight Dad Bod (and Low T) With Functional Strength Training Workouts
“My man, Sam! How’s it going? How’ya doing this week?”
Sam replies, “Hey brother, this week has been nuts. I missed Monday morning's workout, was just slammed with meetings and had to catch a flight that evening. Been traveling since and just haven’t had the time. Too many meetings and dinners, too many cocktails and late nights. I can’t wait to get back to the hotel room. I feel like I could sleep for a week, but then I can’t seem to fall asleep. Or when I do, I wake up at about 3 AM and can’t get back to sleep. I tell myself I’ve just gotta man up. I always intend to get up early to “squeeze in” a workout but don’t have the energy. Gotta figure something out, dude. I know this exercise and nutrition s..t is important, but I just can’t seem to find time. I really envy you, man, totally have your s..t together. Living the life! I gotta figure something out…”
As a private personal trainer, I hear this same dialog again and again.
Can you relate to my good friend, Sam?
Sam is not a real person. He is a composite, a representative of about three out of five of my online private personal training clients—the majority of whom are midlife males in high-level, demanding corporate positions, or entrepreneurs consumed by running their businesses.
While fictional, the dialog above could be taken as an excerpt from many of the coaching calls that I have with my personal training clients—both online and here in Westborough, MA.
I completely empathize with Sam. I lived that life. Thankfully, I was able to leave that life.
Sam is tired but wired, frazzled, and worn out.
Sam’s stress isn’t just impacting his life—it’s beating up his body.
The chronic stress of Sam’s work results in persistently high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Today, I want to explore the effect of elevated cortisol on Sam’s testosterone, and propose that functional strength training workouts are an effective remedy for chronic stress and low testosterone.
Cortisol and testosterone are opposite ends of a see-saw. When stress-induced cortisol is chronically high, testosterone is chronically low.
Our levels of testosterone decline naturally as we age. But the rate of decline is accelerated by persistently high levels of cortisol, often leading to the condition of “low-T”.
Specifically, low-T is defined as less than 300 nanograms per deciliter of blood (ng/dL). We need a blood test to determine this. “Normal” levels are considered from 300 ng/L to 1000 ng/dL.
Declining testosterone can sneak up on us. Symptoms often present slowly over time and are often misinterpreted.
How do you know if you have low-T?
Low-T has a bunch of unappealing effects, not least of which is a loss of libido. We also lose hair, bone density, muscle mass, motivation, and confidence.
While all that's fading away, we're growing embarrassing man boobs, protruding paunches, jiggling jowls, and unloveable love handles.
Low-T can lead to poor sleep, and poor sleep can lead to low-T, a vicious cycle. Anemia, fatigue, and hypogonadism (shrinkage of the family jewels) can all be caused by low-T. As bad as all that, low-T is also linked to memory loss. Yikes!
The result… our appearance, functional strength, and self-confidence erode. We feel crappy about ourselves which can lead to Depression and Anxiety Related Disorders. By the way, brothers, depression in men often manifests as anger and irritability. Have you been feeling grumpy and pissed off all the time? Hmm...
So, Gents, if you’re a hyper-busy, hard-working, business-traveling, up-early, stay-up-late-doing-emails, super-dad-high-level-executive, and you’ve been feeling tired but wired, we’ve got to find ways to help you get your stress under control.
Feeling tired-but-wired (and embarrassed by your dad bod?) Functional strength training workouts can help.
It’s true, there is one method that not only works to mitigate the effects of chronic stress, but actually boosts our mental health and raises our testosterone levels—strength training.
Yep, when we “pick things up and put them down,” we actually raise our testosterone and relieve stress. It also improves weight loss and coordination, and improves your resilience. That’s why I like to say strength is one of the few things you can’t get too much of.
Sorry to break it to you boys, but walking the dog or doing 30 minutes on the elliptical, while effective at relieving stress, won’t do anything about those shriveled raisins or shrink those man boobs. We need to lift heavy things. Repeatedly and often.
And, while I’ve got you, something to be aware of… we need cholesterol to make testosterone. Low cholesterol and cholesterol-lowering drugs are linked to low-T. Now don’t be a knucklehead and stop taking your medications. But the link is something to be aware of.
Ready to jumpstart your functional strength training workouts?
Does Sam’s monologue sound familiar or hit close to home? Cool, I’m here to help. I created MidStrong, and particularly our online platform, to be a resource to my midlife brothers who are living Sam’s story. Because it was once my story. And I understand how hard it can be. Reach out if I can be a resource, please. Start here: www.midstrong.com/contact
MidStrong is for life.
At MidStrong, we help men (and women!) get stronger, build functional muscles, and feel incredible.
If you’re here in Westborough, MA, learn more about our small group personal training sessions. Or, take a look at our online functional fitness classes + nutrition coaching—designed with busy midlifers in mind.