damn it so is masturbation killing your gains this might seem like a goofy topic but this is actually a really common question that comes up i've been asked this a million and one times over the years and if you just look at the view count on most masturbation and bodybuilding videos you'll see just how many people are curious about this topic now the basic fear that most guys have is pretty simple they're worried that ejaculation is going to decrease their testosterone levels and since testosterone is the primary muscle building hormone in the body that that's going to lead to reduced muscle growth and to be totally honest this is something that i actually remember being concerned about in my younger living days as well and i would say that it actually is a valid question i mean even in some competitive sports it's not uncommon to hear about athletes abstaining from sex and masturbation prior to competitions in mike tyson's prime he says that he went five years without having sex for similar reasons so let's break it down i see people just kind of tossing answers around on this without really backing it by solid evidence so let's look at this objectively so first off in a pure physical sense in other words if you take two individuals who are following the exact same training and nutrition protocol with the only difference being that one of them is consistently flogging the dolphin three times a day while the other is living the full-blown red pill no-fap lifestyle would there be any difference in muscle growth between the two now there are a variety of studies that have looked into this as far as how masturbation affects testosterone levels so one of the more well-known papers is a 2003 study on 28 men where half of them had to keep their wiener fully concealed for an eight day period while the other half could do with it as they pleased and in the abstinence group there was a temporary 45 spike in testosterone now that sounds interesting but the reality is that this study just wasn't very well structured first off the masturbatory frequency wasn't specifically measured they also started on different days of the week which could have an effect on things depending on how stress levels might fluctuate and ultimately it was a pretty small sample size over a short time frame another study looked at testosterone levels in 10 men before and after a three week period of abstinence and there was a slight increase after those three weeks however once again the increase was small temporary and they only measured the test levels while they were masturbating not literally while they were masturbating but within the same general period and so it doesn't really tell us the whole story because we don't have a full picture of exactly what was happening from day to day this study here was done on rhesus monkeys which might not carry over perfectly to humans though judging by some of the comments people leave on my videos especially over on tick tock i'm not convinced the difference is all that significant between the two species in some cases um at least not cognitively but regardless of that one group of monkeys with the highest number of ejaculations also had the lowest testosterone levels but when they followed up on another group ejaculation frequency didn't have any effect this one here is a rat study which of course is not ideal but it did show that rodents who ejaculated to the point of sexual exhaustion didn't have any significant change in their plasma testosterone levels on top of this there actually are some studies that show the complete opposite where ejaculation is associated with higher testosterone levels now depending on the study structure that could be because people with higher test levels are just more driven to have sex or to masturbate in general so we can't really draw a firm conclusion there but it is something to consider this study showed that a period of abstinence resulted in lower testosterone levels but that was in men with erectile dysfunction who might be more prone to depression or to anxiety which could be a causative factor or just less social contact with females in general that could play a role too since that does impact testosterone levels to a certain degree as well but all in all when you look at the evidence collectively what you generally see are minor short-term fluctuations with no significant long-term effects and it's important to keep in mind that short-term fluctuations in testosterone are completely normal as is and can range anywhere from 10 to 40 over periods of a few days or weeks which brings us to the key point here which is that even if choking the chicken did cause a small temporary decrease in testosterone levels that doesn't necessarily mean anything at all when it comes specifically to building muscle and this is the big thing that a lot of people miss they click on some random study they skim the abstract they read that masturbation resulted in lower testosterone and they think that that's all they need to know case closed masturbation is going to destroy my muscle building results but that's not at all how it works in reality what you have to ask anytime you're dealing with questions surrounding hormone levels like this is how much did it decrease by and over what time frame in order for your actual rate of muscle growth to be negatively impacted in a noticeable way not only do testosterone levels need to be decreased but they have to decrease by a very large margin and for a prolonged period of time these little transient up and down spikes just aren't going to be powerful enough to make any real world difference and that's also why like i've said before testosterone booster supplements that just give you a small temporary increase are essentially worthless when it comes to building muscle and the same thing applies to growth hormone supplements as well so in terms of the direct physical effects there just doesn't seem to be any concrete measurable connection between masturbation and muscle hypertrophy so if you're purposely abstaining for the specific reason that you think it's gonna speed up your rate of muscle building or if you're not abstaining and you're feeling guilty about it for that reason it's just not something that you need to be worrying about now with all of that out of the way this doesn't mean that i'm recommending a 24 7 fap free-for-all and i do think that sitting there and slapping your meat around all day while watching large amounts of porn is not the best idea for your overall psychological health and for how that could then carry over to other aspects of your life and potentially to your fitness program in an indirect way okay it's not going to directly impact your muscle mass or your body fat but if it's affecting your motivation levels for example that could be a factor you know ejaculation does cause a release of a variety of neurotransmitters and hormones like serotonin oxytocin prolactin and if that mixture is causing you to feel fatigued and less driven overall then sure that might have an effect if you're doing it uh for example in the middle of the day before you've even hit the gym if anything probably best to say that until later on when it comes to your pre-workout ritual stick to pure form not pornhub and look masturbation is a completely normal thing for humans to engage in so i don't think you need to feel guilty about that especially if you're a younger guy where your testosterone levels are naturally raging a pretty damn normal thing but it's more so just a matter of doing what you can to keep the overall frequency under control and to time it out so that it's not interfering with your day-to-day tasks and then aside from that there's the whole other question of how porn specifically factors into that and the negative mental effects that that could potentially have masturbation is a normal thing for the human brain to deal with but hardcore high-speed porn probably not so much now that whole topic is beyond the scope of this video but there does seem to be a pretty decent amount of supporting research showing that frequently whacking it to porn can produce measurable negative changes in brain function associated with things like motivation attention mood etc and just on a purely anecdotal basis i would definitely vouch for that and the majority of guys that i've spoken to on this topic usually say the same thing as well and feel free to comment below with your own experience i know it can be a tough thing to get under control with just how readily accessible this stuff is nowadays but with the right systems in place i'm using porn blockers for example those can be extremely helpful if you can just cut porn out completely i'd say that you probably will find that to be mentally beneficial personally my mind just feels clearer overall better focus higher motivation levels higher social confidence not to mention that if you're regularly watching porn it can turn into a huge time sink as well now everybody is different so this is something you'll have to experiment with for yourself if you are a regular porn user and you genuinely feel completely fine and you don't feel that it's affecting you negatively well you know there's not much that i can say to that but i would wager that most guys out there will probably be better off without it but to sum this all up okay in a direct physical sense masturbation is almost certainly not going to affect your muscle building results in a measurable way however if it's affecting you psychologically and if it's interfering with your daily tasks then you've got to get the frequency under control and ideally porn should not be a part of this or at the very least it's something you should be using very sparingly if you do have the motivation and focus in place and you want some help getting your overall fitness program onto the right track then make sure to visit seanow.com custom just fill out the short form there and i'll send you back a free training and nutrition plan to maximize your results based on your current physique and your goals the link is up here as well as down below in the description box here are two more videos i'd recommend watching now don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay in the loop on future videos thanks for watching guys and i will talk to you again soon