The Impact of Sustained Aerobic Exercise on Male Testosterone Levels

One part of the body that’s really sensitive to the stress from regular physical exercise is the endocrine system. More and more studies show that doing endurance exercises frequently and for long periods can mess with men’s hormone levels, particularly testosterone.

Men who regularly do this kind of exercise tend to have persistently lower levels of testosterone without any rise in luteinizing hormone (LH). Their testosterone levels drop to about 50-75% of what a healthy, less-active man would have. This drop isn’t just a fleeting thing from the stress of intense workouts.

Sometimes, guys try to boost their weight loss with testosterone boosters like testofuel, but it doesn’t always address the root problem. This condition in active men is known as Exercise-Hypogonadal Male Condition (EHMC).

We don’t completely understand why this happens, but it’s thought to be related to problems in the hypothalamus-pituitary-testicular axis, possibly linked to energy availability. This issue is similar to what some female athletes experience.

The type of exercise most likely to lead to this is long-duration, endurance stuff like long-distance running, cycling, walking, or triathlons. Hypogonadism appears mainly in well-trained men who have been at it for several years.

Some believe that low testosterone from this kind of exercise leads to disruptions in the body’s anabolic processes, like muscle protein synthesis.

Recently, a study compared 9 long-distance runners with EHMC to 8 men who didn’t run. The runners had much lower testosterone levels on average (9.2 vs. 16.2 nmol), with 8 out of 9 runners having levels below what’s considered normal (<12 nmol). The runners also had worse scores on the quality of life scale, indicating more severe low testosterone symptoms. There were no major differences in cortisol, LH, FSH, and bone density between the groups, although 3 of the runner had osteopenia. Interestingly, both groups consumed the same amount of energy, but the runners had less available energy after accounting for their intense physical activity. This lack of sufficient energy might be contributing to the issue. It seems that the key takeaway is that this kind of long, low-intensity endurance training can indeed lead to energy supply issues that affect testosterone levels. Physically active men need to ensure they’re getting enough energy to meet their higher demands. More research is definitely needed in this area since testosterone levels play a crucial role in male reproductive health and bone wellness. If you're dealing with low testosterone, some substances might help mitigate the negative effects of endurance training, but do your research to find what's effective.