Are You Building Muscle or Breaking Down? Let Bloodwork Decide

If you’ve hit a plateau with your workouts… if you're gaining fat despite training hard… or if you're feeling constantly tired and inflamed, your bloodwork might have the answers.

In this episode, we dive into:

• What the DHEA-to-cortisol ratio really tells you about stress, recovery, and resilience

• The exact numbers you want to see (with examples)

• Key blood markers like CK, AST, LDH, CRP, and what they reveal about muscle breakdown

• How to interpret patterns that signal overtraining or burnout

Because you don’t build muscle in the gym—you build it when you're recovering properly. Let's make sure you're set up to build, not break down.

🔬 DHEA-to-Cortisol Ratio: What It Means

Hormone Ratio What It Means ✅ ≥ 10:1 Healthy recovery, strong stress resilience, good environment for fat loss & muscle gain ⚠️ ≤ 5:1 Stress outweighs recovery; may stall progress, impair sleep, increase fat storage ❌ ≤ 2:1 Burnout, poor training response, HPA axis dysfunction, inflammation, fatigue

 

🧮 Example Calculations:

• DHEA-S 150 / Cortisol 10 = 15:1 ✅

• DHEA-S 90 / Cortisol 18 = 5:1 ⚠️

• DHEA-S 40 / Cortisol 22 = 1.8:1 ❌

💪 Blood Markers That Reveal Muscle Breakdown

Marker Optimal Range Concern Threshold What It Indicates DHEA-S W: 100–200 / M: 150–300 mcg/dL <70 (W), <100 (M) Anabolic status / stress buffer Cortisol (AM) 8–15 mcg/dL >23 (stress), <6 (burnout) Stress response or adrenal fatigue Creatine Kinase (CK) 30–150 U/L >500 = intense training, >1,000 = concern Muscle breakdown marker AST / ALT AST <40 / ALT <56 U/L AST >80 without liver issue = muscle strain Post-exercise stress or liver burden LDH 140–280 U/L >400 U/L Chronic tissue stress or poor recovery CRP (hs-CRP) <1.0 mg/L >3.0 = systemic inflammation Inflammation, potential overtraining Urea / Creatinine Urea: 10–20 / Cr: <1.2 Depends on hydration, protein, renal function Contextual clues for stress and protein turnover

 

🧠 What Affects These Markers?

• Overtraining or lack of deloads

• Low-carb or low-calorie diets

• Emotional stress and poor sleep

• Hormonal changes (especially in midlife)

• Poor gut health or chronic inflammation

These markers give you insight into whether your training is building your body—or breaking it down.

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