Does too much rowing diminish your testosterone?

[hjs]

Just my opinion, and I know literally nothing about medical issues:

I really doubt that 40 to 45 minutes of moderate rowing would have ANY effect on testosterone levels. If you have noticed things that make you think that your testosterone levels have changed, you should definitely get a checkup, rather than changing your rowing routine. There are genuine medical issues that can cause these changes that you should really eliminate before you just guess that it is exercise related.

Not duration, but duration pared with intensity counts. Start runnng one 400 at max daily and see how you fair. Its pretty well possible to overdo on 40/45 min. per day.

[Anth_F]

Just my opinion, and I know literally nothing about medical issues:

I really doubt that 40 to 45 minutes of moderate rowing would have ANY effect on testosterone levels. If you have noticed things that make you think that your testosterone levels have changed, you should definitely get a checkup, rather than changing your rowing routine. There are genuine medical issues that can cause these changes that you should really eliminate before you just guess that it is exercise related.

Not duration, but duration pared with intensity counts. Start runnng one 400 at max daily and see how you fair. Its pretty well possible to overdo on 40/45 min. per day.

Bingo.. bango... bingo.. bango!

The intensity is such in each of my erg workouts, that almost each and every time i finish... you can be rest assured i'm soaked in a pool of sweat and hot. I don't just get on and mess about! I actually work my a$$ off on there.

[lindsayh]

[Bingo.. bango... bingo.. bango!
The intensity is such in each of my erg workouts, that almost each and every time i finish... you can be rest assured i'm soaked in a pool of sweat and hot. I don't just get on and mess about! I actually work my a$$ off on there.

Couple of things Anth
It seems to me that you are trying to make a story match something you have already decided without a lot of facts
IMO training such as you describe won't threaten to lower your T but if you think it might then simply have A LEVEL done.
The problem with that is that "normal" T levels are a grey area and the quoted numbers are based on a bit of flimsy science which has been jumped on by some entrepreneurs to push a T deficiency barrow for money.
We all sweat and get hot when training and if you are training at 100% every day then you are definitely over training but I suspect that is not the case - it is very early in your training life and not really possible to do 100%. every day. No one is suggesting that you are not giving it red hot go.
It is really good that you are training hard and working to improve your health but make sure that the bulk is at much less than 100%.
A few years ago I was involved in a "healthy man" over 50 study which was looking at T levels as one of the data points and I can assure you that the T levels were well into the normal range even with the very significant training that I was doing at the time (my series of 1)

[Anth_F]

Bulk of my work is @ between 70-80%. I'll make those alterations that i mentioned to my workout regime and go from there! I'm going to also start doing some high intensity interval training as well... rather than just constant long low rate sessions all of the time.

I appreciate all the feedback and you could be right... the current training i'm doing might not even be having any bearing on this! As aside from what i have mentioned, i feel completely fine and good within myself (like the exercise is actually working wonders for me)

[Shawn Baker]

Chronic Low testosterone is an emerging epidemic as we have seen the general populations level decline around 20% over last 3 decades or so- this parallels the obesity/diabetes epidemic and is most likely driven by our increased consumption of processed garbage parading as food and the decreased consumption of enough fat and cholesterol- Testosterone replacement is NOT the answer IMO-fix diet, add some strength training, get sleep dialed in, reduce stress as much as possible.

[Anth_F]

Some good points there, Shawn. It's actually a bit of a chore nowadays to find foods that aren't processed!! Products that parade the shelves as "healthy" yet are filled in abundance with large quantities of sugar.

I feel my diet is on the right track at present, so no concerns there. Though i might try to get a bit more Zinc into the diet.

Sleep is pretty good generally.

Adding some significant strength training is definitely something i am going to start doing now. Got myself some 40-50lb balls and buying myself a 30-50kg weight vest to wear when i'm out on my 7-8 mile dog walks. I have been working out with light dumbbells for a while now too.

And also adding some short high intensity interval erg training in there as well for good measure.

[Gammmmo]

30-50kg weight vest to wear when i'm out on my 7-8 mile dog walks.

that's alot!

[Anth_F]

30-50kg weight vest to wear when i'm out on my 7-8 mile dog walks.

that's alot!

Yeah... obviously i'll start out at the lower end of the spectrum 30 kg. See how far i can walk... might not get far who knows. Lots of trial and error with this sorta thing...

I'll do whatever i can manage at any given time, and aim to walk further each day! All about baby steps basically.

[bisqeet]

Chronic Low testosterone is an emerging epidemic as we have seen the general populations level decline around 20% over last 3 decades or so- this parallels the obesity/diabetes epidemic and is most likely driven by our increased consumption of processed garbage parading as food and the decreased consumption of enough fat and cholesterol- Testosterone replacement is NOT the answer IMO-fix diet, add some strength training, get sleep dialed in, reduce stress as much as possible.

you would hope that this would have been common sense and hammered into everybody at a young age...
imo you nailed it.


cycling on the other hand could lead to low sperm count, sex-hormone binding globulin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormones etc. But <I beleivbe this is more classed as a sport injury.

[Pie Man]

Until you have it measured you have no idea what your level is so get it measured, If it's normal get it measured a few months later, if not then I'm sure your doctor will be able to talk to you about it.

[Gammmmo]

Until you have it measured you have no idea what your level is so get it measured, If it's normal get it measured a few months later, if not then I'm sure your doctor will be able to talk to you about it.

I agree. You might be making efforts and changes that have absolutely no effect.

[Anth_F]

I HATE DOCTORS. Unless i feel like i'm dying, you couldn't drag me to one.

See how i feel after these changes first.

[Gammmmo]

Anth_F, the answer to your question is "Yes - too much rowing, infact any rowing at all, will cause your testosterone to plummet". You have no need for your erg now, I'd be happy to take it off your hands for £495. You'll need to deliver though.

[Anth_F]

I'd be happy to take it off your hands for £495.

[aussieluke]

thing I've recently discovered is there is cardo and there is cardio

I thought I was going easy on the erg doing 30 - 45 minute sessions, low rate (20) and improving my times most workouts until I was pulling sub 2:00

Then I got a HR strap ...and realised to stay in my 'aerobic' band, I needed to slow right down to 2:10-2:12 ...and that I wasn't training 'easy' at all. In fact I was close to maxing out all the time.

Since switching to doing almost all of my rowing and running at UT2/MAF (same number for me), I am feeling much better. Sleeping better. Appetite is much lower. I was starving all the time and felt like I needed to carb up before workouts and eat junk. Now I can train fasted in the am or in the evening long after lunch etc.

Currently only doing one hard session maybe every second week. Not sure I even need to be doing that really.

In terms of weight training, now I just use kettlebells and pushups.

I sold all my barbells and weights as I just didn't have the time to use them (with 2 young kids).

But if upping T levels were my top priority, I wouldn't worry about med balls and weighted vests - get a barbell and weights and a squat rack, and do 2-3 sessions a week of heavy squats, deadlifts power cleans and bench or overhead press