how catabolic is STRESS?? lets explore this one my friends...

[satchboogie]

i'm sure that every now and then everybody goes through stressful times.
divorce, family death, harsh break up's, financial problems.. the list goes on and on.

but how catabolic is stress for the bodybuilder?

lets take a few scenarios and attempt to explore this:

1) bodybuilder trains naturally and has a perfect life.. no problems whatsoever!

2) bodybuilder trains on 500mg susta per week but is going through a super super stressful time.

which will build more mass????

now i perfectly understand its impossible to answer this question precisely but would love to hear some feedback regarding stress/steroids/catabolism.

 

[Izzman]

Great Post Satch, I would say bodybuilder #1 would build just as good gains as #2 if not better due to the fact that even with AAS, catabolism is catabolism and cortisol if left uncontrolled can eat precious muscle easily. With regards to #1, the perfect environment makes allows for perfect gains.

 

[Lowest]

If they both are at the same level initially, then bodybuilder 2 for sure. If you eat right and train right, stress and lack of sleep will be more than made up for by 500mg/week of test. I know, one of my roommates years back did exactly this. He was a speed-freak, snorted ritalin and adderall all the time, stayed up for 2 days straight doing engineering projects, etc. That's hella stressful. However, he sucked down about 6000 calories per day with weight-gainer shakes and hit up 1400mg/week of test suspension. Over 3 months, he put on 80lbs of weight, from 155 up to 235. When he came off, he dropped to 220 and stayed there ever since. I don't know of anyone naturally who can come close to those gains. Granted, he took a hell of a lot more than 500/week of test, but the point remains valid. Stress is bad, yes, but it's nowhere near as strong as 500/week of test.

 

[manny78]

Depends on each person's metabolism. I'Ve seen people on great stress getting....fat. Others will stay the same. In any scenario, heavy and long term stress is something to stay away.

 

[goldenthree]

Definately number 2. Remember 500 mgs of test is 10x the amount of test the body naturally produces per week.(5-7 mgs/day) Also testosterone significantly reduces cortisol levels.

 

[majutsu]

great stuff satch. I think #2 as well. But, a good spin-off question is: Can we bodybuilders benefit from stress reduction or cortisol-blocking drugs? Can anyone name commonly used cortisol blockers?

 

[Still_big]

Ill be able to tell you guys at the end of my cycle, because Im stressed out beyound max

 

[Jarbeebus]

I wouldn't say stress is necessarily "catabolic", but certainly seems to have the potential to hinder gains.

Stress itself has a more subtle effect on the everyday functions in the body by demanding "resources" or activities otherwise reserved for excratory, neurological, immune, etc functions. Basically, your body has X amount of resources to dedicate these aforementioned functions. These resources can be increased by a solid diet and a healthy lifestyle, but on a given day, they are realtively finite.

Stress causes the endocrine system to react, and for the purpose of this thread, I believe it to be the most pertainant effect. Namely, your pituarity signals the release of "acth" (can't remember what this stands for...too much beer in college.) which causes other functions to "speed up". Higher blood pressure, and higher adrenal activity (adrenaline weee!) result. The liver reacts as well to produce quickly burnable glucose.

All of the processes above are needed to ensure time spent in the gym is worthwhile. Basically, a stressed lifter on gear is going to be taxing their system quite a bit harder, and potentially being cut short on gains/recovery.

I don't know of any emperical data to back up the idea of negatively effecting gains, but I think the logic is sound. What say you?

 

[ocisbomb]

I have an enormous amount of stress... like a shitload. Sounds like somebody's having girl problems... ?

 

[[email protected]]

I would say that bb #2 would make the best gains, assuming this was the same person, yet in differenty situations. But, the gains would be dramatically less. Possibly 50% less than would be gained if no stress was experienced. While I have no imperiacal evidence, I've delt with stress and it has greatly impacted my gains while on. For the negative, btw.