Morning Team,

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This is an older post from 3 years ago, but it sort of links in with leaving yourself trashed and depleted – as is this time of year.

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I am at Curl Curl Netball Complex watching the 2nd of 3 games this morning. Being raised <a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/gcgvvh.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2831 " src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/gcgvvh-300x200.jpg" alt="gcgvvh" width="227" height="151" /></a>on footy and cricket my netball nous is limited, so I stand on the sideline and occasionally offer encouragement in between repeated blows of the whistle.
I find myself surrounded by mates who, like me, have thrown hours and hours of sport, training and exercise into their bodies. They too are watching their 3 &amp; 4th game of netball this morning - so we stand around talking footy &amp; cricket with one eye on the game.
It occurs to me that the greater percentage of my mates (not all of course) who have trained heavily over the years have produced predominately daughters. Not just a strike rate of 60% but closer to 90%. With observation and a little research it seems like 90-95%+ of endurance athletes, footballers, swimmers, field athletes and even elite cricketers seem to produce girls. To enhance my observation I collated a long list of familiar athletes who have produced predominately daughters – but - I’d rather you just be aware of this, and I think you’ll find there’s an extra-ordinary dominance towards pink now that I have mentioned it.

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<blockquote><span style="color: #008080;">So, is there something in this? Or is it simply a coincidence?</span>

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Here’s what I found – although nothing definitive. (I thank Dr’s Jones and Neymour for their input)

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Firstly, stats are clearly favoured towards producing a girl when the male is 40 years +. They may produce sons in their 20’s &amp; 30’s, but daughters seem to dominate beyond 40 yrs. Stay with me...

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Secondly, data (articles on my website) also seem to suggest guys who have really given it<a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/hvvhvv.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2830 " src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/hvvhvv-300x200.jpg" alt="hvvhvv" width="258" height="172" /></a> to themselves in terms of working a zillion hours under consistent stress, poor nutritional habits – including excessive and relentless alcohol intake, and minimal rhythmic exercise also seem to produce predominately girls.

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So, why this trend? And what’s the link to me (and my mates) – who have good gut health; exercise heavily, and in my case had 3 daughters before I turned 33.

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Firstly, let’s talk about the most powerful of male hormones - testosterone.

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The most important androgen is responsible for physical change, muscle and bone <a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ytrsx.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2832" src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ytrsx-300x200.jpg" alt="ytrsx" width="261" height="174" /></a>development and repair, collective wellness and libido (reproduction in general). Common symptoms of deficiency in testosterone are poor concentration, low thrive (interest in moving), muscle aches and pains (and repeated injuries), mood swings, excessive tiredness, commonly craving sweet pick up foods, and of course low sex drive.
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<span style="color: #008080;">NOTE - as a point of reference if you’re training heavily and your libido is unusually low – this may NOT be a good sign - for continued good health and athletic performance. Read on...</span></blockquote>
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Now let’s talk training and the adaptive response and the role of testosterone. When we train (sport specific) or exercise, we place a stress on our bodies. If we train hard (usually to improve our performance) – over and above what we call our anaerobic threshold – when finished, our recovery system goes into overdrive. As we recover from this training stimulus (with quality rest and nutrition – and testosterone playing a major role) we take our athletic performance to a new improved level. That being, we recruit more muscle fibres, muscles are stronger and more flexible, our heart and lungs become more efficient -<a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/testos.png"><img class="alignright wp-image-2833 " src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/testos-300x226.png" alt="testos" width="227" height="171" /></a> basically we can tolerate more work. If we don’t allow sufficient and efficient recovery we start our next session with our engine revving at 90% - instead of 105%. This then places an enormous strain on the production (and need) of testosterone. And, like any system, if repeatedly hammered, eventually, breakdown is the likely result!

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So what’s the link between the repeated challenges of testosterone production - that is, from a state of being over- trained with insufficient recovery, AND, our DNA’s Y chromosome?

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Gene science is well beyond my intelligence or this post – but, it would seem our X (pink) chromosomes are stronger than our Y’s (blue). So when our depleted Y’s and dominant X’s <a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/vvdvfd.png"><img class="alignright wp-image-2834 " src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/vvdvfd-105x300.png" alt="vvdvfd" width="86" height="246" /></a>meet with a female 2 x X’s – pink dominates. There’s seems to be link between state of repair and Y chromosomal strength. If you’re in a constant state of repair (as in recovery from hard exercise) your Y strength/ health MAY be considerably less than your X.

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So, is it that exercising healthy males less than 40 years producing boys are not training hard enough??! – On the contrary – perhaps they have an excellent balance of work/rest ratio, and perhaps I was simply over-trained in my late 20’s and early 30’s (this is likely) ?!?

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Anyway given the info in this post is largely anecdotal, the take is away is to be conscious of your work:rest balance! And testosterone markers could be considered a sign of health. Low testosterone could be considered as a marker for sub-optimal health.

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I’m now off to a dancing concert.

BP