Investigation of relations between serum IL-6 concentration and overtraining after one period of short term intensive exercise training in elite female athletes

Physical fatigue caused by physical activity especially exercise can affected some immune system components and functions. Immune system is highly sensitive to physiological and mental stress, so it can be used some of immune and hormonal factors as an exercise training stress index. The aim of this study was to investigating relation between IL-6, cortisol and testosterone concentration and overtraining after one period of short term intensive exercise training in elite female athletes. For this, among 28 elite female judoka, 7 national judokas selected as statistical sample by objective and accessible selection. Subjects completed overtraining questionnaire pre and post exercise training. Blood sample obtained per and post exercise training. Exercise performed by 80-95 % MHR intensity in first day afternoon and morning and afternoon of second, third and forth days. IL-6, cortisol and testosterone was measured by ELISA method and analyzed by SPSS-16 software. In this study one period of short term intensive exercise training result in significant increase in cortisol concentrations (P˂0.05), but there was no significant difference in IL-6, testosterone and T/C (P˃0.05). overtraining syndrome observed in no subjects. Also, there was no significant correlation between overtraining and all measured factors (P˃0.05). Although, IL-6 is main factor of overtraining development, overall, it seems that using of hormonal indicators isn’t reliable index for overtraining prediction and further studies are required for argument of this theory.