Peak Performance- How do the Testosterone: Cortisol and the Cortisol: DHEAS ratios help me understand my fitness and stress levels?

These hormone ratios help us understand the balance between physical stress and recovery in your body. They’re not diagnostic tests, but when tracked over time, they can give useful insights into how well you're adapting to training.

• The Testosterone:Cortisol (T:C) ratio compares your main anabolic (muscle-building) hormone with your main catabolic (stress-related) hormone. A lower ratio may suggest you're under more physical stress than your body is currently able to recover from. A higher ratio may reflect better recovery capacity.

• The Cortisol:DHEAS ratio gives a sense of your adrenal balance — how your body is managing long-term stress. An elevated ratio might indicate that your body is under chronic stress or not recovering well from training.

These ratios are most useful when used as a baseline and then monitored over time, rather than being interpreted from a single result. They can help guide adjustments in your training intensity, rest periods, sleep, or nutrition, particularly if you're feeling fatigued, underperforming, or hitting a plateau. However, they should always be considered alongside how you feel physically and mentally, and within the context of the rest of your peak performance biomarkers.

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article