D1.S3.4(5) Exercise-induced plasma steroid responses in men: the development of a new tool to highlight overreaching-related hormonal alterations Diogo L. Leal, Dr Lee Taylor and Dr John Hough #BASES2016

Introduction Physical Performance Training & Recovery ADAPTATION Selye (1936) Overtraining Overreaching FOR NFOR OTS Training load by incre intensity and/or volume of training and combine with rec leading to… From the GAS theory, we need to stress the body in order to adpapt. Positive physical adaptation However, we know that athl don’t suff recover and therefor this may lead them to overtrain... There are diff stages of overt... Meeusen 2013 Incidence has been shown to lie between 30 to 70 (check papers) Cortisol and testosterone ratio as an indicator of the body’s catabolic/anabolic status Resting measures have been shown to inc, dec, and not changed in pop who have suffered, therefore…Inconclusive markers of any of these stages of overtraining Meeusen et al. (2013) Hormonal markers Resting cortisol & testosterone Inconclusive

Short-duration, high-intensity cycle bout Introduction Exercise-induced hormonal responses Meeusen et al. (2010) cortisol & testosterone Meeusen 2004 and 2010 proposed exercise-induced hormone responses could be more accurate indicators of OR/OTS, through the use of a double cycle to fatigue protocol. Add info on differ between NFOR/OTS and blunted responses (this needs to be very brief) Following on from these studies, Hough et al. reported exercise-induced elevations in cortisol and testosterone to a 30min, high-intensity cycle bout in healthy male individuals. These responses were also shown to be blunted following an 11- and a 10-day period of intensified training. Despite the interesting findings, both are cycle protocols and the duration of time in Meeusen’s Short-duration, high-intensity cycle bout Hough et al. (2013 & 2015)

Aims The design of two different short-duration, high-intensity running bouts to induce an elevation in plasma cortisol and testosterone; To examine the reproducibility of the hormonal responses to these running bouts.

Maximal heart rate (beats.min-1) Methods Participants 10 active, healthy male individuals Table 1: Participants’ physiological and anthropometric characteristics at baseline. Mean ± s Age (years) 22 ± 2 Height (cm) 177 ± 5 Body mass (kg) 77.7 ± 13.4 Maximal heart rate (beats.min-1) 191 ± 8 VO2max(ml.kg-1.min-1) 53 ± 5 vVO2max(km.h-1) 15.9 ± 2.3

Methods Food diary Not allowed 4h preceding exercise Hydration status HR was measured Hydration status Water ad libitum Heart rate and RPE Kellmann & Kallus (2001)

Methods 4 – 7 days VO2max test 50/70 RPEtreadmill Resting 50/70 50/70   Resting 50/70 50/70 RPEtreadmill RPEtreadmill 1min - 4min 1min - 4min This study was a randomized, crossover study (specifically a repeated measures design). RESTING CTL trial and time of day 50% vVO2max 70% vVO2max 4 – 7 days 11 RPE 15 RPE 30 min 30 min

Methods 11:30 ~13:00 ~12:00 30-min Exercise bout 30-min resting period Blood sample 11:30 RESTQ-76* 30-min Exercise bout ~12:00 ~13:00 30-min resting period *Kellmann & Kallus (2001)

Methods Analytical procedures Statistical analysis Plasma cortisol Plasma testosterone ELISA Statistical analysis Factorial two-way repeated measures ANOVA Post hoc t-test where appropriate Level of significance set at P < 0.05

Results P > 0.05 RESTQ-76 Sport scores Trials In this current study the RESTQ scores reported no significant disparities in general/sport stress or general/sport recovery scores within individuals during the study. This confirms that participants completed the running bouts in a similar state of well-being and predisposition to undertake physical activity. It can be concluded from this that the hormonal responses have not been influenced by a change in well-being in the participants. Figure 1: General and sport-specific stress and recovery scores within individuals across all trials.

Results Mean ± s 50/70 RPEtreadmill Heart Rate (beats.min-1) 155 ± 10* Table 2: Average heart rate, RPE and speed in both running bouts and CTL. Mean ± s 50/70 RPEtreadmill Heart Rate (beats.min-1) 155 ± 10* 168 ± 10 RPE 12 ± 1* 14.2 ± 0 Speed (Km.h-1) 9.6 ± 1.7* 11.2 ± 1.8 * Different from the RPEtreadmill trial (P < 0.05). Again, allow me to emphasize that hydration status was confirmed and therefore, all participants were in a euhydrated state when completing the main experimental trials. Osm has been measured (<700) and this is imp because these hormones have been shown to be influenced by hydration The RPEtre has shown to be more intense (greater physiologcal responses) 10/13

Plasma cortisol (nmol.L-1) Results 50/70 RPEtreadmill Plasma cortisol (nmol.L-1) Post-Exercise 30 min Post-Exercise Pre-Exercise ICC = 0.964 ICC = 0.947 29% 50% Refer back to HR, Speed and RPE slides where RPEtreadmill elicited higher responses! Also mention PEAK POST if greater Figure 2: Plasma cortisol responses to the 50/70 and RPEtreadmill running bouts. Atkinson, Nevill and Edwards (1999)

Plasma testosterone (nmol.L-1) Results 50/70 RPEtreadmill Plasma testosterone (nmol.L-1) ICC = 0.839 ICC = 0.868 39% 42% ** ** Refer back to HR, Speed and RPE slides where RPEtreadmill elicited higher responses! Pre-Exercise Post-Exercise 30 min Post-Exercise Pre-Exercise Post-Exercise 30 min Post-Exercise Figure 3: Plasma testosterone responses to the 50/70 and RPEtreadmill running bouts. * Different from Pre-Exercise (P < 0.05).

Conclusions Reproducible plasma cortisol and testosterone; The RPEtreadmill bout induced greater exercise-induced hormone elevations compared to the 50/70; Suggest both running bouts may be useful tools to highlight OR/OTS: The 50/70 may be easier to complete; 2. …certainly when talking abut the cortisol response However, taking both hormones together, this study suggests that both… HOWEVER, 50/70 is less physiologically stressfull, and RPEtreadmill VO2max Greater horm elev It will be more practically used out in the field Therefore RPEt may be a more appro tool The RPEtreadmill does not require a VO2maxtest.

Thank you for your attention! diogo.leal@beds.ac.uk Diogo_Luis_Leal

References Atkinson, G., and Nevill, A.M. (1998). Statistical Methods For Assessing Measurement Error (Reliability) in Variables Relevant to Sports Medicine. Sports Medicine 26(4), 217-238. Hough, J., Corney, R., Kouris, A., and Gleeson, M. (2013). Salivary cortisol and testosterone responses to high-intensity cycling before and after an 11-day intensified training period. Journal of Sports Sciences 31(14), 1614-1623. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2013.792952. Hough, J., Robertson, C., and Gleeson, M. (2015). Blunting of Exercise-Induced Salivary Testosterone in Elite-Level Triathletes With a 10-Day Training Camp. International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance 10(7). Kellmann, M., and Kallus, K.W. (2001). Recovery-stress questionnaire for athletes: user manual. Human Kinetics. Meeusen, R., Duclos, M., Foster, C., Fry, A., Gleeson, M., Nieman, D., et al. (2013). Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the overtraining syndrome: Joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). European Journal of Sport Science 13(1), 1-24. Meeusen, R., Nederhof, E., Buyse, L., Roelands, B., Schutter, G., and Piacentini, M.F. (2010). Diagnosing overtraining in athletes using the two-bout exercise protocol. British journal of sports medicine 44(9), 642-648. Selye, H. (1936). A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature 138(3479), 32.

Results Plasma cortisol (nmol.L-1) Plasma testosterone (nmol.L-1) Time point 1 Time point 2 Time point 3 * Plasma testosterone (nmol.L-1) Time point 1 Time point 2 Time point 3 Figure 4: Plasma cortisol responses to CTL. * Different from Pre-Exercise (P < 0.05). Figure 5: Plasma testosterone responses to CTL.