Working out and Testosterone

March 28, 2005 9:19 PM

Does working out increase you testosterone level?
posted by drezdn to health (8 comments total)

Depends on the kind of working out you do. Intense aerobic exercise has been shown to reduce the amount of testosterone in an athlete at rest.

Though inconclusive, research seems to suggest non-aerobic exercise (e.g. weight-lifting, sprint-training, ball sports) is the way to go.
posted by pmbuko at 9:56 PM on March 28, 2005

From Alice:
Dear Working Out,

Research has shown that in males, endurance training (running) actually depresses testosterone levels. However, in elite male athletes, who have been involved in resistance training (weight lifting) for over two years, researchers found an increase in serum testosterone. It is speculated that this increase is related to the creation of more optimal conditions for facilitating muscular adaptations in response to overload.

If you have a specific question related to your training, you might want to see an endocrinologist or a sports nutritionist.

Alice
posted by jikel_morten at 9:56 PM on March 28, 2005

However, in elite male athletes, who have been involved in resistance training (weight lifting) for over two years, researchers found an increase in serum testosterone.

Does anyone have a link to the study mentioned by Alice? I'm curious as to whether this result could be due to rampant steroid use amongst 'elite male athletes, who have been involved in resistance training'.
posted by muddgirl at 11:12 PM on March 28, 2005

ZMA (zinc magnesium asparate) in combination with a strength work out routine has been shown to raise testosterone levels significantly. Often those who work out often need extra zinc and magnesium, and aparantly this combination with b6 in a certain ratio helps facilitate testosterone...im not an expert at this, but yeah, i think it does.
posted by Kifer85 at 11:19 PM on March 28, 2005

However (seriously!) dominating others will raise it (and acting subordinate will lower it). So if your work-out consisted of, say, a sport, your testosterone might vary according to whether or not you won a game.
posted by orthogonality at 12:35 AM on March 29, 2005

Interesting Ortho. Got a link for that?
posted by lunkfish at 1:47 AM on March 29, 2005

Shamelessly stolen from here:

3) Testosterone, Dominance and Crime

The hormone testosterone may also be part of the mechanism to regulate dominance-seeking, since it too rises and falls depending on the outcome of dominance contests, in humans and other species (Mazur and Booth, 1998). As with serotonin, some individuals have higher basal testosterone levels than others do, for genetic reasons (Meikle, Bishop, Stringham and West, 1986). In the teenage years, those with high testosterone tend to rate themselves as dominant, outgoing, ambitious and enterprising on the Adjective Checklist more often than others (Udry and Talbert, 1988) and to be perceived by unfamiliar peers as socially dominant (Schaal, Tremblay, Soussignan and Susman, 1996). Perhaps the practice of castrating male domesticated animals arose as a means of ensuring that the testosterone advantage, and victory in dominance contests, went to their human owners.

And you might try watching some porn (I've heard rumors it's possible to find porn on teh internets):

At Emory University's Regional Primate Centre, watching other monkeys have sex was found to boost male monkeys' testosterone levels by some 400%. Rose et al found that more dominant adult male rhesus monkeys had higher levels of free testosterone, which fluctuated if levels of dominance or social rank changed.

But not in our close relative Pan panicus.

More from the second link

Dabbs' team took saliva samples of male fans before and after a televised World Cup soccer match. Mean testosterone levels increased in the fans of winning teams and decreased in fans of losing teams. The conclusion was that testosterone levels rise and fall with experiences of success and failure in social encounters. Other contests analysed included fights, tennis tournaments or chess matches.

. . . .

Take testosterone in the workplace. Dabbs' team examined the salivary testosterone in seven vocation groups of men, as well as an unemployed group. They found that actors and footy players had higher levels than religious ministers. Dabbs related testosterone to dominance and antisocial tendencies, which in turn, he suggests, effect vocational preferences in subtle ways. Other studies reveal traditional 'white collar' workers possess lower testosterone than traditional 'blue collar' workers.

posted by orthogonality at 4:33 AM on March 29, 2005

Weight trainning certainly increased my libido! Who gives a shit about testosterone when you've got plenty of libido?
posted by Goofyy at 3:13 AM on March 30, 2005