Wondering how to achieve anabolism.

[Comstock]

In a recent interview, Mercola and @haidut mention that the effects of anabolic steroids are from their anti cortisol effects.

Around the 3 minute mark

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeF0TFdUgo4


It sounds like cortisol is a response to lower blood sugar levels (is this the same as blood glucose?).

Does this mean that if you kept your blood sugar high all the time, you would experience anabolism? Would frequent sugary beverages achieve that (assuming you're trying to gain weight)?

It also sounds like a limiting factor to sugar metabolism is pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). If you don't have enough, you get lactic acid. I think I know what that feels like, when consuming too much sugar. Apparently, some important cofactors to PDH are thiamin and biotin (Link). Would lots of sugar plus enough biotin and thiamin from eggs, liver, and maybe pork, work well? EDIT: Here's an awesome overview of the cofactors for glucose metabolism. Seems complicated. (Link)

I've also heard that cortisol doesn't change that much as you age, but rather, the androgenic steroids, which oppose cortisol, decrease. Does this mean that you should actually focus on increasing your androgenic steroids to achieve anabolism, instead of keeping your blood sugar high all the time?

I used to be ripped and strong. Now I'm a good 15% lighter, and would love to be muscular again. I'm not convinced that I need to work out like crazy and eat tons, because I never did that when I was younger. I'm guessing anabolism is more hormonal. Wondering what would make sense to target.

 

[Phaedrus]

Efficient blood sugar metabolism with a steady supply of sugars/carbs will indeed help keep cortisol in check and promote a good foundation for anabolic muscle growth. Even with lower protein consumption, sugar can fairly well maintain help you existing muscles since low blood sugar will spike cortisol and start catabolizing the protein from your muscles to convert to sugar.

But in order to gain lean mass, in other words build new muscle, you’ll need to do some strength training and eat plenty of protein in addition to your high carbohydrates - eggs, milk, cottage cheese, beef, shrimp, etc. The saturated fat and cholesterol in animal protein like milk and eggs will also promote the production of testosterone, further aiding your anabolic goals. Ice cream is also an ideal post workout treat that some swear by instead of expensive and awful-tasting protein powders.

Don’t overdue the weight lifting, as that will work against you if you put too much stress on your body. I think for most people 2-3 days of light or moderate weight lifting for 20-30 minutes - think squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, dumbell curls - is plenty adequate to build some good muscle mass alongside a balanced diet and plenty of rest, recovery, and sleep.

When I was in my 20s and a fervent believer in paleo/low carb and intermittent fasting, I did lots of weight lifting and struggled to gain bigger muscles. I did put on some muscle and got a lot stronger, but eating low carb definitely limited how much muscle I could put on. Even though I was squatting and deadlifting more than buff dudes at the gym who had hulking biceps, I always had that lean farmer look with smaller muscles. Now a decade older, I easily maintain just as much if not more muscle than I had then, but without crazy workouts and without ridiculous protein intake - simply because I get plenty of carbs. Good luck!

 

[GreekDemiGod]

Efficient blood sugar metabolism with a steady supply of sugars/carbs will indeed help keep cortisol in check and promote a good foundation for anabolic muscle growth

Doubt. Healthy people don’t need to snack all the time, it’s actually harmful. Bad for the teeth, bad for digestion(shuts off MMC).
I think it’s mostly about liver health and proper insulin sensitivity.
Longer time between meals means you are more resilient.

 

[Abmartich]

Efficient blood sugar metabolism with a steady supply of sugars/carbs will indeed help keep cortisol in check and promote a good foundation for anabolic muscle growth. Even with lower protein consumption, sugar can fairly well maintain help you existing muscles since low blood sugar will spike cortisol and start catabolizing the protein from your muscles to convert to sugar.

But in order to gain lean mass, in other words build new muscle, you’ll need to do some strength training and eat plenty of protein in addition to your high carbohydrates - eggs, milk, cottage cheese, beef, shrimp, etc. The saturated fat and cholesterol in animal protein like milk and eggs will also promote the production of testosterone, further aiding your anabolic goals. Ice cream is also an ideal post workout treat that some swear by instead of expensive and awful-tasting protein powders.

Don’t overdue the weight lifting, as that will work against you if you put too much stress on your body. I think for most people 2-3 days of light or moderate weight lifting for 20-30 minutes - think squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, dumbell curls - is plenty adequate to build some good muscle mass alongside a balanced diet and plenty of rest, recovery, and sleep.

When I was in my 20s and a fervent believer in paleo/low carb and intermittent fasting, I did lots of weight lifting and struggled to gain bigger muscles. I did put on some muscle and got a lot stronger, but eating low carb definitely limited how much muscle I could put on. Even though I was squatting and deadlifting more than buff dudes at the gym who had hulking biceps, I always had that lean farmer look with smaller muscles. Now a decade older, I easily maintain just as much if not more muscle than I had then, but without crazy workouts and without ridiculous protein intake - simply because I get plenty of carbs. Good luck!

Vegans eat a high carbohydrate diet and have the physical appearance of corpses.

 

[GreekDemiGod]

In a recent interview, Mercola and @haidut mention that the effects of anabolic steroids are from their anti cortisol effects.

If that were the case, any other Cortisol lowering substance(like Aspirin, Cypro…) would be anabolic to muscle. And they clearly aren’t

 

[Phaedrus]

Doubt. Healthy people don’t need to snack all the time, it’s actually harmful. Bad for the teeth, bad for digestion(shuts off MMC).
I think it’s mostly about liver health and proper insulin sensitivity.
Longer time between meals means you are more resilient.

Sure, if your liver is healthy then I agree you can get away without snacking and eat just your two or three meals a day. By “steady supply” I mean more that if your goal is anabolic muscle growth and you’re also weight lifting, you probably don’t want to do low carb, fasting, or frankly even skip meals. A good amount of sugar/carbs every day commensurate with your age, gender, and activity level is going to be recommended for anabolic muscle gain.

 

[Phaedrus]

Vegans eat a high carbohydrate diet and have the physical appearance of corpses.

Your point? Did you read the part where I also recommended lots of animal protein on top of carbs?

 

[youngsinatra]

I agree with @GreekDemiGod

From my understanding anabolism requires high androgen levels (testosterone, DHT..) which require..
1. a strong and resilient metabolism (high thyroid function and robust adrenals)
2. all the necessary micronutrients (building blocks) to produce it
3. high-quality sleep (8-9h per night)
4. full-body sun exposure
5. a relatively low bodyfat percentage
6. resistance training
7. the correct mindset (starting each day strong and maintenaning momentum)
8. avoidance of endocrine disruptors
And likely so much more..

To think that anabolism = cortisol antagonism is a bit too reductionistic in my opinion.

If you would keep your blood sugar up all day „in the pursuit to keep cortisol low“, you‘d likely become insulin resistant, get metabolic syndrome, fatty liver and become overweight in the long term, which definitely hurts androgen levels.
So many people struggle with those things on this forum by doing exactly this.

 

[youngsinatra]

This post shows a very good case (with blood work in the other slides) with a start point of low serum AM cortisol / low-ish ACTH / very low testosterone / low LH/FSH

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/BobgNEphAJX/?img_index=2

 

[tasfarelel]

Low cortisol is indeed anabolic in the right setting. There are several pathways that lead to muscle growth apart from training and hormones.

 

[Comstock]

Thanks all. I happen to have testosterone and low body fat. However, my free testosterone seems quite low. Will see if I can address that.

As an aside, I sprinted all out for 200m for the first time in years yesterday, and the feeling afterwards was impressive. I used to be a track athlete, maybe regular sprints beyond a certain distance is highly anabolic.