Spending hours in the gym to build muscle up and not making progress? Excellent news! There is every chance that there is just one reason stopping your from masive gains. The knowledge of this can significantly increase your ability to build muscle up. For many beginning bodybuilders this will be the first time they have heard of it and as such it could beneift them greatly.

So what exactly is this well kept secret? A new amazing routine or something?

No not at all. It is a hormone know as cortisol, known about for a long time but ignored by many weight lifters.

What actually is cortisol?

Cortisol is a hormone released by the body steadily throughout the day and is produced in response to stress such as weight lifting. Cortisol levels decrease gradually throughout the day from their highest point in the morning.

What does it do?

Well it enhances your short term memory, aids in regulation of blood sugar levels and helps detox the liver. However it can increase blood pressure and reduce bone density if your cortisol levels are excessive, although this is not normal. However it will decrease muscle mass as it promotes the use of muscle as energy and not fat. This is the primary reason why training sessions should be less than one hour duration. After this they will actually be inhibiting their progress not speeding it up!

Here are a few guidelines to ensure that you are not wasting your time trying to build muscle up:

1) limit your cardio workouts, too much cardio causes the body to release cortisol which as explained is not what we need.

2) Cortisol levels also increase due to caffeine intake so try to keep this to a minimum.

3) Keep your workouts down to one hour in the gym. Put headphones if you are easily distracted.

4) Try to relax as stress causes the body to release more cortisol.

5) Consume small frequent meals as infrequent meals make the body assume it is starving and will thus try and use muscle mass as a form of energy before it makes use of fat reserves by releasing more cortisol.

6) Sleep. This is when your cortisol levels are lowest and your muscle building hormones highest so aim for 8 hours if possible.

With those building muscle tips in mind you should be able to give your workouts a great boost and help you to build up muscle more efficiently.

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