Is Your Exercise Program Making You Fat?!
by Sam Visnic, CHEK III, CHEK NLC II, NMT, LMT
It seems to be common knowledge that exercise is one of the keys to weight loss…
but sometimes the very workout program you're using to drop pounds can actually
make you gain weight! How can that be? When a good diet and exercise program
results in an expanding waistline, the first question I would want to ask is,
"How much stress are you under?" It's less common knowledge that the combined
forces of stress and exercise can sabotage weight loss, which is why it's absolutely
CRITICAL to identify your stress levels before selecting the proper exercise program!
When you are stressed out for any reason, your body responds by going into fight-or-flight
mode. In this process, the adrenal glands release adrenaline along with the stress
hormone, cortisol, to break down tissues, increase blood sugar levels and mobilize
your body to take urgent action. Although cortisol is normally present in the body
to carry out numerous functions, chronic stressors such as overworking, relationship
issues, poor diet, prolonged physical exertion, etc., can keep cortisol levels
constantly elevated. Because cortisol works to break down muscle tissue in response
to stress, this reduces the body's ability to burn calories. High cortisol levels
can also interfere with the function of insulin, a hormone that operates to process
carbohydrates. Consequently, muscle cells become more insulin resistant, reducing
their ability to let carbohydrates in for energy. When carbs do not make it to the
muscles to be burned off as fuel, where does it go? That's right, bodyfat!
Renowned strength coach, Charles Poliquin, developed a Biosignature Modulation system
indicating that where you store fat on your body is influenced by whatever hormonal
imbalances you may have. In particular, when cortisol levels are too high, there
is a tendency to gain bodyfat around the midsection. In fact, the more bodyfat
you have around your belly button, the more out of balance your cortisol levels are.
As you can see, the hormonal system is very sensitive. Every hormone affects the
balance of other hormones. Similarly, when the adrenal glands are out of balance,
it can directly affect the function of the thyroid gland. I like to think of the
thyroid gland as a sort of "throttle" for the metabolism. When your body is stressed
out, the throttle slows down in order to avoid running on empty. When cortisol
levels are elevated due to stress, it stops efficient conversion of certain thyroid
hormones, which results in decreased metabolism.
These days, chronic stress is practically the norm, and obesity afflicts approximately
33 percent of the U.S. population. Many of these stressed out, overweight people
go to the gym and do what? Work out really hard to try to lose the weight. Exercise,
while being a very healthy thing to do, is also stressful on your body. When you
exercise, your body must recover from the efforts and build up additional reserves
of energy in order to withstand the repeated exertion. But, when someone is already
chemically stressed out from the pressures of daily life, what happens when they add
an intense exercise program on top? That's right, they secrete yet more cortisol.
The additional physical stress load exacerbates the hormonal imbalance that was already
there, essentially digging a deeper ditch and hampering one's ability to lose weight.
When your stress levels are elevated both psychologically and physically, your body
has to work overtime to repair the cumulative damage created by all stressors. Thus,
it is important for the intensity of any exercise program to be appropriate to the
existing levels of stress: High Stress = Low Intensity Exercise.
Here are a few modifications you can make if you need to exercise, but you feel
like your stress levels are high:
1. Decrease the total number of sets per exercise:
If you normally do 3 sets per exercise, then drop down to 2 or 1 set per exercise.
This total decrease in training volume will put less stress on your body while giving
you the benefits of regular exercise.
2. Decrease the intensity of the exercise:
This can be calculated as either a decrease in the amount of weight used (if resistance
training) or a reduction in your target heart rate zone. Either of these options
will reduce the stress load on your body so that it won't have to work as hard at
repairing tissues after strenuous effort.
3. Change the type of exercise:
Many of the athletes I work with have a difficult time letting themselves do "light"
training when they are in the weight room. If that is the case, I may recommend
a less strenuous form of exercise such as yoga. Yoga is highly effective for very
stressed out individuals who need to recover, so long as it is not done intensely.
You will be absolutely amazed at the results you begin to experience once you start
exercising correctly for your stress levels. Several clients who came to me for
weight loss were training much too hard for their stress levels, working out 4-5
days per week without ANY results. Once I modified their programs based on the
recommendations above, much to their surprise, they began getting the results they
wanted by doing less volume and intensity instead of more!
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