Are you aware of any research that proves either view points.
There's plenty of research on anabolic cardio. Mainly geared towards pro athletes*football is the main one* On paper they look great but will impede recovery for the first few weeks. Then they can actually increase your lifts significantly.
I'm also currently researching cortisol. Misunderstood.
It is a healthy response to physical exertion.
Look...there's studies on cortisol going both ways. Some studies show people with high cortisol have more belly fat on the flip side there are multiple studies on cortisol showing mobilization of fat.
It seems to me to be a correlation between people who are more stressed tend to eat more. Statically more prone to over eating.
However...The post training cortisol response helps your body heal. Otherwise the harder you trained the fatter you would be if cortisol made you fat. We just don't see that in the real world . Athletic people tend to be the leanest of the world population.
Unfortunately cortisol has been warped.
You actually need cortisol post training to help with things like inflammation. It also has a direct effect on your body's ability to recover and heal.
Without cortisol your body wouldn't be able to recover near as fast from tearing and repairing.
Technically if you blunt and/or reduce the cortisol response to below normal ranges you could inhibit the repair process.