Here Are 3 Reasons Why Ab-Focused Workouts Will Never Give You a Flatter, Firmer Stomach
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Shin Ohtake
Creator of Max Workouts
Reason #2:
The Reason Fat is Covering Up Your Abs Is Because of Somatopause (Hormone Decline)
The growth hormone somatotropin plays a major role in regulating your metabolism. As you get older, growth hormone levels start to naturally decrease within your body. The result is stubborn fat exercise can’t seem to take off.
Here’s how this process impacts your metabolism and covers up your core with fat:
Somatotropin regulates fat metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism.
Higher Growth Hormone (Somatotropin) Levels Stimulate Fat Breakdown - Growth hormone levels are directly tied to triglyceride breakdown and adipocyte (these are the cells that make up adipose tissue – AKA fat) oxidation. If you have higher growth hormone levels, your body breaks down (metabolizes) more fat at rest, while you exercise – all the time.
Higher Growth Hormone (Somatotropin) Levels Stimulate Carbohydrate Metabolism - Growth hormone helps keep your blood glucose levels normal. It also has an anti-insulin effect. When insulin is realized, it tells your peripheral tissues to uptake glucose – it tells your body to take the carbohydrates you eat and store them as fat.
This means lower growth hormone levels result in your body storing more fat and using less fat. This is not a problem if you’re under 35. The trouble is:
Natural growth hormone (somatotropin) decline starts around age 35.
This process is called somatopause and it’s the reason you started looking down at a fat covered core somewhere between the age of 30 and 40.
Somatopause is responsible for an entire host of symptoms you feel right now, not just excess fat and a slowed metabolism.
Nearly every sign of getting older – wrinkles, lower sex drive, decreased motivation, lower energy levels, your mood and more – all of these changes result from somatopause and decreased growth hormone levels after age 35. Unless you do something about somatopause, your mid-section flab and all of the other symptoms I mentioned are only going to get worse.
Reason #3 is where everything starts to come together (and you can find out what you can actually do about your belly fat).