Testosterone is the key to lean muscle growth and fat loss as most men know. It’s more so than just the overall serum number of testosterone though; it’s more about the free testosterone. What’s bioavailable? What’s actually able to be used for you truly want it for? That is the real key.

So let’s talk about an easy way that you can start freeing up your testosterone levels. Freeing up that already bound up testosterone that you already have, so that it can be utilized for building muscles. The free testosterone could be utilized for driving focus, or it could be utilized to motivate you and increase that libido. To help build lean muscle and lose body fat. All the things that a man will want.

Research shows about 98% of your overall testosterone levels are bound to what is called the sex hormone binding globulin. What this means is that it is bound to a hormone that’s keeping it in your sex organs. Basically it’s helping testosterone to do what it supposed to do from a reproductive standpoint. However that little 2% that is free testosterone is what we need to tap into and grow to really get the results from testosterone.

As we age both those numbers start to change. You see our testosterone levels overall starts to decline and our sexual hormone binding globulin levels start to increase. Which means that ratio of available testosterone decreases even more as we age.

During my research I found a simple mineral, that’s proven to be pretty phenomenal when it comes to changing the amount of testosterone that’s actually available. So stick with me and I’ll explain.

Recently I had been studying nutrients to help me sleep better. I know the body only grows muscle and burns fat while we are asleep. Sleeping time is when we recover, heal and rebuild. It is one of the 3 keys to growth and health. During this time, I stumbled across a mineral that not only helps the body with other nutrients and sleep, it helps boost free testosterone.

This little discussed mineral is called boron and to be completely honest it’s not really new and emerging just the science in the last five or six years seems to be a little bit more illuminating as to how important boron might actually be. You see boron is what’s called a trace mineral. We get it from foods; we get it from the soil; we get it from veggies. If we are eating enough that is. The thing is even if we are actually eating enough broccoli or eating enough of the leafy green and the spinach and other things like it that that actually contain boron, the average person is only getting about 1 ½ mg per day. https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/minerals/boron.html Studies have shown that we need about 3 mg just for regular bodily functions. Now we are not even talking about the ability to actually unleash our testosterone levels and get a little more out of our day; more out of the gym and more out of the foods and nutrients we eat.

Most people know our soil is so depleted that our food is not near as potent as it was 100 years ago. We’re overharvesting. We are farming in pretty much every continent and we are depleting our soil of micronutrients and minerals. So a lot of these trace minerals, including boron, are starting to be depleted from our foods. They are down to about half of what they even were even 70 or 80 years ago. It’s happening extremely fast even now.

But let me explain exactly how boron works when it comes to freeing up testosterone. And to do that, I’m going to do what I always do. I’m going to reference a study on Boron (yes, I do a lot of research).

Boron and Testosterone

Okay so this study comes for 2011 from the Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology. Basically, this study took participants that were male and they let them go for six weeks consuming supplemental boron. While doing this, they concurrently measured their steroid hormones. Now I’m not talking steroids like you’re probably thinking, but rather the steroid hormones that our hormones are created from by binding with cholesterol. So we are talking about testosterone; cortisol, DHEA, pregnenolone, progesterone, and even estrogen. All the hormones that really have to do with our sex organs but also a lot of times have to do with our moods and fitness levels. These were all monitored in the study.

What is interesting is that after taking boron for just one week they found a huge increase in free testosterone. Even better, they found a big decrease in estrogen. For a man, think of estrogen as water retention, fat, the stuff that makes you puffy, and the stuff that makes you moody. They also found an increase in vitamin D coupled with an increase in DHEA and lastly but most importantly they found a significant decrease in sex hormone binding globulin after just six hours.

Now it you paid attention to what I said earlier that sex hormone binding globulin is is what’s holding all of our testosterone hostage and keeping us from being able to use it. So the fact that we had an increase in testosterone coupled with a decrease in that SHPG means that we now have more readily available testosterone that can be used for building muscle and for driving focus and motivation.

Now, coincidentally that same research group years prior did another study with boron and what they found was that 84% of boron was excreted in the urine. Now this sounds like a large waste, like “why would I even want take this”. Let’s shed some light on that. That is not a huge number for nutrients used daily by the body. That means that 16% of exogenous boron was used utilized by the body was bioavailable. To give you some point of reference, when you take some vitamin C usually you’re only absorbing 3 to 4% so a solid 96 to 97% is being excreted through your urine. This implies that boron is extremely bioavailable and the body is finding a use for it. It also tells us that more than likely as a whole we’re deprived of Boron. Especially the male population.

Vitamin D and Testosterone

To fully understand this, we need to discuss vitamin D for a second. Vitamin D is technically a hormone and not really a vitamin like it’s called. Vitamin D is actually converted in the liver through methodization process and it helps the conversion of certain hormone. It is actually kind of a route our other hormones utilize as well. So if we can increase our vitamin D levels, a lot times we can increase our testosterone levels is well. That’s exactly why I found this out about boron and the other studies that proved that boron has a direct impact on vitamin D levels as well.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15504575So this study found that vitamin D levels increased by 19.4%. This is after just four weeks of use. In the supplement world that is a huge difference. And that’s without even using supplemental vitamin D and about the same amount we get from sun exposure. So it naturally made the bioavailability and the conversion of vitamin D that much better which can be linked to more testosterone.

Now additionally this test got a little bit more quantifiable with their evidence when it came down to free testosterone. It found that free testosterone after just four weeks of supplemental boron increased by 29%.

That is phenomenal, that is increasing and unlocking a third of your free testosterone. It is literally like boosting your testosterone by 1/3. Imagine now having a third more muscle growth or imagine having a third more motivation; imagine having a third more leanness and a third more sex drive. It’s almost unfathomable so this is pretty phenomenal stuff now lastly that study quantified the increase in DHEA – dehydroepiandrosterone.

DHEA is a precursor to almost all the sex hormones in your body. I have taken DHEA to help boost testosterone as well. What this study reported was a 50% increase in DHEA further on down the hormone line, beyond what’s even potentially measurable right now, so we could be increasing that testosterone even more that what is reported.

So within four weeks we unlocked 30% more testosterone. We are also unlocking 50% or more potential testosterone later on down the line for additional hormones to be converted. Testosterone, estrogen cortisol, progesterone, pregnenolone. All the things that we need to live a healthy male life.

But now as always you’re wondering how do I take boron? What should I take? How much should I take? The thing is boron is a trace mineral and although the bioavailability of it is pretty good, trace minerals aren’t usually excreted as swiftly as say water-soluble vitamins. So there is actually a potential to have a little bit of toxicity with them. Meaning if you are to take 15 to 20 mg overtime cumulatively, you might actually have a toxic level of this trace mineral.

It is kind of like the same kind of thing like iron or possibly even Mercury. You don’t want take these heavy metals with these minerals in too abundantly. So on the contrary we have to look at another study. This one study took bodybuilders that were focused specifically on increasing their testosterone levels by supplementing 2 ½ mg of boron every day for about seven weeks. These bodybuilders noticed zero difference in testosterone levels; zero differences in estrogen levels and zero difference in DHEA. What this tells us is that there is a fine line between not taking enough and taking too much. With that said let me also say I’m not a doctor but looks like we need to be taken between 6 mg and 15 mg of boron daily to get the most impact out of it.

Two months ago I started taking Trace Minerals Liquid Ionic Boron, 6mg, 2 oz by Trace Minerals Research. I started taking this with my vitamins to sleep better.

I can honestly say I see and feel the difference. I have a higher sex drive, I am becoming leaner and I am gaining muscle. I am of course eating and training hard, but the gains have been faster and noticeable. Boron is now a staple in my diet.

My Supplement Routine For Testosterone

Trace Minerals Liquid Ionic Boron, 6mg, 2 oz by Trace Minerals Research
6 mg

BlueBonnet Calcium Magnesium Plus Boron Vegetarian Capsules, 180 Count
4 Tablets is:
1000 mg Calcium
500 mg magnesium
2 mg Boron

I take 2 tablets before bed.

NOW Foods Vitamin K-2,100mcg, 100 Vcaps
1 Tablet is:
Viatmin K2 100mcg

I take 1 tablet before bed.

NatureWise Vitamin D3 5,000 IU for Healthy Muscle Function, Bone Health and Immune Support, Gluten Free & Non-GMO in Cold-Pressed Organic Olive Oil,1-year supply, 360 count
1 Tablet is:
Vitamin D3 5000 IU

I take 1 tablet before bed.

Trace Minerals Liquid Ionic Boron, 6mg, 2 oz
I take 6 mg