Can testosterone rise 17% after 30 years without training?
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Can exercise raise testosterone later in life?
In one small Scottish study, 22 men around 62 who had done no organised exercise for more than 30 years trained for 12 weeks: 6 weeks of moderate exercise at 150 minutes a week, then 9 short sprint sessions on a bike.
Total testosterone went from 13.2 to 14.6 to 15.4 nmol/L, about 17% higher, and most of the rise came in the moderate weeks.
Sources
Hayes LD, Herbert P, Sculthorpe NF, Grace FM. Exercise training improves free testosterone in lifelong sedentary aging men. Endocr Connect 2017;6(5):306-310. doi:10.1530/EC-17-0082
What the study says
- “we investigated whether total testosterone (TT), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), free testosterone (free-T) and cortisol (all in serum) were altered following HIIT in a cohort of 22 lifelong sedentary (62 ± 2 years) older men.”
- “TT was significantly increased following HIIT (~17%; P < 0.001) with most increase occurring during preconditioning (~10%; P = 0.007).”
- “Twenty-two sedentary, but otherwise healthy, males (62 ± 2 years, with a stature of 175 ± 6 cm, and body mass of 91 ± 16 kg) participated. Subjects did not participate in any organized exercise program and had not done for >30 years”
- “sessions were performed every five days, for six weeks (nine sessions in total). Each session consisted of 6 × 30 s sprints at 40% peak power output (PPO) interspersed with 3 min active recovery on a cycle ergometer”
- “TT increased from A to B (13.2 ± 5.5–14.6 ± 6.1 nmol/L, respectively (P = 0.007, Cohen's d = 0.24)) and remained elevated at C compared to A (15.4 ± 6.6 nmol/L at phase C (P < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.36)).”
Where it falls short
One small study with no control group, and body fat fell too, so it can't say exercise alone did it.
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