By John Erickson, C.P.T. NASM, NFPT

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Does your fitness routine have your adrenal glands suffering? Whenever your body is engaged in a heart racing activity, your adrenal glands are activly pumping out stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline and cortisol are your fat burning hormones. Adrenal gland burnout is analogous to a fatigued pancreas (as seen in type II diabetes) that can not produce enough insulin to feed the body. Overworked adrenal glands are unable to continuously pour out the fat burning hormones, particularly adrenaline, decreasing the fat burning capacity of the body. If these hormones are wasted while running for an hour on the treadmill at great neck speed, you can deplete your fat burning capacity for the rest of the day. Adrenalin and cortisol raise blood sugar and make the body to burn fat. Insulin does the opposite. Insulin lowers blood sugar and makses your body store fat. Of course your body is pleading for a balance between both systems because your muscles have to be taken into consideration. Insulin keeps your protein inside your muscle cells. Without this protein, you have no metabolism. On the other hand, adrenalin and cortisol promote the loss of lean muscle tissue. The scientific secret of USA Diet Plans is to keep both systems in perfect harmony Your muscles will remain tight on the inside and your fat is shed on the outside.

It turns out that sedentary individuals, or couch potatoes have a similar life span compared to Olympic athletes who have a strenuous exercise routine. The people who take the gold and live the longest are the ones who exercise regularly and moderately. Germany puts their Olympic athletes through deconditioning programs to help the body wind down from a life full of heart racing activities. Another reason overtraining is not recommended is because activities that require more than 60% of your maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max) cause the body to burn more carbohydrates instead of fat. This is because the body needs oxygen to burn fat and tense muscles can not receive adequate amounts of oxygen and nutrient flow. It all becomes a question of what you want to burn while you are at the gym. Most people would like to burn fat while exercising. How much exercise is enough? 45 minutes to 1 hour per day and your exercise routine should emphasize balance training and contain a combination of cardiovasular, strength and flexibility activities. 5 Ways to Prevent Adrenal Gland Burnout 1. Get proper sleep at night. 2. Take a nap during the day. 3. Avoid excessive amounts of caffeine and other stimulants. 4. Do not exercise on a totally empty stomach. Eat a balanced snack (about 100 calories) before you go if you haven't eaten a main meal in the last 5 hours prior to exercising. 5. Consume adequate amounts of protein, particularly in the morning hours to provide the raw material (tyrosine) which is needed to produce adrenaline.