I was reading a couple of decent articles on cortisol this morning,
so I thought I'd give my take on it as it relates to fat loss.
Cortisol isn't a bad hormone.
It actually plays a role in mobilizing stored body fat and you need to access that stored fat before you can lose it.
But...
Not only does it mobilize fat, it is also involved in muscle breakdown.
Muscle breakdown (catabolism) isn't a bad thing if it is BALANCED with muscle repair (anabolism).
You typically won't gain a bunch of muscle without some breakdown, which is why bodybuilders push to failure (and beyond) when training.
This breakdown isn't just from cortisol, but it does play a role here.
The issue happens when intensity of training is excessive.
If intense workouts are done too frequently, cortisol levels can become chronically elevated.
When it comes to fat loss this is a problem.
When cortisol is high, it reduces the conversion of T4 to T3 (the thyroid hormone that has the biggest impact on your metabolism).
When T3 is low, your metabolism slows down dramatically.
So even if someone is training intensely and burning calories in their workout, the excess cortisol slows down their metabolism by lowering T3 levels.
You CAN train with intensity, you can't just do it often if you want to keep T3 levels (and your metabolism) high.
In my book "12 Weeks Physical Transformation Journey", sets are cut short of failure to avoid breakdown of muscle.
This does two things.
- Without muscle breakdown there is less potential for the muscles to become excessively large.
- Since sets are done at a lower intensity, there is less chance for high chronic cortisol levels slowing the metabolism.
Hitting muscle groups with less intensity, allows you to train the muscle groups more often.
Frequent contractions create a firm and tight physique.
My men's course is a bit different. we do have a phase that is aimed at muscle breakdown.
This is phase 1 of the program.
It is meant to only be done for 2 months to add a bit of volume to the muscles.
The other 2/3 of the program are about refining the physique and adding detail (this part is similar to Women's program).
Our bodies are meant for daily exercise.
If your workouts are pretty intense and aimed at building muscle mass, limit them to a few times per week.
This way you won't experience a slowed metabolism from chronically high cortisol levels.
On other days, simply walk for 30-60 minutes.
P.S.
For muscle definition without extreme muscle breakdown, I recommend 4-5 workouts per week.
Frequent contractions without breakdown creates a sleek body
