Are you wasting your time in the gym? Endless exercise or workout, repeating that vicious cycles of cardio over and over again, for months and probably years, you are not getting the results you wanted. What happen? Ever realized tons of gym goers who usually spent loads of time on cardio treadmill tend to be overweight and not lean and well toned? Or even enthusiast bodybuilders tend to have bulky body shape and not achieving definition and lean muscle mass? Most gym goers who is into bodybuilding, has poor fitness level and health status. Happen to catch a nasty fart while in the gym? Yeah, thats usually either your gym instructors or protein powder freaks. Don't believe? Then spent more time with them, and see what happens.
In this post, I'm going to share some exercise methods, and this concerns especially guys, but ladies can integrate this routine in their exercise program as well, with lighter weights. In this post, I want to share the benefits of supersets and forced sets. Yes, I've mentioned before about the effectiveness and benefits of HIBT and high intensity interval trainings, but let me share some of these types of workout, what they can do for athletes, bodybuilders and some of us as well.
Supersets and forced sets, if done properly, can help induce a maximum anabolic state. Long resistance supersets that take between one and three minutes followed by a 'forced' set, will most likely grant the amount of time needed for cortisol levels to rise and fall. This method allows the cortisol level to drop within the time range of the superset and the forced repetition.
To fully manipulate steroid actions, you should try to take advantage of the cortisol waves during exercise. You can do this as follows:
- Keep your workout short yet intense, preferably not more then 45 mins, perform a giant superset, then move on to next set.
- Take short rest intervals, approximately 30-60 seconds. Take longer rest then that, it may give the body enough time to snap out of the 'action mode' and reset itself to re-establish a high cortisol level during the next set. Again, a high cortisol level marks an upcoming cortisol decline. A low cortisol levels marks an upcoming cortisol increase. Therefore, when incorporating short rests between the sets, the body will gradually adapt to the highly intense drills by shortening cortisol waves and lowering its levels.
In fact, intense training has a profoundly relaxing effects on the body because of the nature of the cortisol wave. For that matter, any exercise can help reduce stress if its done properly, except steady state cardio or endurance type of exercise or trainings.
A physically trained body can cope with stress better than a sedentary one. As noted, through adaptation, the body gets tougher by shortening cortisol spikes and avoiding chronically elevated cortisol levels that are associated with panic reactions and impaired performance. In summary, adrenal steroids help the body survive under stressful condition. Manipulating the cortisol wave to work for you means taking advantage of your survival mechanism to get tougher and stronger.
Now, let's talk abit about aldosterone. Any of you heard of this hormone? Yes? Well, it is an adrenal mineralocorticoid hormone that regulates ion mineral balance and blood pressure via sodium and potassium pumps. This hormone is usually regarded as 'bad guy', because of its presumed adverse affects on blood pressure and water retention. It is activated by the hormone called angiotensin, derived from the actions of the kidney on the liver.
Aldosterone actions probably helped humans survive during primordial times when salt was not abundant in every community. Salt, once considered a precious commodity, was traded over long distances and even used as currency. The ancient Greeks regarded salt as a substance that boosts physical power. And no, I'm not talking about table salt.
Through many years of evolution, the human body has adapted primarily to food that is minimally processed and has a significantly higher ratio of potassium to sodium. Potassium, a natural diuretic mineral, activates aldosterone and also helps remove water from tissues, thus, elleviating edema and water retention.
Looking at how human body is biologically equipped to better survive under conditions of physical hardship and food deprivation, one might conclude that an inner wisdom is deeply embedded into basic human nature. Physical stress such as exercise, as well as the endurance of periods of lack of food, would likely activate a most powerful inner mechanism that compensate the body for the physical and nutritional stress by inducing metabolic actions that improve the body's capacity to generate energy and resist those stressors.
Periodically restricting sodium and eating high potassium foods would give the body the signal that sodium is scarce, and thus trigger this primal survival mechanism that activates the mineralocorticoid aldosterone and its related actions.
Also, there may be another bonus involved. Aldosterone, which is responsible for the preservation of sodium, may indirectly help induce a preliminary anabolic potential in which muscle cell membranes are alkalized via sodium pump. When activated, the sodium pump or channel, increases sodium ions in the cell, a process necessary for muscle contractions as well as other metabolic functions, including cellular growth.
Aldosterone is a weak steroid, and diets with overly salty and deficient in potassium chronically deactivate this hormone. Long periods of sodium restriction can reactivate aldosterone but may eventually lead to water retention and elevated blood pressure when sodium is reintroduced. Conversely, loading the body with potassium riched foods such as avocados, tomatoes and vegetables, naturally helps to activate aldosterone, staving off undesirable water retention and its related blood pressure fluctuations.
Note that chronic elevation of aldosterone such as with hypertension individuals is generally a symptom of metabolic disorders that occur due to impaired liver or kidney functions. Poor diets, high levels of toxicity and lack of exercise are all factors that contribute to impaired capacity of the body to regulate normal metabolic functions, including the homeostasis of minerals.
Last but not least, aldosterone induces electrical charge in muscle cells by allowing an increase in cellular sodium. This process may help induce muscular action potential with higher overall muscle tone. I will discuss about how different types of fats play their roles in repair and growth in next couple chapters, hopefully.
Supersets and forced sets, if done properly, can help induce a maximum anabolic state. Long resistance supersets that take between one and three minutes followed by a 'forced' set, will most likely grant the amount of time needed for cortisol levels to rise and fall. This method allows the cortisol level to drop within the time range of the superset and the forced repetition.
To fully manipulate steroid actions, you should try to take advantage of the cortisol waves during exercise. You can do this as follows:
- Keep your workout short yet intense, preferably not more then 45 mins, perform a giant superset, then move on to next set.
- Take short rest intervals, approximately 30-60 seconds. Take longer rest then that, it may give the body enough time to snap out of the 'action mode' and reset itself to re-establish a high cortisol level during the next set. Again, a high cortisol level marks an upcoming cortisol decline. A low cortisol levels marks an upcoming cortisol increase. Therefore, when incorporating short rests between the sets, the body will gradually adapt to the highly intense drills by shortening cortisol waves and lowering its levels.
In fact, intense training has a profoundly relaxing effects on the body because of the nature of the cortisol wave. For that matter, any exercise can help reduce stress if its done properly, except steady state cardio or endurance type of exercise or trainings.
A physically trained body can cope with stress better than a sedentary one. As noted, through adaptation, the body gets tougher by shortening cortisol spikes and avoiding chronically elevated cortisol levels that are associated with panic reactions and impaired performance. In summary, adrenal steroids help the body survive under stressful condition. Manipulating the cortisol wave to work for you means taking advantage of your survival mechanism to get tougher and stronger.
Now, let's talk abit about aldosterone. Any of you heard of this hormone? Yes? Well, it is an adrenal mineralocorticoid hormone that regulates ion mineral balance and blood pressure via sodium and potassium pumps. This hormone is usually regarded as 'bad guy', because of its presumed adverse affects on blood pressure and water retention. It is activated by the hormone called angiotensin, derived from the actions of the kidney on the liver.
Aldosterone actions probably helped humans survive during primordial times when salt was not abundant in every community. Salt, once considered a precious commodity, was traded over long distances and even used as currency. The ancient Greeks regarded salt as a substance that boosts physical power. And no, I'm not talking about table salt.
Through many years of evolution, the human body has adapted primarily to food that is minimally processed and has a significantly higher ratio of potassium to sodium. Potassium, a natural diuretic mineral, activates aldosterone and also helps remove water from tissues, thus, elleviating edema and water retention.
Looking at how human body is biologically equipped to better survive under conditions of physical hardship and food deprivation, one might conclude that an inner wisdom is deeply embedded into basic human nature. Physical stress such as exercise, as well as the endurance of periods of lack of food, would likely activate a most powerful inner mechanism that compensate the body for the physical and nutritional stress by inducing metabolic actions that improve the body's capacity to generate energy and resist those stressors.
Periodically restricting sodium and eating high potassium foods would give the body the signal that sodium is scarce, and thus trigger this primal survival mechanism that activates the mineralocorticoid aldosterone and its related actions.
Also, there may be another bonus involved. Aldosterone, which is responsible for the preservation of sodium, may indirectly help induce a preliminary anabolic potential in which muscle cell membranes are alkalized via sodium pump. When activated, the sodium pump or channel, increases sodium ions in the cell, a process necessary for muscle contractions as well as other metabolic functions, including cellular growth.
Aldosterone is a weak steroid, and diets with overly salty and deficient in potassium chronically deactivate this hormone. Long periods of sodium restriction can reactivate aldosterone but may eventually lead to water retention and elevated blood pressure when sodium is reintroduced. Conversely, loading the body with potassium riched foods such as avocados, tomatoes and vegetables, naturally helps to activate aldosterone, staving off undesirable water retention and its related blood pressure fluctuations.
Note that chronic elevation of aldosterone such as with hypertension individuals is generally a symptom of metabolic disorders that occur due to impaired liver or kidney functions. Poor diets, high levels of toxicity and lack of exercise are all factors that contribute to impaired capacity of the body to regulate normal metabolic functions, including the homeostasis of minerals.
Last but not least, aldosterone induces electrical charge in muscle cells by allowing an increase in cellular sodium. This process may help induce muscular action potential with higher overall muscle tone. I will discuss about how different types of fats play their roles in repair and growth in next couple chapters, hopefully.
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