It’s likely that if you’ve ever hit the gym (most of us) or taken supplements (most of us again) … you’ve heard of growth hormone.
Now, to get this out of the way right off the bat: I’m going to be referring to natural growth hormone here, not its synthetic cousin associated with steroids!
Growth hormone produced by your body is, as it’s name suggests, important for growth. You likely know this as well.
However, just how important it actually is for muscle growth, plus tons of other processes in your body, has been truly understated.
Read on to discover why this hormone has been referred to as the “fountain of youth,” as well as how to optimize your levels to increase muscle gains, burn more fat, boost your mood, and more.
Why Is Growth Hormone So Important?
Growth hormone (GH) is an anabolic hormone that is made and secreted by your pituitary gland. It’s basic importance is he fact that it is a major driving force in all tissue growth, including muscle.
However, not only does GH stimulate protein synthesis by shuttling more amino acids into your cells and stimulating the release of insulin-like growth factor-1 (the main driver of muscle growth), but it also plays a large role in fat metabolism.
When GH comes calling, fatty acids that are stored in your body are recruited for energy, meaning they are “burned up” for use instead of remaining stored. Aka: you burn fat.
Interestingly, Robert Kominiarek, D.O., a medical director and hormone specialist, mentions that growth hormone:
“… is a master hormone. Even in adults, GH helps balance all other hormones — so there isn’t an area of your health it doesn’t touch. A healthy supply of GH keeps you healthy psychologically; it maintains your sense of well-being, keeping you happy, engaged, and able to handle stress … and physically, keeping your heart healthy, your cholesterol levels down, inflammation down, bones solid. It even boosts your body’s ability to heal faster.”
As you can see, growth hormone goes above and beyond acting as a key to gains. Not producing enough can result in lower mood, more fat accumulation, reduced ability to gain muscle, and even reduced libido and memory.
Now, GH deficiencies aren’t common, but levels do decrease as you age, so we want to include certain practices in our regime to retain higher GH levels for longer.
Let’s dive into them.
Best Ways To Increase Growth Hormone
1. Up The Intensity
Intensity is the name of the game when it comes to raising growth hormone levels. The harder the style of exercise, the more GH is released. This means things like sprints and heavy, low-rep lifts, rather than long-distance runs and high-rep, lighter lifts, will provide more GH release.
This is likely because certain acids and by-products of intense exercise, like catecholamines, may stimulate GH production and secretion.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may be one of the best options to consider, since studies show that intense aerobic exercise may actually stimulate more GH release. Combining bursts of intense aerobic work with lifts hits the sweet growth and fat burn spot.
Now, what exactly is an intense workout session? It’s the one that, by the last round, you’re pushing yourself hard to push through. It’s not being able to carry a conversation because you’re out of breath. It’s full focus, and feeling worked afterward.
Of course, this doesn’t mean running yourself into the ground or to the point of an injury, but it does mean being slightly outside of your comfort zone and having to push yourself to get that last rep.
2. Get Quality Sleep
At the end of the day, sleep is a major repair mechanism. Many hormones, including growth hormone, are released during sleep in order to accomplish as much repair as possible.
Studies have found that GH secretion peaks from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., or when we’re typically fast asleep. If our sleep quality is decent and we sleep through the night, GH secretion remains efficient. However, if our sleep cycles are off or disrupted, we can actually secrete less GH … which can cause a cascade of effects, including less muscle growth and fat burn.
To improve your sleep, try these tips:
• Make sure all lights in your room are covered and off. Even a very tiny amount of light can disrupt our natural sleep cycles
• Use electronics no later than one hour before bed. An alternative if this isn’t possible is to use blue-blocking glasses to block blue light that disrupts sleep hormones
• Try magnesium supplements (I like to take Onnit’s Key Minerals. Use code: PRIMAL to save 10% here)
• Try herbs like valerian and chamomile to further relax your nervous system
3. Try Intermittent Fasting
Several studies have shown that fasting can significantly increase GH levels. In fact, studies on participants undergoing a two-day fast found their serum GH levels increased 5-fold over a 24 hour period.
Fasting for prolonged periods isn’t for everyone, but most of us can try out intermittent fasting, which involves eating every day, but in a certain time window. The most popular method is to fast until lunchtime (12-1 p.m.) then eat a small snack, then dinner around 7-9 p.m., then fast until lunch the next day. This mimics fasting, but in a smaller window in order to be more sustainable. And again: do what works for you! You can try intermittent fasting every day, or only a couple times a week and see how you feel.
The Bottom Line
• Growth hormone is essential for muscle tissue growth, as well as fat metabolism
• Intense exercise (heavy lifting) using multiple muscle groups boosts GH
• Reducing rest periods between sets can also up the intensity of exercise to increase GH
• Quality sleep (7-9 hours per night) is essential for GH production
• Intermittent fasting can significantly increase GH levels
Raise growth hormone levels and start making massive gains in the NEW 4-Week Kettlebell Gainz Challenge! Enter to win the chance to come train with me in Austin, plus cash prizes! Starts May 2nd.
