Quote Originally Posted by Macdon1588 View Post
So anyway, back to this cortisol discussion. The long and short seems to be that short spikes in cortisol as it relates to weight lifting is probably beneficial. It's the prolonged cortisol that creates the issue right? I think that my works constant stress and screwed up hours elevate my cortisol which can be a huge stumbling block to fat loss goals, but I'm not sure about its effects on strength. I think like all the rest of the hormones it's tissue dependent. At the end of the day, I think it's a fools errand to single out one specific hormone and say "hormone X" always acts in this manner.
Yes, it is the chronic v acute status that changes the game. Cortisol is also one of the primary hormones responsible for free fatty-acid mobilization and fat loss, which is why stims do elevate cortisol. Short bursts of cortisol from weight training, more or less, indicative of some form of metabolic damage and that is exactly what you want from a session.

Now, to what extent is dependent upon the person and for how long depends on the persons work capacity, but that leads into the planned overreaching phase, which is something that I will be writing about soon.