Lactate, cortisol and testosterone values from high-speed resistive exercise workouts done by women

BACKGROUND: Few studies examined lactate, testosterone and cortisol changes from supramaximal exercise done by women. OBJECTIVE: Assess the impact of repetition type and exercise history/background on lactate, cortisol and testosterone changes from high-speed workouts done by women. METHODS: College-age women (11 competitive athletes, 18 novice athletes) performed two high-speed workouts on an Impulse resistive exercise machine. Each workout entailed two 60-second sets of either tonic or phasic repetitions. There were two hormonal (pre- and post-exercise) measurements per workout. Lactate was measured six times (pre-, and at zero-, five-, ten, 15- and 20-minutes post-exercise). RESULTS: Mean force showed a main effect for workout (tonic > phasic). Lactate had a time main effect, as zero-, five-and ten-minutes post-exercise results were significantly higher than 15- and 20-minutes post-exercise values as well as pre-exercise data. Cortisol had a group main effect (competitive > novice). Testosterone results included a time effect trend (p = 0.12) for higher post-exercise values. CONCLUSIONS: Results warrant continued inquiry regarding 1): pre-and post-workout salivary hormonal assays, and 2): acute testosterone changes from high-speed supramaximal exercise done by female athletes.