So on Friday night a friend sent me a video of a nutritionist (let’s call him Ken) talking about exercise. Since then I have had a few people speak to me about this so I thought what better than to write a post about this topic. Ken clearly stated that women shouldn’t exercise like men. Essentially insinuating women don’t need to train intensely or they shouldn’t train with weights. Ken’s thought process was that women are already under too much stress and any form of hard training would equate to more stress and result in them gaining weight/fat. Ken suggests women should stick to Yoga
In today’s newsletter I thought I would go into a little more detail on the subject.
Before I go on I just want to make it clear that I greatly respect Ken’s work in the field of nutrition and think he does an incredible job at educating the public on good nutritional habits.
Exercises and Hormones
Over the years many scientists have widely researched the effects of weight/resistance training on how they impact certain hormones. Nearly all the studies confirm a rise in anabolic hormones (responsible for lean muscle and fat burning) and the reduction of catabolic hormones (the lean muscle destroyers)
Here are a couple of studies
Craig et al., 1989; Kraemer et al., 1998
Staron et al., 1994
Here is the thing
Resistance training does increase cortisol (more on this soon) but it also increases many anabolic hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone (GH), insulin like growth factors (IGF’s), epinephrine etc
These anabolic hormones are what are responsible for burning the fat and and increasing lean muscle tissue.
Here is what we know
The amount of fat and muscle you have, appears to have significant influence on your hormonal system. For instance fat tissue makes your body resistant to insulin and leptin. To make things worse it also produces aromatase, an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen.
In layman’s terms this means, being fat puts your body in a fat storing state, lowers testosterone bringing about muscle loss, weaker bones, joints, ligaments, reduce sex drive and low energy.
Lets look more specifically at cortisol
Here is what we know
When hormones are balanced cortisol is both protective and burns fat. But when hormones are out of balance cortisol can be harmful making our bodies more likely to store fat.
Resistance training will improve the ratio between testosterone and cortisol
Short term
During a resistance training session you want cortisol to be elevated because it will improve fat burning and reduce pain. When you start training cortisol, adrenaline and GH amongst other energising hormones are released in order to free fat stores so the body can use them for energy. Hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) an enzyme which mobilises fat so the body can use it as energy is elevated. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) – fat storing, is blocked. All this makes for a great fat burning environment.
Long term
The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that is involved in the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands. When you are sedentary or never do anything to increase anabolic hormones this process becomes less responsive and cortisol balance can be altered. By doing resistance training the hypothalamus becomes more responsive and cortisol balance improves
Don’t train for too long (duration of your workout)
Your workouts shouldn’t exceed 1 hour.
When your training sessions exceed one hour, cortisol just keeps on rising and rising. This is counterproductive as your body tends to call on it’s own muscle tissue for use as fuel. Doing this on a regular basis will without a doubt over stress your body
Testosterone Time
What it does – Facilitates protein synthesis, promotes GH and IGF1 release. Testosterone leads to adoption that enhances the muscles ability to produce force.
How it responds to exercise – Resistance training has been shown to increase testosterone in both men and women
Body fat effect – Promotes fat burning and the increase of lean muscle tissue
Growth hormone
What it does – facilitates protein synthesis, slows carbohydrate breakdown and initiates fat burning.
How it responds to exercise – GH release responds to the intensity of the training session. Research shows the more strenuous training is the greater elevation of GH and more fat burning as a by product
Body fat effect – Triggers muscle building, increases connective tissue and improves fat burning
Shorter more intense workouts vs longer and more frequent workouts
Hard resistance training is without a doubt one of the best things you can do for cortisol management.
In Ken’s video he states that women often do more training only to end up gaining more weight – I completely agree with this statement. Most women don’t need to do more. They would by far reap more fat burning benefits from shorter more intense workouts. That being said your body likes balance.
The common sense factor
If you’re already feeling burnt out then training will only burn you out even more. Training is a form a eustress for the body but too much training is a form of distress for your body. The key is balance.
You can only work as hard as you can rest. Too much work in both the physical sense or job sense will lead to burnout.
Out vs in and The Hippie stuff
Your body likes an equal balance of out and in. But do you have that?
OUT
Your job – lots of giving around 9 hours for many (out)
Your workout – it’s called a workOUT for a reason
Your partner – Do you have balance within your relationship
IN
You might have a little read of a book, or you might watch a movie. Unfortunately most people spend way too much time putting out 🙂 and not enough time giving to yourself, recharging the batteries.
Both males and females need a balance of Yin and Yang.
A man is both strong and caring
He can be both fiery at times and gentle at times
Yin is the female energy – an energy of giving to yourself. Working on you. It’s more reflective, thoughtful and metaphysical
In contrast Yang is an energy of giving out, it’s logical, decisive and strong.
We need both…
There is no day without the night
There is no good without the bad
There is no man without a woman
Give from your overflow
I am a big believer in the most important thing you can do with your life is to contribute. The secret of living is giving. Life is calling all of us to be more than just ourselves – Tony Robbins
Here’s the thing. Many of us struggle to give because we don’t have the energy – our batteries are flat. By spending more time putting in you will be able to spend more time giving out.
Here are 5 things you can implement right now to ‘PUT IN’
1 – Meditation – I meditate most days for at least 20 minutes
2 – Gratitude diary – I fill out my gratitude diary both morning and evening
3 – Reading – I dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to reading something that will further my growth
4 – Going for a walk in nature – Admittedly I don’t do this enough but having a dog does help
5 – Tai chi, qigong or restorative yoga – I don’t do any of these but they are great options.
To conclude
You need balance – If you want to burn the fat you have to work hard, lift heavy and get out of your comfort zone oh and meditate, work on your gratitude and walk in nature making sure you smell the flowers.
That’s all for today.
Paul ‘In the gym smelling the flowers’ and Krystie ‘maybe you should meditate more so I can have some piece and quiet’ Miller
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