A 7-week follow-up study of the behaviour of testosterone and cortisol during the competition period in rowers

Abstract

Nine rowers (six men of the regional and three women of the national top class) participated in the study. During 7 consecutive weeks of the competition period serum testosterone (T), SHBG, cortisol (C) and urea were determined at the same time every morning under fasting conditions. From the concentrations of T and SHBG the free testosterone fraction (T/SHBG) was calculated, and from the concentrations of T and C the ratio of T/C was derived. The object of the investigation was to gather information on a potentially altered anabolic-catabolic hormone relationship dependent upon the intensity of the individual training periods. All rowers showed a continuous decrease in T, T/SHBG and T/C during the observation period. A week of regenerative training halted the decrease. In two of the oarsmen who discontinued their training after 2 and 3 weeks respectively, T, T/SHBG and T/C showed a normalization in the following weeks. In all subjects the concentrations of urea increased during the first 2 weeks and decreased during the subsequent weeks of intense training and competition. The findings suggest an increase in catabolic activity in periods of intensive physical strain, including competitions. Regenerative phases of training seem to reduce the anabolic-catabolic imbalance.

Serum Sex Hormone–Binding Globulin and Cortisol Concentrations are Associated With Overreaching During Strenuous Military Training

“…Furthermore, basal serum cortisol decreased with a concomitant increase in the number of subjects who felt overloaded. Previously, serum total testosterone concentration has been shown to decrease in response to demanding training periods (6,37), as well as during extremely stressful military training periods (25,26), and to increase with overload training (36). In contrast to the present study, basal SHBG has been found to increase (19,23) and IGF-1 to decrease (23-26) after heavy training.…”

“…In addition, IGF-1 is sensitive to both energy intake and dietary protein content, and demonstrates significant decreases with inadequate dietary intake (23,24). Furthermore, a 7 week intensive endurance overload training program (36) and combined endurance and strength overload training for 6 weeks (5) have been found to decrease testosterone/cortisol ratios. Even the biochemical changes of testosterone and testosterone/cortisol ratio are controversial compared to previous findings, a stagnation of increase in VO 2 max in this study indicates that the training load during the second half of the 8-week training period may have been too exhaustive.…”

“…Although there are no specific markers of impending OTS, testosterone (an anabolic hormone) and cortisol (a catabolic hormone) have often been used to represent the overall anabolic and catabolic activities in the body (2,36). In addition, serum testosterone and cortisol concentrations have been identified as reliable markers of military training stress (27), and the testosterone/cortisol ratio has been used to represent the balance between anabolic and catabolic activity (2).…”

Changes in cell free DNA during a college soccer season

“…[26][27][28] It has also been suggested that T:C is an indicator of anabolic-catabolic balance. 29,30 Despite testosterone, cortisol, and T:C being several of the most common biochemical markers used in training studies in an attempt to monitor an athlete's response to training stimuli, the literature offers mixed conclusions about whether these are viable markers of an athlete's training status. For instance, testosterone, cortisol and T:C ratio in endurance athletes have not shown to respond consistently to increased or decreased training load or when overreached and overtrained.…”

Response of selected hormonal markers during training cycles on indian female swimmers

“…T/C ratio [3,7,29]. T/C ratio has been suggested as a potential marker for insufficient recovery and overtraining syndrome in athletes as it was decreased after intensive endurance exercise [19] and chronic high volumes of endurance training [28,29]. Our research has shown that the level of T/C ratio decreases significantly from preparatory phase to the competitive phase in the female swimmers.…”