The maximal strength tests comprised of the athlete pedaling on a stationary bike as fast they could. The athletes began at 75 watts with a frequency of 60 per minute and increased the workload by 50 watts every two minutes. When the athlete had reached complete physical exhaustion, the test was over. During the exercise, the athletes' blood pressure, heart rate and 12-lead electrocardiography were measured and recorded after each two-minute segment, at the point of physical exhaustion, as well as during the athlete's time of recovery. The stress test and arithmetic mental concentration test consisted of the athletes biking for an hour at a level of 75 watts. After ten minutes at this level, the athletes were presented with 20 minutes of problem-solving tasks. The subjects were given a piece of paper with many series of seven numbers written out of order and their job was to write the numbers of the series on the blank lines on the paper in the proper order. The athletes had one minute to do this for as many of the series on the paper as possible and after one minute was up they were instructed to put a line by the last number they wrote and immediately were given another sheet and started again. The score for each athlete was calculated by taking the points per minute, which was determined by separate standards within the Rey test, divided by 20. The goal was to measure the concentration capability of the athletes. Additionally, each athlete gave blood samples to measure testosterone levels 15 minutes before each maximal stress test and each wore a 24-hour band that measured their cardiac activity over the two-day span. The band was placed on the athlete each evening at 5:00 pm and taken off after the maximal test in the afternoon. The athletes were broken up into two groups, one that would have sex the first day of experiment and not the second, and one that would have sex the second but not the first day of the experiment.
