Studies have shown that becoming a dad lowers a man’s testosterone levels by up to 34 percent—and these levels will probably never bounce back. The cause: less sleep, increased stress, poorer diet, and less exercise. But the good news is that the sharp drop in the muscle-building hormone does not have to impact your athletic performance.
In fact, a recent study done in a farming community in Poland found that while fathers have lower testosterone levels than non-fathers of the same age, they were also stronger and more muscular.
Outside Magazine has four helpful attack strategies for new father-athletes:
- Do whatever it takes to sleep.
One training and nutrition coach, and dad of a 2.5-year old says he began taking a 20-minute power nap mid day to compensate for less sleep at night. Eventually he worked his way back to 7.5 hours.
2. Eat well.
The advice is to go for good quality but low-prep food like raw vegetables or pre-prepped healthy meals, reduced fat peanut butter and rice cakes, or spiced tilapia with steamed broccoli.
- Train all the way up to birth.
Try to ramp up your training the month or two before the birth.
- Focus on your marriage.
One surprising final tip is to put your marriage ahead of your children, if you’re married. Married men (fathers or not) have lower cortisol levels—a hormone normally produced in response to stress that can hurt your metabolism and muscle mass—than non-fathers.
ForMen.com takeaway: Just because you have a kid, doesn’t mean you will develop the “dad bod” if you don’t want to. If anything, staying healthy and active will boost your energy and self-confidence, and that’s never a bad thing!
Relevant source:
http://www.outsideonline.com/1972501/4-ways-beat-fatherhood-testosterone-plunge
Curated from Outside Magazine
