The changes of ACTH, cortisol, testosterone and testosterone/cortisol ratio in professional soccer players during a competition half-season

Abstract

The following up of some hormonal parameters during the professional soccer training process could be one of the indicators of the training effects. On the other hand, overreaching and overtraining as an opposite adaptation of supercompensation could be detected by following up some hormonal changes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in some hormonal parameters in professional soccer players during a half-season competition. We included 30 professional soccer players from a soccer club of our National Soccer League in this study. All sport medical examinations were conducted tree times: before the preparation phase, before the competition phase (after previous phase) and after finishing the competition phase. There were significant differences in all evaluated hormones between three phases of soccer training process, including significant decrease in T/C of more than 30% at the end of the competition phase (phase III). The decrease in muscle mass after the preparation phase and the increase in fat mass at the end of competition phase were insignificant. The hormonal changes indicated that some indices could indicate overreaching and overtraining at the end of professional soccer competition season. Although insignificant, the decrease in muscle mass after the preparation phase and the increase in fat mass at the end of competition phase were undesirable effects for us (Tab. 4, Fig. 2, Ref. 19).