One word that you may hear tossed around quite frequently as you read various sources of information about fat loss, nutrition, and working out is that of cortisol.
Cortisol is a certain hormone in the body that is produced as part of the ‘flight or fright’ response. It’s original function in the body is to make glucose present so that if you are in a situation of danger, you have an immediate energy source to get out of danger.
When cortisol is being released because the body senses that stress is abound, your body will be converting glycogen stores (if present) into blood sugar. If glycogen stores are not present, then it’s going to look for an alternate source of fuel instead, most notably, body protein.
Let’s take a closer look at cortisol so you can understand that and the connection to 8 pack abs.
What Causes Cortisol Release
The very first thing that we need to discuss is what causes cortisol to be released in the first place. Your body, as just mentioned, will release cortisol any time it senses a stressful situation is at play.
So for example, if you’re experiencing financial stress, cortisol will go up. If you’re experiencing work stress, cortisol will also increase. If you’re experiencing relationship stress – you guessed it, your cortisol will elevate.
In addition to this, any time you go into the gym and place an overloading stress on the body, that too will be deemed as a stressful situation and your cortisol will dramatically increase.
What Are The Implications Of Cortisol
So if you have all this cortisol floating around in the blood, what implications are there?
First, cortisol will break down tissues. As we mentioned, its primary goal is to make energy available. This means breaking down liver glycogen, muscle glycogen, or protein. If you’re currently on a fat loss diet, your glycogen stores may be quite depleted and as a result, protein will be its target.
To you, this means muscle mass loss.
Another problem with cortisol is that it also causes a tendency for the body to want to conserve energy and it will prime you to store body fat in the abdominal region.
So now not only is it breaking down your lean muscle mass, but it’s causing you to store ab flab.
Not the best combination for getting 8 pack abs.
What Can You Do To Keep Cortisol Lower
So what can be done to keep cortisol levels lower? First, don’t stress. That however is often easier said than done, but do make sure you’re doing everything you can to get stress under control.
Second, make sure you’re sleeping enough as this will go a long way to preventing abnormally high levels.
Third, make sure you’re also eating properly. Too low of a calorie intake in the face of too much exercise will really create problems and create a higher than normal release.
Finally, be sure your workout program is balanced. Rest days are imperative to success and the sooner you realize this, the faster you will see the success you’re after.
So there you have everything that you need to know about cortisol. It’s one hormone that you really do want to minimize as much as possible when you are going about your 8 pack abs quest.
