Masturbation is KILLING Your Gains

Have you ever wondered whether or not masturbation was affecting your muscle growth? If so, then you are definitely going to want to watch this video. In this video, Jesse and I are going to discuss the possible benefits that masturbation might have when it comes to your efforts in the gym.

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Let’s start with this line of thinking comes from, that masturbation is affecting your muscle growth. It’s been an old saying from boxing coaches that masturbation will lead to a lack of performance in a fight. The thought was that because ejaculation relaxes you, you wouldn’t have the aggression necessary to win that fight.

It later evolved into the thought that masturbation decreases your testosterone and in order to build the most muscle possible, you need to maximize your testosterone at all times. While studies have shown that testosterone (both free and total) decreased after masturbation, these effects were shown to be transient – lasting a very short while before normalizing.

However, it was also found that androgen receptor sensitivity increased which offsets the lowered testosterone levels thanks to the human body looking to maintain homeostasis.

So, if masturbation doesn’t really have an effect on testosterone and muscle building in a negative sense, how might it be beneficial? Is there anything that can be done when it comes to masturbation and building muscle?

Well, it depends on when you decide to engage in this activity. If you decide to masturbate prior to working out, you might benefit form the release of 2-AG endocannabinoid binding to CB2 receptors. What this does is cause not only a feeling of tranquility and relaxation, but also a blunting of pain and discomfort.

If you were training for strength, it might not be the best idea, but if your goal is muscle hypertrophy, that’s a different story. You see, being able to push past the point of discomfort and the burn when approaching failure, you can expect to eke out a few more reps because you can tolerate that discomfort further. This is especially true when it comes to metabolic overload as well, since I like to say that the set starts when the burn starts. If you can continue to push through in that stage, you will be able to get more out of your sets.

However, there is a benefit to masturbating before bedtime. This is because ejaculation releases oxytocin, otherwise known as the “love hormone,” which is a hormone that is known to help decrease cortisol levels and improve sleep / restfulness.

Newer studies are showing that this increase in oxytocin leads to a faster road to Slow Wave Sleep (phase 3 in the sleep cycle, just before REM sleep) and longer time spent in it. This is exciting because we know that phase 3 sleep is the most important for anyone that works out as this is where muscle protein synthesis occurs, along with the restoration of muscle glycogen stores, tissue repair and remodeling, growth hormone release and even immune function.

These findings are key because as we know, the most important factor of muscle building when it comes to natural lifters is recovery. So if masturbation is an activity that boost your muscle recovery process, that can actually lead to increased muscle mass and strength.

While more research is needed on the timing of masturbation prior to sleep in order to really understand more about the relationship between masturbation and Slow Wave Sleep, the early findings are eye opening.

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