Testosterone and training: what actually raises it, and what's a myth
Strength training does trigger a short-lived testosterone spike right after a hard session, especially with big compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and presses. But that spike is brief and, according to several studies, correlates poorly with long-term muscle growth — the body depends far more on your overall hormonal baseline, which builds up over days and weeks, not any single workout.
The factors that actually move your long-term baseline testosterone: adequate sleep (chronic sleep deprivation measurably lowers it), enough dietary fat (very low-fat diets are linked to lower testosterone), maintaining a healthy body-fat percentage, and managing chronic stress.
Most supplements marketed as 'natural testosterone boosters' — tribulus, various herbal extracts — either show no meaningful effect on testosterone in healthy men in controlled studies, or an effect indistinguishable from placebo.