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Overtrained or in the Zone? Tests & Analyses of Samples of Athletes' Saliva Shall Help Determine Objective Criteria

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Could something as simple as a saliva test tell you if you or your clients are overtraining? I mean, common sense would dictate that cortisol, free T and IL-6 should tell us something. Salivary testosterone, cortisol, and interleukin-6, those are the three parameters Travis Anderson and colleagues had on their list of candidates when they conducted their latest study at the University of North Carolina  (Anderson. 2016). As you will remember from previous articles I wrote about overtraining. The only decently reliable method of seeing it coming is to assess you heart rate variability. On the other hand, athletes who are complaining of general fatigue and decreasing performances in the latter phase of their overtraining, when the symptoms become often almost unbearable, will also show high cortisol, low free testosterone and increased IL-6 levels. If you want to mess with your cortisol rhythm overtraining is exactly what you "need"! Heart Rate Variability (HRV) ...
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Beyond Testosterone: 200mg/day of Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma Longifolia) for Stress Management & Improved Mood!?

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It does not always take a pill to effectively manage your stress levels. Don't forget to take your well-deserved timeouts - from work and work outs and use a hot bath to "pre-regenerate" ( learn more ) While "long jack" as it is also called is probably best known for its testosterone boosting effects   ( learn more about Tongkat Ali aka "Ali's Stick") and one of the staple ingredient in the standard OTC-testosterone boosters ( previous news ), its traditional use as a longevity agent does already hint at the fact that its ability to boost testosterone levels and fertility may actually be mere side effects of a more general effect, of which a recent study from SupplementWatch would suggest that it is the ability of the this herbal medicinal plant that grows in South East Asia (Malaysia, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra,Thailand) to normalize the reaction to all sorts of exogenous stressors (including exercise and everyday stress). "Our employ...
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Confusing Study Results: Saliva Testing "Adequate" For Free Testosterone, Yet Way Off For Cortisol!?

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Many of us spend a fortune on "hormone optimization", but when it comes to actually testing our levels, most of us are pretty cheap: "200$ for labs? No way I rather buy another test booster for that money - won't hurt, I guess!" And even, if we finally decide to test our testosterone levels, we will usually choose the cheapest and most convenient testing method: saliva testing. But is this an adequate way of assessing one's hormonal status? Although these tests have been around forever, nobody appears to be sure how reliable they actually are. A recent study ( Caenegem. 2011 ) from the University Hospital of Ghent , Belgium, attempts to provide answers. The researchers tested two saliva collection methods, chewing on a cotton swab (Salivette, Sarstedt) and passive drooling on 30 healthy males with a median age of 27 years (range 19–65 years) and compared their findings against serum levels, which were measured on the same occasion. Here are their resu...
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