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Ask Rocco: Can you gain fat by 'overtraining'? |
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Written by Rocco Castellano
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Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
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Q: There is a sign at my gym that says something like, “Ask me how you can actually gain body fat by doing cardio before weights or by overtraining.” Since I’m unsure of their qualifications (but sure they want to sell me something), I’d rather ask you... is that true? How can you gain body fat if you’re eating properly and not consuming more calories than you expend?
Jen
 A: To answer your last question first: you really can’t, unless you’re bullshitting yourself. There’s two possibilities here: either someone went to one of my seminars, read one of my columns or literally knows something about overtraining, but I don’t think that’s the case; or they’re trying to sell you a Cortisol blocker.
That’s probably the case. Cortisol is a hormone that is released when the body is stressed and when released, Cortisol blocks the utilization of insulin which neutralizes sugar in the body.
The body uses sugar (carbohydrates) for energy but when blocked, they can only be stored and converted to fat.
There have been studies that show that too much aerobic activity can cause the body to become stressed very similar to “too much” weight training, called “over training”.
In theory these so called “Cortisol Blockers” should work but they don’t because very few people train hard enough to “over train.”
If I were you I would still inquire at the front desk to see what spiel they give you just for shits and giggles.
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Rocco Castellano is the co-founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com. He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written “askROCCO Uncensored v1” available at bookstores. Ask your personal
fitness questions at askROCCO.com. | Only registered users can write comments.
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