"Still sounds like quackery, at least to a degree. Men who sit behind desks and make enough money to see CP and have their fat tested are probably stressed out at work and sit on their duffs all day. BAM, high cortisol and a big gut. "
***Right. In men, its largely correlated with the cortisol :androgen ratio, since they have an inverse relationship. Men with disproportionate amounts of abdominal fat tend to have poor muscle development- which corresponds perfectly to having high cortisol/low test levels, and also why this symptom is much more common in middle aged to older men.
I think if you took two twins showing the same overweight symptoms with a disproportionate amount of fat, and had them both follow a sound exercise program and diet, but one supplemented with ataptogens and cortisol suppressants, he would achieve quicker fat loss in his "stubborn" area (abdominal) quicker than his twin.
The purpose or intent of CP's BM isn't to say that its necessary to fix a problematic area, but more like it's a more effective way to approach a problematic area in someone that's exhibiting a disproportionate amount of fat storage in a specific area. I can cite sooooooooooooooo many examples with people I know personally that correspond perfectly with BM methodology; just ask and I'll post next time I get back to this thread.
"The cortisol level in anorexics is also very high. It's also very high in the morning. So i store more fat in my belly in the morning? "
***You of all people know there's many more factors than stress hormones dicating whether or not something is stored than fat; an aneorexic person probably wouldn't experience much if any. Neither I nor poliquin has ever stated that cortisol is the sole determining factor; it's more like it's a significant contributing factor.
"People store fat in places and to get rid of it you need to eat more veggies, take some supplements and exercise more, then i'm going to be suspicious until i read the studies involved. To be able to come up with and try to prove such massively complicated theory casts doubt on the process it seems. "
It's actually quite simple. Look at it this way- your body cells communicate two means- neural and endocrine functions. It's not hard to fathom that manipulating endocrine function might affect fat storage patterns. Transexuals that supplement with estrogen develop female fat storage patterns; hips, thighs, butt, breasts. Same goes for the fe-males; they develop abs and visible arm musculature. ANd we see differing fat storage patterns as we age- we tend to store them differently as a young adult than we will in our senior years due to the decline in endocrine function.
A common observation quoted in medical literature; post menopausal women don't tend to store a lot of fat on their thighs; if they have fat thighs, then they are fat all around. I've never seen an elderly woman past menopausal age with the lean/skinny upper body and thunder-thigh combination; the fat distribution tends to be rather even, either she's fat all around or skinny all around.
I think it's good to keep an open mind; just because a novel practice doesn't have a study yet to verify doesn't mean it doesn't work. We've all learned many things in our own practices that havent been researched or validated yet in a journal but we know or strongly feel to be correct from our own experiences. I know most of the things you do with your athletes haven't been performed and studied in a lab.
Anyway, here's a few study abstracts I quickly pulled off medline to offer some food for thought; there's much more available out there but I don't ahve the time nor inclination to stay up late digging up files.
Horne M, Cizza G; POWER (Premenopausal, Odteopenia/Osteoporosis, Women, Alendronate, Depression) Study Group.
Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
OH 44106, USA.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric illnesses in the adult population. It is often associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. We measured body fat distribution as well as plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentration and factor VIII (fVIII) activity at 8:00 am and 8:00 pm in 45 premenopausal women with MDD vs 28 healthy controls (age, 37 +/- 6.8 vs 35 +/- 6.5; weight [kg], 75.3 +/- 17.2 vs 67.9 +/- 10.2; mean +/- SD] participating in a prospective study of bone turnover, the POWER Study. At the time of evaluation, women with MDD were mildly depressed and mostly in clinical remission on antidepressants. After adjusting for body weight, women with MDD had greater waist circumference and abdominal fat as well as significantly higher evening (8:00 pm) PAI-1 and fVIII levels than controls. Even when age-, race-, and body mass index-matched subsets were compared, the MDD group continued to exhibit statistically higher PAI-1 and fVIII levels. The observed alterations in body fat distribution (increased abdominal fat) and prothrombotic factors (increased PAI-1 and fVIII) may be in part responsible for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease reported in association with major depression.
Circulating oxidized LDL is associated with increased waist circumference independent of body mass index in men and
women.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jan;83(1):30-5; quiz 181-2.
(LDL oxidation and stress/cortisol are known to have a direct correlation)
Circulating levels of oxidative stress markers and endothelial adhesion molecules in men with abdominal obesity.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 Dec;90(12):6454-9. Epub 2005 Sep 27.
Effects of Androgen Therapy on Adipose Tissue and Metabolism in Older Men
Goodpaster BH, Kelley DE, Wing RR, Meier A, Thaete FL 1999 Effects of weight loss on regional fat distribution and insulin
sensitivity in obesity
Bhasin S 2003 Effects of testosterone administration on fat distribution, insulin sensitivity, and atherosclerosis progression.
Clin Infect Dis 37(Suppl 2):S142?S149
Marin P 1995 Testosterone and regional fat distribution. Obes Res 3(Suppl 4):609S?612S
I'd also like to add- Poliquin is known for being rediculously thorough; he monitors all aspects of his clients lives and records these statistics; what they eat, their lifestyles, how they progress and their precise training program, and how exactly they are responding to their program at a specific given point in time- thats what gives him a great perspective and advantage over many coaches IMO. With the numberand diversity of athletes and years of experience he has, in addition to his meticulousness and his constant reading on the latest research, he's able to puck up on trends others don't. It's the same formula that worked so well for the former soviet union's sport science research machine.