i feel that everyone overlooks this hormone which solely, probably has the biggest impact on our body composition. It can make our goals extremely hard to achieve so understanding it as much as this board does sex hormones could benefit everyone.
Weather your trying to cut down below 10%bf , or gain lean muscle mass, Cortisols always gonna be there to slow our progress down, and just about everything seems to effect it.
While trying to get below 10% bf I realized I was leaning out everywhere but their was stubborn layer of fat over my mid section that didnt want to leave. Cortisol seems to be the culprit here as its actualy fighting to keep SOME fat on me (to insure bodies survival) this is nuts because im literaly getting striations everywhere else but have fat on my abs.
Those trying to gain muscle, after we get over our beginners gains that plateu sucks doesnt it? Well the body thinks we are overtraining and puts cortisol into the blood which immediatly limits our potential to gain, and actualy breaks down our protiens into glucose to be saved as glycogen in the liver (gluconeogensis)
So I have a some questions for those experienced
1. Stimulants such as caffeine help spike cortisol, so how does something like clen or ECA stack work when cortisol is directly stimulated as well?
2. What can we do to minimize it, and through which mechanisms do these cort blockers such as : reduce xt, supress-C work?
3. Steroids seem to supress or negate cortisols effect which is one of the reasons we see such dramatic changes. When off cycle i expect these cort levels to come back up, how can we manage our cort levels without cycling non-stop?
4. Cortisol seems to interact with 5-alpha reductase and converts to 5-alpha tetrahydrocortisol, what the hell is that and what does this means for finasteride users???
Any input on cortisol related to training is appreciated, and perhaps somone could put up a sticky?
Weather your trying to cut down below 10%bf , or gain lean muscle mass, Cortisols always gonna be there to slow our progress down, and just about everything seems to effect it.
While trying to get below 10% bf I realized I was leaning out everywhere but their was stubborn layer of fat over my mid section that didnt want to leave. Cortisol seems to be the culprit here as its actualy fighting to keep SOME fat on me (to insure bodies survival) this is nuts because im literaly getting striations everywhere else but have fat on my abs.
Those trying to gain muscle, after we get over our beginners gains that plateu sucks doesnt it? Well the body thinks we are overtraining and puts cortisol into the blood which immediatly limits our potential to gain, and actualy breaks down our protiens into glucose to be saved as glycogen in the liver (gluconeogensis)
So I have a some questions for those experienced
1. Stimulants such as caffeine help spike cortisol, so how does something like clen or ECA stack work when cortisol is directly stimulated as well?
2. What can we do to minimize it, and through which mechanisms do these cort blockers such as : reduce xt, supress-C work?
3. Steroids seem to supress or negate cortisols effect which is one of the reasons we see such dramatic changes. When off cycle i expect these cort levels to come back up, how can we manage our cort levels without cycling non-stop?
4. Cortisol seems to interact with 5-alpha reductase and converts to 5-alpha tetrahydrocortisol, what the hell is that and what does this means for finasteride users???
Any input on cortisol related to training is appreciated, and perhaps somone could put up a sticky?