Mohammad Ali Azarbayjani, Mahdiye Nasiri Avanaki and Maghsoud Peeri
The effect of movement pattern and intensity of physical activity on hormonal responses have been studied; but, the pure effect of each one while precisely controlling intensity and duration of physical activity on changes of testosterone to cortisol ratio has not been defined yet. Thus, 9 young active men participated in 6 physical activity sessions including 25 min of sub maximal activity with two intensities of 70 and 85% MHR and three different movement patterns (elliptical, cycle ergometer and treadmill). Their blood samples were collected before and immediately after every physical activity session. Testosterone concentration significantly increased after most of the physical activity sessions; this increase was different in different sessions (F5,40=7.827, P=0.0001). Serum cortisol concentration decreased after most of the sessions and these variations were different in the six sessions (F5,40=2.905, P=0.025). The ratio of testosterone to cortisol increased in most of the exercise sessions and a significant change was observed for the ratio of testosterone to cortisol in the six sessions (F5,40=4.206, P=0.004). Although blood concentration increased in most of the activity sessions, no significant difference was reported for the amounts of blood concentration in the six sessions. In spite of the increase in blood concentration which was an important factor for the emergence of hormonal changes, the findings of this study proposed that sub maximal activity in the range of 70 to 85% MHR does not produce physiological pressure in young active men since, in this study, short term and moderate intensity exercising increased testosterone secretion and activated catabolic pathways in young active men. Although, the results of this study was influenced by the increase of blood concentration similar to some of the previous studies, treadmill exercise led to increased testosterone concentration, decreased cortisol concentration and consequently increased testosterone to cortisol ratio due to the weight tolerance characteristic and exercising on the elliptical that requires utilizing both upper and lower organs. This indicates that, while exercising at sub maximal pressure, weight tolerance and volume of the muscles involved in the activity are the main factors in response to steroid hormones.
