Friday 090626

Courtesy of Crossfit Hypoxia

We have said it many times. This is hard work. And the secret, which we are not trying to hide, is that is why it works.
So, thank you Paul for providing a glimpse into the science of why it works. It also proves what I speak to my buddies about…we are chemical junkies.
“Well, I have been listening to incredible medical seminars from anit-aging, rejuvenative medicine docs - seems to be pretty clear that human growth hormone (hGH or GH) is major player in staying young and healthy - along with keeping other hormone levels close to best levels of youth…. the hormones are so inter-related in very complex ways - and the best way to keep them in correct balance is nutrition, exercise, and healthy spiritual/emotional stuff and getting rid of stress…. and growth hormone responds to exercise but it appears to be mostly related to pretty violent exercise - not pooping along at 70% or even 80% even if for long time - short, violent stuff is what seems to give biggest boost to hGH - guess that is what Alan has been saying all along - and for the guys (well, also girls), testosterone levels begin dropping in a straight line from about age 25…. and violent exercise is what can bring them back up…. the lower the testosterone, the more fat and less muscle we have - the fat has enzymes called “aromatase” that turn the testosterone we do have into estrone (female estrogen) which leads to less testosterone, more fat, more aromatase and so on in a vicious cycle. And the hGH and testosterone are interrelated…. and on and on it goes - I wonder if there is some kind of testosterone meter we could get to have at the gym - maybe we could peg it out at the top with some of the workouts…. that is scary.
A study was done with men about age 30 - put in stressful 3 month situation - the ones who INCREASED their exercise level in spite of extra time for work showed healthiest levels of hormones of all kinds with least effects of stress, while those who continued with same level did relatively okay, and those who decreased their time went downhill fast.
Oh, yeah, you have to damage muscle to get the effects wanted for hGH increase - amino acid is released when muscle is damaged and the brain sees that as a signal that tells the hypothalamus to make more hGH to repair muscle and make MORE muscle. If the amino acids are not released, no increase in hGH…. Again, I have had this long time attitude that I wanted to “get in shape” so that I wouldn’t hurt from exercise…. duhh, I now am seeing that we have to change our exercise and push to the point of damage every time - so we are going to be hurting to some extent pretty much all the time - but I don’t hurt the way I used to from exercise - I kind of like the feeling I am getting from CrossFit - makes me feel ALIVE. I said something about that to Alan a week ago - he said something like, “in CrossFit, we are masters at doing random damage to the body.” This is so sick…. I guess we are a cult of some kind….”

Nicole"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
Run 400 meters
Max rep Pull-ups

Post number of pull-ups completed for each round to comments.