PNBA Men’s Bodybuilding competitor Peter Cichonski shares how decreasing anabolic hormones affect muscle.
It’s no surprise that staying in shape becomes more difficult as we age. Our muscles start to deteriorate as we age, and our bones weaken. However, although age-related muscle atrophy is part of the cycle of life, we can minimize the effects with the correct strategies. Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA) athlete Peter Cichonski shares how you can preserve muscle by maximizing your anabolic hormones.
Peter Cichonski is a Men’s Bodybuilding competitor and received third place at the 2021 Natural Olympia in the Men’s Bodybuilding Grand Masters division. Cichonski also has a multi-media contract with Generation Iron, Iron Man Magazine, and the INBA PNBA. Recently on social media, Cichonski has released a series of videos diving into the different forces that can affect your ability to retain and build muscle as you age.
In his first two videos, Cichonski went over being consistent and metabolic inefficiency at the protein level. In his latest video, he’s going over the declining anabolic hormones, specifically growth hormone and testosterone. Cichonski stated:
“Did you guys know at the age of 30, you can start losing anywhere from 1-3% of the production of those two hormones, growth hormone and testosterone, per year? That’s about 15% to 30% in 10 years. So you can see what can happen by the age of 50.”
Battle Between Mature Muscle and Age-Related Muscle and Strength Loss
Cichonski then went into how to stop this decrease in anabolic hormones. First, Cichonski recommends that you sleep more. He pointed out a study that showed that those who slept five hours a night saw a 10-15% drop in testosterone after a week. Cichonski also said to lower your stress levels to build muscle and boost testosterone. He said the higher your cortisol (stress hormone) is, the more muscle tissue you break down since it’s a catabolic (breaking down) hormone. He also said the more cortisol you produce, the less testosterone you make. Lastly, Cichonski says it’s important to get dietary cholesterol so your body efficiently makes testosterone.
Below is a video of Peter Cichonski discussing the effects of anabolic hormones and their role in the battle between mature and age-related muscle and strength loss. The video was uploaded to Cichonski’s Instagram on October 6, 2022.
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Peter Cichonski’s Training
Cichonski is now 60 years old and has still managed to pack on muscle and be a competitive Men’s Bodybuilding competitor. He points to training in the sun as a big reason why.
He believes the sun’s natural light fuels your body and workouts by maximizing cellular energy. Therefore, training outside will boost your strength, endurance, recovery, and slow aging. Cichonski has more precise information on how this works. And how to continue to build muscle as you age on his social media page.
Cichonski recently competed at INBA PNBA Pro/Am Team USA, taking place September 24, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV. And now he looks ahead to the 2022 Natural Olympia.
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