THE LAST SPORTING TABOO?
THE IMPACT OF THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE ON ROWING TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE
WORDS JEAN NOURY
Jean Noury is a French ex-international rower and qualified sports scientist specialising in rowing training. He regularly publishes sports science articles on
lynxperfomances.com Alittle taboo, often ignored, and barely taught, the influence of the menstrual cycle on sporting practice is a phenomenon which has so far been largely overlooked. In an article published by the French journal L’Équipe in February 2017, the record-breaking British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe says it is a topic “we absolutely should be talking about and should be studying”. She goes on to say “it is linked to all aspects of elite sporting activity: the organisation of training, the impact on competition, recovery, mentality. Managing it is essential in order to gain the most out of one’s career
Very well Paula, let’s dive into the literature to see what we can learn. To do this we first need to take a brief look at the physiology.
THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE: A CHAIN OF PHYSIOLOGICAL EVENTS Two main 14-day phases make up the 28-day cycle: the follicular phase (day 1-14) and the luteal phase (day 14-28).
“A little taboo, the influence of the menstrual cycle on sporting practice is a phenomenon which has been largely overlooked.”
A little physiology class
The menstrual cycle is a chain of physiological events that allow a woman to be fertile and human beings to reproduce. Menstruation starts at puberty and finishes in menopause. The hormonal changes caused by the different phases of the cycle can have overriding effects on the human body and thus on their adaptations to training. In order to better understand, let’s break down the menstrual cycle.
The data described here represents averages, rather than exact values. The duration of cycles, or the different phases that make it up, can vary from cycle to cycle, as well as from woman to woman, thus is very diverse. As is often the case, everything is variable, however there are also common tendencies and averages from which we can obtain pertinent information.