Wonder if any studies back ups/not
T constant elevation as a result of strength training

Wonder if any studies back ups/not
T constant elevation as a result of strength training

What u mean by constant elevation?Have you read this: http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/can_workouts_designed_to_increase_testosterone_increase_muscle_mass_strengt/

anoopbal - 11 March 2010 01:27 PM

Wonder if any studies back ups/not
T constant elevation as a result of strength training

What u mean by constant elevation?Have you read this: http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/can_workouts_designed_to_increase_testosterone_increase_muscle_mass_strengt/

O cause. I have my comments on this article.
By constant elevation I mean that strength training might enlarge the normal testosterone level.
I mean suppose I have some X level of testosterone before staring strength training.
After half year of training I measure again my T level.
Any chance that my T level increased as a result of training?

I don’t think so. The resting levels aren’t changed since T levels falls back to resting levels after 45-60 minutes.

anoopbal - 12 March 2010 01:21 AM

I don’t think so. The resting levels aren’t changed since T levels falls back to resting levels after 45-60 minutes.

That’s what I always know.
Just make sure.
Thanks, Anoop.

This is one of the top researchers - Indrani Sinha-Hikim, Ph.D who studies testosterone effects - had to say:

“I am positive that your experimental conditions will induce muscle growth. Here two things will happen 1) sustained testosterone spike every day and 2) exercise-induced muscle regeneration .

25-45% T increase for 30-60 min post workouts is huge. Both “T” and resistance exercise will stimulate AKT pathway and probably the muscle will have enlarged fast fibers mostly, though you will definitely see some area increase in slow fibers also.”

testosterone stimulates the AKT pathway? I thought testosterone worked on protein synthesis mainly through increased transcription, not translation..?

Also, something on increasing resting levels of test with training.
According to one of my books: “Physiological Aspects of Sport Training and Performance” written by Jay Hoffman in 2002
weightlifting for 6 weeks as well as for 1 year did not show elevated resting test levels, however, 2 years did.

Here’s the study he refers to: http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/6/2406

Also, something on increasing resting levels of test with training.
According to one of my books: “Physiological Aspects of Sport Training and Performance” written by Jay Hoffman in 2002
weightlifting for 6 weeks as well as for 1 year did not show elevated resting test levels, however, 2 years did.

Here’s the study he refers to: http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/6/2406

I had the full text paper somewhere but can’t find it now.

There are a few others which shows a change in basal levels especially when the intensity and volume is changed dramatically. There is one study which even reported a reduction in resting concentrations. But these values return to normal when they train normally. This is true for most systemic hormones.

I guess it makes sense considering that there is down regulation of receptors with prolonged increased in test and a acute increases might benefit more than sustained high levels.

And welcome to Exercise Biology, Karky.

With decreased test levels it could be due to “overtraining” I put it in “” since it’s a very loosely defined term.. but still.

Acute increases in test from training hasn’t been shown to influence hypertrophy, though. The study saw a pretty big correlation r=0.84 between test/SHBG ratio and increases in concentric power.

Also, if you give a GnRH analog to suppress testosterone levels it will decrease the strength gains seen(http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/291/6/E1325). Though this would probably reduce both resting testosterone and the exercise induced elevations, but exercise induced elevations have been shown not to be that important.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910330
this looked at signaling in high hormone vs low hormone: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19736298

Also, I’ve read that androgen receptors are actually up-regulated by resistance exercise. Though, this was not seen in a study where they measured resting testosterone levels. But even if testosterone levels would decrease the receptors, the training adaptation in them might attenuate that.

Also, this one says that high testosterone potentates the androgen receptor response to training:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19429451
That is a short term study, and high levels of testosterone for longer periods of time might lead to a suppression in the receptors. I haven’t found any long term studies in humans, but exogenously elevated testosterone concentrations in rats for 4 weeks still potentiated the AR response to exercise:
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/94/3/1153

Note on acute hormone elevations and adaptations: this one (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11782267) has found that high hormone helped, but the high hormone group started out with lower strength, which could have influenced the results.

I think that most evidence points towards that elevated resting testosterone would increase muscle hypertrophy. I don’t know about the acute exercise induced elevations, though, but it might.

Hope I’m not annoying you with all the discussion, but this is the only forum I’ve found in a while that actually talks about some pretty technical stuff.

I think that most evidence points towards that elevated resting testosterone would increase muscle hypertrophy. I don’t know about the acute exercise induced elevations, though, but it might.

Yes and that’s what happens when you take steroids.

The 2010 study you posted from Phillips lab is the final nail in the coffin for the exercise induced increase in systemic hormones and muscle growth theory.

Did you get chance to read this: http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/can_workouts_designed_to_increase_testosterone_increase_muscle_mass_strengt/

Hope I’m not annoying you with all the discussion, but this is the only forum I’ve found in a while that actually talks about some pretty technical stuff.

I will be annoyed if you didn’t. (:- just keep in mind that we shouldn’t forget the practical application part and not get lost in the details.

The question if there is no benefit of acute systemic hormone increases, why do people think multi-joint exercises are better than single joint?

The question if there is no benefit of acute systemic hormone increases, why do people think multi-joint exercises are better than single joint?

that’s an interesting question. What do you think? I’ve never seen any studies directly comparing for example bench press with chest flyes on pectoral hypertrophy. I’m gonna have to pubmed that one. My pecs don’t know if I’m bench pressing or doing flyes.. they can only sense the different mechanical and chemical things that happen to them because of the contractions. So there pretty much has to be a difference there between compound and isolation movements for one to be better than the other. If they are both equally good, though, I’d still use a lot of compounds since it takes less time to work all muscles that way.

Karky - 11 April 2010 03:50 PM

The question if there is no benefit of acute systemic hormone increases, why do people think multi-joint exercises are better than single joint?

that’s an interesting question. What do you think? I’ve never seen any studies directly comparing for example bench press with chest flyes on pectoral hypertrophy. I’m gonna have to pubmed that one. My pecs don’t know if I’m bench pressing or doing flyes.. they can only sense the different mechanical and chemical things that happen to them because of the contractions.

Has been discussed before:
http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/13/
and
I think from ONE muscle point of view there will be no pros only cons to compounding vs. isolation.
From body as whole or several muscle groups compounding is somehow beneficial, since we might supply same load with less exercises(I think)