Testosterone and the Everyday Athlete

Testosterone is crucial for building muscles and fueling your sex drive. Receptors for the hormone actually exist throughout your body, from your brain to your bones to your blood vessels."If you are low on T, the health consequences should extend far beyond your bedroom," says urologist, Dr. Lawrence Hatchett, M.D., Medical Director for Victory Men's Health in O'Fallon, IL.For this articles's purpose, we are going to only focus on 1 symptom of testosterone and the benefits of supplementing it for the everyday athlete…. like most of us are.LOW TESTOSTERONE SYMPTOM: YOUR MUSCLES SHRINK.You start noticing that your strength is not what it used to be. Lifting heavy items seems to be getting harder. You might not work out as much as before, but there is nothing you can think of to explain this loss of strength.Studies have found that when a man is relatively inactive, he will lose one half percent of muscle strength each year between the ages of twenty- five and sixty. After sixty, the rate of muscle loss doubles every ten years. While some decrease in strength can be attributed to age, some can be tied to a decrease in testosterone levels. In other words: as testosterone levels decrease, so does muscle mass.Muscle is one of the key areas of testosterone action. Testosterone is a necessary component in gaining and retaining lean muscle mass. In a recent study, men, who used testosterone replacement for six months to bring testosterone levels into the "normal" ranges, experienced an increase in muscle mass.We provided Dr. Hatchett with a real life scenario on how this relates to the everyday man. "I am fifty- eight years old, an avid golfer and have low testosterone that I was diagnosed with a few years ago, but I chose to leave it untreated. I have been noticing I don't hit the golf ball as far as I use to. When I was forty-five I could hit the ball 250 yards without even trying. Now I'm lucky if I put it out there 200 yards.Can testosterone therapy improve my distance off the tee?"It is quite possible that testosterone therapy might help your golf game," says Dr. Hatchet of Victory Men's Health. "I have several patients whose only symptom of low T was reduced athletic performance. These men were extremely pleased with the results of their testosterone therapy; and most men felt better in ways they hadn't even expected."If you have questions about low testosterone, and if you are a candidate, there is now a mens health center located at 1405 N. Green Mount Road in O'Fallon IL. 618-632-9000.