There was Mark Holman. Lean and depressed in 2018 when he was working 9 to 5 as an air quality engineering consultant. “I felt as vulnerable as a boy,” says the 33-year-old New Orleans native.

Determined to change things, she spent the next few years becoming a health coach and getting chiseled abs. But in 2021, after wondering why he was not interested in sex with his partner at the time, he decided to test his testosterone levels.

His blood test showed that his testosterone measured 622 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL), which doctors consider healthy, but definitely not “high T.”

Believing it would make him happier, more decisive, and more masculine, Holman devoted himself to naturally increasing his body’s supply of testosterone, or “T-maxing.”

Low testosterone was once largely thought of as a problem for older men, but now there’s a growing collective obsession with having “high tea,” fueled by the influence of the manosphere and closely linked to America’s healthy remodeling movement. Both podcaster Joe Rogan and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have said they have taken testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) drugs. More than 11 million men In America The drug was prescribed in 2024, up from 7.3 million in 2019. According to to healthcare research company IQVIA.

In some circles, men now test their testosterone every six months — swapping numbers in locker rooms and group chats as they compare bench press stats. Significant reduction In recent years, the average testosterone level.

But this trend puts healthy, younger men at risk of pathologizing at yet-to-be-understood hormone levels.

Holman generally considers taking TRT “cheating.” Advised by her “holistic” health coach, and thanks to going down online tea-maxing rabbit holes, she ate a diet full of eggs, red meat, Brazil nuts and oysters to boost her production. He used copious amounts of “testosterone-boosting” herbs and supplements such as tongkat ali, fenugreek, pine pollen, boron and zinc. He also continued to pump iron at the gym.

By March 2025, he says he nearly doubled his T to 1,104 ng/dL, a screenshot of his test results shared with WIRED shows. This is well above the normal range for all men of 350 to 800 ng/dL, and reaching the natural range possible. (Natural levels of testosterone reach a maximum of 1,400 ng/dL and overuse of TRT or steroids can send levels over 3,000 ng/dL, which can cause “roid rage” as well as other potentially serious stress on the body.)

Holman, who has long blond hair and bulging triceps, says that when he started boosting his testosterone, his body “trimmed ridiculously easily” and his life changed forever. “Feeling the difference like night and day,” he says.

He was single when he found out he was high tea and said he felt more comfortable chasing women. “Competing with other men creates more testosterone,” he says. (A leading testosterone influencer, Derek Monroe, has the handle @moreplatesmoredates on Instagram.)

Now Holman himself is a “holistic” men’s health coach, focusing on helping guys T-max. He describes himself as “High T studAnd posts scientifically questionable Instagram links link high tea to “Real manhoodAnd waking up with “morning wood.”

“Testosterone’s biggest mental effect is that it makes effort feel good,” neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman told Rogan. During a 2021 episode The Joe Rogan Experience.

“Males of a given species have to overcome their fear of pain and punishment, and the increase in testosterone causes the shift to the desire to engage in combat,” Huberman said, explaining that there are testosterone receptors in the brain’s anxiety center, the amygdala. “Leaning toward pain and challenge actually has a calming effect on the body.”