Six weeks of conditioning exercise increases total, but not free testosterone in lifelong sedentary aging men

Hayes, Lawrence ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6654-0072 , Sculthorpe, Nicholas, Herbert, Peter, Baker, Julien S., Spagna, Roberto and Grace, Fergal M. (2015) Six weeks of conditioning exercise increases total, but not free testosterone in lifelong sedentary aging men. Aging Male, 18 (3). pp. 195-200.

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Abstract

Introduction: Advancing age is associated with a gradual decline in circulating androgens, and the putative role of exercise training on systemic androgens remains to be adequately defined.

Methods: The present investigation examined the impact of 6 weeks of supervised exercise training on resting levels of systemic hormones in a cohort of lifelong sedentary men [SED (n = 28), 62.5 ± 5.3 years], compared with a positive control group of age-matched lifelong exercisers [LE (n = 20), 60.4 ± 4.7 years, >30 years training history]. Blood hormones were sampled pre- and post-intervention from an antecubital forearm vein and analysed using electrochemiluminescent immunoassay. Cardiorespiratory fitness () was determined via indirect calorimetry during an incremental cycle test to volitional exhaustion.

Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a lack of significant change in any parameter amongst LE, whilst SED experienced a significant exercise-induced improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness and total testosterone (all p < 0.05). Concurrent increases in sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG; p < 0.05) resulted in a lack of change to either bioavailable or calculated free testosterone (p > 0.05) amongst SED.

Conclusions: Although resting levels of systemic total testosterone increased in response to 6 weeks of exercise training, increases in SHBG negated any potential relationship between calculated-free or bioavailable testosterone. These findings indicate that increases in bioavailable testosterone fraction are not required for cardiorespiratory fitness improvements in aging men.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Aging Male
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis for International Society for the Study of the Aging Male
ISSN:	1473-0790
Departments:	Academic Departments > Medical & Sport Sciences (MSS) > Sports and Physical Activity
Depositing User:	Lawrence Hayes
Date Deposited:	14 Mar 2016 16:51
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 14:15
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1832

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