Exercise and testosterone: what training changes, and what it does not

The acute rise, and why it does not build muscle

During and just after heavy resistance exercise, testosterone climbs, then returns towards its baseline within about half an hour. The longer-term picture is quieter. Kraemer and Ratamess note that resting concentrations often stay the same after months of training.

West's trial compared training with a large hormone rise and with a small one. Muscle growth was 12% and 10%, a difference too small to matter, and strength gains were similar. The guide to exercise and hormones explains this acute versus chronic distinction for cortisol and other hormones as well. For testosterone, the practical point is simple: you do not need to chase a hormonal response to make progress.

Sleep: the factor most executives underestimate

In Leproult and Van Cauter's study, ten healthy men with an average age of 24 spent a week sleeping 5 hours a night. Daytime testosterone fell by 10 to 15%. The authors put that in context: normal ageing lowers testosterone by about 1 to 2% a year. The NHS gives a similar figure of about 1% a year from the age of 30 to 40.

The sample was tiny and young, and one week is not a career. Still, a run of short nights before a deal closes, followed by a red-eye flight, is a familiar week for many executives. The sleep for executives guide covers how to protect the hours that matter.

Body fat and weight

Corona's meta-analysis looked at men with obesity who lost weight. Total testosterone rose by about 2.9 nmol/L with a low-calorie diet and by about 8.7 nmol/L after bariatric surgery, and the more weight was lost, the larger the rise. Central fat is the useful target here. NICE uses a waist-to-height ratio of 0.5 or more as a sign of increased health risk, and the waist-to-height ratio guide explains how to measure it.

Exercise contributes to weight loss through energy expenditure and through the muscle it preserves, but no study here shows training raising testosterone directly. The route is indirect, and it takes months.

Alcohol

A 2024 meta-analysis by Santi and colleagues found that chronic alcohol consumption was associated with lower total testosterone in healthy men, by about 4 nmol/L on average across 21 studies. The effect was not seen after a single episode of drinking. In a small controlled trial by Sierksma and colleagues, ten men drinking 40 grams of alcohol a day as beer for three weeks saw their testosterone fall by 6.8%. Forty grams is about 5 UK units, so roughly 35 units a week.

The NHS low-risk guidance is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three days or more. Business dinners and receptions make that harder than it sounds. The guide to alcohol and training gives practical ways to keep the count down without becoming the person who refuses every toast.

When training is too much

More training is not always better. Hackney describes how men in very intensive training, especially endurance training with low energy intake, can develop low resting testosterone, sometimes called the exercise-hypogonadal male condition. It is part of a wider picture of overreaching and low energy availability. A consensus statement on overtraining by Meeusen and colleagues adds that no single blood marker diagnoses it.

For most executives the risk runs the other way, but it exists for the ones who add a marathon block to a 70-hour week and a tight diet. Persistent fatigue, falling performance and poor sleep are signs to cut the load. Recovery after training explains how to read them.

Ageing and the male menopause

The NHS calls the idea of a male menopause misleading. Testosterone declines steadily, at about 1% a year from around 30 to 40, and the NHS says that decline is unlikely to cause problems by itself. Symptoms such as low mood, low libido or fatigue often have nothing to do with hormones: work stress, poor sleep, alcohol or depression are common causes.

Real hypogonadism has a strict definition. The European Male Ageing Study, in 3,369 men aged 40 to 79, defined late-onset hypogonadism as at least three sexual symptoms together with total testosterone below 11 nmol/L and free testosterone below 220 pmol/L. The Endocrine Society advises diagnosing it only with symptoms and unequivocally low levels, confirmed by repeating fasting morning blood tests.

Women and testosterone

Testosterone matters for women too, at much lower levels. In menopause care, the NHS notes that testosterone gel or cream can help low libido for some women. That is a prescribed treatment decided with a doctor, not a lifestyle target. How strength work fits around the cycle, pregnancy and bone health is covered in women executives and training.

A lifestyle check, not a blood test

The calculator looks at four factors with evidence behind them: sleep of 7 hours or more, a waist below half your height, strength training at least twice a week, and alcohol within 14 units. It counts how many are in the favourable range. It does not estimate your testosterone, and a score of 4 out of 4 does not rule out a medical problem.

Low libido, erectile problems, persistent fatigue, low mood or unexplained weight gain deserve a visit to a doctor: they have many possible causes. Testosterone is a prescription medicine with real risks, and the Endocrine Society lists situations where it should not be started, such as planned fertility or certain cancers. Never use it, or so-called boosters, without medical supervision.

If you want a training week that respects your sleep and your travel, you can set up your space in the Club and plan it with a coach.