What Are The Early Signs Of Hormonal Decline In Men?

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Welcome to Over 40 Alpha Answers. In this episode, we are going to answer the question, what are the early signs of hormonal decline for men? Because here's the thing, hormonal decline in men often begins after the age of 30, and can lead to symptoms like low energy, belly fat gain, reduced muscle mass, poor sleep, low libido, brain fog, irritability, and slower recovery. And while testosterone naturally dec declines with age, with poor sleep, with stress, with excessive fat, lack of exercise, and poor nutrition, can all accelerate the process dramatically. So today, we're going to break down the 10 early signs your testosterone or hormones are dropping after the age of 40. Hey guys, welcome to the Over 40 Alpha Answers show where I break down the biggest health, fitness, nutrition, testosterone, sleep, recovery, and longevity questions that men in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond are asking right now. I'm Funk Roberts, fitness expert, testosterone specialist, and the creator of the Over 40 Alpha program and Brotherhood. And again, uh, today we are going to break down the 10 early signs of hormonal decline for men. And I'm really excited that you're here. You know, let's get right to it. Let's break this down. This is what we're going to do every episode. Listen, I get it.

[00:01:11]Right, hormonal declar like I said, you're going to start feeling things like this after the age of 30. And here are some of the things that you may start to feel typically where when the red light or the red light. Yeah. When that when that red light when that, you know, ult should start to blink, you start to wake up tired, right? Uh, you know, even after a full night of sleep or your your belly fat starts to gain.

[00:01:31]That's what I started to see. Your motivation's gone. Your workouts feel a lot more difficult. Your recovery sucks.

[00:01:38]your sex drive isn't the same. And deep down, you know that you feel like something's off, right? Deep down, you're probably thinking, "Well, I'm aging. I'm 35. I'm 38. I'm 40." Right?

[00:01:48]But what the truth is, what you don't realize is these are often signs, telltale signs of hormonal decline, your testosterone decline. If and if you catch it early, you can reverse a lot of the damage naturally. In fact, you can reverse all the damage unless you have had some type of physical brain injury or injury to your testes. But what what is hormonal decline in most men? So, let's talk about what hormonal decline is. Hormonal decline refers to the gradual gradual reduction of your key hormones. And today, we're going to really focus on testosterone because testosterone is our number one male hormone. That's the biggest hormone that's involved. And it's the biggest hormone that can give you signs that there's something going on, right? Cuz testosterone affects our muscle mass. It affects fat burning. It affects our energy. It affects our mood and motivation and confidence. It affects our libido. It affects our sleep. It affects our recovery. And it affects our cognitive function. Re we and as I've mentioned in the past, testosterone levels naturally decrease 1 to 2% after the age of 40. Sorry, after the age of 30. Let me repeat that. Testosterone levels naturally decrease uh 1 to 2% every single year after the age of 30.

[00:02:58]but your lifestyle and what what accelerates this and why why testosterone levels are the lowest they've ever been in modern day history which should blow your mind because as testosterone is our number one male hormone and responsible for a lot of things I'm going to talk about with the advancements of you know we you know with the everything that we have and we're you know like technology medicine all of those things the fact that testosterone levels are so low is mind-blowing so we and that's a lot to do with lifestyle right and again most Guys, you even listening may think this is an aging problem, but it's not because when your testosterone levels are low, when your hormones are out of whack, that's when chronic, you know, that's and that's all influenced by chronic stress, by poor sleep, by belly fat, by insulin resistance, by lack of muscle, by alcohol, by eating a lot of ultra processed foods, by your sedentary lifestyle, and by environmental toxins that man are overloading us right now.

[00:03:52]So, this just creates the perfect storm for declining testosterone and rising estrogen. Estrogen is a female hormone.

[00:03:59]We do need a little bit of estrogen for sure, but what's happening is most men are estrogen dominant. They're estrogenic, which which uh which opposes testosterone. You can't have both uh high together. We definitely need estrogen because it does support our hormones. So, um let's dive into the 10 early signs of hormonal decline in men over 40. Sign number one is your energy is low and you have a lot of fatigue.

[00:04:22]And this usually comes uh this is this this is usually one of the first warnings, right? The first warning sign is is like you you you know because because here's the thing, you don't just wake up one day and everything's, you know, your testosterone levels are crashed and all of this stuff happens.

[00:04:38]There's a lot of things that creep up slowly, right? So that's why and in your 30s you're not really thinking about that, right? And even in your 40s, even as you reach 40, cuz what I'm learning now, because I'm 57 today, not it's not my birthday today, but I'm 57 as I record this. But I had all of these things that we're going to talk about, I had when I was 39 years old. At that point, I was posting workouts. I was a bit this big fitness guy and I was dealing with all these these signs, but I I didn't pay attention. And then even so, I didn't pay attention until I learned that it was my testosterone. And then I paid attention and my 40s was was great. But what I'm learning with working with all of the thousands and thousands and thousands of men who I've worked with and helped transform their bodies and lives, the over 40 alpha program, you can go to over40alpha.com right now. For $1, you can join for 30 days. A lot of the guys who are, you know, in the like are still kind of, you know, still have that energy, still have, you know, still maybe going to the gym. So the four like the early 40s is still one of those like the early 40s, you know, are now like like the time when most people are starting like when all of these signs start to to give you warning, right? You know, and but again, this creeps up early, right? Because here's the thing, you're going to start needing a little bit more coffee. Maybe you need a little bit more coffee. Maybe you're dragging yourself in the afternoon. Maybe your workouts, if you're working out currently, maybe your workouts feel like a chore. Or maybe you just kind of put your workouts to the side and you need to start telling yourself, "Yeah, maybe it's because, you know, this is what it feels like to be 42. This is what it feels like to be 56.

[00:06:05]This is what it feels like to be 60.

[00:06:07]This is what it feels like to be 38 or 39. But here's the truth. Low energy after the age of 40 or low energy as you're creeping up to 40 is not always about age, right? It's actually a signal. It can be a signal that your internal hormone system is not producing or regulating or recovering the way it used to. Because here's the thing, testosterone plays a vital role in motivation, in vitality, in muscle function, in overall well-being, and in energy. Right? There's a lot of medical sources that that list that decrease energy is as is one of the symptoms of male hypogonad gonadism which is generally it's a medical condition where your body doesn't produce enough testosterone or enough sperm or decreased sex drive or depression right so a lot of these things although it can be tricky because fatigue can come in many places but if you have poor sleep if you have stress if you have low vitamin D insulin insulin resistance, thyroid issues, anemia, depression, overtraining, poor nutrition, all of those things can also lead to fatigue.

[00:07:10]But low testosterone is also a sign, right? And that's why, you know, in my program, the over 40 alpha program, the workout program, it's not about guessing. It's about a system. And and for you, it shouldn't be about guessing.

[00:07:22]You should look at the patterns because here's one pattern that you can see if you have fatigue, if you're if you're always tired or you find yourself dragging, right? But you also have belly fat. You also have low libido. You also have poor recovery. You also have brain fog, weaker workouts and mood changes.

[00:07:38]Then you can start to think and not all of those but some of those then you may want to look at your hormones, right?

[00:07:44]Because energy is not just about motivation. You may have motivation but energy is just your feedback. It's your body's feedback saying that, hey man, when your energy disappears, that's your body telling you that your system is under stress and you need to kind of step back and take a look at what's happening in your life. So, number one is low energy and fatigue. Number two is stubborn belly fat. Right? This is one of the biggest signs that men notice, but one of the biggest signs that guys don't associate, you may not associate with low testosterone because belly fat is not just weight gain. Belly fat, you know, like the waist getting thicker, the lower belly hangs down more. You know, your love handles are showing up.

[00:08:24]You got that like protruding belly. Man, I I had that at 39. I housed 215 pounds of puffy muscle and I had a big belly, right? And the other thing too is your chest may be even getting softer, right?

[00:08:36]I know that has nothing to do with belly but fat. But then you start getting the man boobs and the frustrating part is you're still working out or you're still doing the same diets and those things don't work anymore because the same thing was happening to me. I was still doing the bros split type training, right? I was on I was doing cardio for 60 minutes and it just felt like I was getting puffier and my belly was growing more. But this is where hormones matter because belly fat is metabolic is a metab it's metabolically active, right?

[00:09:04]It's an active tissue, right? So it's not just sitting there. It influences inflammation, chronic inflammation. It influences insulin resistance. Most men are insulin resistant, right?

[00:09:15]Pre-diabetic, diabetic. Influences estrogen balance. So remember I talked about estrogen is a female hormone but most guys are super estrogenic. I mean, if I look and I see a guy with a big belly in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 100% they have uh weight, their estrogen levels are super high, right? They're estrogen dominant, right? And then their testosterone levels, your testosterone levels are going to be low, right?

[00:09:37]Because one of the major issues of of of of having belly fat and belly fat being metabol metabolically active tissue, right, is aromatase. An aromatase is a an enzyme that's found in fat tissue that converts testosterone to estrogen.

[00:09:53]So the more fat mass you carry, the higher aromatase activity that happens in the body which becomes risky for you because now you're going to be more estrogen dominant. And it's not just belly fat, subcutaneous fat. It is actual visceral fat, the fat around your liver, the fat that causes all the chronic health issues and can kill you.

[00:10:13]So and again that that's what that cycle is, right? You have more belly fat which means you have more aromatase which means more testosterone converted to estrogen which means your testosterone levels are lower which means you have less mus muscle slower metabolism and more belly fat. That's why belly fat when you are in your 40s 50s 60s7s not just a cosmetic thing not just because of your aging right it's hormonal and the quick fix is not going to be jumping on diets or you know going to the gym and hitting it hard or starting to run to get rid of this belly. I got to get rid of this belly, man. I got to stop running and start starving myself. No.

[00:10:46]Right. It's it's about losing fat while protecting and building muscle and doing it in a strategic way because the belly is often that billboard that tells you and should tell you this is what happening hormonally in my body specifically in 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. That's number two. Number three, loss of muscle mass. So again, many men you may notice, you know, you may actually notice the hormonal decline on in a blood test, right? Like you may go get your blood test and you may see it, but in the mirror, right? You may like in the mirror, that's where the big things happen. Like you look at yourself in the mirror and your shoulders may look smaller or your chest looks flatter or your arms aren't as like lean and ripped and dense as they may have used to be or you just see feel like you're losing even if you weren't muscular before cuz you may be listening. Well, I was never really muscular but you really feel soft. Your body looks softer. Your body feels softer. And this matters because muscle is one of the strongest predictors of health and aging. You know, it is the the organ as you know people say it's the organ of longevity.

[00:11:49]It's the most metabolic muscle. The more muscle you have as you get older, the more metabolically healthy you can be, right? And testosterone supports muscle protein synthesis. It supports lean muscle mass. It supports your strength and physical performance. And there has been reviews that note that low testosterone is associated with muscle with decreased muscle mass, decrease in strength. And even even if you you know and that's why kind of focusing a lot on building muscle and improving strength and never losing that is going to be key to improving muscle mass, physical structure and testosterone. Because here's the the truth. After the age of 40, you don't lose muscle because of age. Well, you do. Sorry, I'm lying.

[00:12:32]Sarcopenia, but that's not that that does not happen. The fact, the reason why you're probably losing more muscle is because you just stop giving the body what it needs, right? You stop training, right? In fact, what you're doing as you're reaching 40 or in your 40s, 50s, 60s is you're training less less. And if you are going to doing workouts, you're doing it less intense intensely, right?

[00:12:51]you're not really, you're just kind of checking it off, you know, or you're kind of just like, "Oh, yeah. I'm going to quickly go to the gym and kind of just, you know, just just go to the gym and kind of do sporadic things without having a an actual program in place or something in place." And what happens is you're just you're not training with intensity. You're not training with intent, right, to build muscle to burn fat. Uh you eat le less protein. You're probably eating too little protein. Your sleep your sleeping is poor. You're you got a lot of stress happening. you can't manage that stress, you avoid even strength training or you do too much long steadyst state cardio, not enough short hit bursts, right? Short 10 minutes, 6 minutes, you know, of of highintensity training and then you don't recover properly. And muscle is a very expensive tissue. It's very expensive. If your body thinks that you don't need it, it'll let it go because remember cyclopened is also going to um accelerate that cyclopenia natural loss of muscle due to the aging. So once your muscle goes down, testosterone health, insulin sensitivity, fat burning, strength, confidence, longevity, all of that takes a hit, right? So muscle is not vanity, okay? It's not when we're in our 40s, 50s, 60s, it is not about vanity at first because I know that in my program when guys are coming in, they're not coming in to get six-pack abs. Literally no one. I don't think there's been anyone who's come in my program after these 10 years, thousands and thousands of men that have filled out all of these these testimonials.

[00:14:17]None of them ever I don't think I've ever seen anyone come in to say they want six-pack abs. Now, after 90 days, after 6 months in the program, all of them want six-pack abs because you can start to see it. But the point I'm trying to make is muscle is not vanity.

[00:14:30]Muscle is protection. It protects your testosterone. It protects your hormones.

[00:14:33]It protects your joints. It protects your independence. And it protects your identity. that protects your overall health. So, building muscle. All right, that's key. Number four, the number four indicator that sign that you have hormonal decline is low sex drive. This is the one, this is one of the clearest signs, but it also is the least talked about. So, I talk about it a lot because that was kind of like the catalyst to my decline. Uh my whole mental, physical, emotional, spiritual decline at 39 was my girlfriend at the time who I thought I was going to marry literally left me at the, you know, she had her bag when I came home. Literally bags packed at the door. I'm gone because we haven't had sex in 6 months. She's a very sexual woman. I thought I was very sexual guy, right? Loved having sex, but for 6 months I realized that as soon as she left, they kind of sat back and like, "Oh, yeah." Right? Because here's the thing, like um I don't didn't realize that at all, right? And so, as much as I loved her and thought that she's going to be the one for me, I literally thought she was going to be the one for me. And I was super super attractive.

[00:15:32]She was so beautiful. My drive was not the same, right? So you may have the same thing, less desire. You were morning wood, morning erections, right?

[00:15:40]Weaker erections, right? Um less conf less confidence sexually like you just don't have that confidence to like approach your wife or your girlfriend or whomever for sex, right? Less urgency for intimacy. That's what was happening to me because I wasn't and all listen I'm telling you right now all of this I wasn't at the forefront like I wasn't doing these things on purpose but that's really what was happening. More anxiety around performance, right? Imagine six months not having any sex. I mean, I know a lot of men that I marry. I'm going have sex for a long time, but man, I can't even imagine that, right? And this messes with your head because when she left, that's when I put on the mask.

[00:16:13]That's when I went into like partying and going to chip joints and after hours and prostitutes and just like the I was so like like the most disgusting and drugs and a lot of drugs fueled all of that stuff. Obviously, drugs really fueled a lot of that stuff, but I was masking my manhood because, oh, you left me because we're not having sex. Okay, I'll show you. and mostly show me and mostly not show anybody because in the end when you do drugs you're not having sex. So the two don't mix. The drugs that I were doing anyway. So libido is not physical, right? Libido is an emotional thing. It's a it's a relationship thing. It's an identity piece, right? And testosterone is deeply tied to male sexual function. In fact, the male clinic lists decreased sex drive and erectile dysfunction as a symptom of male hypogonat gonad gonadism or like low low tea. But here's the important part. Low libido does not automatically mean low testosterone, right? Low libido can also be hidden in too much stress, poor sleep, having actual relationship issues with your wife or your partner, medications that you're taking, right? Alcohol for sure, depression, which men over 40, 50, 60 are leading the league in. Obesity, insulin resistance, if you're freaking watching porn all the time. I don't watch porn in freaking know God knows how. Years, years, years. cardiovascular issues. All of those things can also lead to low libido. But if your low libido shows up with fatigue and with poor sleep, mood changes, muscle loss, low motivation, things we're going to talk about today, then you definitely have to investigate hormones because their doctor, the first thing your doctor is going to ask you, which is super super crazy, is are you getting morning woods? Right? If you ask for a testosterone test, the first thing they're going to ask you is, oh well um how's your sex drive? Or how's your energy and how's your sex drive? And although those two things are indicators, that's not the full indication. And you just want to get your testosterone so you can see across the board what's happening. So again, sex drive is not all about sex. It's also a reflection of your vitality. It's a reflection of the your circulation, specifically for getting weaker erections, confidence, stress level, hormonal health, all of those things. So that's another one. Number five, brain fog and poor focus. Right? This is a sign that scares a lot of guys, right?

[00:18:24]You walk into the room and you forget why. You struggle with focus during work. You feel mentally dull. You just feel like you're just kind of just existing, right? Or you lose your focus during conversations. Or you're you're less decisive. I see this one big time, man. Big time when I work with guys very indecisive with making decisions, right?

[00:18:43]We're supposed to be the ones that make all the big decisions. And you start to fear, not sure. I don't know. Let me let my wife make the decision. You start wondering, why am I slipping? Right?

[00:18:52]Hormonal decline can affect your brain because testosterone receptors are found in areas of the brain that involve mood that involve cognition that involve motivation and energy regulation. Right?

[00:19:05]So low testosterone definitely comes with difficulty concentrating, difficulty with emotional changes.

[00:19:10]That's why here's the thing. As I've mentioned in the past, men in their 40s, 50s, 60s,7s, like this demographic, we lead the league in in in in depression and mental health and suicide, successful suicides, right? All of that, right? And now there's no, you know, correlation specific signs that I that I have come across or I know of. I'm probably sure they're there. But if you look at the other side, we are in an epidemic of low testosterone. Most men in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s have low testosterone. More men do, right?

[00:19:39]They're high estrogen, low testosterone.

[00:19:40]So, there is a bit of a correlation that I'm putting together, but it's not just, oh, that's a coincidence. No, man.

[00:19:47]Because it, and again, this is not here's the thing that kind of when I'm going through all of these hormonal declines, here's the thing that you have to think about. Brain fog isn't necessarily after 40 is necessarily low low tea, right? So, all of these things aren't necessarily low tea. It's like lifestyle. So, a lot of these things you can reverse because because mental health, sorry, brain fog and poor focus, right? That also comes from poor sleep.

[00:20:10]That also comes from sleep apnea. That also comes from high stress. It comes from medications you may be taking. It comes from blood sugar swings. It comes from low vitamin B12. It comes from dehydration, inflammation, alcohol, drugs, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise. So, all of those things affect um your affect your your your brain and brain function. But your brain needs all this but your brain needs all the same things that testosterone needs, right?

[00:20:37]right, that we're going to talk about.

[00:20:38]Your brain does need sleep. It does need strength training and muscle building.

[00:20:42]It does need protein and healthy fats and sunlight and stress control and blood sugar stability and purpose. So, when those disappear, your mental sharpness disappears. So, you're just thinking that if you focus on testosterone, you're going to definitely and living a life that is tes like you know your your whole intention is naturally increasing testosterone, then yes, this is where all of these things will you know, you have a chance to reverse all these things, right? So just think brain fog is not just a weakness.

[00:21:08]It's your nervous system begging you for recovery and your hormones asking you to support them. All right, so that's that.

[00:21:14]Number six is poor sleep. This is a huge one because a lot of guys think that testosterone is only like sex and muscle, but you're wrong. Sleep and testosterone are connected in the biggest ways because if you have poor sleep, then that's going to lower your testosterone levels. And low testosterone levels also on the flip side affect your sleep quality. Right?

[00:21:33]There's actually one study and I talked about this in one of my podcast episodes. One week of sleep restriction, it's 4 hours sleep, right? Which a lot of guys probably are getting. You may be getting one week of sleep restriction, 4 hours reduced daytime testosterone levels by 10 to 15%. Imagine that just one week, right? And so your daily testosterone decreases what's going to because testosterone is made during deep sleep, slow wave sleep, right? So, and this is massive because if you imagine if you've had years and years of poor sleep by time you get to 40s, 50s, 60s or even within and you you're going to experience, you know, and then that can look like waking up at 3:00 a.m. You know, that can look like lighter sleep.

[00:22:11]That can look like less deep sleep. That can look like night sleeps, deep apnea, snoring, waking up tired even though you've been in bed for 8 hours, needing caffeine all day. Like all of those things are cascade and then the cascade begins, right? Because again, when you have poor sleep, your testosterone levels are lower. Your cortisol levels are higher. Cortisol and testosterone, they fight each other, right? We do need cortisol. That's a stress hormone, but we need that decrease. You're going to have more cravings. You're going to have more belly fat. You're going to have less recovery. You're going to have horrible training sessions if you're working out. You're going to have way more stress and even worse, sleep. This is why sleep is not optional anymore.

[00:22:45]Sleep is hormone therapy, right? Think about that. Hormone therapy. The TRT that you want to jump to is actually sleep. just get better sleep and you're going to start to see a lot of your you're going to start to see your levels increase, right? That natural hormone therapy, right? You got to protect your sleep. I want you to have a different relationship with sleep. Like, I want to protect my sleep. Are you kidding me? I get to bed at 10 and 6 10:00 p.m. every night and wake up at 6 6:00 a.m. every morning. That's how much I protect my sleep, right? Number seven, slower recovery. This is where you get humble, right? the workout or even your day in the backyard that used to make you feel alive that used to crush, right? Or you mean used to crush these workouts. Now you get you get sore longer, right? Now your joints ache more. Now your energy dips, now you get more inflamed. Now you need more time between sessions. And this is partly because recovery the recovery capacity changes with age for sure, right? The recovery is not the same as it used to be on all levels, but it's it's also hormonal cuz testosterone supports muscle repair. Testosterone supports our red blood cell production.

[00:23:51]It it supports protein synthesis and training adaptation. So when our testosterone levels are lower, everything becomes slower, right? And there's another piece is cortisol, the chronic stress hormone, right? Sorry, cortisol is a stress hormone, fight orflight hormone, which we need a little bit of it. But when you add chronic stress and excessive training, this elevates cortisol and cortisol does work against testosterone. It's opposes testosterone when it's high, right? And of course, high cortisol is also associated with belly fat. So you can see that cascade cascading effect that you know when you don't rec when you don't um you know recover or focus on recovery, right?

[00:24:32]you're you're um you know you're just setting yourself for you're just setting yourself up for for disaster, right? So recovery meaning you know we all talk about what that means but you just have to be smarter specifically in training because a lot of things that happen is when you feel like you have to get rid of the belly fat or you have to build more muscle, you jump right to from zero to hero. Like now you're going to the gym six times a week. Now you're doing cardio three days a week. You're doing this workout program three to four times a week. You're not giving yourself any time to rest. And now you do more volume, you do more cardio, you do more punishment, you do more intensity, and that's not that's how you push yourself back because now that's not even a recovery. You don't even have recovery in your in your program. That's an afterthought because you're so focused on getting rid of the belly fat and muscle, you don't realize that recovery is when all of that happens. All right.

[00:25:19]So number eight is, and this one affects the whole household, is is your irritability and mood changes, right?

[00:25:24]You become more impatient. You could become more reactive, more negative, more anxious, more emotionally flat, less joyful, less connected. And you know, in the end, you may not feel depressed exactly, but you just feel off, right? And a lot of times, guys don't mood with hormones. And why would you? Because how would you know that testosterone affects influences your mood, your confidence, your drive, your emotional resilience, right? Like you're not really told that, but it is, right?

[00:25:52]your your testosterone um is connected to your mood and mood improvement, right? Because here's what most guys want. This is what you want.

[00:26:02]You want you want mood, you know? Here's what here's what you got to understand.

[00:26:06]Mood is not just mindset. Mood is like your biology, right? Like if you're sleeping poorly and you're carrying belly fat and eating processed foods and drinking alcohol and under chronic stress, you're isolated and you're inactive, obviously your mood is going to suffer 100%. But also, if you know, you have all those other things, your mood is going to be an indicator, right?

[00:26:27]All of these kind of, you know, like like like you're more reactive, you're less negative, like you're like, man, I don't feel I'm feeling off a bit, like why am I so anxious? Why am I so emotionally flat? That's when you want to think about, well, maybe it's it's my testosterone, maybe it's my chemistry is off. Right? So, yeah, that's that's something you have to look look for.

[00:26:45]It's a sign they have to look for. Sign number nine is decreased strength and performance. Right? So, these are guys like if you're getting back in the gym or you're just getting back to the gym, usually this gets your attention, right?

[00:26:54]The weights are going to feel heavier.

[00:26:56]Your warm-up is going to feel harder.

[00:26:57]Your pump that you used to get is gone, right? Your your explosiveness disappears. Your conditioning drops. And again, this is not all about the gym.

[00:27:05]Strength is just the signal, right? It tells you that your nervous system, your muscles, your hormones, your joints, your recovery systems are not functioning, right? When you lose strength, when you have strength, it's functioning. But also testosterone supports you know your strength, your lean mass, your lean muscle mass, your neuro neuromuscular function, right? So, so when you have low T that's associated with low muscle strength and physical performance, but the danger is what happens next. Because the danger is when you feel weaker, then you start to train less, right? And then what happens when you train less? You lose more muscle, your fat increases, your testosterone levels continue to drop, your confidence starts to drop, and then that's a spiral, right? And then and then so you spiral. And the solution that most guys go to again is the big ego lifts, you know, because you want to try to be like, "Nah, man. I'm still strong. I still got it. But the solution is just intelligent training, right? And for for guys like us in our 40s, 50s, 60s, that's total body workouts. That's progressively using metabolic resistance training. That's joint friendly movements. That's adding mobility um mobility and yoga to our recovery.

[00:28:09]That's consistency, right? That's all consistency because strength is not just about what you lift. Strength is the evidence that your body is still responding. It's still adapting. It's still setting you up for success in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. And the number 10 uh sign is loss of confidence and drive. So this is kind of like the biggest sign of them all because you can deal with being tired, you can deal with the belly fat, you can deal with even slower recovery, but when you lose your drive, that cuts deep. Like I said, I had to I I self-medicated when I I lost my confidence and drive because when you lose your drive, you stop pushing. When you lose your drive, you stop leading.

[00:28:45]You stop caring as much. You stop setting goals. You stop feeling dangerous in a way. You stop feeling like yourself and you stop living with purpose. And this is why hormonal decline is not just physical. It attacks our identity as a man. Right? Think about this. Testosterone is connected to motivation and vitality and sexual function, strength and emotional well-being. But the key is, you know, it's it's it's it's this real thing that cuts deep, right? When we lose that identity and we just, you know, we lose that manhood and then we start to isolate, right? And then we start to and we're not very good at kind of like leaning into our feelings. We should not self diagnose our feelings alone. But what we should also do is not ignore our feelings because that's what most guys do is we ignore our feelings and then we lose the drive for finding out information and then you know like like so now when we lose our feelings what happens we lose the drive to look at what's really happening inside and then we don't talk about it and then we isolate because it may be hormonal it may be psychological it may be spiritual it may be lifestyle related it may be something right the the the confidence and the drive may be a combination Right? But you don't just sit back.

[00:29:54]We've got to start to really think about like my philosophy is you investigate, you test out things, you train, you eat better, you talk about it, you sleep, you rebuild, you get a therapist, right?

[00:30:05]You want to ensure that the feelings of your feelings are brought to the light because when you keep them inside, they're in darkness and those feelings start to grow in the darkness, right?

[00:30:14]Because here's the thing, when you lose your drive, right, man, it it it it is it is difficult to get out of that for sure. So, the big picture in general, these are the 10 signs that you know that are key, right? These are the 10 signs that you can, you know, kind of start to investigate to see and then say, okay, these a lot of them are hormonal, right? Because one bad night of sleep doesn't mean that your hormones are on decline. One stressful week doesn't mean you have low testosterone.

[00:30:43]One misworkout doesn't mean your hormones are are are crashing. But when things stack up, right? So, let's go through them. Low energy, belly fat, muscle loss, low libido, brain fog, poor sleep, slow recovery, mood changes, lower strength, loss of drive and confidence. This is your body waving that red flag. Waving the red flag.

[00:31:03]Something needs to change. Let's go. But the good news is you can take control.

[00:31:07]You're not helpless. So, let's talk about what that over 40 alpha solution looks like, right? because you can turn things around 100%. Right? You're you are not powerless. Your hormones are not completely controlled by your age and testosterone can naturally decrease over time. I see it all the time. Right? But the accelerated decline, that's lifestyle. The reason why your testosterone levels are low if you haven't had a brain injury or something happened to your testes is your lifestyle, which means okay, I'll take ownership of it now. That means I have the power to change it. So, you can change it, but you have to change it in the right way, right? You have to live in a way that supports your strength, your vitality, your your recovery, your survival, your hormones. So, the hormone solution is this. Number one, you build more muscle. Like I said, muscle is metabolic, right? The more muscle you lose, the slower your metabolism, the lower the the lower your insulin sensitivity becomes, the harder it is to lose fat, the lower your testosterone levels become. This is why building muscle is super important because when you train properly, right, the right the right workouts, testosterone production improves, insulin sensitivity improves, growth hormone, your growth hormones increase, your muscle protein synthes synthesis increases, your confidence increases. So, you're training to build resilience, right? Functional training, compound movements, controlled intensity, metabolic resistance training, right? Uh, you know, consistency is really key and recovery.

[00:32:26]Making sure that recovery is in that place. Smart workouts, that's what you need. You can go to over40alpha.com. $1 30 days. I give you follow along workouts, a whole routine that will will will actually be the the the the key for this. Number two, you got to lose that belly fat, man. Cuz belly fat is not just stored calories. It's a hormonally active tissue, right? The more the more fat, like we talked about that you carry, the more difficult it is to optimize your hormones. And that's aromatase, right? The the enzyme we talked about in the fat tissue that converts testosterone to estrogen. So, you've got to get rid of that belly fat, right? So, and you don't do this by aggressive diet, right? Starving yourself, etc. You do this by by strength training, protein, improving your protein. You do this by creating, you know, an environment where you're building muscle. You're adding walking daily at 10,000 steps. You're you're imp increasing your protein, uh, uh, controlling your blood sugar, you're you're implementing, uh, strategic hit conditioning, 10 minutes, right? you you're optimizing your sleep at least 2 to four hours of restorative sleep, deep sleep. You want sustainable fat loss while protecting your muscle. Okay.

[00:33:33]Number three, you got to prioritize sleep. Like your life depends on it. I mentioned before you have to have a different relationship with sleep. Now, specifically, slowwave sleep, deepm sleep, and restorative sleep. You're looking at two to four hours uh night.

[00:33:47]That's your key. You want to look at those key indicators. Those are the ones because even though you have eight hours sleep, if you're not getting deep sleep or slow wave sleep, which is what tes levels are produced, which when your muscle repairs, which is when your brain starts to function better and and and releases all the crap, right? You know, that's it. I mean, this is where this is this is how important sleep is because when your sleep is opt uh compromised, again, testosterone levels drop, cortisol levels rise, your cravings start to rise, insulin sensitivity worsens, your recovery sucks, belly fat storage increases. So, how do we get better sleep? What do we do? Well, number one, we focus on, you know, we we are intense, intentional about our sleep. Consistent sleep times. Go to bed at 10:00, wake up at 6. Make sure your room is dark. Cooler temperatures in your room, less exposure to screens at night. Magnesium glycinate is a great supplement. Get rid of alcohol, right?

[00:34:39]Do some mobility, do some breath work.

[00:34:41]You want to focus on creating a sleep environment, a sleep routine that you lean into every single night that you can. Sleep is not weakness. Sleep is recover. Sleep is your strength. It's your anabolic strength. Number four, you must control stress, right? Because before stress controls you.

[00:34:55]Unfortunately, a lot of us, stress has controlled us. But remember, cortisol that's elevated for a long time, right?

[00:35:01]Equals decrease in testosterone equals muscle breakdown equals belly fat storage equals recovery. Your recovery worsens. Your sleep quality sucks. Your libido drops, right? And that's why a lot of us feel wired or feel anxious or feel emotionally flat or feel exhausted or feel unmotivated, right? So we we need to focus on and learn how to create resources that we can use to calm our central nervous system which means breath work, walking, sunlight, mobility, recovery days, a lot of laughter and love, gratitude, journaling, connection, prayer, meditation, time outdoors. Those are all things that will help eliminate stress, right? At least decrease it, right?

[00:35:38]Specifically chronic. Number five, you got to eat for your hormones, right?

[00:35:40]That means everything you eat must support testosterone, more protein, healthy fats, micronutrients, complex carbs, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, cholesterol, good cholesterol, especially after the age of 40. And you've got to completely destroy and get rid of the foods that are um that are are causing all of the uh you know reduction ultrarocessed foods, tests, sugar, alcohol, chronic overeating, right? Because our our our our our hormones need specifically testosterone needs nutrients like zinc and magnesium and vitamin D3 and omega-3s and proteins. Well, protein is not a no, but we need we need selenium. We need healthy carbs, right? So, you should focus on things like eggs, like grass-fed meats like fatty fish, avocados, olive oil, sweet potatoes, jasmine rice, fruit, vegetables, and whole foods. And at the same time, like I mentioned, get rid of all those other things, ultrarocessed foods, excess sugars, alcohol, chronic overeating, and do not do not go on these crash crash diets. And remember, it's not about perfection. It's about consistency. And then the number one thing is you got to get tested, right? Get tested. Go get tested. You need to understand what your total testosterone is, your free testosterone, your sex hormone binding globbulin, what your estradiol is, your fasting insulin, your vitamin D, your inflammation markers. that gives you a complete picture of what's actually happening internally because and it matters because if you have normal testosterone levels but your free testosterone is low then that that that's a symptom right that's a signal.

[00:37:06]So there's a lot of things but when you have the whole when you have data then you can make better decisions right but you need that data to assess and you need that data to make the right uh decisions and take ownership. So in the end, your hormonal decline is not just physical, right? It affects your confidence and affects your leadership.

[00:37:21]It affects your energy, your relationships, your ambition, and your identity, which is why this matters so much. Remember, testosterone is our number one male hormone. And in order for us to naturally increase it, we've got to get rid of the things that are killing it. First of all, we've got to we got to we got to pay more attention to the red flags. We got to get tested.

[00:37:38]Then we've got to create we got to lean into a program that's going to help us naturally increase our testosterone by changing our lifestyle. That program is the Over 40 Alpha Brotherhood. over 40 off workout program for $1 and 30 days.

[00:37:49]You get access to my entire program.

[00:37:51]Listen, early signs of hormonal decline do show up as fatigue, belly fat, low libido, poor sleep, muscle loss, in brain fog, slower recovery, and the other things I talked about. So, if you're a man over 40, 50, 60, and you're looking at this, definitely get tested.

[00:38:06]Do not ignore these. Start taking control today, and I'll see you on the other side. Get it done.