The acute hormonal response to free weight and machine weight resistance exercise

Date

2014

Authors

Shaner, Aaron A.
Vingren, Jakob L.
Hatfield, Disa L.
Budnar, Ronald G., Jr.
Duplanty, Anthony A.
Hill, David W.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Wolters-Kluwer

Abstract

Resistance exercise can acutely increase the concentrations of circulating neuroendocrine factors, but the effect of mode on this response is not established. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of resistance exercise selection on the acute hormonal response using similar lower-body multijoint movement free weight and machine weight exercises. Ten resistance trained men (25 ± 3 years, 179 ± 7 cm, 84.2 ± 10.5 kg) completed 6 sets of 10 repetitions of squat or leg press at the same relative intensity separated by 1 week. Blood samples were collected before (PRE), immediately after (IP), and 15 (P15) and 30 minutes (P30) after exercise, and analyzed for testosterone (T), growth hormone (GH), and cortisol (C) concentrations. Exercise increased (p ≤ 0.05) T and GH at IP, but the concentrations at IP were greater for the squat (T: 31.4 ± 10.3 nmol·L−1; GH: 9.5 ± 7.3 μg·L−1) than for the leg press (T: 26.9 ± 7.8 nmol·L−1; GH: 2.8 ± 3.2 μg·L−1). At P15 and P30, GH was greater for the squat (P15: 12.3 ± 8.9 μg·L−1; P30: 12.0 ± 8.9 μg·L−1) than for the leg press (P15: 4.8 ± 3.4 μg·L−1; P30: 5.4 ± 4.1 μg·L−1). C was increased after exercise and was greater for the squat than for the leg press. Although total work (external load and body mass moved) was greater for the squat than for the leg press, rating of perceived exertion did not differ between the modes. Free weight exercises seem to induce greater hormonal responses to resistance exercise than machine weight exercises using similar lower-body multijoint movements and primary movers.

Description

Article originally published in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(4), 1032–1040. English. Published online 2014. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000317

Keywords

Squat, Leg press, Testosterone, Growth hormone, Cortisol, Endocrine

Citation

This is an abstract of an article that is available at https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000317. Recommended citation: Shaner, A. A., Vingren, J. L., Hatfield, D. L., Budnar, R. G., Duplanty, A. A., & Hill, D. W. (2014). The acute hormonal response to free weight and machine weight resistance exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(4), 1032–1040. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000317. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author’s permission.

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