Fergus
totally agree with you on cortisol
its got an unjustified bad reputation – she is one good hormones no doubt – repartitioning of energy resources is an essential part of adapting
in my own simple way – I see it as a stress hormone – a response to stress is essential to adaption!!!
in fact we have found that a good cortisol response is essential to hypertrophy
I guess i also see cortisol as one of those inverted U responses – too little bad too much bad but you sure need some to achieve optimal!
or maybe a traffic light system – some =green – i.e a good spike – if the spike lasts a long time you may be struggling a bit to cope with the stress = orange light and if it is elevated for days it is a red – stop and properely recover and allow adaption to that stress!
maybe thats all vastly over simplified !!!
But to be honest Ferg – I am a simple man!!! Cheers my friend