Caffeine and Cortisol

[BendtheBar]

Anyone know much about caffeine and cortisol? I know caffeine impacts cortisol to some degree, but I have a kid that is worried that if he takes a pre-workout with caffeine that he won't make any gains.

I reassured him that hard work and diet will always pay off, but beyond that I don't know what to say other than the impact is overblown....

[RickB]

I haven't ever heard of that. But me being a coffee fiend, I've made decent gains despite that. I'll have to read up on this.

[BendtheBar]

I was watching a documentary of the overweight epidemic this weekend and it discussed the impact that stress had on fat gain. It made the statement that when your brain is stressed, it responds on a primal level - like that of a hunter-gatherer who is without food. the documentary went on to state that because of this, our metabolism slows and our body heightens fat storage.

So I could see caffeine adding to natural stress levels and theoretically leading to more fat gain, and I could see the body becoming less likely to want to pack on muscle during these times.

...just thinking out loud....

[BendtheBar]

Cortisol talk also makes me wonder if training 6 days a week, or high volume, could lead to increased cortisol levels, and a greater tendency to store fat and build less muscle.

I'm sure this is an old discussion to some of you guys, but cortisol is new to me.

[Donkeypuncher]

Coffee stimulates catecholamines (adrenegenic). Exhaustion of the adrenal cortex, which is also responsible for gonadal steroids, could lead to decreased testosterone and negatively impact your gains. The amount of coffee needed for this, however, is substantially more than most people drink.

[big_swede]

Ive heard this, i dont have any studies to refer to but i find it likely.
"Pushing heavy weight for long workouts, without proper recovery (i.e off days) will overtime raise cortisol levels and lead to fat gain."


If you look at it this i quite easy to get, stress == cortisol levels rise, overtraining == body stressed. In other words this is basic overtraining 1 on 1, progressed halted, appetite loss, increased blood pressure, letargic etc.



These are all symptoms of stress ...and overtraining.

Just spun a bit on the subject got me thinking