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Reproductive hormone responses to resistance exercise
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|June 1, 1987
Summary
Resistance exercise in women significantly increases testosterone, cortisol, and lactic acid levels. These hormonal and metabolic changes during intense workouts suggest complex origins, involving hemoconcentration and both gonadal and adrenal responses.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Exercise Physiology
- Sports Medicine
Background:
- Understanding hormonal responses to exercise is crucial for optimizing training and health.
- Previous research has primarily focused on aerobic exercise, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding resistance training effects on female hormones.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare testosterone level changes during isokinetic resistance exercise with those during intense aerobic exercise in women.
- To investigate concurrent changes in sex hormone binding globulin, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, cortisol, and lactate during resistance exercise.
Main Methods:
- Seven healthy menstruating women underwent isokinetic resistance training sessions.
- Blood samples were collected before, during, and after exercise to measure various hormones and hemoconcentration markers.
Main Results:
- Testosterone and non-sex hormone binding globulin-bound testosterone levels increased before and during exercise.
- Cortisol, lactic acid, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone also showed significant increases.
- The rise in testosterone exceeded hemoconcentration, indicating a physiological response beyond fluid shifts.
Conclusions:
- Isokinetic resistance exercise induces significant increases in testosterone, cortisol, and lactate in women.
- The complex origins of exercise-induced testosterone increments involve hemoconcentration, gonadal, and adrenal factors.
- This study highlights distinct hormonal profiles associated with resistance training in women.