RESILIENCE FITNESS. The 7 Secrets of Hormonal Manipulation for Body Composition and Health

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1 The 7 Secrets of Hormonal Manipulation for Body Composition and Health

2 The Story So Far For years now, people have struggled to lose fat, gain muscle and get healthier. They ve tried various diets and exercise plans, and if they ve worked at all, the results have been short lived. Why? Hormones. Simply put, hormones are the cornerstone of almost everything we do. They determine our sleep patterns, our recovery from injury, how much fat we store and where we store it. They determine how effectively we respond to exercise, how quickly we get fitter or more muscular. They also determine our mood and energy levels. Now if you re at all like me, you ll just want the bullet points first and then any explanations afterwards if you decide you re intrigued enough to want more information. So without further ado, here are the 7 mistakes that can kill any chance you have of achieving long term success: 1. Get your nutrition in order Most people are under the impression that they know what good nutrition is, what foods are healthy and what foods are not. Unfortunately, most people are wrong, (although not through any fault of their own). Not only that, what s healthy for an optimally balanced person, may be disastrous for someone who s not. by making simple changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can restore the natural hormone balance in your body Patrick Holford - one of the world's leading nutritionists Until you truly understand how your body reacts to the foods you re eating, you can t determine if a food is healthy for you. To complicate matters further, for most people, particularly in the initial stages, food choices need to change to accomodate the body s adaptations. Once you have the body and health you want, things level out and choices become a lot easier. You can t out-train or out-supplement a poor or inappropriate diet, so if yours isn t in order, it should be your first priority for change.

3 2. Exercise hormonally Certain types of exercise bias certain hormones. As do certain rep ranges, intensities, times under tension, rest intervals and exercise variations. For example, a barbell back squat may be superior to a leg extension for addressing growth hormone issues, however if you re experiencing any form of adrenal fatigue or exhaustion, you may not be able to load effectively to get the GH benefits. Gone are the days when programming was a simple matter of alternating opposing muscle groups or upper and lower bodypart splits. If you re not training to improve hormonally, you re wading through mud. 3. De-stress Stress has become more of an issue now than ever before in recorded history. To give an illustration of this, the daily cortisol levels in the average westerner today are higher than during the last world war. Why? Because not all the stress we experience is obvious. We tend to think of stress as being mental or emotional, but in reality there are another four sources of stress. Physical stress This can be as obvious as injury or as subtle as poor posture or poor exercise programme design. Nutritional stress Whether from food intolerances or simply irritants from refined food, what we put into our mouths can stress our bodies. Environmental stress Working in an air-conditioned office, living in a high traffic urban environment, spending a lot of time working with, on or around electrical equipment, all of these expose the body to more stress. Chemical stress From toxins in our drinking water to plastics leaking into our food from storage containers, we are exposed to toxins on a daily basis. Even amalgam fillings can poison our bodies. More than half of all deaths between the ages of one and sixty-five, result from stressful lifestyles. U.S. Center for Disease Control

4 4. Supplement strategically Nutrient deficiencies now occur at a far quicker rate than ever before in recorded history. In times of stress for example, our bodies burn significantly more Vitamin C, meaning that even if you re supplementing with Vitamin C, unless the dose is high enough, you could still be deficient if you re stressed. If your estrogen levels are elevated whether directly or as the result of testosterone conversion, a multivitamin simply isn t specific enough. It s possible to have minimum wage health without supplements, but it s virtually impossible to have optimal health without them Jonny Bowden - weight loss coach and nutritional healing expert Likewise, if you consume a high carbohydrate diet and your insulin sensitivity is impaired, you need to use products that help that specifically. Otherwise even a low GI diet can struggle to yield results. Supplements are only effective when taken correctly and in the right form. If you re taking supplements without purpose, they won t deliver on the promised benefits as effectively as possible. 5. Get better supplements Taking a high street multi-vitamin and cod-liver oil supplement, whilst well intentioned, simply doesn t cut it in todays world. The unfortunate truth is that everything costs money, even the air we breathe costs money to keep clean and as free from pollution as possible. Just as vitamins cost money to produce, they cost more to produce to a higher standard. Minerals can be bonded or chelated with different chemicals making them more or less effective. However, some of those chelates cost more to manufacture. Magnesium Glycinate for example is more readily absorbed by the body than Magnesium Oxide, yet to the average eye, both products serve the same purpose. One of the reasons we partner with certain nutrition manufacturers, is that their products are better and therefore more effective than those found on the high street. We ve seen the difference it makes with clients using high quality supplements instead of those available to the masses. We ve logged progress and tracked results, and the truth is, mass market products don t do the job if you re less than optimally healthy.

5 6. Improve your sleep To clarify, good sleep lasts 7-9 hours, is uninterupted and leaves you feeling invigorated and refreshed. Most of our clients when they first come to us believe that waking to pee in the middle of the night is perfectly normal. Normal yes, Natural no, (keep an eye out for the Natural vs. Normal blog post). People often believe the need to repeatedly hit the snooze button is down to simply not being a morning person. Regardless of your normal energy fluctuations throughout the day, (yes, you can be a morning or evening person), the basics of good sleep remain the same. If you re not sleeping through the night and waking rested, (and there s no external reason like noisy neighbours or a crying baby), you need to fix your sleep, otherwise your progress is always going to be slower than it needs to be. The consequences of poor sleep for our long-term health are much greater than many people think. Research has revealed that people who consistently fail to get enough sleep are at an increased risk of chronic disease. Harvard Medical School 7. Eat more protein Taking its name from the greek meaning of primary importance, protein is responsible for a number of functions. Some studies show that the first grams of protein you consume in the day are used for detoxification. So if you skip breakfast or have a protein-light meal first thing, whatever waste products your body has produced in your sleep, may end up stuck in your system waiting to be excreted. So any protein you consume afterwards is simply paying off your nutritional overdraft, rather than being used for tissue repair. As a result your lean muscle decreases, your daily energy expenditure goes down and if your calorie consumption stays the same, your bodyfat levels increase. In addition, protein consumption is linked with glucagon production. Glucagon s main role? Breaking down fat stores for conversion into glycogen for energy. So not only does protein help you get more energy, it also helps you get leaner too. Additional protein consumption results in a significantly lower body weight regain after weight loss. Westerterp-Plantenga, Maastricht University

6 What else? If your hormones are out of whack/imbalanced, you won t feel motivated to address any of the above. You won t have the mental focus to come up with a good solution or the emotional resilience to see it through. That s why our clients get such great results. We re able to give you an exact representation of where you are in relation to where you need to be. Once we know that, creating a plan becomes less about guesswork and more about specific, targeted strategies designed for you as an individual. So with that in mind and also the above information, here are some easy to implement tips to start you moving in the right direction. If our hormones are not optimal, we won t even want to get out of bed to face the day. We will have to force ourselves out, and drink tonnes of coffee to get going, and keep going. Mike Mahler - Live Life Aggressively! What to do now > Take out Nutritional Insurance That means a good multivitamin, a good fish oil and a good Vitamin D3 supplement if you live in the UK. If you don t have access to high quality nutraceutical supplements or are unsure as to what to buy from where, contact us directly. > Improve your sleep Develop a routine to follow before going to bed. This helps let your body know it needs to start winding down. This could include a hot cup of milk, a warm bath, dimming the lights or listening to certain types of music. Whatever strategies work best for you, start using them today. What you eat for breakfast sets up your entire neurotransmitter production for the day. Charles Poliquin > Have a protein breakfast Charles Poliquin, the worlds number one strength coach recommends this to almost everyone. > Get a good strength programme written for you For this, going to a trusted source is so important. Our advice is always to spend the money and get a tailor made programme. It ll pay off in the long run. > Sort your nutrition out Whilst the supplements will help to fill in any holes, nothing beats a good nurtition system. Whether you choose us or someone else, get your nutrition in order. But whatever path or strategy you choose, take at least one action now. The most successful people we ve trained without exception, are the ones that do something immediately. Swift and resolute action leads to success; self-doubt is a prelude to disaster. Poet, Joseph Addison