In sport, it’s easy to measure what you do:
- Speed, distance, power, minutes played
- Weights lifted, sets completed, drills done
But performance is not only about how much you can push today. It’s also about how well your system can absorb that load and rebuild.
That’s where hormones – especially testosterone and cortisol – become important.
Testosterone supports adaptation and rebuilding capacity.
Cortisol signals the body’s response to load and demand.
Both are essential. They’re not “good vs bad” – they’re partners in adaptation.
When we look at their balance through the T/C ratio, we get a sense of how much stress the system is carrying and how capable it is of turning that stress into progress.
We measure free testosterone (fT) and free cortisol (fC) in saliva – the biologically active fractions that are actually available to act on tissues. Total levels show how much is present overall. Free levels show how much is available and active right now.
One saliva sample is a snapshot. A structured protocol, repeated samples at consistent times reveals whether the system is adapting, or simply accumulating load.
