How To Lower Cortisol Levels
Discover How to Lower Cortisol Levels With Lactic Acid Training
Cortisol is a stress hormone that is responsible for fat storage. Most people are not even aware of this hormone. Simply equating excess calories with fat gain is simplifying the matter. While excess calories will make you fat, if you’re constantly stressed out at work, the cortisol released by your body may also be making you fatter.
This could explain why some people struggle to lose weight no matter how much they exercise or diet. They could be stressing out their body unknowingly or letting the daily stresses of life get to them.
How to Lower Cortisol Levels
Cortisol is produced in the adrenal cortex and is released when you are stressed out or your body has a low blood sugar level.
That is why starving yourself to lose weight is always counter-productive.
It may be argued that our rat race society is naturally stressful. How then do we combat stress when it’s all around us?
One way to combat cortisol is to use lactic acid training. If you can’t change your hectic lifestyle, at least you can work out in a way that is effective at battling the effects of cortisol.
Impact High Frequency TrainingIn order for the body to create lactic acid, you will need to understand how it is created. Without getting all technical, let’s look at it in a simple manner.
Your body stores glucose in the muscles as glycogen. It is the main source of fuel and energy. Once glycogen stores are used up, the body switches to anaerobic energy systems for fuel. Once these are used up, lactic acid is released by the body and this is what makes the muscles feel like they are “burning”.
Lactic acid training is also known as high intensity interval training. What that means is you will be training at a very high intensity with very short rest periods.
When you engage in lactic acid training, you will create a physiological effect that is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Your heart rate would have been accelerated and the body will still be demanding oxygen even when your workout has ended. Your body will be in fat burning mode for up to 12 hours.
Lactic acid training is one of the most effective ways of battling cortisol. Even if you are stressed throughout your work day, if you engaged in lactic acid training before work, your body will be burning fat all through the day. That’s why it’s a great idea to do a lactic acid workout early in the day to get the best results.
[bottom_ads id=”2082″]Always bear in mind that lactic acid workouts are high volume, high intensity and short rest durations of 30 to 60 seconds usually.
What form of training you use is up to you. Tabata, sprinting, full body resistance workouts, etc. are good methods of eliciting lactic acid from your body. If engaging in resistance training, use enough weight to make it challenging but do not use too much weight that it slows down your workout. You want it to be fast and heart-pumping.
You do not need to worry about how many sets you do. You’ll be timing yourself. So, it’s the number of reps that matter. For example, how many dead-lifts you can do within 45 seconds. You will always aim to increase the number of reps or weight for a fixed time period. That is how you progress.
Impact High Frequency TrainingIt’s all about speed and work done. The heavier the weight and the more reps you do within a given time period, the more work you have done and the more lactic acid created.
These lactic acid workouts will burn off all the stubborn belly fat that you may have. Fat in other areas will be burnt off even more easily. Cortisol will not even be an issue any more because lactic acid workouts are highly effective for maximal fat loss.
That being said, try not to incorporate more than 2 or 3 lactic acid workouts per week. They are stressful too. You wouldn’t want your workouts to cause your body to release more cortisol. 2 times a week will be just fine.
