Neuroendocrine Response?

As you progress on your fitness routine, you will come across many complicated fitness buzzwords. Today we’ll look at one such trendy fitness term – The Neuroendocrine Response. It surely sounds fancy, but I assure you, this buzzword totally earns it. This biological system in our body is a powerhouse that plays a significant role in how our body functions.

The Neuroendocrine response is responsible for your mental state and mood, to how quickly you can metabolise food. If correctly optimised, the neuroendocrine system can vastly improve your fitness and performance. So if you’ve wanted to level up on fitness, then a bit of education on the Neuroendocrine response can help ensure both that you are training right and getting the most out of it.

Of course, a personal trainer can be of great help in this matter. Knowledge of human physiology and optimising your training as per your fitness goals is what makes a good trainer. If you don’t have a personal trainer yet, this article is an excellent place to start and get your basics. But before we jump right into the detail of the neuroendocrine response, let us first take a look at the endocrine system.

The Importance Of The Endocrine System

To better understand the neuroendocrine response and how it can help boost your fitness, you must first understand the endocrine system. The endocrine system is responsible for releasing hormones that affect the organs, cells and many other bodily functions. These hormones are required for slow body processes such as metabolism, tissue functions, sexual functions, the reproductive cycle, growth & development, and regulating mood.

In response to physical stress or activity, our body secretes hormones such as Insulin, IGHF-1 (insulin-like growth hormone), testosterone, cortisol, HGH (human growth hormone), glucagon and adrenaline (catecholamines). As you can imagine, these hormones are the primary players while you lift those heavy loads in the gym, as well as afterwards, when your body is recovering. Well, in other words, you need to ensure your training routine is optimised to cause the best possible hormonal response.

As we mentioned above, the endocrine system is mainly concerned with slow bodily processes.  On the other hand, the faster body processes like breathing and physical actions fall in the nervous system’s domain. What links the two? That’s the topic of the day!

What Is The Neuroendocrine Response?

By now, you have some idea about the endocrine system, i.e. hormones, and the nervous system. When it comes to fitness, the neuroendocrine response is what links the nervous and endocrine system. The hormones secreted by the endocrine system not only decide the body’s ability to respond to physical stimulus and grow. But, they also provide a channel between the tissues, i.e. muscles and the nervous system.

HGH (human growth hormone), testosterone and IGHF (insulin-like growth factor) are some of the most vital hormones secreted during physical activity like fitness training. Having an optimised fitness routine that induces such a neuroendocrine response that secretes those essential hormones will ultimately positively impact your fitness.

Improving Fitness With The Correct Neuroendocrine Response

When it comes to fitness or any physical activity, the endocrine system is constantly secreting the appropriate hormones. A fitness routine that can induce the proper neuroendocrine response in the body can tremendously improve your results. How exactly does that happen, do you wonder? Well, lets quickly start from the basics.

Fitness training with sufficient load will induce a neuroendocrine response in your body, i.e., there is a reaction that happens between the nervous and the endocrine system. This is because, when working out, the nervous system gets stimulated, which tells the muscles to fire in order to lift the weights. Such a stressful situation causes the endocrine system to release cortisol, which helps break down muscles. Cortisol also causes the body to produce adrenaline or epinephrine and norepinephrine. These last two hormones, which belong to the sympathetic nervous system, tell the body its time for action!

Although your training induces the neuroendocrine response and starts the whole process, it continues even after the workout is over. That’s because the adrenaline and pituitary glands in the endocrine system are still releasing hormones throughout the body. Fitness training isn’t just about breaking down the muscles but building them too! If you’re curious, there are other techniques you can implement post-workout to help you recover faster and improve your fitness. For, e.g., faster recovery is one of the benefits of float therapy. A good personal trainer can help you with such activities that help to recover faster.

These hormones released post-workout helps to repair and build the torn muscles. This process helps produce proteins like myosin and actin that increases your power right at the cellular level. If your training routine has been optimised with the right amount of reps and weights, you can initiate the optimum neuroendocrine response. This sets into motion a process that releases the appropriate hormones at the right time, finally resulting in muscular hypertrophy, or for the less nerdy – bigger muscles! An excellent example of such a kind of training is  HIIT which induces a high neuroendocrine response.

Get The Max Out Of Your Training!

If you’re one of those who hit the gym regularly, you must be wondering, heck, who doesn’t want bigger muscles! If you do, then inducing the optimum neuroendocrine response should one oof all your training sessions’ goals. Although it might be tempting to be training with such fancy terms, human physiology is much more complicated than what one article can explain. Getting your basics right is a good thing, but it is always best to get professional assistance and avoid any injury occurring due to a lack of sufficient knowledge. Still wondering, is a personal trainer worth it?

Of course, I don’t mean to undermine any of the endurance athletes out there. They have very different fitness goals, and the training involves low-intensity, high-rep workout routines. This type of training does not cause the optimum neuroendocrine response and does not result in bigger muscles. Instead, what you get is slim, toned down, but high endurance bodies. For almost everyone else, a well-cut body with solid muscles is what they’re aiming for. In which case, what you need is a high neuroendocrine response workout, which explains the growing popularity of CrossFit, MMA, HIIT among those seeking to improve their fitness. On that note, if you are in Thailand and need help with setting up a training routine that induces an optimum neuroendocrine response, then check out CrossFit Phuket or drop me a line, and I’ll be glad to help you out.