Learn How To Use Your Hormones To Lose More Fat
by Shin Ohtake creator of Max Workouts

People look at exercising as a means to lose weight, get rid of belly fat and get a lean well-defined body. And while most of us work hard to get that look on the outside...what's happening on the inside, often gets ignored. In fact, it's what goes on inside your body, that allows you to get the look you're after. It's the unglamorous side...I know. We all want the end result...yesterday. But the benefit to you, is that the more you know what goes on inside your body, the better and faster results you'll achieve on the outside. So if you're serious about shedding pounds and losing stubborn body fat, you'd better learn about the little dudes that really calls the shots in your body.
Find out how these little dudes actually help you burn more fat.

The little dudes that I'm talking about are your hormones! That's right... these tiny chemical messengers are vital to your body's daily function. Hormones essentially carry messages from one cell to another cell and is responsible for cellular metabolism. In fact, it's these guys that can manipulate and alter your body's metabolism...and you know what that means. The higher your metabolism the more calories you burn throughout the day. Even though they're too small to see with your naked eyes, they can make a BIG difference in what you see in the mirror!

Now there are countless numbers of hormones, each with complicated mechanisms that play an important role in the function of your body. But I've listed the key hormones that interest us the most... those that are vital to your body's physical appearance. You can look at these as your "All Star of Hormones". Check them out below:

Growth Hormones

• Stimulates protein synthesis so you can build stronger and bigger muscles. It also helps strengthen soft tissues that help protect joints such as your tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. And don't worry ladies, natural stimulation of your growth hormones won't make you look the incredible hulk with a bikini. Instead you'll build leaner and longer muscles that'll make have you looking tight and toned. Plus the more lean muscles you have the more fat you'll burn, since lean muscle increases your metabolism.


• Decreases use of glucose and increases use of fat as a fuel during exercise. Which means it turns on your fat burning switch, so you can burn your stored fat, helping you get rid of that stubborn body fat. It also helps you keep a healthy blood sugar level which is vital to your health. High blood sugar is linked to diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and even cancer.


• So what's the best way to stimulate growth hormones? Exercise. (did you expect anything else?) And the more intense the exercise the greater the growth hormone production.

Endorphins

• These are also known as the feel good hormones. If helps block pain, reduces tension and anxiety and produces a general feeling of euphoria. It also helps decrease appetite!


• The best way to increase your endorphin levels in your blood is by doing intense levels of cardio interval training. Ever heard of runners high? Well this hormone is the culprit. The other neat thing about this hormone is that the more your body gets regular exercise, the more sensitive this hormone gets. So your body feels the effects of the endorphins better and longer by exercising regularly at higher levels of intensity.

Testosterone

• This is a sex hormone more prevalent in males than females, but are available in both sexes.


• It's similar to growth hormones in a sense that it helps build and maintain the size and strength of your muscles. It also helps crank up your metabolism so you can burn more calories through out the day.


• Since it's a sex hormone it increases the sex drive, especially for men. But don't feel left out ladies, even though the level of testosterone is one tenth found in men, it still helps your libido and actually helps you experience the big "O" better!


• Even though the production of testosterone starts to wane at around forty for men and for women close to menopause, you can still stimulate the production of testosterone effectively through diet and... you guessed it exercise! Much like the other two hormones discussed earlier, the best way to stimulate testosterone is by doing short intense bursts of activity rather than long, endurance types of training. In fact, studies have shown that prolonged activity can decrease levels of testosterone. Keeping your exercises short and sweet can help keep your testosterone levels healthy at any age.

Estrogen

• It's a female reproductive hormone, but much like testosterone, both sexes have it. Too much estrogen has been associated with loss of muscle mass, bone mass and even some diseases. But this hormone has gotten a bad rap. In fact there is a type of estrogen known as "17 beta estradiol", that's really good for building a better body.


• 17 beta estradiol helps breakdown fat from your body, and increases metabolism for better daily calorie burn. It even elevates your mood and increases libido for females.


• And although females start to produce less of it with age, you can help your ovaries secrete more 17 beta estradiol with exercise. (Are you startin' to see a recurring theme?)

Thyroxine

• This an important weight loss hormone produced by your thyroid gland.


• Thyroxine is responsible for increasing cellular metabolism which ultimately causes your body to burn more calories, thereby helping your body lose weight.


• You can increase blood levels of thyroxine by up to 30% during exercise and it can remain elevated for several hours afterwards, depending on the intensity of exercise. Higher the intensity, the longer your thyroxine stays in your blood stream.

Insulin

• If there was a celebrity hormone magazine, insulin would be on the cover all the time. It's the Brangelina of hormones, since it's gets the most "press" when it comes to general health and disease prevention.


• It's the hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels in your body. And it does so by directing glucose (sugar), fatty acids (fat), and amino acids (protein) into cells that need it.


• Insulin is secreted by the pancreas, and is increased in response to a rise in blood sugar, often following a meal high in simple carbs (which break down to glucose really quickly) like bread, pasta, pastries and so on.


• If insulin is abused and secreted too often from eating too many starchy or sugary foods, your insulin develops a resistance it. And when it does it takes more blood sugar (which means more calorie intake) to secrete insulin. And worse yet, the blood sugar that's not taken up by insulin gets stored as fat.


• The fact is most overweight people have developed some level of insulin resistance, causing them to gain weight. It's a vicious cycle because more sugar is needed in the blood stream for the insulin to be secreted...which means more calories consumed.


• The best way to reverse the effects of insulin resistance is by cleaning up your diet (by cutting down or eliminating starches, sugars and processed foods and drinks) and through consistent exercising. Studies have shown that regular exercise increases your cell's sensitivity to insulin, thereby helping reverse the effects of insulin resistance.

So there you have it your "All Stars of Hormones". Keep these hormones in check by eating well and... of course by exercising! For many of the hormones mentioned, the intensity of the exercises are what really helps stimulate them. And if you that aren't familiar with working out at an intense level—don't let it intimidate you. Intensity is subjective for everyone and the best way to start out is by doing what you're comfortable with at first, and then slowly work your way up, at your own pace. To find out how to perform proper high intensity workouts, check out my Max Workouts program. It has specific exercises and workouts all designed to help you achieve proper intensity levels, so that you can maximize the benefits of each workout and help accelerate your body transformation.

Shin Ohtake is the author of the world-famous fitness program, MAX Workouts. To learn more about how you can get ultra lean and toned with shorter workouts, visit http://www.MaxWorkouts.com

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