by Phil Campbell, M.S., M.S., FACHE

How do the middle-age NFL players stay in great shape and keep playing beyond their time? It's the anaerobic exercise they perform during practice that does the trick.

Anaerobic exercise - the hard and fast, sprinting types of exercise - is shown by medical researchers to make the body produce significant amounts of the most powerful anti-aging substance known in science - growth hormone.

It's widely reported that several well-known entertainers take injections of growth hormone for its anti-aging, youth rejuvenating properties. And growth hormone has been banned for athletes because of its ability to improve performance.

New research shows that anaerobic workouts can make the body increase this hormone by 530%. And this keeps older NFL players strong, lean, and performing like their younger counterparts.

Middle-age NFL players may have more birthdays than the rookies on their team, but their anaerobic workouts are keeping them competitive because they're releasing the most powerful, body fat reducing, muscle-toning, anti-aging hormone produced by the body.

So it shouldn't be a surprise when an older pro player continues to perform great for many years.

Middle-age and older adults, there's a lesson here

Growth hormone injections are given to children with clinical stature growth problems to help them grow normally; however, these injections do not make adults grow taller.

Increasing growth hormone levels in adults can improve several measurable clinical factors of the middle-age spread, which has been recently named "the somatopause" by biomedical researchers.

The middle-age somatopause is signified by energy decline, weight-gain (around the middle, and hips), loss of muscle, and wrinkled skin after the age of 30.

There are two cures for the middle-age somatopause, growth hormone injections, which have very serious side-effect risks, and high-intensity anaerobic exercise.

Anaerobic exercise should be a part of every fitness routine. However, caution is necessary when adding high-intensity training to a fitness routine. Even young adults should take caution and have a slow, progressive buildup program.

Physician clearance and a progressive buildup to high-intensity exercise is a must for middle-age and older adults.

Don't read this and head to the nearest field to run some full-speed deep post patterns trying to release growth hormone (as some of my X-jock friends have done and pulled hamstrings).

Implement a fitness plan that will slowly and progressively add higher intensities to your fitness training. And build to the point where the four HGH-release benchmarks can be achieved during workouts.

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More Information: National Library of Medicine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10444604&dopt=Abstract

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Phil Campbell is the author of "Ready, Set, GO! Synergy Fitness for Time-Crunched Adults"
Pristine Publishers Inc. USA