drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
There are four hormones which often are mentioned in fitness discussions. These can be anabolic (building tissues) like testosterone, insulin or growth hormone (GH), or catabolic (breaking down tissues) like cortisol (keeps our blood sugar high).
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Many studies use hormonal changes associated with a workout to motivate why a workout is superior (f. ex. doing squats before curls or doing deadlifts before rows). In most cases, however, the hormonal changes are measured in the short term, and are often small compared to the changes that our bodies experience throughout the day.
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Higher rises in growth hormone and testosterone DURING a workout do not correlate to long term increases in muscle mass or protein synthesis.
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Strangely, workouts leading to more cortisol released correlate to long term INCREASES in muscle mass! This may sound counterintuitive as cortisol is catabolic, but the correlation does not imply that cortisol is the CAUSE of the muscle gains.
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More cortisol may simply be a sogn of workouts with a high intensity, duration and time under tension, factors we KNOW contribute to more long term muscle gains;
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Never forget: correlation is not causality!
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As far as hormones go, dont use them to design your workout. It doesn’t matter if you squat before or after curling, because differences in hormone levels are minor factors and one should consider the whole picture before drawing conclusions!
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One moght fpr example consider the ratio of testosterone to cortisol rather than to just look at one hormone.
