We Have to Start Somewhere
A few years ago, I came across the idea of follicular-based strength training.[1]
This idea suggests that prioritising our strength training during the follicular phase (the first half of our menstrual cycle) can improve strength more than if we prioritise our strength training during the luteal phase (the second half) or as a traditional training pattern.[2]
And I loved the idea – that we could periodise our training around the menstrual cycle. After all, I had sort of been doing this for years without even realising it.[3]
But when I looked more closely at the research, I realised that it was inconsistent, invalid, confusing and conflicting.
And in all honesty, it wasn't just the research around fitness. The majority of female-based research, in general, is flawed.
Thus, as Colenso-Semple et al., pointed out in a paper published this year, it is premature to conclude that reproductive hormones influence, well, anything.[4] Whether it's exercise performance, strength, relationships, work or lifestyle.
As a result, over the last 6 months, a kind of writing paralysis set in. A writer's block which made me not want to write about what I had come across when it came to female-based research.
I was so afraid that I would be called out on the fact that I was sharing poor-quality studies.
But the problem is, right now, poor-quality studies are all we, as women, have to go on. They are all flawed. And until things change and more studies are conducted, this really is all we have.
So what do we do?
Do we:
ignore all evidence-based research altogether?
disregard the research conducted on women and instead continue to take the research that has been conducted on men and apply it to ourselves?
take the poor quality research that has been conducted on women with a pinch of salt and let it be a starting point for us?
Obviously, the first two options do not make sense at all.
We need research. That is a no-brainer. However, using male-based research and applying it to women is pointless. Hence, that leaves us with the third option.
So, after having a mini meltdown with regard to sharing what is out there - I have come to the conclusion that I am going to do the latter.
I am going to take the research conducted on women, and rather than disregarding it completely because of its poor quality, I am going to look at it with curiosity. And at the same time I am going to observe and highlight my own biases. Plenty of which, I know exist.
I am going to use the research as a starting point to create a personalised approach. Whether that's for myself or the women I work with.
Because the fact is, a personalised approach is what is needed.
We are all unique. And so even when the research is (more) valid and consistent, we still can't forget that we are human. And everything we do needs to be tailored to us as individuals.
So I am using this post as a caveat...
I want you to read about the research that I share. Use it as a starting point. And ask, does this apply to me? All while being aware of your own biases, my biases and the flaws in the research provided.
As Bruce Lee said,
Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.
Because until we have more evidence until the research focuses on women and their different hormonal states, we have to use what we have available to us.
It's not perfect. But surely it’s got to be better than following the research conducted on males, right?
Sung, E. et al. (2014) ‘Effects of follicular versus luteal phase-based strength training in young women.’, Springerplus , 3, p. 668. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-668 .
I will write about follicular phase based training in future. Promise.
It was also the basis of my 4 phase training blueprint, which I wrote about a while back.
Colenso-Semple, L.M. et al. (2023) ‘Current evidence shows no influence of women’s menstrual cycle phase on acute strength performance or adaptations to resistance exercise training’, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living , 5, p. 1054542. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1054542.