title: Salivary testosterone responses to a physical and psychological stimulus and subsequent effects on physical performance in healthy adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To address the rapid influence of testosterone (T) on neuromuscular performance, we compared the T and physical performance responses of adults exposed to a physical and psychological stimulus.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group of healthy men (n=12) and women (n=14) each completed three treatments using a randomised, crossover design: exercise involving five × ten-second cycle sprints, viewing a video clip with aggressive content and a control session. Salivary T concentrations, hand-grip strength (HGS) and countermovement jump peak power (CMJ PP) were assessed before and 15 minutes after each session.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The relative changes in T (17±29%) and CMJ PP (-0.1±4.4%) following sprint exercise were superior to the aggressive video (-6.3±19%, -2.2±5.9%) and control (-4.8±23%, -2.8±4.4%) treatments, respectively (p ≤0.05). Pre-treatment T levels correlated (r= -0.58 to -0.61, p <0.05) with the T responses of men (sprint exercise) and women (sprint exercise, aggressive video), but no variables were significantly correlated with the relative changes in HGS or CMJ PP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sprint exercise promoted a general rise in T and maintained CMJ PP, relative to the video and control treatments. In both sexes, those individuals with higher pre-test T levels tended to produce smaller T responses to one or more treatments. These data highlight the importance of stimulus selection and individual predispositions when attempting to acutely modify T and associated physical performance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sport - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland. blair.crewther@gmail.com.|Hamlyn Centre, Imperial College, London, UK. blair.crewther@gmail.com.|School of Sport Health and Exercise Science, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales. blair.crewther@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Blair T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Crewther
authors.affiliation: Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research centre, School of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Liam P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Kilduff
authors.affiliation: Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research centre, School of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.|University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK.
authors.forename: Charlie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.affiliation: England Team Strength and Conditioning Coach, England and Wales Cricket Board, London, UK.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Hamlyn Centre, Imperial College, London, UK.|School of Sport Health and Exercise Science, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales.|Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research centre, School of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.|Queensland Academy of Sport's Centre of Excellence for Applied Sport Science Research, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Christian J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Cook
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D013739:Testosterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone