I also want to preface this post by saying this:
I don't see fitness and health as a highly compartmentalized system of techniques and activities that we must perform to look sexy and lean. I look at the human body in terms of lifestyle optimization and human performance. I know..I know..it's easy to get caught up in the whole body image mindset. We have a culture that enforces a standard of "sexy-ness".
If we don't measure up to the six-pack, curves, cuts, striations, and angular physiques, a lot of us feel as though we are not good enough. On top of that, our environment is such that we have an abundance of food and a crap ton of luxuries to keep us comfortable. Not the most conducive towards looking or feeling good...atleast long-term. So why should we pursue our health, fitness, and wellness right? Does this sound familiar? : "what's the use", "it's so mainstream", "enjoy life, you only live once", "I don't feel confident when I step into a gym", " I live to eat" ...the excuses grow ever so creative and exponential lol.
So I invite you to ditch the image mindset for a few minutes. Instead, dip into the optimization of your human body so that you can FEEL energetic, strong, functional, sharp, clear, focused, and above all happy. The way you look will be your work of art. It displays what's going on internally. And that's psychological and physiological strength. That's your context. Let that precede any sort of body image goal. I don't expect everyone to adopt this view, however I do invite you to play with the idea.
So enough of the poetry and onto the HORMONES.
I left off the last post by saying that "You need to be able to optimize a favorable hormonal environment in the body for muscle gain and fat loss." You may be thinking..."well what does that even mean?!" Before I get into the how-to's, I want to get into the context of how our body works. Your internal physiology and psychology precede what people see on the outside. So here goes...
All the chemical reactions that occur in our bodies control our energy levels, fat storage, muscle building, growth/repair processes, and overall health. Collectively this is known as your metabolism. In order to not have all processes occurring in a chaotic fashion, our bodies need regulation and order.
That's where your hormones come into play. Just as traffic cops direct the flow of traffic, your hormones direct the flow of your metabolic processes. The release of hormones are affected by lifestyle choices such as diet, activity level, exercise, sleep, rest, and stress. This is highly under our control! In essence, we can influence how these traffic regulators direct the flow of certain metabolic processes to obtain specific results. Yes genetics affect our metabolism to some extent, however it is not an excuse to relinquish all power towards it.
But wait! It's not just calories in and calories out?!
On the most fundamental level, we know that if you want to lose body fat, consume fewer calories than you expend. If you want to gain weight, consume more calories than you burn. However, what we may or may not know is that maintaining a calorie surplus or deficit does not guarantee the results we want.
A calorie deficit could most certainly lead to a loss of lean muscle mass, and a calorie surplus could lead to a gain in unwanted fat instead of muscle. What is YOUR goal? How do you want to FEEL? Again, get clear on this before proceeding.
We are directed back to hormones (your traffic cops). These chemicals influence whether we are gaining fat or muscle mass and burning fat or muscle tissue. With that being said different hormones direct different types of metabolic processes in the body. There are some that are involved in directing growth and recovery, some that are involved in breakdown and energy utilization, and others that affect other hormones. Still with me? Good. It gets clearer I promise.
Anabolic and Catabolic hormones
For the purposes of our discussion, lets talk about two primary types of hormones. Anabolic hormones drive growth and recovery, while catabolic hormones drive breakdown and energy utilization. One isn't far superior than the other, and the word breakdown doesn't mean your body is doomed. They just serve our body in different ways.
Anabolic hormones help deposit energy into the muscle tissue, liver, or fat cells, and drive activities of rebuilding, repairing, and growing. Catabolic hormones help extract energy from glycogen (stored carbohydrates), fat, or muscle (no bueno) to be utilized for various activities in the body.
Keep in mind your body cannot perform both anabolic and catabolic processes at the same time. Sometimes we are building up and other times we are breaking down. There's always that polarity. However, understanding this concept and applying it to our goal of burning fat and building muscle allows us direct our traffic cops.
Depending on the lifestyle choices we make, we are able to direct our hormones to drive muscle building and fat loss. How do we do that?!
STAY TUNED FOR THAT AND MUCH MORE IN PART 3-Lifestyle Optimization!
Much love,
Sumair
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