The study has a very robust sample of 2000+ competitive athletes who took part the 2011 & 2013 IAAF World championships.
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2017/06/26/bjsports-2017-097792
The observed low T concentration in male throwers is an unexpected result. This trend is observed in all throwing events: mean T concentrations were 14.1 nmol/L, 12.6 nmol/L, 11.2 nmol/L, and 14.5 nmol/L in discus, hammer throw, shot put, and javelin, respectively. All these results are below the T concentration measured in male race walkers and marathon runners which are athletic events where hypoandrogenism is a commonly reported condition. Male throwers not only showed low T but also low SHBG concentrations. These differences are not explained by age or ethnic background in our subgroup of male throwers.
One explanation could be the higher prevalence of doping with exogenous androgens in this subgroup. Indeed, it has been reported that oral administration of androgens decreases both T (a well-known withdrawal phenomenon experienced when the athletes are approaching competitions and associated urinary anti-doping tests) and SHBG concentrations. Recently, Rasmussen et al showed that a significant proportion of former androgen abusers exhibit moderately or notably lowered testosterone levels years after cessation of androgen abuse.
However, our male throwers did not show decreased LH concentrations (a reported consequence of doping with androgens via the negative feedback loop of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis). Although it has not been measured in the present study, throwers are also likely to be athletes with the highest body mass index and fat mass. Hence, the known negative influence of fat mass on SHBG concentration and T bioavailability may possibly account for the low T and SHBG concentrations reported in male throwers in our study.
Can somebody explain that?
Isn't throwing training basically strength training ? Shouldn't we observe the reverse?
Isn't running supposed to be hypoandrogenic ?
I mean, the levels shown is the study for this subgroup would have (not so long ago) be considered as borderline low testosterone, which is weird for relatively young male in peak condition.
It is also unlikely to be an effect of overtraining since athletes taper off their training as thier main competition approaches (and if it was the case, runners would have probably been more affected).
It's seems to confirm the fact that there is a much higher correlation between leanness and testosterone level than, strength and testosterone level.
