The Question:
It’s a well known fact that resistance training will impact various hormonal responses in the body including testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol. What is sometimes overlooked however, is how different loading patterns (rep, set, and % of 1RM) can impact this hormonal release and what that means for your training.
The purpose of this study then was to assess three different workout programs and evaluate what effects are seen in the body.
The Set-Up:
A group of recreationally weight-trained males was divided up into three separate training groups.
Group 1 performed a power workout, consisting of 8 sets of 6 reps at 45% 1RM using 3 minute rest periods.
Group 2 performed a hypertrophy program consisting of 10 sets of 10 reps at 75% 1RM using 2 minute rest periods.
Group 3 performed a maximal strength scheme consisting of 6 sets of 4 reps at 88% 1RM using 4 minute rest periods.
Salivary testosterone and cortisol were assessed.
The Results:
The results of the study indicated that testosterone and cortisol both increased following the hypertrophy program (group 2), and little or no hormonal changes occurred in either the power or maximal strength groups.
It is important to note though that the total load volume performed by the hypertrophy group greatly exceeded the other two groups, so this could be partially what accounted for the differences in hormonal release.
Practical Application:
To put these findings into use with your workouts, if your goal is to maximize testosterone release with the objective of being able to build muscle optimally, you would be best included to follow a higher rep/set scheme lifting around the 75% of 1RM range.
If you are on a diet though working towards fat loss, due to the increase in cortisol release by this type of structure, you may want to gear away from such a method of training, as cortisol can also cause a greater muscle tissue breakdown, particularly when on a hypocalorie diet.
In that situation, you’d be smarter to keep total reps lower, but keep the weight at a higher intensity (similar to the maximum strength program), as this will help signal the body to retain the muscle while dieting, without causing quite the cortisol release.
You will not experience as great of a testosterone release from that type of training, but considering the fact that your goal when dieting should not be muscle building anyway, this is of lower importance than minimizing that cortisol release.
Reference:
Cook, C. et al. (2008) The salivary testosterone and cortisol response to three loading schemes. J Strength Cond Res. 22(1):250-5.
Related posts:
- Research Study: Testosterone and Cortisol Responses With Three Different Loading Schemes
- How To Increase Testosterone Levels To Build Muscle Faster
- Research Study: Fat Loading Versus Carb Loading and Performance
- Research Study: The Dairy Intake and Weight Loss Connection
- Research Study: Further Reasons To Not Shun Milk From Your Diet
