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Ice Bathing Before Exercise Boosted My Testosterone.
It was quite by accident that I discovered my testosterone was very high for my advanced age of 52. A routine blood test had revealed elevated levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is associated with greater risk of prostate cancer.
Because prostate cancer typically grows so slowly, I elected to treat my PSA with a ketogenic diet and regular monitoring, rather than a biopsy and surgery. I reasoned that if I could bring my PSA down in six months or so, I might avoid invasive and painful surgical procedures, without much increased risk of malignancy.
That worked for me, as my PSA dropped from 7.0 to 1.8 ng/mL. After a few more months of going in and out of keto, and adding a regular practice of deliberate cold exposure in my ice bath, my PSA dropped to 1.5 ng/mL, which is no longer high risk.
And that was when I discovered this.
After adding ice baths to my fitness regimen, my total testosterone jumped from 728 ng/mL (which is very good) to 1180 ng/mL, which is almost unheard of in a 52 year old.
In middle age, I had somehow achieved the testosterone…