Great article!
Anabolic Energizing By Elliot "Yo Elliot" Hulse
"Johnny slams his sister in the back of her head with a balled up pillow sunk down to the far end of the pillow case and knocks her off of her bed — flat on her face! When Johnny’s dad scolds him and asked, “Johnny, you know better… why the heck did you do that?”.
Johnny admits that he knows better, but has absolutely no good reason why he would “go off on the deep end” like that, he just “forgot”.
I think what really happened was that Johnny allowed his most primal (and un-evolved self) to get a moment in the sun. This “primal urge”, to do what we know we shouldn’t do, comes to all of us at some time or another. We “know better”, but yet we get carried away in the moment and allow instinct to rule our better judgment.
One area where I’ve made this, “Elliott, you know better!” mistake has been with the way I train and how I failed to follow up my excruciating, catabolic tirades with Anabolic Energizing exercises and lifestyle habits.
This imbalance digs deep into our physiology and disrupts the natural balance of the nervous and endocrine system. Leaving us over stimulated and under nourished.
Here is how it works…
So, there is a branch of your central nervous system called your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Your ANS is responsible for all of the nervous functions that you don’t have to think about. This includes hart rate, digestion, the release of hormones, breathing and sweating… among many other things.
Within your ANS you have two opposing branches… your Sympathetic (SNS) and Parasympathetic (PSN) Nervous Branches. Each branch acts as two ends of a see-saw. As one side is stimulated the other side is suppressed.
Both sides have their benefits…
The SNS stimulates the Catabolic Hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol. Both of these hormones are essential for getting you up and going in the morning, getting you fired up to train heavy and giving you energy in a stressful situation (think about being chased by an angry baboon!)
The PNS stimulates the release of Anabolic and Sex Hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone… your body’s own natural source of natural anabolic steroids!
The problem is that most people have a severe imbalance between theses two branches. It is this imbalance that makes us ill, tired, fat and old!
So if you haven’t figured it out yet… many of us are Sympathetically Overloaded – this means that our SNS is over stimulated and in turn we are in a constant state of fight or flight. When in this type of predicament, you can rest assured that all of the anabolic hormones that are associated with the PNS are suppressed…
This leads to:
Decreased Strength & Vitality
Poor Concentration
Chronic Fatigue
Foggy Headedness
Decreased Sex Drive
Night Sweats
Orgasm / Genital Inhibition
Waking Un-Rest
Anxiety
Jittery
Fungal Infection
Constipation
Digestive Disorders
Rashes & Skin Problems
Decreased Immunity
Increased Risk For Injury
Poor Sleeping Patterns – Wake Up With Cold Sweats
An Overall Loss In You Capacity To Realize Your True Potential & Become The Strongest Version Of You!
Does any of this sound familiar to you? If you are experiencing 2 or more of the symptoms described above… you suffer from an imbalance and need to read the following VERY carefully!
You can take all of the supplements, eat healthy organic diet, exercise regularly and still be getting nowhere. This is due to a fundamental issue that has not been addressed… balancing your nervous system. If your nervous system is dysfunctional – so is everything else!
So, How Did I Get Like This?
The simple answer is poor lifestyle and nutrition choices… you eat ****ty food, don’t drink enough water, your wife pisses you off, your boss is a jerk, you don’t get to sleep on time and don’t get enough sleep, you abuse alcohol and caffeine , OVER TRAINING shall I continue?
Excessive Stress Hormones Are Secreted Because Of:
Financial Stress
Poor Food Quality
Overeating
Eating Wrong For Your Metabolic Type
Relationship Problems
Sex Problems
A Toxic Environment
Dirty Air
Chlorinated Water
Poor Sleeping Patterns
Negative Thoughts, Words and Deeds
Improper Exercise Application, or OVER Exercising (like me)
“So, What Can I Do About It?”
What Is Stressing Your Out? – If you figure this out you half way there. Most of your primary stresses will probably come from Security (survival, financial) Sustenance, or Sex issues.
Do Something About It – I can hear you “Elliott, don’t you think I would have already done something about this crazy wife and credit card bills?” — NO, you haven’t done anything because you have not set it as a goal and you have not made a plan for its accomplishment…. Otherwise it would no longer be a stressor.
Remember, “Same Old = Same Old” – it is not until YOU decide to take decisive action to rid yourself of the primary stressors in your life that they will go away. It is no one else’s responsibility!
And you MUST do this! I really don’t want to hear any of the tired old excuses that people use in order to continue living their sick, sad, dysfunctional lives. Drastic results call for drastic measures… just do it!
Eat Right – Make sure that you are adequately prepared to deal with stress by filling your body with nutritious foods. Drink plenty of water. Eat more fats and proteins during stressful times. Take a Cod Liver Oil Supplement. Avoid toxic foods and processed foods. Eat right for your metabolic type. .
It is when you are most stressed out that you need the most nutritious foods… it is also the time when junk food seems most appealing, be mindful!
Exercise, Properly! – Over exercising, particularly aerobic exercises can cause more damage than good. In fact, “over-aerobicizing “ can lead to an increase in catabolic hormones (remember the SNS) such as Cortisol and Glucocordicoids.
Make sure that you include sufficient anaerobic exercises into your program. This would include weight training (less than 60 minutes at a time) and “Anabolic Energizer” exercise that I’ll teach you later. In fact, if you are feeling really stressed out – these Anabolic Energizer exercises will reduce your stress levels and rebalance your nervous system getting you to release more Testosterone, etc.!
Sleep - Get to bed as many hours before midnight that you can. I once learned that every hour of sleep had before 12am is worth 3 hours of post midnight sleep!
Think Right – The power of your thoughts shape your life. You literally are what you think. Regular mind exercises like meditation help you to “see through the clouds” of your life. Also there are many mind power techniques that you can use to keep your mind focused on the things that you want, and off of the things that you don’t want.
Using daily affirmations is a powerful tool… its like purposely planting flowers in the garden of your mind. And remember, if you don’t plant flowers your garden will fill up with weeds by default!
To ignore lifestyle and balance in order to excel in Superficial Strength & Muscle Building often leads to a diminishing return on our investment. Leaving us sick, sad, tired, and unfulfilled. Leading a balanced life is much more then allocating a certain amount of time to scratch all of the important things off of your to-do list… it also means letting go of our external lives (including the building of outer-strength) for a few moments to allow our internal strength (nervous and hormonal systems) to catch up and support our efforts instead of working against us.
Train hard, but remember(the above)."
Next week, looking to increase load slightly, decrease rest periods, add in a little bit more working sets to progress multiple ways.
