The Role Of Hormones And Gaining Muscle (4)

Adrenaline And Noradrenaline (also known as Epinephrine and norepinephrine)

Adrenaline and noradrenaline are fat burning hormones that are released during physical exercise and mental stress. When released, they mainly work by attaching themselves to “androreceptors” located on the walls of cells (I’ll explain androreceptors later in the course). This increases blood flow and fat breakdown when insulin levels are low. After training, adrenaline levels fall but noradrenaline levels stay high, which keeps burning calories at a fast rate after training is over.

These two hormones will cause most fat loss when you’re sculpting your six pack. Any diet and/or exercise program aimed at raising these hormones will be highly effective if you control your calorie intake.

T3

T3 stands for triiodothyronine and is another fat burning hormone, but on the downside, it burns muscle also. T3 is produced by your thyroid, along with T4, and these hormones control your overall metabolism (the rate your body burns calories), however, T3 has a far greater influence.

Increased T3 production means a faster metabolism, faster burning of calories and, therefore, faster burning of fat and muscle. That’s why skinny hardgainers find it hard to gain weight - they have fast metabolisms. Decreased T3 production will equal a slower metabolism, slower burning of calories and, therefore, slower burning of fat and muscle.

Your body will adapt to your diet as far as the production of T3 goes. For example, if you’re consistently eating a large amount of calories, your body will release a lot of T3 to speed your metabolism and keep fat levels under control. And if you’re consistently eating a low amount of calories per day, your body will produce low levels to slow your metabolism and conserve calories. This will help to conserve muscle mass and body fat levels (your body basically goes into survival mode).

T3 also helps protein synthesis, so low levels will mean that no new muscle is being built. Therefore, you must always aim to eat a high calorie diet to keep T3 levels high if you’re aim is to build muscle.

When it comes to losing body fat, bare in mind that long-term low calorie diets can cause your natural T3 levels to drop by as much as 30% and can cause your noradrenaline levels to drop by as much as 50%. Needless to say, this will make it harder for you to lose body fat. You can, however, minimise these drops in both hormones by taking caffeine, the “ECA stack” (we’ll talk about this later in the course), protein and getting high quality exercise.