Get to Work girls!

[CF-OC_gal]

Women should include moderate to heavy resistance in their weight training to build muscle, say researchers who studied how natural levels of growth hormone are affected by exercise.


Scientists from the University of Connecticut looked at how different forms of growth hormone and weight-training regimens affect women's muscle and bone development.

"We found that growth hormone was responsive to moderate and heavy exercise regimens having three to 12 repetitions with varying weight loading," said William Kraemer, a kinesiology professor at the university and the study’s lead author.

"Women need to have [a] heavy loading cycle or workout in their resistance training routines, as it helps to build muscle and bone."

Resistance training is recommended to build lean muscle and help prevent brittle-bone disease, especially in women who are most at risk of osteoporosis.

The researchers found women rely more on growth hormone to build muscle than men, who mainly use the male hormone testosterone to bulk up. Their findings are in the December issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism.

For women, the more growth hormone is stimulated by exercise, the better the outcome, the researchers found.

In general, growth hormone also helps fight tissue breakdown, staving off stress fractures and improving metabolic function.

In the experiment, 64 healthy young women with an average age of 23 were divided into two groups: upper-body trainers and total-body trainers. These two groups were then subdivided - half using heavier weights with up to eight repetitions or lighter weights with up to 12 repetitions.

Blood samples were taken before and after the first training session and the final session 24 weeks later.

The presence of growth hormone varied with the workout program, and the larger-sized growth hormone types were more common in women who used heavy resistance training, the team found.

"This study shows that not every form of growth hormone responds in the same way, but is dependent upon the exercise protocol," Kraemer said. "This may forever change the way we look at growth hormone in the circulation with exercise and training."

Next, the researchers plan to look at growth hormone and weight training in women who are on the Pill.

source

[midgetcop]

...and I keep *telling* the ladies to lift heavier! It's nice to be proven right!!

:

Looking at your avatar midge, it is obviously working!

[Lady C]

I found this statement quite interesting

The researchers found women rely more on growth hormone to build muscle than men, who mainly use the male hormone testosterone to bulk up.

I will just have to keep up the heavy work!