This is why most of us who are always understresses tend to get less gains, or no gains, until we find a destressing point. This is
@kriskros arena as well. He was so stressed on getting gains that the cortisol went ballistic. Once he decided to quit, his body was able to relax to some degrees and the decreased cortisol level helped the other hormones to rebound. That's why during stressful time, continue with PE just to maintain, the gains will still be there, but the visual of the gains won't manifest because of cortisol loading dominating the other beneficial hormones meant to gain. if you haven't noticed, your EQ probably took a large hit as well, as much as 30% reduction of quality.