How the Gym Makes You Unhealthy
Everyone knows you need testosterone to build muscle. But what if the gym was actually killing your gains?
According to Dr. Jack Kruse, your choice is either to exercise outside or bust.
How your body makes testosterone
Your body makes testosterone using a precursor hormone called pregnenolone. For your body to manufacture pregnenolone, you need adequate levels of:
- LDL cholesterol (raw material)
- Thyroid hormone T3 (promotes cells’ uptake and processing of cholesterol)
- Vitamin A (supports cholesterol transport within the cell to the site where it is converted into pregnenolone)
Rapid depletion of vitamin A
Here’s where the gym causes everything go haywire.
The florescent lights at the gym blast you with concentrated doses of blue light every workout. Overstimulation of the photoreceptors in your retina causes oxidative stress and extreme demand for vitamin A to repair and protect these cells. Artificial blue light also causes systemic inflammation which leads your body to devour your stores of vitamin A.
T3 plummets due to lack of sun
T3 comes from the conversion throughout the body of T4, one of the primary hormones produced by the thyroid gland.
According to Dr. Kruse, here is the proper sequence: sunlight exposure –> optimal mitochondrial energy production –> efficient conversion of T4 into T3. A lack of natural light impairs this conversion, leading to lower T3 levels. Individuals who are chronically exposed to artificial blue light (low vitamin A) are often also deficient in sunlight (low T3). In short, your testosterone levels are trashed.
Bodybuilders from the sport’s golden era, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, understood more than 50 years ago the bro science of testosterone synthesis, training outside at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California. Health enthusiasts like RFK Jr. continue to enjoy sunlight at the same location to optimize their testosterone.
As a side note, the failure of your cells to take up cholesterol due to low vitamin A and low T3 will cause the levels of LDL in your blood to soar. Your doctor will be delighted to prescribe you TRT and statins … neither of which is necessary, if you’d just go outside during the day and shut off the lights at night.