Hormones: they're the 3am phone call. The email marked urgent. They carry the messages demanding your body take action. But they do more than regulate your primal instincts; they also determine the improvements you make from the miles you run and the weights you lift. ‘How your hormones respond to your exercise regime is the single biggest success factor for building muscle, burning fat or boosting your running performance,’ says Joe Beer, a running coach and author of Need to Know Triathlon (£10, Collins). ‘Good workouts make the right hormonal shift to progress. Bad ones don't.’ Most runners give hormones very little thought, but they can make or break your results – so here's the buzz on how to improve your performance from the inside out.
Runner's Hormones 101
The key players in your chemical makeup you need to know about
Testosterone
Not just a male hormone; whichever side of the gender divide you sit on this key hormone helps your body absorb protein while promoting muscle strength. And don't worry, naturally raising it – as you'll learn how to do here – won't put you in any danger of getting the ‘East German shot-putter circa 1975’ look. Research at the University of Melbourne found that runs less than two hours long increased levels of this hormone, while running for longer suppressed it.
Growth hormone
As the name suggests, this helps you build muscle, but it also assists your body in burning fat and regenerating cells, making it essential for recovery after training. Research published in Sports Medicine found levels are spiked by intense interval sessions, but lowered by long runs.
Cortisol
The ‘stress hormone’ also makes energy available to your working muscles so its levels are elevated while running. You need to strike a balance though, as too much for too long (deadlines anyone?) can compromise your immune system, counteract the effects of testosterone and make you gain fat.
Peptide YY
Research at the Imperial College School of Medicine found this hormone is an appetite-suppressant. It's released when you eat, but running for over an hour makes you produce more of it, making you feel fuller sooner and aiding weight loss.
Ghrelin
An appetite-increasing hormone, levels of which are lowered by running, and so decreasing your hunger and helping you control your weight.
Thyroxin
Released by your thyroid gland to control how fast your metabolism ticks over. Too little makes you gain weight, too much makes you lose weight. Research suggests that excessive long-distance running can negatively affect your thyroid, which can in turn send the bathroom scales ticking upwards. Research in Neuroendocrinology Letters found that high-intensity exercise improves your thyroid function.
Hormones: a User's Guide
Understand the reactions that take place in your body – and be a better runner
A runner's body has a very different hormonal hustle to the meathead (sorry, strength athlete) who never leaves the weights room. And it's good news for your waistline: a 60-minute run releases the appetite-suppressing hormone peptide YY, while 90 minutes of iron-mongering only affects your levels of appetite-increasing ghrelin, found a study by the American Physiological Society.
This explains, in part, why runners are generally lean – but it's not all good news for us pavement-pounders. Research published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine found that when you run for more than an hour, your levels of another hormone, cortisol, increase dramatically. Cortisol helps get energy to your muscles, but it has a dark side: it works in opposition to your muscle-building hormone, testosterone. More cortisol means less muscle mass (so less strength, speed and power) and a reduced ability to recover from and reap adaptive rewards from your training.
Obviously limiting your runs to an hour isn't always desirable or possible – especially if you're training for a marathon – but it's worth considering how often you go over the 60-minute mark. ‘This particularly applies to runners with poor strength and technique, because flawed running mechanics cause extra stress,’ says Brian Martin (runningtechniquecoach.com) a coach and author of Running Technique (£6.17, Kindle edition). And you can add resistance work to your training for the two-for-one benefit deal of improving your running economy and your hormonal profile by maximising your stamina- and strength-building hormones testosterone and thyroxin. Turn the page to find out how to turn your gym session into DIY endocrinology.
A Balancing Act
Keep your hormones perfectly poised by knowing their friends and enemies
Hormone hits
Whey protein shakes
Drink a protein and carb shake before and after your workouts. Research in the Journal of Applied Physiology found it positively alters your hormonal and metabolic responses to exercise.
Fenugreek
A study published in Phytotheraphy Research found that fenugreek supplements gave subjects stronger muscles, more energy, and an improved libido and feeling of wellbeing, thanks to its testosterone-boosting properties.
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