Endocrine Mondays!

OK, so it's actually Sunday night, but most of you will read this on Monday anyways.

I've decided to make every Monday all about endocrinology. Besides playing a huge role in training, nutrition and LIFE, I've always had a weird fascination for chemical messengers. So, you can check in here every Monday to learn something new about hormones, neurohormones, neurotransmitters and the rest of 'em, and what the heck it has to do with you, your training or your diet. Let's get started today with some basic stuff.

When you exercise, you affect 5 major biological functions. They are:

1. Maintenance of homeostasis and the internal environment
2. Stress responses
3. Availability and utilization of metabolic energy
4. Growth and maintenance of skeletal and cardiac muscle, along with other parts of lean body mass
5. Reproduction

These effects take place immediately and over time when you exercise. What you do in your training session has a direct effect on your body's endocrine reaction. Walking uphill does something totally different than hitting a max deadlift. Both can be good. 

These chemical messengers can and will work together to restore homeostasis, influence the growth of structural body components and alter reproductive function in response to some forms of chronic exercise. (Funny how when you put the word "chronic" before another word, it makes the subsequent word sound bad. No worries though, "exercise" is still a good thing.)

Chemical messengers as a term can include hormones, neurotransmitters, neurohormones and neuropeptides. All of these things transmit a certain message. (Borer, 2003)

So, that's some of the basic stuff. To recap, your body has a lot of systems. Chemical messengers work individually, and together, to keep you going strong.  Exercise has a direct effect on what they do and when they do it. By broadening your knowledge of the topic, you can take advantage of your body's natural responses and improve your self, which is always the goal anyways, right?

Recovery!

People love to talk and discuss different training methods, and sets and reps and different exercises and a million other things. But what a lot of them fail to realize is that you only spend maybe 3-7 hours a week training. There are 168 hours in a week, and at least 160 of those are spent not training, but RECOVERING! So, what's the message? Spend more time figuring out your recovery strategies and less time worrying about the actual training instead of just doing it. 

There are a ton of different recovery modalities including contrast hydrotherapy, ice, meditation, foam rolling, massage, ART, static stretching, dynamic stretching, tempo work and on and on and on. They are all viable options at different times, depending on what you've been doing and where you're at in your training and experience. It's taken me a while, but I've been able to figure out what to use when to use it for best results by listening to my body and being aware of how its operating. I recommend you do the same, apply what you are learning, and see your recovery (and in turn your gains) shoot through the roof.

And now, here's what not to do when taking a contrast shower:

Contrast Shower