Originally Posted By: emg
Originally Posted By: Cujet
It seems the low T epidemic is largely responsible for the "look" of the modern American male.
Actually, there was a recent study that claimed the opposite: men becoming fat and lazy as they age isn't the result of low testosterone, but low testosterone is the result of men becoming fat and lazy as they age. It goes down slowly with age anyway, but the obesity epidemic and sedentary lifestyle seem to be the cause of the much more rapid decline that we're seeing today.
My own experience confirms this.
Several years ago, I replaced the roof on my house. In addition, many of the miter & rake joints also needed fixing as the original builder didn't call for any metal flashing.
Though I had done this type of work before, getting my body "up to it" was quite a process. First I began in May due to Spring showers. Heat & humidity comes early to central Tx. In the beginning, I'd get nauseaus from it, have sit down, put my head between my knees and cool off. Over time I acclimated.
I was constantly up & down on ladders (much steeper than any staircase), hauling lumber & plywood up, setting up and taking down metal scaffolding, and sweating like crazy.
However, I soon became energized by the work & effort. I also began to eat a lot. When it came time to reshingle, my house was too far from the street for the boom to deliver shingles on the roof. Therefore, I had to carry them.
Each bundle weighed 85 pounds. Finishing the job took about 75 bundles. To prevent wrecking my back & knees, I rigged a sled riding on a ladder with a 4:1 purchase to lift 3 bundles at a time onto the roof.
I'd go to the distributer with a borrowed HD truck, load 1800 pounds of shingles by hand into it, drive home, unload those shingles onto a platform,, then onto the sled, haul them up to the roof, then haul them up to the ridge.
I noticed I was quickly losing fat, my mood was improving, and so was the libido. Soon the belly fat was about gone. I was drinking about 3 liters/day of water. I'd soak multiple shirts with sweat, then just remove them all together.
It took me about 3 months working 6-7hrs/day. All of this was not shingling though as redecking a section + all the miter work meant up/down the ladder & scaffolding several times a day.
No doubt my bodies OWN T-production GREATLY INCREASED due to this amount of work. I could feel it. However, it took this amount of work, day-in/day-out, for these changes to occur.
After the job was done, the work was over, and I'd lifted my last torn off shingle from the ground into the trash, I was fit as a fiddle.
Over time though, the effects diminished, mood dropped, fat came back, etc. Though I'd lifted weights for many years before, I'd never worked out like I did on the roof.
It dawned on me that our easy, sedentary lifestyles may be bad for us guys. Some more than others. I still have a head full of hair (no "male pattern baldness" here), no performance problems either. I've always believed that physical work does me good. I enjoy being outdoors, doing adventurous things and "fighting gravity". Too much indoors, not doing anything physical, over-eating, laying around makes me restless and quickly bored.
Obviously I need to return to weight lifting!