King Grub
2012-04-26, 12:02
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 two novel strongman training (ST) protocols in comparison to an established hypertrophic (H) protocol reported to acutely elevate testosterone levels. Sixteen males (24 ± 4.4 yr, 181.2 ± 6.8 cm, and 95.3 ± 20.3 kg) volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects completed three 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 X 10 repetitions at 75% 1RM) 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, atlas stone lift) with a 2 minute rest interval between sets and 3 minute rest interval between exercises. Saliva samples were collected preexercise (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) for the H group, 74% (132.04 ± 98.09 pg·ml) 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.
J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Apr 19. EFECTS OF STRONGMAN TRAINING ON SALIVARY TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN A SAMPLE OF TRAINED MALES.
J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Apr 19. EFECTS OF STRONGMAN TRAINING ON SALIVARY TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN A SAMPLE OF TRAINED MALES.