Cortisol spikes from workouts? Don’t sweat it. Acute exercise-induced cortisol is your body’s way of adapting to the stress of training and driving improvements in muscle repair, recovery, and performance. Cortisol responses to exercise are proportional to the intensity and duration of the workout. These spikes are temporary and support adaptation. The real enemy isn’t your workout; it’s chronic stress, which disrupts homeostasis, contributing to issues like poor sleep, impaired recovery, and me