Cortisol control: learning to control this muscle-eroding hormone will increase your muscle mass

Flex, Jan, 2005 by Chris Aceto

Do you feel sore, tired, irritable or weak? Have you noticed that your gains have plateaued? These could be signs that your cortisol levels are out of whack.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that's truly the antithesis of testosterone: whereas testosterone supports muscle building, excess cortisol kills it. Besides tearing down muscle tissue and preventing the body from storing carbs as muscle glycogen, cortisol actually lowers testosterone. It also interferes with testosterone's ability to bind to its receptors within muscle cells and induce an anabolic effect. When testosterone levels drop, not only does it become harder to build muscle and recover, but estrogen tends to have a stronger effect in the body. Estrogen is correlated with water retention, and it also makes shedding bodyfat a lot more difficult.

Cortisol levels can be elevated for a variety of reasons--hardcore training itself can induce this rise. It's important that bodybuilders learn how to control their cortisol levels to keep making the best gains. If you suffer from the symptoms mentioned earlier, institute the following suggestions to help get your cortisol levels under control.

1 | Stay on top of your workout nutrition As mentioned, cortisol rises when you train--it's a natural reaction. One of the best ways to avoid excessively elevated cortisol levels is to be disciplined with your postworkout nutrition. By supplying your body with exactly what it needs as soon as the workout is done, you'll jump-start your recovery and help blunt cortisol spikes.

After your workout, take in 30-50 grams(g) of whey protein with 60 to 100g of carbs. Maltodextrin is easy, but you can take in other fast-digesting carbs such as grits, Cream of Rice or Cream of Wheat cereal. You can also add 5g of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to the mix, or take them before you work out--BCAAs before exercise help maintain testosterone levels and can be used to fuel muscles. Leucine, one of the BCAAs, also spikes insulin levels through a different mechanism than carbs, and insulin helps in the suppression of cortisol. Whey provides building blocks that help prevent catabolism--muscle breakdown--and preventing catabolism is directly related to lower cortisol levels. Finally, the carbs in this combo spike insulin to further offset protein breakdown.

2 | Control your workouts Training volume can have a direct impact on cortisol levels. If you're overtraining, you're taking your body past the point where you can make the best gains. Follow these rules to make the most of your muscle-building regimen.

* Limit weight training to four sessions per week. Training more frequently prevents the body from attaining a full recovery.

* Keep sessions to about an hour. When you perform too many sets and exercises in a given session, you can break down your muscle tissue too much. Limiting the length of your training sessions helps avoid this.

* Emphasize multijoint movements. Exercises such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses are the most effective at stimulating muscle growth while helping to limit total training volume. They also best stimulate growth hormone (GH) and testosterone, which can help blunt cortisol.

* Avoid excessive pumping and finishing movements. When you perform numerous sets and reps of these types of exercises, you can raise your cortisol levels too high without stimulating as much muscle growth. Try to keep pumping and finishing movements to no more than three sets per bodypart at the end of the workout.

3 | Be careful with your cardio If cardio exercise burned only bodyfat, then you could hop on a bike and cycle your way into the record books as the most ripped human ever. The problem is, though, that prolonged and excessive cardio causes an increase in cortisol, and this situation can begin to prioritize muscle tissue as an energy source, tearing it down instead of helping to build it.

How much is too much cardio? I'd say anything more than five sessions a week--and try to keep it to no more than four times per week when you're not being strict with your diet. Thirty minutes per session is also enough, except when you're trying to get really ripped.

4 | Eat six meals a day The benefits of eating multiple meals per day are numerous. Besides allowing you to stay lean, a diet strategy of smaller and more frequent meals has been shown to keep cortisol levels lower than less-frequent feedings. Multiple meals--at any calorie level--will result in greater cortisol control than less-frequent meals, and we know keeping cortisol in check yields less fat, more muscle, better recovery and more energy. Strive to take in six meals per day throughout all phases of your training program.

5 | Take vitamin C This water-soluble vitamin cushions the negative effects of free radicals, compounds that are released with hardcore training. Free radicals target tissues such as muscles, weakening them and increasing inflammation and breakdown. When this happens, cortisol levels spike. By providing your body with antioxidants, such as vitamin C, you can help control cortisol. One study showed that a daily dose of 1,000 milligrams (mg) helped weightlifters keep cortisol under control. A good bet is to take 1,000 mg with your posttraining meal, when free radicals are most likely to be present. Don't go to the extreme and take a megadose, though, because new research shows that excessive vitamin C could actually be detrimental.