60 second Truth Bomb: Hardly a day goes by without some high profile, celebrity trainer, fitness guru harping on about how important hormones are, and why they are the primary cause of societies health and fitness woes. Research is cherry picked, long overly complicated explanations are given, and as usual some form of expensive supplement or training secret is offered to ensure your hormonal profile is optimised. Well the truth is that from a biological standpoint hormones are important. They are biochemicals that act as a form of communication between organs and tissue. Hormones regulate a whole host of biological functions like metabolism, digestion, satiety, growth, sleep and mood, so it is easy to see why many believe that controlling them is the secret to success with you health and fitness. But here is the catch: even the best and most qualified researchers and endocrinologists in the world dont fully understand how they function and interact with each other. Most hormones have multiple roles and can cause unforeseen consequences when manipulated. For example, cortisol is often cited as a bad hormone as it has been observed to become elevated when a person is stressed causing some nasty side effects like muscle loss and heart disease, but it is also responsible for regulation of sleeping and waking you up in the morning. Another one is leptin, high levels of which has been linked to a decrease in hunger and a higher metabolism. So we want to increase this for fat loss right? Well prolonged high levels of blood leptin has been observed to result in a person developing a resistance to its effect, making weight loss difficult, as in the chronically obese. Without doubt the most infamous hormone in fitness is insulin. The number of times Ive heard how it is responsible far all of societies obesity problems and that if we only knew how to regulate it through the avoidance of sugar and high GI foods the word would be a better place. Now, whilst its true that one of insulins roles is to store spare energy as fat, it is also a key component of anabolism, otherwise known as making gains. In short, it is an absolutely essential part of normal daily metabolism and should not be feared! So what do we know about ensuring healthy hormones balance? Well we know they need the raw material to ensure adequate production. You know, like a balanced healthy diet. We know we know that they need time and space to be produced. You know, like when your sleeping and resting. We know that, like your muscles and cardio vascular system, they respond well to periods of physical stress. You know, like a decent training program. We know that they flourish in a stable environment. You know, like maintaining a healthy weight. We also know they dont do you any favors if you dont look after yourself, like when your doing the above wrong or during periods of chronic stress. Above and beyond these points worrying about the micromanagement of individual hormones is a fools errand. If there is a specific deficiency that needs dealing with, like diabetes or a hyperthyroid, the first port of call should be a doctor for some blood tests. A personal trainer is neither knowledgable enough nor qualified to deal with these issues, and no amount of supplementation is going to do a damn thing other than drain your bank balance. (PTs, if you want to understand how they work, as I do, then by all means hit the research, but please dont believe this makes you an expert. It doesnt.) So stop worrying about whether your hormone profile is optimal, what your caliper site readings are and wether you can afford the supplements some dubious guru us selling, and instead get yourself eating, resting and training efficiently. Your hormones will then quite happily take care of themselves, as they have been doing for millions of years... James Conci-Mitchell: Founder Six3Nine & Fitness Columnist dropping the truth bombs. Go like!
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 14:54:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015