I Took Tongkat Ali For 1 Year And This Happened – Life Hack or Dud?

Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 09:19 am

I’ve been taking Tongkat Ali since February of 2023. I, like many of you, saw it mentioned by Dr. Huberman for some male hormone optimization. In other words, a nice little testosterone boost. The hopes would be that this might translate into some more energy, less fat, more muscle, maybe some extra sumthin in the bedroom… you get the idea.

I’ve taken a couple of “test boosters” in the past and had mostly garbage results. One of which I actually felt WORSE on, in basically every category that would matter. So I went in with modest expectations. After a full year of consistent use of Tongkat Ali, I have some some results to share, both objective and subjective.

FYI, this article is going to have some details in it. Since we are talking sexy stuff, be forewarned. I’m not sharing pictures or anything or going into graphic details, but there will be some language and parts explained.

What is A Testosterone Booster?

As an avid lifter, or even just someone mildly informed in the sports performance realm, we often associate “Test Boost” with steroids. Or at the very least, a similar concept of what they might do for us. We see dudes hop on gear and they look like they are ready for the cover of Men’s Health in a few months. They are jacked, tan, and ready to rock. The guy who other men want to be and that women want to be with… or some other cliche.

We have an idea or expectation that a test booster supplement will make us that viral alpha male (I hate that I even wrote those words) and that we’ll take what is ours!

In reality, a drug like testosterone, injected or in pill form, is a much different animal than an herbal testosterone supplement. There is a lot going on here, and Layne Norton goes into it in some more detail in the video above if you’d like to explore it. But here is a quick and dirty.

A normal range for a male for a blood test for testosterone, is somewhere between 300 to 1000 nanograms. So if you got a blood test today, you would see your test numbers LIKELY falling somewhere in that 300 to 1000 range.

Courtesy of CentricHealth

If you were to take a test boosting supplement, you might see them claim something like “a 50% increase in testosterone”. So if you are sitting at 600 on that test, a very healthy number, you might be able to reach 900 with a quality test booster that worked well for you. The problem? 900 is STILL within the normal ranges of testosterone. Meaning, you definitely raised your numbers, but those numbers aren’t going to make you a superhuman.

Compare this to a competitive bodybuilder who shared his results during competition and they were in the 55,000 RANGE!!! This is what we call super-physiological ranges. Numbers that can not be obtained by a natural athlete, in anyway shape or form, and they create the bonkers results we see in professional bodybuilders.

Courtesy of Untapped Supplements

Now you might be saying, “I don’t want to be Mr. Olympia!”. Agreed, neither do I. But the things we associate with steroids, the huge muscle gains, fat loss, strength gains, and more… aren’t coming from something that is bumping your numbers from normal to a little higher of normal. They are coming from the WAY over the top response your body has to being injected regularly with steroids.

Why Does This Matter?

I don’t want anyone to think that taking an herbal supplement like Tongkat Ali is going to turn them into a monster in the gym (good or bad). You aren’t going to add multiple pounds of muscle, or lean out like crazy. These supplements have a small area of opportunity. So you need to be realistic with what they are possibly capable of.

In this review I’ll be looking at Tongkat Ali from this viewpoint, what it is potentially capable of, and how that translates to good or bad tangible results in my life. If you were hoping for something to turn you into a machine (sex machine, gym machine, whatever), this ain’t it.

Anything Else Before We Begin?

Diet comes first. And maybe even before that is general lifestyle. You should be sleeping, eating, exercising, getting outside, drinking your water, you name it. All in a pursuit of having a happy and healthy life. If you are ignoring the big pieces to the puzzle, and hoping a supplement takes care of it all for you, you are as they say stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

Andrew Huberman, even as he promotes supplement use, is even bigger on promoting general lifestyle improvements. He’ll make note that the biggest improvements in your life come from the basics. You can check out more with his interview below with Tim Ferris, author of the The 4 Hour Body.

You will NEVER reap the rewards of ANY supplement fully, if the basics are not handled. Sleep, nutrition, basic exercise, and in general a happy life. I’m not saying these things have to be perfect, far from it. But you should focus your efforts there before searching elsewhere.

Then and only then can supplements like Tongkat Ali help you take that next step forward.

My History With Test Boosters

Tongkat Ali Results

Blood Work

I have blood test results back as far as 2019. In February 2019 my Testosterone came in at 377 and then 344 in July. In January of 2020 it was up to 454, with July of the same year at 504. Due to COVID I missed my regular blood work. I had a test in May of 2022 and was sitting at 460. And then one just a few months after starting Tongkat Alu, in May of 2023, where I clocked in at 383.

Now, blood tests are a little finicky. For one, they are a blip in time. Sleep poorly the night before? Or a couple nights before? That will impact your results. Maybe you are on a deload from the gym, or peaking for a competition? That will impact your results. Or maybe you have a lot going on that week, or month, in work, school, family stuff? That will impact your results.

So the key here isn’t to fixate on ONE number, but instead to see the trend and average. You can see my Testosterone hovers right above 400 on average. This would put me above that low end of 300, but FAR from the high end of 1000.

Now, that 2019 to 2023 range has a lot of life packed into it. My daughter was born in 2017, and 2020 was when she finally started sleeping through the night (quite possibly the reason for the big bump in results. In 2022 I quit my full-time job and started running my own business. I traded the stress of a corporate job I hated, for the stress of running my own business that I love. But in general, my numbers are what they are.

My Newest Blood Work Results

I got my blood tested just this last week for this article. To give us an idea of what a full year shows on paper. As you can see, my numbers came in at 355. This is lower than my average. Not quite the lowest number I’ve ever had, but far from a big boost. If we were aiming for a 50% increase from my average of around 400, we’d be looking at 600. So a swing and a miss here.

What I will say is, again, that blood work tests are a blip in time. I’ve read before that an accurate testosterone test is to take multiple tests throughout the day. This is because you naturally have ebbs and flows throughout the day, so you get a chance to capture those and come up with a more realistic picture. I don’t have that here. I can say that I am not a morning sex person, and never have been. I get rolling mid-day, so maybe my numbers go up throughout the day? Regardless, Tongkat Ali did not seem to raise my numbers by means of the blood tests.

Sex Stuff

This is the place I think Tongkat Ali has the most noticeable impact for me. Before Tongkat Ali, I was typically an every other day kind of dude. Push it out to maybe three or four days and I was at peak horniness level. The difference between thinking about and wanting it was the day two day mark. The difference between wanting it and NEEDING it, was that three and four day mark.

I’ve noticed over the years that these ebbs and flows coincide with the size of my down stairs parts – my testicles. Days where I was living life vs days where my wife walked in the door and I stripped her naked immediately, there was a significant difference in the size of my testicles (bigger on the days I was the most horned up).

With Tongkat Ali, I have noticed a decrease in that time frame between when we’ve last had sex, and when I’m tearing down the walls again. Now, I’m not exactly throwing down multiple times a day, every day. But I could reasonably go at it daily, and on a child free weekend I might slide in more than my fair share. Oddly enough, I find that my testicles are larger all of the time. I still have some ebbs and flows, but my smallest days are right there with my biggest days before Tongkat Ali. This has been confirmed by my wife (you know it!).

Doing some quick Google work, and there seems to be some relation between testicle size and testosterone levels. There are some other items like sperm count increases, but as a dude with a vasectomy, that isn’t exactly my concern. And I’ll keep it PG here and say that I’ve never struggled to produce, so this wasn’t exactly something I was looking at anyway as a potential change with Tongkat Ali.

My Wife

I’m a lucky dude. My wife has a good time with sex. But I think we all have an idea that it could be better, right? I read that Tongkat Ali was safe for women and could boost some sexy time stuff.

My wife took it for exactly one week before giving it the boot. While taking Tongkat Ali, we found that she had pain in her nipples and breasts. To the point that she couldn’t bare wearing clothes, but also I wasn’t able to take advantage of that. She was so sensitive that she was off limits.

So there is definitely something there, but it kind of worked too well? It wasn’t long enough of an experiment for us to notice anything in the actual sexual window, but we knew it was not the right fit for her.

Gym Stuff

Arguably, I am in the best shape of my life right now. Aesthetics, cardiovascular, strength wise, everything. I’ve found a good flow and rhythm with my lifting, biking, eating, and all around daily process. Do I think the Tongkat Ali helped in this regard? No, not really. I have a note below in the Wrap Up though that I think MIGHT have a positive impact on the gym stuff.

Other Stuff

I’ve always been fairly high energy. And not high energy like a little kid, but high energy in that I can keep up with most things throughout the day. I have a cup of tea a day, skip the pre-workout, and I’m still hitting two-a-day workouts, multiple walks, a bike ride, chasing my daughter around, and more. Days where I have been physically active all day long, I’ve still managed to do other stuff. I tend to run at a high level. So there wasn’t anything here I was missing. Nor do I think Tongkat Ali somehow “improved it”.

Wrap Up On Tongkat Ali

Ok, on paper, Tongkat Ali didn’t do much. I’m sitting right around my normal numbers, even a hair lower, and don’t see that there is any hard proof that it positively impacted my testosterone numbers.

However, I believe that Tongkat Ali had a positive impact on my sex life. But don’t know that it necessarily directly improved any other facet of my life.

One thing I didn’t mention though, is how a positive in one category can have some carry over in others. Have better, more frequent sex, and you might start sleeping better. Start sleeping better and your recovery in the gym gets better. Your digestion gets better, and now you start losing some weight and adding more muscle and strength. You start looking better, feeling better, and moving better, and your significant other starts noticing. You repeat that wheel again, and again, and again.

And you know what is REALLY good for testosterone numbers? A healthy sex life, quality sleep, regular exercise, good nutrition… So we have a little chicken and an egg situation going on.

I think Tongkat Ali is far from a required supplement in my book. There are over 8,000 reviews on Amazon for the Tongkat Ali I have been taking. With a 84% 4 or 5 rating. The vast majority of people are claiming noticeable improvements, but obviously we know nothing about their history, their life, or even their blood results. Hopefully this write up has added some details to help you determine if you should take the plunge on Tongkat Ali or not.

My stance would be, if you are looking for a wonder drug, or expect steroid like results, you gotta look elsewhere. It doesn’t seem to have done much for me in a lot of realms, and on paper we saw no results.

However, if you are already ticking all the boxes and would like to tick another box more regularly (boom!), then Tongkat Ali might just do the trick.