Reliability of salivary cortisol and testosterone to a high-intensity cycling protocol to highlight overtraining

Hough, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6970-5779, Leal, D, Scott, G, Taylor, L, Townsend, D and Gleeson, M, 2021. Reliability of salivary cortisol and testosterone to a high-intensity cycling protocol to highlight overtraining. Journal of Sports Sciences, pp. 1-7. ISSN 0264-0414

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Abstract

Athletes physically overload to improve performance. Unbalanced stress/recovery may induce overtraining, which is difficult to diagnosis as no diagnostic marker exists. Hormonal responses to a 55/80 cycle (30-min of alternating blocks of 1-min at 55% and 4-min at 80% maximum work rate) may highlight early-stage overtraining (overreaching), as blunted cortisol and testosterone responses to 55/80 follows intensified training. However, the reliability of hormonal responses to 55/80 when not overreached is unknown. Therefore, reported blunted hormonal responses could be due to inconsistent cortisol and testosterone responses to 55/80. Participants (n = 23) completed three 55/80 bouts, >7 days apart, with no exercise 24 h pre-trials. Pre-exercise urine osmolality and stress questionnaire responses were measured. Pre, post, and 30-min post-exercise saliva samples were collected for cortisol and testosterone assessment. Salivary cortisol and testosterone responses, osmolality and well-being were not different between trials. Salivary cortisol and testosterone elevated from pre- to post-exercise [by 4.2 nmol.L−1 (cortisol) and 307 pmol.L−1 (testosterone)], and 30 min post-exercise [by 160 pmol.L−1 (testosterone) only]. Intraclass correlation coefficients for pre to peak post-exercise cortisol (0.89; good) and testosterone (0.53; moderate) were calculated. This demonstrates that 55/80 induces reliable elevations of salivary cortisol and testosterone when in a healthy state.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Sports Sciences
Creators:	Hough, J., Leal, D., Scott, G., Taylor, L., Townsend, D. and Gleeson, M.
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Date:	27 April 2021
ISSN:	0264-0414
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/02640414.2021.1918362 DOI 1435862 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	04 May 2021 10:50
Last Modified:	27 Apr 2022 03:00
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/42802

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