Resistance training
sessions / week
Progressive strength work. Moves body composition; T responses are acute and small at rest.
Training raises acute T and GH, improves insulin sensitivity, and changes how others read your body. Chronic basal T elevation in eugonadal adults is not a reliable training effect. The social signal may matter more than the ng/dL.
Also called strength training, weights.
Connected relationships
Randomized trial · Moderate
Resistance training→Depression
Higher Resistance training decreases Depression.
Eight weeks of twice-weekly supervised resistance training lowered QIDS scores versus wait-list in 55 young adults. Depression was a secondary read of two anxiety-primary randomized trials.
Randomized trial · Moderate
Resistance training→Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)
Higher Resistance training decreases Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).
Waters 2022 randomized 160 older adults with obesity and found that resistance training during matched diet-induced weight loss of about 9 to 10 percent raised the OGTT insulin sensitivity index 39 percent; combination training raised it 86 percent.
Observational · Low
Resistance training→Testosterone
Higher Resistance training moves Testosterone in a non-linear way. Dose or timing can flip the sign.
Ahtiainen 2016: twelve months of resistance training left testosterone production and clearance unchanged in five men near 28 and eight men near 70; a 5×10RM session could raise serum T by slowing clearance.
Sources
- D O'Sullivan et al. (2023). Effects of resistance exercise training on depressive symptoms among young adults: A randomized controlled trial.
- DL Waters et al. (2022). Effect of Aerobic or Resistance Exercise, or Both, on Intermuscular and Visceral Fat and Physical and Metabolic Function in Older Adults With Obesity While Dieting.
- SS Ho et al. (2013). The effect of 12 weeks of aerobic, resistance or combination exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors in the overweight and obese in a randomized trial.
- R. Leproult et al. (2011). Effect of 1 week of sleep restriction on testosterone levels in young healthy men
- JP Ahtiainen et al. (2016). Effects of resistance training on testosterone metabolism in younger and older men.