Early Season Hormonal and Biochemical Changes in Division I Field Hockey Players: Is Fitness Protective?

Walker, AJ, McFadden, BA, Sanders, DJ, Bozzini, BN, Conway, SP, and Arent, SM. Early season hormonal and biochemical changes in Division I field hockey players: is fitness protective? J Strength Cond Res 34(4): 975–981, 2020—The purpose was to evaluate changes in hormonal and biochemical markers as a result of the accumulated stress of the initial 4-week training block in field hockey players. Women's Division I field hockey players (N = 22; Mage = 19.7 ± 1.1 years) performed testing before the start of preseason (A1) that included body composition (%BF), vertical jump, and V[Combining Dot Above]O2max. Blood draws were conducted at A1 to assess creatine kinase (CK), iron (Fe), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), percent saturation (%sat), total cortisol (TCORT), free cortisol (FCORT), interleukin-6 (IL-6), sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG), prolactin (PRL), vitamin D (vitD), and thyroxine (T3). Blood draws were repeated 4 weeks later (A2). Athletes were monitored during this training block, which included 2 weeks of preseason and the first 2 weeks of the season, using heart rate monitors to determine energy expenditure (Kcal) and training load. There were significant disruptions in TCORT, FCORT, T3, CK, Fe, and SHBG (p
Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research