The Association Between Alterations in Redox Homeostasis, Cortisol, and Commonly Used Objective and Subjective Markers of Fatigue in American Collegiate Football

Purpose: To assess associations between a free oxygen radical test (FORT), free oxygen radical defense test (FORD), oxidative stress index, urinary cortisol, countermovement jump (CMJ), and subjective wellness in American college football. Methods: Twenty-three male student athlete American college football players were assessed over 10 weeks: off-season conditioning (3 wk), preseason camp (4 wk), and in season (3 wk). Assessments included a once-weekly FORT and FORD blood sample, urinary cortisol sample, CMJ assessment including flight time, reactive strength index modified and concentric impulse, and a daily subjective wellness questionnaire. Linear mixed models analyzed the effect of a 2 within-subject SD change in the predictor variable on the dependent variable. The effects were interpreted using magnitude-based inference and are presented as standardized effect size (ES) ± 90% confidence intervals. Results: Small negative associations were observed between FORT–flight time, FORT–fatigue, FORT–soreness (ES range = -0.30 to -0.48), FORD–sleep (ES = 0.42 ± 0.29), and oxidative stress index soreness (ES = 0.56 ± 0.29). Small positive associations were observed between FORT–cortisol (ES = 0.36 ± 0.35), FORD–flight time, FORD reactive strength index modified and FORD–soreness (0.37–0.41), oxidative stress index concentric impulse (ES = 0.37 ± 0.28), and with soreness–concentric impulse, soreness–flight time, and soreness reactive strength index modified (0.33–0.59). Moderate positive associations were observed between cortisol–concentric impulse and cortisol–sleep (0.57–0.60). Conclusion: FORT/FORD was associated with CMJ variables and subjective wellness. Greater amounts of subjective soreness were associated with decreased CMJ performance, increased FORT and cortisol, and decreased FORD.