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âš˝ Menstrual Cycle Phase and Performance Insights
PLUS: Exploring Motor Competence in Sports Science
Haresh Suppiah
March 31, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
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Welcome, science enthusiasts.
In today’s edition:
• Influence of menstrual cycle on football performance
• Motor competence and complexity science
• Factors affecting physical education delivery
• Sport psychology practitioners’ experiences
• Lifelong exercise and inflammation in aging
• Low back injuries in NCAA athletes
• Stretching and walking effects during resistance training
• Diagnostic utility of baseline concussion testing
• Different HIIT protocols and muscle adaptations
and several more…
FEATURED ARTICLES đźŚ
Key finding:
Elite female football players maintain consistent neuromuscular performance and effort perception throughout different menstrual cycle phases.
How they did it:
Methodology: The study involved 15 elite female football players (average age 23.5 years) who underwent testing in three menstrual cycle phases—early follicular, late follicular, and mid-luteal—by measuring concentric velocity and perceived exertion during half-squat, deadlift, and hip thrust exercises at 60% and 80% of their one-repetition maximum (1RM).
Results: No significant differences were observed in vertical jump height, concentric velocity, or perceived exertion across the different menstrual phases, with p-values all exceeding 0.05. The metrics were reliable, as indicated by acceptable coefficients of variation (CV) ranging from 1.66% to 8.59%.
Key Findings: The data suggest that hormone fluctuations do not affect neuromuscular performance or subjective effort in trained, eumenorrheic female athletes during varied phases of the menstrual cycle.
Innovation: This research is pioneering in its combination of assessing neuromuscular performance metrics like mean concentric velocity and emotional responses (perceived exertion) simultaneously across menstrual cycles in elite athletes, providing a more integrated understanding of performance factors.
Why it matters:
These findings offer valuable insights for coaches and trainers working with elite female football players. The study shows that neuromuscular performance—including jumping ability and strength metrics—remains consistent throughout the menstrual cycle. While the current evidence does not necessitate major adjustments in training based solely on menstrual phase, it may be wise to stay observant and flexible—because, as any coach worth their whistle will agree, no two athletes (or cycles) are exactly the same.
Key finding:
A multilayer network model offers a promising new approach to understanding the complex dynamics of motor competence.
How they did it:
Methodology: The study utilized a multilayer network model to analyze motor competence (MC), identifying five categories of correlates—biological, behavioral, cognitive, cultural, and environmental—structured into distinct layers that represent the dynamic and interconnected relationships influencing motor skills.
Results: The application of this model illustrates potential variations in children’s MC over time, with different emergent patterns observed in individual developmental trajectories, suggesting that the complexity of motor competence cannot be simply distilled into linear relationships.
Key Outcome: By employing a multilayer approach, the study revealed that no single correlate dominates the network; instead, the interplay between multiple factors contributes to a child’s overall motor competence, enhancing understanding of how these variables interact in real-world contexts.
Innovation: The research introduces novel concepts from complexity and network science to the field of motor development, advocating for the use of advanced mathematical techniques to analyze and visualize the interconnectedness of multiple factors influencing motor skills.
Practical Implications: This multilayer framework provides a robust methodology for identifying key intervention points in children’s motor development, enabling tailored strategies that consider the dynamic and multifaceted nature of motor competence.
Why it matters:
Understanding motor competence through a multilayer network model is essential for coaches and practitioners because it highlights the complex interactions between various factors influencing a child’s motor skills development. For instance, this approach emphasizes that over 60 correlates, from biological to environmental aspects, play distinct roles in shaping motor competence, which could inform targeted training and development interventions. As a result, professionals can better tailor their strategies to support each athlete’s unique needs, ultimately enhancing performance and participation.
QUICK BITES 🍤
Aging and Athletic Longevity
-Lifelong exercise reduces inflammation markers in older adults, but doesn’t fully negate age-related inflammatory changes.
Concussion in Sport
-Most collegiate athletes gain little diagnostic benefit from preseason baseline testing compared to using normative reference values for concussion assessment.
Injury
-Low back injury rates in NCAA athletes vary by sport and event, with higher prevalence in women’s sports and competitions.
Physical Education and Pedagogy
-Various intersecting factors significantly impact the delivery of physical education in alternative provision schools across England.
Sport Psychology
-Applied sport psychologists find that think aloud techniques enhance client reflection and evaluate needs effectively in practice.
Strength and Conditioning
-Static stretching and walking during rest intervals do not reduce muscle fatigue or increase performance in resistance training.
Strength and Conditioning
-Both high-intensity interval training protocols effectively improve muscle thickness and fitness without significant differences in outcomes.
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Curated by Haresh Suppiah