The Role Of Hormones And Gaining Muscle

Hormones play one of the most important roles when on a muscle gaining program. While some hormones help you to gain muscle, some will induce muscle wastage, some will increase fat storage and some will increase fat burning. We will need to learn about how we can manipulate your body into producing more muscle building and fat burning hormones and less muscle burning and fat building hormones.

Muscle Building Hormones

Here is a list of the all important muscle building hormones that promote protein synthesis (the rebuilding of muscle fibers). These are the hormones you will be trying to force your body to produce most of whilst on your muscle gaining program.

* Testosterone (This hormone is the daddy of muscle building)
* Growth Hormone (GH or HGH for short (Human Growth Hormone))
* Insulin
* IGF-1

Fat Burning Hormones

Here is a list of fat burning hormones.

* Testosterone
* Growth Hormone
* Adrenaline
* Noradrenaline
* Glucagon

Of the above hormones, glucagon also causes muscle loss, so we’ll not be aiming to produce much of it as it may hinder your muscle gains.

Cortisol - The Enemy Hormone

Cortisol is the hormone that we’ll be aiming to produce as little as possible of as it promotes muscle loss aswell as fat storage. A total no-no for bodybuilders.

Insulin Explained

Insulin is both good and bad at times. Released by the pancreas, it promotes muscle gain but can sometimes also promote fat gain. We will be aiming to increase insulin levels only at times when it will promote most muscle gain and least fat gain - which is straight after an intense workout.

Insulin is released by your body to return your blood sugar levels to normal after you eat. Every time you eat, some or all of the food is turned into glucose (sugar) by your body and released into your bloodstream. High levels of blood sugar levels in the body over a long time could result in blindness or even death! This is why insulin is released by the body - to return your glucose levels to normal after every meal.

When insulin is released, it lowers glucose levels by pushing it into muscle and liver cells. This helps protein synthesis (muscle building) because it pushes amino acids (protein) into the muscles. This also fights against muscle breakdown. The downside is that once muscle and liver cells can take no more glucose, insulin then forces the remaining glucose into fat cells, which increases fat storage.

So, basically, high insulin levels are good after a workout (because your body’s muscles have just been ripped up during your training session and are gagging for glucose to help them heal and get bigger and stronger) but the rest of the time they are bad as it will just push a lot of the left over glucose into your fat cells and make you fat!

You must control your insulin levels by controlling what you eat. Carbohydrates, protein and fats all induce insulin release in different amounts. Here’s a breakdown for you:-

Carbohydrates

Carbs release the most insulin. If you eat a high carb food on its own (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes) and intake 100g of carbs, you’d cause 100g of glucose to enter your bloodstream, which will cause a massive rise in insulin. If you’ve not just completed a workout, I’d advise against that as your muscles won’t need much glucose, so only some of it will be pushed to the liver and muscle cells and then most will be shoved on to your fat cells which equals you having a fat ass!

Protein

When you eat high protein foods (chicken breasts, tuna, or whey protein shakes) on their own, only 58% of the protein will be changed to glucose by your body. So if you eat 100g of protein, only 58g will be turned into glucose and enter your bloodstream. However, if you intake enough carbs with your protein, your body will have enough glucose to manage and most of, if not ALL, of the 100g of protein will be used for muscle building J So, moral of the story is to take carbs and protein together at every meal - carbs so that your body has enough glucose (for energy) and doesn’t convert your protein into glucose, and protein for muscle building.

Fats

Fats have very little blood sugar increasing effects. As a matter of fact, only 10% of fats are turned into glucose by the body. When fats are digested, they’re broken down into glycerol and free fatty acid chains (FFA) and your liver then converts the glycerol into glucose. You don’t have to intake fats at every meal. On a side note, a lot of people get sugar and fats mixed up when if they are new to nutrition. Try not to fall into that trap and always read the nutrition label on the packaging of all your food before you eat it - that’ll keep you right.

Like I said before, you should aim to boost your insulin levels straight after a training session by intaking a large protein and carbohydrate shake right after your workout. This high intake of nutrients right after a workout will be just what your body needs to start recovering and with little chance of fat storage as your body will be craving carbs for energy and protein for protein synthesis right away (which means little, if any, nutrients pushed into fat cells). You must, however, keep insulin levels at moderate levels the rest of the time, to keep fat storage to a minimum.