If you have been following some fitness articles, blogs, or social media, you may have come across a term catabolism and anabolism. There are few really understand what they mean and don’t amazing job of explaining but there are also those who just using it to sound cool. Nevertheless, it is very important mechanisms that our body goes through every day. Especially for those who want to increase muscle mass and reduce body fat, you will need to understand this process to maximize your effort.
Basic Terminology
Catabolism means breaking down of complex molecules in living organism. For example, when you exercise and start burning fat the body is in catabolic state, which means the body is breaking down fat for energy. Muscles can also go through catabolic state when the exercise is done more than what the body can handle.
Anabolism means synthesis or creation of complex molecules in living organism. For example, when we consume too much carbohydrate without physical activity, carbohydrate can go through anabolic process of creating storage form of energy called fat. Muscles can also go through anabolic state when exercise and recovery is properly balanced.
Anabolism and Catabolism in Muscle Growth
Let’s look at how muscles grow through training. You may have heard that the muscle grows because it breaks down due the exercise and through the recovery process, body creates stronger muscle fibers to make sure same damage won’t happen again. In a way it is not incorrect but that is not accurate.
When muscles get exercised, it sends both anabolic and catabolic response. When anabolic response is sent muscle promotes protein synthesis. When catabolic response is sent it promotes muscle break down due to the stress that has been applied. Each response happens during the training. Which response become dominant is depending on 1.) intensity, 2.) duration of training 3.) capability of the individual. This is the reason why novice trainees grow both muscle size and strength faster because they can stimulate the muscle with anabolic response easier. However, if novice trainees train hard, catabolic response may become dominant and may not see any results but fatigue.
To effectively build muscular strength and growth, the focus should be on anabolic response to be the dominant response which helps promote protein synthesis and less of the breakdown. When training session is too long (+1 hr.) with high intensity for the body to handle, then body will go through catabolism. Both will happen; however, it is vital to balance out the training session so anabolic response becomes dominant.
Muscle catabolism happens because of stress response from the body as stress hormone called cortisol level increases. This cortisol elevation is important especially for those who are working on lifting heavy. However, once the session is done it is necessary to bring the cortisol level down or may start utilizing amino acid, which is resource to build muscles, may use as fuel instead of building muscles. Stress response may happen even when you successfully trained to stimulate anabolic response. This is when the nutrition after the training session is not adequate. Even when you trained carefully, poor diet can put the body to stress due to poor recovery. It may be anabolic dominance; however, catabolic response is also still there. Therefore, it is vital to consume proper nutrition after the training sessions to reduce catabolic response and increase anabolic response or protein synthesis.
Post Training Meal for Anabolic Effect
Ideally, after the training session is done, we want to bring the cortisol level down quickly and allow the body to focus on anabolic process or protein synthesis to build the muscles bigger and stronger. To bring the cortisol level down, best resource is carbohydrate, especially those that are easier for the body to absorb, such as banana and rice cake.
Carbohydrate will not only lower the cortisol level but also replenish muscle glycogen, which is energy source stored in muscle and liver. Carbohydrate will also help increase insulin production which allows protein and other nutrients that are needed for muscle growth to enter the body. Which means with carbohydrate you want to add protein.
If your focus is fat loss with muscle growth, then this approach may not work because your insulin level may be high already. If that is the case lower the intensity and duration (<1hr.) of your workout and stick with consuming protein after the workout.
What Can Influence Anabolic and Promote Catabolic Effect in Muscle Building?
There are things that negatively influence your muscle building. First is over training. This may sound opposite, however, longer you train more stress you will build which can promote catabolic effect which may lead to muscle breakdown. Unless you know how to recover properly, keep your training session under an hour. This is also true for frequency of your training. If you are training at high intensity every day, you may be able to burn more calories but at the same time you may not be able to build muscles due to catabolic effect becoming dominant. Initially, start off with 2-3 days per week then work up to 3-4 days per week.
Second is nutrition. As mentioned before, even when you were successfully stimulating your muscle to anabolic response through your training, if your post training meal is poor, the muscle will go through catabolic effect. Especially during the holiday season, you may be consuming alcoholic beverages. What alcohol does after your training sessions is done is lowering the anabolic response. Now, I’m not asking you to avoid drinking, but you can use supplement called niacin (vitamin B3) prior to your party to help breakdown alcohol faster, which may help maintain protein synthesis longer.
Third is sleep. Sleeping less than 7 hours may elevate your cortisol level, which will promote catabolic effect and may hinder your muscle development. Work on improving your sleep by scheduling, maintaining cool room temperature, and keeping the room dark. Sleep may also help improve your overall performance during your training session.
Fourth is stress. This is somewhat difficult to manage since we all have some sort of stress in life. Individually, how much stress can be tolerated may vary. When stressful situation is becoming chronic, it is best to reduce the intensity of the exercise to reduce catabolic effect as much as possible. Training sessions also need to be modified so that the body can appreciate anabolic effect. Nutritional adjustment may need to be addressed to minimize additional stress to the digestive system.
Lastly aging. As much as I hate to admit, but aging does have impact on muscle loss. Mostly due to lack of anabolic response. According to study, after age 40, you are likely to lose 1% of muscle mass each year if you are not training. This also means that metabolism and immune system will decline as well. At the same time, when you start strength training at later in like I have seen my trainees improving in strength and muscles sizes even at their 80s.
Summary
To improve your muscular strength and size, the body will need anabolic effect. During the training sessions, even been careful, catabolic effect will happen. If that is the case, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and managing your training frequency will become critical for the ideal muscle gains.
If you are struggling to see results, focus on quality of your recovery. If you need to rely on caffeine product to stay active, your body can be breaking down.
Kota Shimada
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