Are you training hard
or training yourself into the ground?

Because our partner laboratory currently does not offer it in the self-collection panels. That is the honest answer, and we write it down rather than papering over the gap. For athletes, iron status is the most important laboratory value there is: a falling ferritin degrades endurance performance and recovery long before anaemia becomes visible in a blood count. If that is your question, we plan a venous measurement, either as part of a check-up or through your GP. Buying a panel that does not answer your question would be money thrown away.

At least 24 hours after a hard session, and after a race or a very long run better 48 to 72 hours. The main reason is high-sensitivity CRP: intense load drives it up temporarily, and the value is then indistinguishable from silent inflammation. ALT and GGT can also rise after unaccustomed load. An easy run the day before is uncritical. The practical advantage at home is exactly this: you place the sample in the week that suits, instead of taking whatever appointment you can get.

In the morning, ideally between seven and ten and before breakfast. Testosterone follows a marked daily rhythm and is considerably lower in the afternoon, so an afternoon value can hardly be interpreted. Context matters too: testosterone alone says little, and only together with SHBG, albumin, LH and FSH can you place whether a low value comes from the control system or from the testes. That is precisely why the hormone profile includes those values.

Only indirectly, and one should be honest about that. Relative energy deficiency in sport is diagnosed clinically, not through a laboratory value. There is no marker that proves it. What the panels can contribute are findings consistent with the picture: a low testosterone alongside an unremarkable LH, a suppressed thyroid picture, a low vitamin D, and in female athletes an absent cycle with low estradiol. Those constellations are a reason to examine the balance of training and energy intake. An unremarkable panel, by contrast, does not rule an energy deficit out.

Worth measuring, yes; worth supplementing blindly, no. In Germany a large part of the population sits below the reference range through the winter half of the year, and anyone training mostly indoors or early in the morning is more likely to be among them. The evidence that raising levels in already sufficient people improves performance is weak. The sensible order is therefore to measure and then decide, rather than dosing on suspicion. Vitamin D sits in the follow-up panel and in the “complete” panel.

As a private medical service we bill according to GOÄ, so reimbursement is possible depending on your policy. Privately insured patients submit the invoice to their insurer; with occupational health insurance the annual budget applies. German statutory health insurance generally does not cover laboratory values used for training guidance, as there is no suspicion of disease. The insurer always decides bindingly.