Female Athletes Performance During "The Cycle"

If you menstruate or work with anyone who does, this post is for you.

⚠️ There are hormonal differences and training considerations that need to be taken into account.

🤔 What is a 'normal' menstrual cycle (MC)?

- Cycle length 21 to 35 days

- Flow length 2 to 7 days

- No more than a few days of variation in each cycle length

- No excessive blood loss or severe symptoms

💥 More that 90% of individuals report symptoms during their cycle.

🏅 have been won during all phases of the MC

Research is very challenging in this area

1️⃣ One study found that exercise performance might be trivially reduced during the early follicular phase (during the bleed phase)

2️⃣ Another study showed that exercise performance was impaired during the mid luteal phase of the MC (when progesterone is high)

3️⃣ Another study found that adaptation to resistance training  increases in the later part of follicular phase when estrogen levels are high (might speed up recovery process)

Overall though more research is needed

✅ A personalized approach should be taken based on each individual’s response to exercise performance across the MC.

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