Testosterone Workout Plan: One Week Sample Testosterone Boosting Routine
Exercise, as well as sleep, sex, and proper macronutrient intake – form the base of your natural testosterone production.
And while it’s a well-accepted scientific fact that resistance training increases T levels (study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study), there aren’t any testosterone workout routines that have been laid out and show you how to train optimally for testosterone production. This one is though.
I will be making a more detailed post about testosterone workouts in the future, but in a nutshell so that you understand why this workout is as is, here’s what you should know:
- Explosive resistance training is the best thing for testosterone production and androgen receptor adaptation.
- Big multi-joint movements that activate large amounts of muscle mass are what you should be focusing on.
- The best set rep patterns for a testosterone workout plan are: 5 sets of 5 reps and/or 3 sets of 10 reps. This is best for optimal testosterone and muscle growth increases.
- You can definitely overtrain and this negatively alters testosterone production.
NOTE: For this intermediate level sample workout you should be able to do at least 5×5 in pull-ups, chin-ups, and parallel bar dips. More testosterone workout samples for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees can be found in Chris Walker’s TestShock program, along with nearly 30 different daily workout variations to craft your own plan from. If you want more advanced training to increase your testosterone, check out the THOR Testosterone Training Program.
Here is the testosterone workout plan:
- warm up
- chin-ups: 5×5
- parallel bar dips: 5×5
- pull-ups: 5×5
- divebombers 5×10
- cool down
Tuesday
- light walking: 30-60 min
Wednesday
- warm up
- box jumps: 5×5
- bodyweight squats: 5×20
- hanging knee raises 3×5
- plank hold: 3×60 seconds
- jump roping: 10 minutes
- cool down
Thursday
- light walking: 30-60 min
Friday
- warm up
- push-ups: 5 sets of your 50% set max
- parallel bar dips: 5×5
- divebombers: 5×10
- dumbbell overhead press: 5×5
- military press with barbell: 5×5
- cool down
Saturday
- light walking: 30-60 min
Sunday
- light walking: 30-60 min
Additional Testosterone Workout tips:
- More testosterone workout samples for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees can be found in Chris Walker’s TestShock program, along with nearly 30 different daily workout variations to craft your own plan from.
- For more advanced testosterone training, check out the THOR Testosterone Training Program.
- If you jump to this kind of routine after “normal” bodybuilding type workouts, you may find yourself nothing less but; weak. The workout routine may look simple on paper, but it’s pretty brutal once you’re actually performing it.
- When you advance on this routine, simply get yourself a dip belt and hang weights on it as you get stronger.
- For a biggest boost in testosterone 60-90 second rest intervals between sets are optimal.
Movement demonstrations
Pull-ups and chins:
Parallel bar dips:
Push-ups:
Divebomber:
Box jumps:
Bodyweight squats:
Hanging knee raises:
Plank hold:
Dumbbell overhead press:
Military press with barbell:
Ali Kuoppala
How many weeks would you run this?
I would run it for 2-3 weeks and then mix it up a bit, maybe do a week of more strength oriented training in between (heavy deadliftd, etc).
Cool thanks man! Keep the sample routines coming, I get stuck in a rut with my training creativity from time to time. Thanks for all of the free info too, I check this site daily
Re: “push-ups: 5 sets of your 50% set max”. Why not 5 sets of max/to failure? I can get 20-30 in my first set, and then that number diminishes by 5 or so second set, but I always push myself to at least 10. Any issue with that?
You could do that, it’s 50% just so you still have enough strength to perform the dips and divebombers with good form and explosiveness. If going for max reps at push-ups, you could do them after the dips and divebombers though.
Phenomenal post Ali but I am confused as to the lack of any weights being used for the leg portion of the week.
So far, so good, I thought I’d give it a go. My question is: why is this a testosterone raising workout, and based on the following how long do you recommend this and how do I specifically benefit? I normally do heavy compound movements 3-4 times/week, plus 1-2 HIIT sessions (usually jump rope and/or kettlebell movements and/or pushups, jumping jacks, pullups, difficult plank variations etc.). I am due for a recovery and rest from the heavy deadlifts, etc., so I thought I’d give this a try for 1-2 weeks as a change of pace. At some point fairly soon (in a month or two) I plan to take a full week off and just do walking and yoga–I do that sort of thing every few months. Yesterday (Monday) I did this workout and added difficulty by super setting the chin ups and dips. I also started with 12 dips, and by the last set I did 6. Then, by the time I did the pullups I could barely finish the workout. It felt pretty good–almost like a weight workout except easier on my joints and just as challenging from an endurance standpoint–it was shorter in duration too, which I liked with my calorie deficit. Were my modifications OK, and how does a guy like me in particular benefit from this workout? I’m 46, 6’0″, 192 lbs., +-12% bodyfat (goal is 9%), eating at a slight caloric deficit, and I’ve busted my ass for almost 2 years to get this far following your blog, Martin Berkhan, Athlean X youtube channel (specifically for weight training techniques), and a few other gurus.
So according to this training ONLY in the low rep range is not the only way to increase T? I see some higher rep training here > is it because it they are body-weight skills that training your neuromuscular system? Training body-weight skills as a whole and progressing that way can have T boosting benefits also? As a side not I would point out that you may need to explain the necessity of doing each rep explosively.
[…] have written about the effects that resistance training has on testosterone levels before on here, here, here, and here. This boost in testosterone alone is enough to improve DHT levels by increased […]