I'm not too sure, how many more posts I can continue writing about different types of exercises, muscle gain and fat loss, steroid hormones, etc. There so many other stuff I would like to share with all of you readers our there, but, I wish I have some time to sit down and write as much as I could, with work stress and other commitments, it just feels demotivating at times, and tiring. Some of my friends urged me to get sponsors and advertisers for this blog so I could earn some money, but I guess it isn't so much of my style and I have been helping and giving free trainings and consultations to people I met for the last few years or so. I wrote 13 posts on sugar, 11 posts about cholesterol and heart disease, and I hope, honestly, I could write a few more posts about exercise. I don't know, let see how it goes. Time, work and commitments are just restricting this blog from staying alive.
Now, let's dive into the continuation of steroid hormones, but today, I want to write about stress hormone called cortisol, but I will not blog too much about it, just briefly on how it could impact our body, hormonal perspective, and health. I could write 100 pages about stress hormones, but let's stick to laymen shorter explanation.
As I've mentioned in earlier post, steroids are derived from gonadals and the adrenal glands, and they indirectly enhance or inhibit each other's actions. They somehow, act together, somewhat like a well mixed cocktail or hormones. The adrenal cortex produces three classes of steroid hormones that play important roles in the anabolic process leading to muscle gain.
Some of the adrenal hormones, such as cortisol and aldosterone, are generally considered to be the 'bad guys' by bodybuilders and athletes. Cortisol is vital for survival, stress management, as well as other important functions in our lives. But, if poor management of cortisol secretion for prolong period of time, it could turn out to be harmful or destructive to our body.
As noted previously, adrenal steroids play a critical role in regulating stress related reactions, including reactions o physical stress. As you will see, all adrenal hormones including cortisol, aldosterone, DHEA and others, help the body survive in tough stressful conditions such as physical danger, lack of food, injuries, and the need to endure extreme physical strain.
Basically, there are three classes of adrenal steroids. They are glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids and androgens. Biologically, both anabolic androgens and cortisol play important roles in reaction to stress, recuperation, preventing muscle waste and enhancing tissue repair. In theory, stress hormones inhibit muscle gain. For instance, let's take a really good example of how a simple exercise, which has a powerful influence of stress hormone cortisol, inhibit or 'eats away' muscle mass.
Imagine you walks into a gym at 9pm after a long hours of stressful work. After an exhausting stressful day at the office, with the body already loaded and pumping massive amount of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, you think you could do some good to your body or health, with 45 or 60 mins of cardio routine on the treadmill or elliptical machine. Thinking that you could burn some fat and calories and release stress? You have no idea that with at least 2 bazillion watts of fluorescent and artificial lights are on, and being intensified by reflecting mirrors that are shining right into your eyes and all over the skin of the overexposed body. You lift weights, run or jog on the treadmill, whatever types of other cardio exercises.
Do you know what is happening to your body right at this point while you are exercising? Let me enlighten all of you readers out there. Our body and mind, which were evolved over the millennia to recognize cues in nature. Long light at night (gym glare or could be staying up doing something else), means summer time. Summer, before the invention of electricity and light bulbs, means, cortisol is always up, to supply glucose to muscles to prepare for fight or flight situation, as well as calm decision making processes such as mating.
In this chronic state, not only you are keeping your blood sugar up, taxing your insulin response system with cortisol's blood sugar mobilizing effects, you are actually becoming insulin-resistance as you exercise too! I know it may sound shocking to some of you, but this is the real truth about exercising at night at the gym with beaming lights and running yourself to exhaustion on that treadmill, WILL only make you FAT! So, to some of you who have been doing cardio on treadmill (at night) for quite some time and not getting any results or perhaps gain couple more pounds, this is the reason why. Like what I sometimes tell my friends, exercise, could be the last nail in the coffin, especially if you DO not know what you are doing in the gym.
If you understand and have extreme knowledge about stress hormones especially cortisol, you could actually take advantage of it, during exercise, but with caution and proper execution. The level of stress hormone cortisol rises and falls in a wavelike manner during exercise. Taking advantage of the cortisol wave, via special exercise intervals may help to induce a peak anabolic potential.
Well, how can we take advantage of the cortisol wave? This is how it works. Cortisol production is stimulated by a hormone called ACTH. ACTH is a stimulating hormone that is secreted during stress, exercise and fasting. It plays a major role in regulating the negative feedback loop that controls the circulating levels of cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol signals the brain to decrease circulating levels of ACTH, thus, decreasing ACTH and consequently cortisol as well. That negative control loop, is probably what keeps the cortisol level from skyrocketing during physical stress and gives it a wavelike characteristic.
Both cortisol and androgen levels are elevated during exercise. Nonetheless, the adrenal gland is not a main source of androgen production. In fact, overall androgen levels increase because of an increase in both gonadals and adrenal androgens. For maximum anabolic impact, it is important to keep the androgen levels high, and cortisol low.
However, because of the cortisol wave, there is a threshold time by which cortisol levels decrease. This temporarily decrease in cortisol level creates a hormonal balance that favors androgen to cortisol and thereby helps increase anabolic potential. Therefore, duration of exercise intervals is most important in defining whether the exercise related stress will induce an anabolic or catabolic state. One big difference is HIBT and steady state cardio on the treadmill.
Prolonged and intense exercise routines over forty five minutes have been shown to lower testosterone levels and thus may be counter effective. Does it mean prolonged drills aren't beneficial? Not necessarily folks. With proper application of recovery meals, one can keep hormones at peak even during prolonged drills. And guys, I'm not talking about McD or KFC or pizza or Nasi Kandar after workout. Always go for whole foods with variety of organic free range meats and fishes, eggs, preferably organic, plenty of vegetables and some selected low glycemic fruits.
In the next post, I will discuss a bit on aldosterone, not too sure how many of you heard of this hormone, and I will discuss on how specific weight training could maximize muscle growth and induce anabolic state.
Now, let's dive into the continuation of steroid hormones, but today, I want to write about stress hormone called cortisol, but I will not blog too much about it, just briefly on how it could impact our body, hormonal perspective, and health. I could write 100 pages about stress hormones, but let's stick to laymen shorter explanation.
As I've mentioned in earlier post, steroids are derived from gonadals and the adrenal glands, and they indirectly enhance or inhibit each other's actions. They somehow, act together, somewhat like a well mixed cocktail or hormones. The adrenal cortex produces three classes of steroid hormones that play important roles in the anabolic process leading to muscle gain.
Some of the adrenal hormones, such as cortisol and aldosterone, are generally considered to be the 'bad guys' by bodybuilders and athletes. Cortisol is vital for survival, stress management, as well as other important functions in our lives. But, if poor management of cortisol secretion for prolong period of time, it could turn out to be harmful or destructive to our body.
As noted previously, adrenal steroids play a critical role in regulating stress related reactions, including reactions o physical stress. As you will see, all adrenal hormones including cortisol, aldosterone, DHEA and others, help the body survive in tough stressful conditions such as physical danger, lack of food, injuries, and the need to endure extreme physical strain.
Basically, there are three classes of adrenal steroids. They are glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids and androgens. Biologically, both anabolic androgens and cortisol play important roles in reaction to stress, recuperation, preventing muscle waste and enhancing tissue repair. In theory, stress hormones inhibit muscle gain. For instance, let's take a really good example of how a simple exercise, which has a powerful influence of stress hormone cortisol, inhibit or 'eats away' muscle mass.
Imagine you walks into a gym at 9pm after a long hours of stressful work. After an exhausting stressful day at the office, with the body already loaded and pumping massive amount of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, you think you could do some good to your body or health, with 45 or 60 mins of cardio routine on the treadmill or elliptical machine. Thinking that you could burn some fat and calories and release stress? You have no idea that with at least 2 bazillion watts of fluorescent and artificial lights are on, and being intensified by reflecting mirrors that are shining right into your eyes and all over the skin of the overexposed body. You lift weights, run or jog on the treadmill, whatever types of other cardio exercises.
Do you know what is happening to your body right at this point while you are exercising? Let me enlighten all of you readers out there. Our body and mind, which were evolved over the millennia to recognize cues in nature. Long light at night (gym glare or could be staying up doing something else), means summer time. Summer, before the invention of electricity and light bulbs, means, cortisol is always up, to supply glucose to muscles to prepare for fight or flight situation, as well as calm decision making processes such as mating.
In this chronic state, not only you are keeping your blood sugar up, taxing your insulin response system with cortisol's blood sugar mobilizing effects, you are actually becoming insulin-resistance as you exercise too! I know it may sound shocking to some of you, but this is the real truth about exercising at night at the gym with beaming lights and running yourself to exhaustion on that treadmill, WILL only make you FAT! So, to some of you who have been doing cardio on treadmill (at night) for quite some time and not getting any results or perhaps gain couple more pounds, this is the reason why. Like what I sometimes tell my friends, exercise, could be the last nail in the coffin, especially if you DO not know what you are doing in the gym.
If you understand and have extreme knowledge about stress hormones especially cortisol, you could actually take advantage of it, during exercise, but with caution and proper execution. The level of stress hormone cortisol rises and falls in a wavelike manner during exercise. Taking advantage of the cortisol wave, via special exercise intervals may help to induce a peak anabolic potential.
Well, how can we take advantage of the cortisol wave? This is how it works. Cortisol production is stimulated by a hormone called ACTH. ACTH is a stimulating hormone that is secreted during stress, exercise and fasting. It plays a major role in regulating the negative feedback loop that controls the circulating levels of cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol signals the brain to decrease circulating levels of ACTH, thus, decreasing ACTH and consequently cortisol as well. That negative control loop, is probably what keeps the cortisol level from skyrocketing during physical stress and gives it a wavelike characteristic.
Both cortisol and androgen levels are elevated during exercise. Nonetheless, the adrenal gland is not a main source of androgen production. In fact, overall androgen levels increase because of an increase in both gonadals and adrenal androgens. For maximum anabolic impact, it is important to keep the androgen levels high, and cortisol low.
However, because of the cortisol wave, there is a threshold time by which cortisol levels decrease. This temporarily decrease in cortisol level creates a hormonal balance that favors androgen to cortisol and thereby helps increase anabolic potential. Therefore, duration of exercise intervals is most important in defining whether the exercise related stress will induce an anabolic or catabolic state. One big difference is HIBT and steady state cardio on the treadmill.
Prolonged and intense exercise routines over forty five minutes have been shown to lower testosterone levels and thus may be counter effective. Does it mean prolonged drills aren't beneficial? Not necessarily folks. With proper application of recovery meals, one can keep hormones at peak even during prolonged drills. And guys, I'm not talking about McD or KFC or pizza or Nasi Kandar after workout. Always go for whole foods with variety of organic free range meats and fishes, eggs, preferably organic, plenty of vegetables and some selected low glycemic fruits.
In the next post, I will discuss a bit on aldosterone, not too sure how many of you heard of this hormone, and I will discuss on how specific weight training could maximize muscle growth and induce anabolic state.
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