Your Testosterone Estrogen Ratio
Remember those chem lab days. Well, if you do, you may remember that sometimes the concentration of a solvent or chemical is more important than the absolute amount of the same. What I remember even more is getting kicked solidly in the right buttock by my 8th grade chem teacher for goofing around with chemicals in the laboratory, but that's another story.
Again, though, the concentration is often critical and this hold true in the hormonal world as well. For example, researchers recently found that it is the ratio of testosterone to estrogen that determines prostate cancer health more than total testosterone.
So what is a good T/E ratio? A solid number for a 20 year old male is 30-40 with some guys shooting near 50. Of course, some would argue that a T/E ratio that high makes it to where most guys can't think straight. Regardless, youthful testosterone-to-estrogen ratios are quite high and are certainly ideal in terms of maintaining male health. A healthy, youthful testosterone/estrogen ratio is about 50:1
Of course, the problem is that guys, as they age, find this all-important testosterone to estrogen ratio steadily decreasing to sometimes even the single digits. The situation seems hopeless because all males find their testosterone simultaneously decreasing and their estrogen increasing. This is assaulting our T/E fraction in both numerator and denominator: you've got the numerator decreasing while the denominator is increasing. Quite the "double whammy", eh?
What causes these rapid changes on both top and bottom in the negative direction. Well, some of it is aging. Males just naturally lose a little testosterone as they age due to mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA and oxidative damage and so on. However, one of the greatest culprits is the extra pounds around our middle. Extra fat pumps out more aromatase which in turn pumps out more estrogen into our system.
Testosterone. Test. The Big T. Whatever you call it, as a bodybuilder, you need more of it in your system. The equation is unfortunately simple — if your body isn’t releasing an adequate amount of T, you flat out won’t grow. Now the good news. By manipulating your training and diet, you can naturally escalate your levels of this anabolic male hormone. Intrigued? If you call yourself a bodybuilder, you’d better be.