The influence of training on growth hormone (GH)

Author: Bulanov Yu. B. (book "Growth Hormone 2").
2011-23-01

Physical exercise is undoubtedly the strongest stimulator of the secretion of growth hormone (GH). Under the influence of intense training, the peaks of GH release throughout the day become more frequent and increase in amplitude. When building a training plan, it is essential to consider the interaction of GH with other hormones during the workout. The higher the training intensity, the stronger the release of GH. The release can increase during the first half hour of training, after which it slightly decreases. Simultaneously, the release of sex hormones and thyroid hormones intensifies, which potentiates the action of GH on tissues. The release of catecholamines in the blood increases, especially norepinephrine and epinephrine. This is the first phase of training stress, aimed at mobilizing the body's energy resources.

It has already been mentioned that growth hormone is an adaptive, "stress" hormone. The secretion of insulin slightly decreases, and there is an explanation for this. GH, sex hormones, and catecholamines are counterinsular factors that weaken both insulin release and its action on tissues; otherwise, insulin would block the mobilization of energy resources. GH, along with catecholamines and thyroid hormones, primarily break down liver glycogen, which is decomposed into glucose and utilized by the muscles. Strange as it may seem, muscles cannot utilize glucose from the blood. They first convert glucose arriving with the bloodstream into glycogen and then utilize it. When glycogen reserves in the liver are depleted, GH, catecholamines, and thyroid hormones "turn to" fat tissue. Initially subcutaneous, and then internal. Fatty acids flood the blood but are poorly utilized. Glucose is required for this, but there are no available glucose reserves. Muscle glycogen (this is something no one seems to know) cannot be converted into glucose and, in this case, "cannot do anything" for the utilization of fatty acids. Already after 20 minutes of training (in beginners), blood plasma albumins in the liver are converted into glucose, and this newly formed glucose helps quickly utilize fatty acids. In highly trained athletes, blood plasma proteins are utilized for energy needs not after 20 but after just 10 minutes of training.

In athletes of high qualification, the process of "gluconeogenesis," i.e., the formation of glucose in the liver, is extremely well developed. Almost from the first minutes of training, glucose in the liver is formed from fatty acids and glycerol. This fat-derived glucose helps muscles utilize fatty acids and glycerol, which are completely oxidized to produce energy stored as ATP. After 0.5 hours of training, the level of growth hormone in the blood begins to decrease gradually. Simultaneously, the levels of thyroid hormones and catecholamines drop. However, the level of glucocorticoid hormones increases, which inhibit the effects of GH, thyroxine, and sex hormones. This is related to the fact that adrenaline stimulates peripheral serotonergic structures of the body (nerve cells producing serotonin peripherally), serotonin begins to stimulate the adrenal cortex, and a large amount of glucocorticoid hormones is released into the blood. Glucocorticoids further enhance gluconeogenesis in the liver. The secretion of insulin remains suppressed. The second phase of training stress occurs, characterized by a significant increase in catabolism. This increase in catabolism is due to the fact that glucocorticoid hormones mainly use alanine – an amino acid that they take from the muscles for gluconeogenesis. This leads to the development of catabolic processes in muscle tissue. After 1 hour of training, there is a significant predominance of catabolic processes over anabolic ones. How to solve the emerging problem? How to prevent muscle tissue catabolism?

The conclusion is obvious: the workout should be short enough to create an energy deficit in the muscle tissue and synthesize glucose from fatty acids and glycerol. If the workout lasts longer than necessary, then alanine will be used for the energy needs of the body, and muscle catabolism will be inevitable.

Uninformed people, who do not even know the basics of normal physiology, write in popular magazines that it is necessary to "bomb" each muscle for almost hours to provoke muscle catabolism. And the more muscle catabolism, the more, according to their claims, muscle anabolism develops during recovery. Any serious scientist from academic circles will tell you that muscle hypertrophy develops exclusively as a response to energy deficit and nothing more. If a muscle works for too long, then muscle tissue catabolism occurs. There can be no question of muscle hypertrophy. On the contrary, the muscle begins to "shrink."

In light of the above, it becomes clear why the global trend currently leans towards shorter workouts with simultaneous increases in intensity. To accumulate the necessary total volume of training loads, short workouts are conducted frequently: 2-3 times a day, and sometimes even more often. Nowadays, it is no longer surprising to see athletes training 3 times a day for 20 minutes each.

The intensity of workouts is beginning to take unprecedented forms. Some athletes perform short, high-intensity workouts without any breaks between sets. How is this done? Let me give a simple example. An athlete arrives at the gym and starts doing a triset: squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. This triset is performed as follows. A warm-up set in squats, then immediately without a break (!) a warm-up set in deadlifts, and then immediately without a break a warm-up set in bench pressing. Then everything is repeated from the start. The warm-up sets replace each other, and then the main sets begin. A main set for legs, then without a break a main set in deadlifts, then without a break a main set in bench pressing. And this continues for the entire workout. In terms of intensity, such a workout approaches that of sprinting. Sweat pours in streams. After each set of bench presses, the bench has to be wiped with a special towel. It is not easy to get accustomed to such high intensity, but it is impossible to do without it. First, during the first 0.5 hours of training, the release of GH into the blood (in quantitative terms) is directly proportional to the intensity. The higher the intensity, the greater the release. Second, without such high intensity, it is impossible to complete the necessary number of exercises (sets, repetitions) in 20-30 minutes.

When the main concepts of muscle growth were being developed in the mid-1960s, it became clear that muscle mass growth is directly proportional to the volume of work performed during the training. The time frames of the workouts were not restricted in any way. In the 1970s, an additional criterion emerged – the duration of the workout. Now muscle growth became directly proportional to the volume of muscle work performed and inversely proportional to the time in which the work was done. With equal volumes of muscle work, maximum muscle growth occurred where that volume of work was performed in the least amount of time.

As high-intensity workouts began to gain popularity, there was a wave of widespread enthusiasm for stimulants, including those from the amphetamine range. Without stimulants, short high-intensity workouts seemed impossible to everyone. To avoid exhausting the nervous system, stimulants were combined with some steroids that have a greater affinity for nerve tissue than others. The consequences did not take long to manifest. Heart attacks and acquired heart defects began to occur. Those who managed to replace a heart valve in time survived; those who did not, did not. People became more cautious. Instead of stimulants, they began using recovery agents, energy savers, and nootropics. These allowed for a massive volume of work to be performed in a short time with less strain on the heart muscle. The heart began to be trained separately – and this immediately yielded results. Athletes reached a new, previously unseen level. Sprinting gained unprecedented popularity among "powerlifters" and bodybuilders.