Why and how cortisol hormone damage your muscles
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There are many reasons why your muscles don't grow or stopped
growing, but we will only touch on one important aspect in this article. One
of the main reason why your muscles stopped growing is because of cortisol.
Cortisol a stress hormone produced by your body when you are under stressful
situations and conditions.
Your body reacts to any type of stress whether they are
mental stress, physical stress or even emotional stress. Hormones such as
cortisol and adrenaline are produced by your body in much larger quantities to
cope with stress.
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When you exercise, especially in
weightlifting body building exercises, you are exerting tremendous stress on
your body. This physical stress causes the cortisol hormone in your body to
rise to an unusually high level which destroy your muscle cells, break down
bone density and causes weight/fat accumulation especially abdominal area.
Fats stored in the abdominal or abs area, besides being ugly, it is also
dangerous as most of these fats stored are visceral fats. Click here if you
desire to get rid of
belly fat and get 6 pack abs.
The cortisol hormone hates your muscles and wants you to grow
fat. It takes away protein from the muscle cells, in other words, eating away
your muscle mass. In bodybuilding lingo, it is catabolic. However to be fair
to this hormone, the cortisol hormone is produced for a reason and has its
positive factors.
Cortisol is produced by the adrenal cortex and is commonly
known as a stress hormone because the level of cortisol in your body rises
sharply when you are placed under stress. This hormone plays an important role
in your body’s metabolic function, it facilitates cardiovascular function,
carbohydrate metabolism and controls inflammation since it is a steroidal
hormone.
As more cortisol is being produced, your muscle cells breaks
down further because the amino acids from your muscle protein is being
converted into glucose for energy. The cortisol hormone also blocks new muscle
cells from growing because it interferes in the protein synthesis of muscles.
How to control and lower cortisol production?
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Avoid stress to avoid cortisol –
Take up yoga, read a book, take a break from whatever you are doing. Learn
meditation and breathing techniques to reduce everyday stress. Take a week or
so break from your exercise routine after 6-8 weeks of regular training. As
your body learns how to relax, the level of cortisol hormone will fall
correspondingly. Hey, just take things easy, will ya?
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Stop over training
– Over training is a common issue amongst athletes of all sports. This is
especially so in the sport of bodybuilding and weight lifting. You are already
damaging your muscles when you lift weights, don't let cortisol hormones rob
your muscles of the much needed proteins and preventing muscle repair and
growth. Get out of the gym within an hour! Pronto.
Once your body
and mind is free from stress, your cortisol production will be back at a
healthy level and you will once again see your muscles growing. That is of
course you are doing other right things to promote
muscle growth.
Best Wishes
