musclebuildingforum.com

Are you a bodybuilder? If so, you have a sworn nemesis and you may not even know it... He’s been scheming against you behind the scenes, working to undermine your bodybuilding gains at every turn... Every time your girlfriend picks a fight with you, he’s there fanning the flames of passion... Every time your boss makes you work late so you have to skip a meal or shorten a workout, he is there, siphoning away your muscle... He’s even in the gym, standing in the corner, and he pummels you at the conclusion of every single set you do... His name is Mr. Cortisol – and he is the one who has sworn to derail your bodybuilding gains... But he can only hurt you if you let him! Rather than being an evil super villain with a really cool costume and a fascinating story of betrayal and revenge, cortisol is actually a hormone produced in your brain that is manufactured every time you are subjected to stress... This chemical is released every time you worry about something, experience fear or anxiety, or lift something heavy in the gym... All types of stress – emotional, mental, and physical – cause cortisol to be produced... Cortisol levels being elevated result in muscle tissue not receiving protein, which stunts your progress in the gym... There’s a fine line which exists between just enough stress (adequate heavy training) and too much stress (overtraining and external stressors unrelated to bodybuilding)... For many years, bodybuilders believed a steroid stack containing 400 to 800 mg of a testosterone ester was adequate for lowering cortisol levels in a very meaningful way... It was believed that steroids worked by lowering blood levels of cortisol. While this may occur to a very minor degree, research is beginning to show that a very flimsy relationship actually exists between the amount of testosterone injected and present, and the levels of cortisol in the body. It turns out that much of the success that bodybuilders see as a result of using anabolic ..steroids occurs completely independent of wherever the cortisol levels lie... This may not ring true for natural bodybuilders... For them, there is a strong likelihood that elevated cortisol levels may depress natural testosterone production or shuttling in the body, which would certainly limit gains... However, the chemically assisted bodybuilder has the gift of artificial testosterone levels which exist completely independent of natural production. This doesn’t go to say that the non-natural bodybuilder should invite more stressors into his life. Any unnecessary stress can negatively affect gains in one way or another... Training will be less than 100%, or the appetite may be decreased... There are a number of functions which may limit muscle gains for the non-natural bodybuilder... It just appears that elevated cortisol levels are not one of them... Keep an eye on Mr. Cortisol as you look to make gains in the gym... He’s a good indicator of the negative influences attempting to derail your training... He’s not all bad – he does arise as a result of training – but you’d like to see as little of him as possible...