by Dan Trink 6/06/2012

How does training with weights change your body?

Your high school PE teacher back when schools still made physical education part of the curriculum likely offered the classic "house in the hurricane analogy."

"Training affects your muscles like a minor hurricane does a house. It cracks windows, rips off shingles, and busts up the fence. But if you don't overdo it, and give your body the materials (food) and the time to rest and make repairs, it will come back bigger and stronger than before."

Sadly, even your eighth-grade self knew this was way too simplistic, but you didn't press the matter. You knew better than to lock horns with an overly caffeinated gym teacher armed with a whistle.

Fact is, strength training does more than just create muscle damage. It releases a variety of hormones that also influence how you'll adapt and grow from your training session.

What many trainees don't know is how to manipulate this hormonal cascade to get bigger, stronger, and leaner. Is there an ideal way to structure your training to get the most out of your hormonal environment?

Research findings, in combination with anecdotal evidence from the training floor, suggest that it is possible. While many hormones come into play during resistance training, the four major ones are Testosterone, growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and cortisol. These are the most researched hormones in relation to strength training, and the science supporting their role in the process appears solid.

No hormone gets as much press in strength training as the capital T and for good reason. Testosterone has an important role in the signaling of protein synthesis and reduces the impact of catabolic hormones.

It's lesser known, but no less important role is as a facilitator for other hormonal mechanisms such as growth hormone and IGF-1 in the anabolic process (1).

Continued here:

T NATION | A Training Program For Hormone Optimization