To gain an understanding of the exercise hormone let’s first look at how fat is stored and released. We store fat when we eat more calories than we burn. We know that body fat is found inside of white fat cells. The main function of white fat cells is to store fat.
For those who want to lose weight and lose fat, the goal is to reduce the amount of fat stored inside of those white fat cells. We can do this by burning fat and sugar for energy during exercise. This has been known for over a century, but recent research has discovered that there is more to it.
Studies have now shown that working out the muscles produces irisin. What is irisin?
Irisin is a hormone that alters fat cells. It has been called the exercise hormone. In 2009 Harvard Medical School studies and other studies found that there are not only white fat cells that store fat, but there are brown fat cells as well. Brown fat cells do not store fat, they actually burn fat. Therefore, the goal should be to increase the number of brown fat cells and decrease white fat cells.¹
It has been shown that irisin does this in mice. It is likely that this happens in humans as well.
When irisin increases from exercise it causes the browning of human and mouse white adipose (fat) tissues.²
With more exercise intensity, it stands to reason that more of the exercise hormone irisin will be produced within the body causing an increase in brown fat cells and a reduction in white fat cells.
Irisin has also been proposed as a hormone that may be capable of accelerating energy expenditure, weight loss, and decreasing the body’s resistance to insulin caused by diet deficiencies.³
So, workouts that can produce more results by increasing the rate of metabolism can assist you with producing more irisin and thus more brown fat burning cells.
The Journal of Physiology reported an irisin study in 2016. The research was led by Li-Jun Yang, professor of hematopathology at the UF College of Medicine. Yang and her team discovered that irisin literally suppresses the formation of fat cells. Their testing proved that irisin reduced the actual number of mature fat cells by up to 60 percent!4
In a statement to the University of Florida Yang said, “Exercise produces more irisin, which has many beneficial effects including fat reduction, stronger bones, and better cardiovascular health.”
Infrared workouts can supercharge your metabolism to generate more of the exercise hormone. The HOTWORX slogan is “more workout, less time”, and for good reason. Training in an infrared environment can generate results fast. The energy expenditure from one 15 minute infrared HIIT session can produce more calorie burn than ordinary workouts that take up to an hour or more to finish in an air conditioned gym.
Try an infrared workout for a more intense workout in less time and to produce more of the fat burning exercise hormone irisin.
