The good, the bad, the ugly.

There are so many different factors to building quality muscle. While you can simply rely on great nutrition and hard training, there are other factors that can certainly make muscle development a real headache. So many individuals have seen themselves train day in and day out only to end up with little to no results from all their hard work. It can get frustrating to say the least. But in some cases there is a reason for all that tireless work going to waste.

Cortisol.

It’s a dreaded word in the fitness community and can be the reasoning behind a great many headaches people experience in their fitness journey. There are both positive and negative drawbacks to cortisol however and it may not be as simple an issue as it may seem. Some people say just lower your cortisol levels and everything will be fine. The truth of the matter however is quite different than what you’d expect.

For the most part having high levels of cortisol is going to have a negative effect on your physique. High cortisol levels means increased belly fat, something no bodybuilder wants. It can also lead to muscle loss as well which is an absolute nightmare scenario for a lifter. But that doesn’t mean you should drop your cortisol levels to zero either. If your cortisol levels are too low however it can lead to chronic fatigue. Imagine having great nutrition and doing everything right and still feeling sluggish like you don’t have the energy to make it into the gym. Lowered cortisol levels can hamper your progress just as much as higher levels.

This is just a taste of how cortisol can effect the body, but it isn’t the entire story. Jerry Brainum goes even more in depth as to how cortisol can effect your gains on his website Applied Metabolics. The newsletter has a ton of info on cortisol and it’s effects as well as countless other tidbits that will improve your progress in the gym. Hop on over to Applied Metabolics to get more in depth info on cortisol.

Has cortisol effected your gains?

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