HGH produced during workout gives window for fatburning

Doberdawn

Okay, I met with a "personal training assessor" last night and was told something that is either, (a) really useful and will totally alter how I approach my workouts in the future or (b) the biggest pile of unmitigated horse flops that I have ever heard. So, I come here, to y'all, to find out which it is. <g>

He told me two basic things... BOTH of which I question. First, he said the body draws its fuel for workouts first from available food calories, then from muscles/water, and only after that from fat. So, you can diet and workout for months, but you're only burning food and LBM, not fat. Really????? Gotta question that. Anyway, second, he said, there is a specific formula to working out that avoids this problem. You warm up for 5 minutes and then you must to combined cardio and resistance at the same time for like 1/2 an hour. (examples he had me do were punching holding freeweights while alternating standing on one foot, or doing side-to-side crunches holding a weight, or doing squats to raising up on tip toes with dumbbells). He said that after you flooding the muscles and made them work like that, they would be filled with HGH (human growth hormone) and for approximately 45 minutes after that, any cardio that you do would skip over the muscles because the body would detect the HGH circulating in them, and would instead draw purely from the fat in your body for energy.

Umm, again, I say.... really?!?!?!??! Okay, I'm not espousing these ideas as true, so you sure as heck can't offend me with your replies. If they are true, heck, great.... glad to learn something new.... but if they're bunk.... spell it out. And if it's a grey area? Well, then, I guess we may have a fun discussion anyway. <g> So, there you have it. I turn the floor over to you, fitness gurus!

Hendrix7

This kind of thing is really just mental *kitten* in my opinion.

IS growth hormone increased post workout.....yes, and GH is involved in fatty acid metabolism....however I don't know of anything that shows this is significant for fat loss. Remember you are talking about 1 hour of a total of 24 in your day, what happens over time is much more important.

If you use 3000 calorie per day, yet only eat 2500 you are going to lose weight. If you have sufficient stimulus (lifting) and enough protein then you should retain most of your muscle mass and most of the weight you lose will be fat.......that's really all that matters.

If you could only use fat for energy in totally fasted state surely it would be impossible to lose fat without training fasted or spending a significant amount of your day fasted........which we know is not the case.

He said that after you flooding the muscles and made them work like that, they would be filled with HGH (human growth hormone) and for approximately 45 minutes after that, any cardio that you do would skip over the muscles because the body would detect the HGH circulating in them, and would instead draw purely from the fat in your body for energy.

you lost me here.

Sarauk2sf

This kind of thing is really just mental *kitten* in my opinion.

Basically ^this!

iAMsmiling

So, burning the food in your tummy first? Really?

Um, no. Gotta digest it before it gets used. If he believes even this part of what he said, that's enough to disqualify him as an even semi-competent person.

Run (you'll burn calories and get far away from the idiot).

Doberdawn

This kind of thing is really just mental *kitten* in my opinion.

LOL

He said that after you flooding the muscles and made them work like that, they would be filled with HGH (human growth hormone) and for approximately 45 minutes after that, any cardio that you do would skip over the muscles because the body would detect the HGH circulating in them, and would instead draw purely from the fat in your body for energy.

you lost me here.

He claimed the hierarchy was that your body first used food calories, then used muscle and water, and only lastly would burn stored fat when you work out. But, IF you had supposedly just pumped up those muscles doing cardio-resistance exercises (not cardio, but strength training with an aerobic HR), then the muscles would be flooded with HGH from the workout. So, for that short window, your body would first use food calories and then SKIP OVER the water/muscle sources, and go straight to burning fat stores in the body if you did pure cardio during 45-minute window after the initial workout while the muscle remain flooded with HGH.

I nicely thanked the man for the session and walked out while the little "B.S." caller that sits on my shoulder was screaming in my ear. However, I am open-minded enough to ask if there is ANY merit to this. I am game to learn and I am working hard to take the right approaches here. So... ahem.... ?

SideSteel

Yikes. Mental *kitten* at its finest.

And substrate utilization during the actual training bout is pretty much unimportant as it pertains to net fat loss.

Doberdawn

Well, it sounds like that lil' voice on my shoulder was right. If the guy wonders why I didn't enthusiastically sign up for more of these valuable personal training sessions ... It's because my B.S. meter was on the red zone. Follow thy gut.