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Two American collegiate football linemen completed physical activity surveys, anthropometric assessments, dietary recalls, and blood draws across a 20-month period during which Player A continued training professionally in football while Player B transitioned out of the sport after his final collegiate season. Few changes were observed for Player A, whereas notable changes in physical activity, body mass, and endocrine factors associated with metabolic regulation were noted in Player B. Considerable alterations in physical activity and biomarkers occurred in the immediate transition out of competitive football, suggesting the possibility of long-term health consequences in the absence of future positive lifestyle behavioral changes. Alternatively, the adoption or maintenance of health behaviors could reverse risks. With a greater emphasis on lifespan wellness, this level 2 exploratory case series illustrates a key opportunity for athletic trainers to monitor athletes' cardiometabolic risks over an extended period and implement transitional care strategies to promote postcompetitive health., (© by the National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc.)

Purpose: Cortisol (C) and testosterone (T) are impacted significantly by prolonged endurance exercise with inverse responses. Increases in C are witnessed concurrently with decrements in T, possibly impacting recovery. This study was conducted to assess the dynamics of C and free T (fT) concentration and recovery time following an exhaustive endurance exercise session (EES)., Methods: 12 endurance-trained males (X ± SD: VO2max 66.3±4.8 ml/kg/min, age 22.8 ± 3.1 years, body fat 11.0 ± 1.4 %, training 7.1 ± 3.2 years) completed a treadmill EES at ventilatory threshold (74.7 ± 4.6 % of VO2max; 96.9 ± 10.8 min). Basal blood C and fT were collected at baseline: -48, -24 h, and immediately before (0 h) the EES as well as immediately (+0 h), +24 h, +48 h, and +72 h after the EES. Blood glucose (G) was measured to confirm no undue influence on C. Statistically data were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA (LSD post hoc)., Results: C (nmol/L) increased significantly from -48 h (321 ± 59) to +0 h (701 ± 178) (p < 0.001), and displayed a baseline overshoot with +24 h (209 ± 67) being significantly lower than -48 and +0 h (p < 0.03). fT (pmol/L) decreased significantly from -48 h (161 ± 40) to +0 h (106 ± 38) (p < 0.01) and remained lower at +24 h (110 ± 33) and +48 h (129 ± 30) (p < 0.001). G remained stable throughout. A moderately negative correlation (r = -0.636, p < 0.026) was found between C and fT at +0 h., Conclusions: EES recovery may require 48 h for C and 72 h for fT to return to baseline values. Furthermore, C and fT were only correlated immediately post-exercise. Future research should perform more frequent measurements throughout time course.

Coppus, TA, Anderson, T, Hurley, E, Gill, DL, and Brown, PK. The practical utility of objective training load indices in Division I college soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 36(4): 1026-1030, 2022-The aim of this study was to investigate the association of subjective session rating of perceived exertion with objective training load measures and explored data reduction approaches for 26 commonly measured objective load metrics. One National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I male soccer team (N = 28) provided 26 objective measures via a global positioning system and heart rate monitor system and self-report rating of perceived exertion measures for all team activities through the 12-week 2019 fall championship season. The singular associations between session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) and objective load metrics were assessed via repeated-measures correlation and collectively assessed via elastic net regression. Principal components analysis was then used to reduce the dimensionality of objective load variables. Level of significance for the study was [alpha] <= 0.05. The training load variable had the highest correlation with sRPE (r = 0.85) among the 26 metrics. Twenty variables were retained in the elastic-net regression and demonstrated an R 2 of 0.76. The principal components analysis demonstrated a 4-component solution. The components were qualitatively described as "moderate- or high-intensity external load," "low-intensity load," "high-intensity internal load," and "average internal load" and accounted for 46, 32, 16, and 6% of the variance, respectively. The sRPE metric had strong correlations with multiple objective measures, demonstrating its utility for practitioners monitoring training load in collegiate soccer with limited resources. Furthermore, the consolidation of 26 metrics into 4 components while retaining data variability allows coaches to focus on a small number of metrics and employ a data-driven approach to training. /p> [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cortisol awakening response (CAR) describes the increase in cortisol within the first 30–60 min after waking from nocturnal sleep, and is a common biomarker used within psychoneuroendocrinology, but the effect of sleep on the CAR is currently unclear. A previous study suggested that reported discrepancies may be due to other lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity; given the role of the CAR in energy regulation and preparation for the day, it is theoretically plausible that activity level would influence the CAR. However, no study has yet utilized objective monitoring of day-to-day sleep and physical activity to investigate potential effects on the CAR. This study aimed to test the hypotheses that either sleep duration or sleep quality would interact with the prior 24 h′ physical activity to predict the CAR on the following morning. Salivary samples were collected from 85 young adults (mean = 19.1 years, SD = 1.89) immediately after waking from nocturnal sleep and again 30 min after waking; two complete and consecutive days were used. Participants wore accelerometers (ActiGraph, wGT3X-BT) throughout this phase of a larger study, which provided objective measures of sleep duration, number of awakenings, and amount of physical activity. Mixed-effects models with post-hoc regions of significance decompositions tested the hypothesized interaction effects. Results demonstrated a significant interaction between prior day sleep duration and physical activity predicting the next day CAR, wherein short sleep duration and high levels of physical activity resulted in an augmented CAR. Although more sleep clearly predicted a smaller next day CAR in main effect, this study provides additional support that sleep duration effects are also moderated by prior day physical activity. Both behavioral factors should be considered when assessing the CAR and the association between the CAR other psychoneuroendocrine outcomes. • The interaction of objectively measured previous day sleep duration and physical activity predicts the CAR. • The interaction of physical activity and sleep quality, as assessed by the number of awakenings, does not predict the CAR. • Short sleep durations coupled with high levels of physical activity was related to an augmented CAR. • Future investigations of the CAR should consider the effect of physical activity when investigating sleep parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]