WHAT ARE ANDROGEN RECEPTORS
Androgen Receptors (AR) are sex hormone receptors in your cells that your androgens bind to exert their action. Androgen hormones include DHEA, Testosterone, DHT, Androstenedione, Androsterone, & Androstenediol. These androgens, namely Testosterone & DHT, float around in your bloodstream either bound to SHBG or Albumin, or are free form. The free floating androgens will eventually find and bind to these androgen receptors. Once bound, your androgens tell the cells to exert androgenic action, leading to masculinization & things like muscle anabolism.
HOW DO ANDROGEN RECEPTORS AFFECT YOU
You can find guys boasting about testosterone levels of 1000+ng/dl but still have:
- Light or medium pitched voice
- Weak jawline/Masseter muscles
- Thin neck
- Thin eyebrows, wide eyes
- Low natural muscle mass
- No drive
This is because of low androgen receptor activity. You can pump up your test all you want but without the Androgen Receptors, it’s useless.
Some guys will workout like crazy, get sleep, eat a ton, & take a bunch of supplements but but barely grow any muscle while other guys can barely workout or not at all but still have a 6 pack and V taper. This is androgen receptors at work.
Researchers recently studied this. The researchers took a group of previously trained healthy young men and tested their hormonal profiles & androgen receptor content. They separated the men into either Low Responders (LOR) or High Responders (HIR).
After 12 weeks of training, their was no significant differences in hormonal profiles pre vs post training, or between the 2 groups. The AR content of the participants stayed the same.
They found a linear correlation between Androgen Receptor content and changes in lean muscle mass. That is, the men with higher androgen receptors saw greater increases in lean muscle mass from training compared to the men with low androgen receptors, despite no differences in hormone levels.
The chart below shows the effect testosterone, & subsequently androgen receptors, has on the natural size of the neck. You can see how the natural thickness of the neck increases as testosterone does during puberty compared to the neck size of women during puberty.
Androgen receptors are very dense in the upper body, leading to the broad shouldered masculine development we needed to be good hunters & survive. This is also why it’s easier to build these muscles and why the traps & neck blow up with androgenic steroids.
You can see the importance of AR in myself. I don’t workout nor am the epitome of health but still have excellent features because I’ve increased my androgen receptor activity. Thick neck & very lean & well developed muscles (although not incredibly large). I’m about 6’3″ & 160-165lbs in these.
In addition to the increase in androgens during puberty, androgen receptors also increase (largely in the face). This is why despite the increase in androgens, you aren’t able to grow a full beard until near the end of puberty when the androgen receptors have matured. In fact, environmental factors have contributed to the longer masculine development of boys & men and hindered puberty. Our ancestors wouldn’t be able to survive if we were weren’t ‘a man’ until we were 18-22, nor does it make any sense. 600 years ago you’d have a wife & a child at 14.
For instance the common herbicide Vinclozolin, sprayed on fruits & vegetables, has been shown to compete with androgens & bind to androgen receptors. However the pesticide is thought to not exert & any androgenic action, instead just occupying the space so your androgens can’t.
Some chemicals in moisturizers can have the same effect, in addition to the xenoestrogens in them – another cause specifically of the late development or inability to grow facial hair.
Androgen Receptors in the brain are also responsible for the masculinization of thoughts & personality during puberty. Androgenic activity in the brain leads to more confidence, drive & reward seeking, libido, & other masculine traits.
In general, anything that increases Testosterone will also increase/normalize your AR. Eat healthy, get sleep, workout, etc and of course eat organic without pesticides. Give your body what it needs and it will become the primal hunter it’s supposed to be.
If you want to enhance your androgen receptor density & sensitivity beyond your normal baseline and become a natural Greek God, consider purchasing Ape-X T. It’s my compendium of the latest & my own innovative methods & ideas to increase Testosterone, DHT, & Androgen Receptors and is the reason why my natural body is so well developed.
Apex of Men 