testes, underwear, baldness, and running

Rickshaw · Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:36 pm

This one is pretty far out there, but bear with me.

I recently read something interesting about the way steroids build muscle-- they mimic the effects of testosterone, and boost it to unnaturally high levels. Apparently if you exercise when your testosterone levels are high, you get more muscle growth than if levels are lower. So steroids + weight lifting = ripped muscles (with lots of unpleasant side effects).

This got me thinking about the natural differences in testosterone levels between men, and even in the same man at different times. For example, conventional wisdom says that wearing boxer shorts instead of briefs will boost a man's sperm count, due to the slightly lower temperature of the testicles when they can hang freely from the body. So would it make sense to expect testosterone production to vary according to underware type, since it's produced in the testes? Could runners who wear boxers build muscle more easily than runners wearing briefs?

And another thought-- high testosterone levels (natural or artificial) are associated with male pattern baldness-- supposedly higher testosterone levels correlate with greater baldness. Could balding runners build muscle more easily than those with a full head of hair?

All I need now is some research grant money, and a few hundred volunteers...