Training & Nutrition - Balancing Cortisol/Testosterone Levels: What does that mean?

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kuan
09-07-06, 07:36 PM
Friend of mine has this workout program prescribed by the coach. Every day that he works out he does an easy 1-2 mile jog before breakfast. The coach says it balances the cortisol and testosterone levels in the body. What does that mean, and why? I've always heard that you should eat before you exercise. This just goes against what I know.

slowandsteady
09-07-06, 07:39 PM
It isn't necessary to eat before a 1-2 mile jog. It is way too short to need any additional calories than what your liver already has. The cortisol and testosterone sounds like bunk to me. Your body can balance itself out just fine without a morning jog.
DannoXYZ
09-07-06, 08:11 PM
Hormone mechanisms are complex and their regulation is multifaceted. "Balance" isn't something that you have to worry about and a 1-2 run is definitely not going to affect things by much. Check out this article: The Role of Cortisol in Concurrent Training (http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/cortisol.html)

slowandsteady
09-11-06, 02:43 PM
Hormone mechanisms are complex and their regulation is multifaceted. "Balance" isn't something that you have to worry about

Exactly. You would be amazed at how much our body is balancing at one time. There are literally tens of thousands of pathways that are being controlled at every moment. This isn't even considering the replication of cells and transcription of DNA. It is really quite mind boggling.
kuan
09-11-06, 03:15 PM
No doubt. No wonder so much of exercise science reads like voodoo to me. Plus, it doesn't help that I don't have a biochemistry background.