I’ve heard that poliquin and dipasquale beleive that based on where most of your fat is stored, they can predict which hormone is the cause of your “fatness” (eg. estrogen, cortisol). But I could never track down the details of which location relates to which hormone. Has anyone heard of this and can give me the details? J Berardi and Cy, what are your opinions about this theory? Does it have some truth to it?
Good question.
I don’t know all the answers to it but I do know a couple. If you have screwed up estrogen levels then you’ll have a propensity towards a lot of lower body and chest fat. If you have low T levels or high DHT levels you’ll have a big gut that swells from the inside out due to visceral fat accumulation. I really don’t know what type of bodyfat distribution having screwed up insulin, gh, thyroid or other hormones lead to…anyone else care to chime in?
what if you put on fat every where?i have a gut but not a huge swollen one, i have some chest and lower body fat but not an incredible amount. people don’t think i weigh what i do because of this.
Well if your cortisol levels are abnormally high, you’d tend to store fat around the abdomen. Estrogen, well that’s another story. That can get very confusing in terms of its effects on fat storage. You have to consider which sex the person is number one. What area of the body you’re talking about and then which type of adipose tissue it is (subcutaneous or visceral). The role of estrogen in terms of fat storage is still somewhat debatable. I mean there is some value to their thoughts. For instance if you’ve ever seen one of those “special” guys in the gym that tend to store fat on the back of their arms, thighs, buttocks, but tend to be lean around the abdomen, they probably have abnormally high estrogen levels. But on the other hand, their suggestions can be misleading. I mean, if you’re 25% body fat, I don’t care what you say, don’t come to me and complain that it’s the fault of your hormonal profile! However, if someone is curious as to why they tend to store fat in one area over another, or why one area is particularly stubborn, then hormone levels can be of some value.
Good answer Cy! There is no simple formula for hormonal profile and fat storage. Since the endocrine link to fat profiles is correlational, the theory, while interesting, is speculative. Not enough is known yet to actually do anything about it anyway. I guess that in the end, it doesnt really matter too much until you get lean anyway. That’s when you can see your real distribution. It’s like when a guy who is 20% fat claims that he is disadvantaged because he is an endomorph. My comment is that if you’re 20% fat, you dont really know what your somatotype is because youve got too much fat covering you up. With that said, some people do have striking differences in fat distribution (like the guy in the gym with the ripped arms and legs and big gut). This is a genetic thing more than a simple hormonal thing that he can fix. So extreme cases are beyond simple hormonal control. And moderate distirbution differences are easily fixed with good diet and nutrition.
I have to disagree with firsthand knowledge inre to the role of the glandular role of fat distribution. I find whenever my salivary glands are hyperactive, accompanied by high rep work with the masseter and temporalis, I tend to accumulate body fat. When I judiciously use the triceps muscles explosively for 1 rep with a push away motion utilizing the resistance supplied from the dinner table, I tend to have better control on my body fat.
Jay, that’s the first Ive heard of such a novel and interesting approach to periodization and body composition. You seem to be an advocate of the heavy duty approach as you say the higher rep work leads to fat gain while the single explosive rep leads to better fat control. These data may be the missing link that the HIT proponents have been searching for the last few years.
Jay, that was frickin’ hilarious! Took me a couple of times through to figure it out, but it was hilarious…
Yeah Jay, me too, but I have better control over my bodyfat by pushing the pizza box away. That is one powerful fat burning exercise. 
Well ironbabe, I try that with good pizza, but it seems I end up doing descending sets, “Oh what the hell, one more” (pause) “Whew, I am stuffed”, “One more bite” and so on. INRE to HIT training I tried a body weight static contraction squat while reading Atlas Shrugged with no improvement.