What Cortisol Does
Cortisol is a human steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It has many important functions, including:- Providing natural pain relief
- Responding to stressful situations -- mental or physical
- Regulating the immune system
- Providing glucose to the body when it needs it
- Generally acting as a "breaking-down" hormone (catabolic), rather than a "building-up" hormone (anabolic).
From a weight training and bodybuilding perspective, breaking down body tissue is not what we want to happen -- because that means muscle and bone gets broken down and fat builds up. Cortisol does this mainly to supply the body with important glucose at times of physical or mental stress.
It's easy to see why people who sell supplements have come up with something called "cortisol blockers." Cortisol blockers are supposed to prevent cortisol from either degrading your muscle tissue or causing your immune system to slow down leading to infections from the stress of hard workouts.
What are the Cortisol Blockers?
Although many trade named products are available, one prominent cortisol-blocking agent is called phosphatidylserine. Although this chemical has been studied for it's potential to block cortisol and thus improve training or performance, no clear effect has been established.And that's no surprise considering the complexities of steroid hormones. For example, one thing that could happen with long-term supplement use is that your body could change the way it naturally produces cortisol so that when you stop taking the supplement, you get an unnatural production of cortisol leading to illness.
These are not hormones to be played around with.
How to Manage Cortisol Naturally
The best thing you can do to manage extremes of cortisol production during your workout are:- Get plenty of sleep and try not to get too stressed in daily life.
- Don't train on an empty stomach because a little food in the stomach, especially carbohydrate food, will keep cortisol from rising too much by providing a normal level of glucose in the bloodstream.
- Similarly, for long and hard workouts, take some food or drink during the workout to keep glucose circulating in the bloodstream.
If you do those things, cortisol should never be a problem. Cortisol is not your enemy. It has an important role to play in daily life and trying to manipulate it for training purposes is bound to fail.
