There are two sides to every coin...

There is more to fitness and health than just what is there. A large, yet mostly unseen or unrecognized, component is what is not there. Or, should I say, the reduction, elimination or curtailing of something that is there. We all readily look at the positive aspect of a number of things when training. Things such as positive nitrogen and caloric balance, stimulation of the right hormones and enough of them through that training and also through nutrition, to name a few. This is normal, for us at least, AND these all reside on the side of anabolism, or muscle accretion.

But there is more going on under the hood than the stimulation and development of strength, conditioning, power, etc. There is also a catabolic situation that must be (or at the very least, should be) considered to truly maximize your efforts. Ironically, some of the very things we do to get on the 'positive' side of things also powerfully contributes to the negative as well.

One item in particular is cortisol, a stress hormone. It is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress, physical or mental. It is secreted by the adrenal cortex in response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and, in turn, is the major regulator of ACTH production in the pituitary via negative feedback inhibition. For example, a rise in the level of cortisol in the blood inhibits ACTH secretion. This hormone is critical for the control of inflammation and the metabolism of protein and carbohydrate.

We, as CrossFitters, tend to stimulate the hell out of this particular hormone and it is quite catabolic (read: eats muscle). You see, one of the main effects of cortisol is to reduce the protein reserves of protein in ALL body cells except for the liver and gastrointenstinal tract. Well folks, the only place we readily store protein in the body is, yep you guessed it, muscle.

Proper or directed regulation of this catabolic hormone, the other side of the seesaw if you will, can have a major impact on recovery and level of adaptation to all that hard work we put in during our training and through our nutrition. Suprisingly there are some very simple steps you can take to maximally and optimally affect the balance of cortisol in your system.

A few of these are as follows:

• Reduce or remove fructose from your diet, especially during and post-workout
• Look at the timing of your caffeine intake
• Select specific beverages for workout days
• Time your post-workout nutrition and alter its macronutrient ratio
• Get Sleep
• Periodize your training intensity
• Avoid NSAID's
• Enhance Kreb's

For a detailed explanation of the who, what, when, where, how of the points above, go to the members nutrition section for the scoop this Weekend.

More and more, check it all out...

In a constant effort to bring more and do more, Josh gets his level 1 this past weekend in the ATL

Getting in their training, Saint James is in the house and well represented!"Always do what you are afraid to do."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."

- Ambrose Redmoon

"Fear not those who argue but those who dodge."

- Dale Carnegie