Welcome back to Bodyholic with D. I'm Dee, and I am also here accompanied by Ben Gonzalez, who is my wonderful producer. So, first of all, thank you very much to Ben. And what we're going to talk about today is working out. Unlike other episodes where we talk about working out, today we're going to talk about working out. But really, we're going to get into why absolutely everybody should be working out and why you need to shift your focus when once you reach the age of 40, especially when you're a female who is over 40, we're going to really get into it. And before that, I also want to say that if this topic, I'm saying it in advance, if this topic is something that resonates with you and you know someone who actually needs to hear this, who needs to hear why he or she has to work out and all the benefits and why it's actually an extreme disservice to not work out, then please won't you share this episode with your loved one who you care about. Okay. Thank you so much for that. And next, oh, and and one more thing that I keep forgetting to say. In addition to sharing it, please also rate us five stars so that more and more people can listen and benefit from the Bodyholic with D content. All right, now I'm done talking about that. Let's get into it. Welcome to Body Holic with D. We don't do fads here. We give you the facts that move your body and health forward. Wait up, hold up. I'm not a doctor. The information in this podcast is for informational purposes only and not medical advice. So kick back and enjoy the show. Working out. General population. I want to get into the three main reasons in terms of hormones why we all need to work out. All of us. From younger ages, even, you know, kids, teenagers, the entire general population. The number one hormonal reason to work out is actually, and I feel like you're maybe guessing it already, it's the endorphins, right? The feel good hormones. So about 10 to 15 minutes into moderate intensity workouts, you're going to start feeling a little happier. And the reason you're feeling a little happier is because you're starting to release the hormones called endorphins. And the thing about it is that as long as you're moving after that 10 to 15 minute mark, you keep releasing those endorphins. So it doesn't peak and then drop, but rather you just keep releasing those happy hormones. So in terms of your mental mental well-being, you've got it going. In terms of warming up and getting started and then being able to push a little bit harder in the workout, you've got the endorphins on your side. And the other thing is that it also decreases pain threshold. So, or increases the threshold. So, what does that mean for you? That means that in general, it goes hand in hand with just feeling good, but also in terms of your warm-up for your workout, you're going to be able to push harder, right? Because you have a little bit less of that painful feeling, the soreness in the muscle. And also, just in general, if you're not feeling so well, and I'm going to just say this for my ladies out there who are dealing with period cramps, I can't tell you how many times a beautiful client of mine has canceled. I'm I'm saying client, but I mean many clients of mine have canceled their workouts because they weren't feeling well because of their period. And I'm going to tell you this the endorphins that are released are amazing natural painkillers. So there you have it. There's a reason to work out actually when you're feeling that kind of discomfort, that kind of pain. The second hormone that is released while working out is the insulin. So insulin sensitivity is increased with both cardio and strength training. And this is the hormone that controls blood sugar. So what it means is that movement basically improves the insulin sensitivity of the cells so that it shuttles the glucose or the sugar from the blood into the cells, which gives the cells more energy. So in a workout, in that in the case of a workout, you have more energy to move and to go for uh longer uh periods of time, more endurance, and also more power in the more powerful explosive exercises. But not only that, it also gives more energy to your brain for cognitive function. So it actually helps sharpen your brain when the glucose actually gets into the cells and goes to where it needs to go. In addition, it also shuttles not only the glucose, but also amino acids into the cells so that it helps with repair and muscle growth. So that is so far we did the um endorphins, right? Our happy hormones, and then we did the insulin, which helps us with our energy. And next, I want to just say that one of my favorite favorite hormones of all time is number three. So we've got the growth hormone. And the growth hormone, as opposed to what I was just talking about, the insulin sensitivity and the endorphins actually peaks and then it drops. And the growth hormone is released with intense exercise. It could be cardio, it could be strength training. And I'm gonna say that it is released a little bit more with intense strength training. Um, it's released about 20 minutes into the workout. And you feel it when you suddenly, after 20 minutes, you feel like, oh yeah, I can go harder. This is it. It's time to shine, you know, really, really pushing through. That means that your growth hormone is kicking in. And you'll notice that it happens within that 20, 25 minute mark. Now, a lot of people talk about, you know, an hour-long workout, an hour and a half long workout. Some people go for like double studio classes. And if you've been training with me or if you've been following me, you will hear me saying that I work out for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on intensity. Sometimes I go for those short bouts of workouts uh just because of time constraints. And the reason I think that it is ideal, the 45-minute mark, is because I'll notice that suddenly that push that I was describing, that yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna push through, time to shine, that whole thing. All of a sudden it starts dropping off. And it starts dropping off, not because you're not a powerful individual who can really push through the workout, but it it literally just goes hand in hand with your growth hormone peak and decline. So, my recommendation is actually to listen to your body. And once you start feeling the decline, but you know, be honest with yourself, not just because an exercise is hard, right? You've arrived at the burpees, all of a sudden you feel the decline, and now you're gonna stop the workout. No, really listen to yourself, start forming basically, or understanding your habits, your body's habits, what goes on regularly with how you react to your workouts. And once you start realizing that there is a pattern, because there is, then you'll understand that maybe your workouts should be about 40 minutes of uh intense strength training or 60 minutes of moderate strength training. Or uh in my case, I always find that 45 minutes is really my uh sweet spot of intense strength training. So understand, map it out, find out where you start feeling that little bit of a drop, and then you want to uh cultivate your workouts around that because once your growth hormone drops, once the peak drops, it actually isn't as beneficial. So you don't want to push through that drop because then you are not utilizing the growth hormone, the repairing hormone as much as possible. And we don't want to get into that. We don't want to go into muscle breakdown, we don't want to really fatigue the body. Overtraining is a whole thing on its own. Uh, I've discussed that in previous exercises, in previous episodes. So we've gone into three hormones. We've got the endorphins, the happy hormones, we've got the insulin and which shuttles the energy and uh, or rather the glucose into the cells, which creates the energy. And we've got the growth hormone, which, like I said, that's my favorite one. Um, I'm just gonna also make another note regarding the growth hormone, that it also peaks in the middle of the night while we're sleeping, which is part of the reason the sleep is so important because of the trigger for the growth hormone, so that we can recover and repair and get ready to smash the next day. So this is basically the general population. This is true for everyone. And the younger you are, once you understand this and you start building these habits, the easier it's gonna be later on in life. So I do find, and I'm and I find that it's less and less, but I do find the uh people kind of saying that in their 20s that they have time, they're young, it doesn't matter right now. But the thing is, it really does because our brains are love habit, right? We basically create these kind of like waterbeds of neurons in our brains that once you repeat something over and over and over again, the brain is primed for that over and over and over again. And then it just kind of goes back to those habits, goes back to those habits. And to change those habits takes so much hard work and so much energy. So if you're a parent, maybe already start thinking about how to cultivate these healthy habits of working out for all the benefits that I just mentioned and so much more for your kids. If you're 20, if you're 19, if you're 18 and listening to this and you feel invincible, then okay, I'm I'm down with that. Maybe you are invincible. But anyway, start working out if you have not started already and just keep coming back, keep showing up because your body, your brain, it'll all thank you so much later. All right. So cultivating habits, and that's why it's that's really the number one reason it is so crucial for uh earlier in life. In addition to cognitive development, uh, it will absolutely help you sharpen your cognitive development and also further you along. Um, if you are in your teens, early 20s, you are still developing and working out is going to help you through that and support the process. Um, in addition, establishing strong bones, you are going, your bone density is going to decline at one point. Once you hit 40, your muscle mass and your bone density will decline because that's just the way it is. But what if you go into that decline phase in life with a whole lot to work with? So, what if you start working out early in life and pushing through and really getting the cardio and strength training down on a regular basis and you go into that 40 plus moment in your life where the osteopenia kind of starts kicking in where you start dropping in bone density and the sarcopenia where you start dropping in muscle mass. What if you already have such a great bone mass to work with, such a great muscle mass to work with, then you are already um pushing off the decline, right? And maybe you just continuously work out and eat so well that the decline is barely even noticeable. All right. So that is in terms of the gen pop. But there is, like I just mentioned, there is the 40 plus shift. So the the further the more you train the earlier in life, the more uh valuable it's gonna be once you hit 40 plus, and then you've got the mass, you've already got basically muscle mass and bone density in reserve. All right. That's kind of how I look at it. It's your longevity ticket. All right. You have it in reserve, you have more to work with, and it also wards off dementia. Like I mentioned, the connection between the bone density, the mass, the muscle mass, and the cognitive function really is goes hand in hand. So in addition to that, the bone mass, the cognitive function, the muscle mass, once you arrive at 40 plus, there's also the metabolism shift. I'm not sure about this so much because there's a lot of research that has been coming out talking about how the metabolism shift isn't as great as we used to think it was. However, apparently there is a shift and it is harder to lose weight after a certain age. But if you go into your 40s and your 50s and your 60s with a nice, healthy muscle mass and great bone density, then you are already primed to use the energy in your body properly and really use up the glucose. Like I said, we create insulin res uh sensitivity. So then what happens is the more sensitive we are, because we are priming our muscles, because we train hard to insulin, then the more the glucose actually shuttles into the cells and is being used. The amino acid is shuttled into the cells so that we can build uh and repair muscle and other organs. So there is one more, so that really helps in terms of the metabolism and metabolic health. And I guess the the message that I want you to kind of take home, right? The the takeaway message is that working out throughout your life, above 40, 50s, 60s is actually about aging powerfully. Okay. So also it will help your sleep. We've talked about it in the last episode. It will help your sleep, which will then in turn also help your uh recovery. It will give you more energy. The more we move, the more energy we basically create. So even if you feel like, you know, that thought of, uh, I'm just too old for this, or I just don't have any energy today. I'm gonna, I'm just gonna listen to that and I just don't have any energy. So I'm gonna stay home on the couch and and binge watch Netflix. We wanna fight through that because in those first 10 to 15 minutes, you're already gonna start feeling happier. Then you're gonna start feeling like you've got more energy because you're you're releasing all these hormones, and then you're gonna be able to really move through all the way to creating and releasing the growth hormone, which will then, you know, benefit you throughout the workout and much later. And then just one day after another, you benefit constantly in this cyclic or cyclic, cyclical um manner in terms of the way the hormones work. The hormone release, energy. Again, hormone release, energy. And so even when you're feeling like, I just don't think I can do it today, or my period cramps, or my headache, or this, or that, there's a million reasons, right? None of them are really good enough unless you're actually injured or you have a virus, or you know, you've got to find a really good reason to not work out. All right. So that's it for today. This is why absolutely everybody should be working out, especially once you've hit 40 plus, especially women who have the tendency to basically lose muscle mass and bone mass more than men, especially over 40, then this is it. It's not because it's not you have to lose the frame of mind of I'm just too old for this. It's the exact opposite. All right. So keep pushing through, and I know you've got this, and keep showing up. Thank you.