Effects of Strongman Training on Salivary Testosterone Levels in a Sample of Trained Men

Abstract

Strongman exercises consist of multi-joint movements that incorporate large muscle mass groups and impose a substantial amount of neuromuscular stress. The purpose of this study was to examine salivary testosterone responses from 2 novel strongman training (ST) protocols in comparison with an established hypertrophic (H) protocol reported to acutely elevate testosterone levels. Sixteen men (24 ± 4.4 years, 181.2 ± 6.8 cm, and 95.3 ± 20.3 kg) volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects completed 3 protocols designed to ensure equal total volume (sets and repetitions), rest period, and intensity between the groups. Exercise sets were performed to failure. Exercise selection and intensity (3 sets × 10 repetitions at 75% 1 repetition maximum) were chosen as they reflected commonly prescribed resistance exercise protocols recognized to elicit a large acute hormonal response. In each of the protocols, subjects were required to perform 3 sets to muscle failure of 5 different exercises (tire flip, chain drag, farmers walk, keg carry, and atlas stone lift) with a 2-minute rest interval between sets and a 3-minute rest interval between exercises. Saliva samples were collected pre-exercise (PRE), immediate postexercise (PST), and 30 minutes postexercise (30PST). Delta scores indicated a significant difference between PRE and PST testosterone level within each group (p ≤ 0.05), with no significant difference between the groups. Testosterone levels spiked 136% (225.23 ± 148.01 pg·ml(-1)) for the H group, 74% (132.04 ± 98.09 pg·ml(-1)) for the ST group, and 54% (122.10 ± 140.67 pg·ml) for the mixed strongman/hypertrophy (XST) group. A significant difference for testosterone level occurred over time (PST to 30PST) for the H group p ≤ 0.05. In conclusion, ST elicits an acute endocrine response similar to a recognized H protocol when equated for duration and exercise intensity.

Acute Physiological Responses to Strongman Training Compared to Traditional Strength Training

“…RST has also been reported to induce large hormonal elevations with acute increases in testosterone (12,29,34) and cortisol (5,14,8). The reader is referred to a recent review on the physiology of strongman training in which direct comparsion between acute responses to strongman training sessions and traditional strength training sessions are elaborated (42).…”

“…While research by Ghigiarelli et al (12) has examined the testosterone response to an entire ST session and compared it with that of hypertrophy training, no research has collectively examined the metabolic and hormonal effects of ST and compared it directly to RST. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine the acute metabolic and hormonal response to ST and compare it with RST in regards to overall session profile.…”

“…Research investigating hormone levels and strongman training (ST) has shown an increase in acute hormonal levels of testosterone following a ST session training (12,36). Likewise cortisol increases acutely after ST before falling below baseline levels at around three hours post ST (36).…”

Untitled

“…These authors reported recovery of spiked material for testosterone and cortisol was 80-94 % and 83-100 % respectively. Moreover, substantial differences existed between laboratories, as a result of traceability, clean-up procedures, or issues with calibration Crewther and colleagues [37] reported power trained males had mean basal sal-T concentrations of 107 pg · ml − 1 (371 pmol · L − 1 ) whereas Ghigiarelli et al [57] reported basal levels of as high as 180 pg · ml − 1 (624 pmol · L − 1 ). In a multicentre study [40], mean sal-T concentrations from the same 100 males ranged from 240 ± 95 to 410 ± 191 pmol · L − 1 (69-118 pg · ml − 1 ) suggesting considerable heterogeneity between laboratories.…”

Analysis of the effects of resistance training on circadan rhythm of endocrine hormones

“…However, the results of this study again indicated that resistance training only acutely affects cortisol, with no long-term circadian rhythm alterations. Similarly, J. Ghigiarelli et al [5] examined the effect of multi-joint, large muscle group, heavy resistance training on athletes' testosterone concentrations. Again, this study demonstrated increased testosterone concentration immediately following resistance training, without long-term alterations.…”