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Growth Hormone.  This is usually synonymous with doping or steroid use.  However, your body produces this naturally and it's really important for muscle growth and fat loss.

While you sleep, your body secretes this hormone.  During this time, 2 purposes are fulfilled and they are, healing/muscle growth (especially if you lift), and fat loss.  This secretion while you sleep is much greater than the secretion that you get in the middle of the day, but nevertheless, you can still impact it's magnitude through training.

When I talked about testosterone last week, it was the primary hormone that impacted muscle size and strength through the impact it has on the central nervous system.  Growth hormone, on the other hand, is much more directed towards the muscles themselves rather than the central nervous system.  It's really the trigger that starts a whole cascade of events in the body that leads to growth and fat loss.

Regarding your training, this is where higher repetitions are better.  Sets of 8-12 are ideal, with shorter rest periods.  Adding to that, larger exercises such as squats or deadlifts are better at triggering this release than smaller ones such as dumbbell curls or any abdominal exercise.  Now, you can piggy-back exercises (known as a super-set) of which you'd do a large exercise first and follow immediately by a smaller one to improve the overall effect of the lifts.

Growth hormone is important for overall health, muscle structure, and fat management.  Training to maximize it's impact is purposeful and deliberate, and something that you should strive for within your training regime.

For more help on the subject, contact me.