Clearly, some mixed feelings about these... mixed feelings. Maybe the idea is for individual women to use whatever there is here that actually helps them individually but for no one to use this against any woman for any reason.
June 6, 2023
"The practice of planning workouts around the menstrual cycle to optimize fitness results, known as 'cycle syncing,' has permeated mainstream fitness...."
"Some women have shared that they’ve even shaped their work schedules around their cycles — by saying no to deadlines during low-energy phases, for example.
But the evidence on whether this training regimen works at enhancing fitness, let alone whether it helps in other parts of life, is too inconsistent to be convincing, experts said. At most, studies have confirmed what many women know instinctively: that the menstrual cycle corresponds with shifts in energy, mood and stress.... The bits of scientific and anecdotal evidence showing fluctuations in performance or energy throughout the menstrual cycle also don’t prove that syncing workouts to the cycle will optimize fitness.... 'And the added stress of needing to know exactly what week of your cycle you are in and what that means about working out' can be counterproductive....'... 'Now women are understanding that hey, I might be feeling this specific symptom during this time for this specific reason, so I’m going to be tender with myself.... That part is really lovely.'"
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30 comments:
If you want science, put some men on it.
by saying no to deadlines during low-energy phases,
i wish I'D had that option!
gilbar! we need this access STAT!
sorry, i'm in a low-energy phase.. i'll try getting to it next week
Insert standard inanity: "What about transwoman inclusion?"
Blah, blah, blah.
If you own Apple products and explore their fitness apps, "Cycle Tracking" appears in the feature list. The icon looks a bit like a bike wheel or a ring of birth control pills. I first thought it was a specialized way to measure fitness with bicycles...but no, it's about menstruation...I don't need it and I can't hide it...
Maybe a good approach to exercise is to work out harder when you feel good and less hard when you feel bad and not worry too much about the label you put on the reason for feeling good or feeling bad?
As for work, if you're arranging your deadlines around personal issues, you probably shouldn't tell anybody.
When a woman asks for no deadlines during their period, do they still expect to be paid the same?
Lots of men don't feel great every day either, they just deal with it.
Is it too much to expect women to do the same?
What ever happened to all the studies proving that women athletes performance had nothing to do with where they were in their cycles? No longer operative?
John LGKTQ Henry
"I first thought it was a specialized way to measure fitness with bicycles..."
Based on the illustration, showing women holding moons (in different phases), I thought it was about the seasonal cycle of sunlight and adjusting your sleep and activities around the varying lengths of sunlight. I was influenced by my own practice of waking before sunrise.
If Trump promises to mandate hormone supplements for 49 year old males he gets my vote. If women got "Obama the boyfriend" I figure men can get updated equivalent. Cruel neutrality?
My long ago experience was that competing during my period made no difference in results. Then again, I didn't have difficult periods. Could it have been because I worked out regularly? Or because Seventeen Magazine told me it was Catholic girls who had problems and my highly suggest able Southern Baptist self simply never did. Of course I wasn't above shamefully using it occasionally to get out of whatever I didn't want to do. I do admit that in my 40s I could detect fractionally slower Sudoku times during menses.
In short, I see this coddling as shameful and indulging in self-limiting victim hood. YMMV
"Some women have shared that they’ve even shaped their work schedules around their cycles — by saying no to deadlines during low-energy phases, for example.
This could be part of the definition of "What is a woman"? Someone who has options to push off work deadlines during "low-energy" phases. An option not available to men. There is no accommodation for our low energy phases, and probably why we drink more, and die earlier.
A woman is also someone who, if asked by a man, "are you emotional because it's that time of the month" answers angrily "why do you always want to blame everything on my period"?!
People, both men and women have issues that affect performance, a woman's period is one of the few predictable ones. If anything, there should be less accommodation for women than there is for people that experience unpredictable issues. In a similar vein, a woman has environmental (i.e. natural motive), social (e.g. empathetic), governing (.e. consensus) and religious (e.g. ethical) sanction to abort a "burden".
The WNBA needs to track its players cycles so that gamblers have more accurate information.
ESPN can include this in its coverage of the WNBA.
Way back during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, one of his doctors said women couldn't be good leaders because of "raging hormonal influences". He was informed by all the right people that menstrual cycles had no effect on job performance.
Delicate creatures.
It appears there’s an inhibition to adding the word “Menstrual” in front of “Cycle Tracking”. Perhaps to blur the fact it’s not a co-ed feature.
"for no one to use this against any woman for any reason"
Funny. Isn't that the point of these things?
"I first thought it was a specialized way to measure fitness with bicycles..."
A man needs a fish, like a woman needs a menstrual cycle
"experts said"
Top. Men.
These days I just ignore anything that comes after that.
Makes sense to me, not that I've ever experienced the menstrual cycle being a MAN and all, but I thought it made y'all feel, to get a little technical here, icky.
"At most, studies have confirmed what many women know instinctively: that the menstrual cycle corresponds with shifts in energy, mood and stress."
Impossible! I was assured that the feminist movement disproved this in the "70's, if not earlier, and that menstrual mood swings and stress were merely a social construct foisted on females by the patriarchy. Besides, why call out "women" when many menstruating men are subject to the same mood swings? Can we get a little consistency, please?
If only I had known of this line of argument when, in my early 20's rowing men's crew, I felt a little sluggish or really not psyched about another set of ladder drills. I could have told Coach that it was that time of the month and he should leave me alone.
Geez, when Newt Gingrich said this, he was crucified.
I would add, yet another feminist foray that has no bearing on women's lives beyond the elite of the elite who wouldn't know hard work if it was sold to them in the form of a $300 Goop scented candle.
"The practice of planning workouts around the menstrual cycle to optimize fitness results, known as 'cycle syncing,' has permeated mainstream fitness.... Some women..."
STOP! right there, hater.
I remember how we mocked the primitive customs of other cultures and religions (such as Niddah) when we were in college.
Chesterton's gate?
Or is this a return to the primitive?
"Insert standard inanity: "What about transwoman inclusion?""
Not inane, but precisely to the point. Reason 468 why biological men and biological women have separate competitions.
But what about trans women?
"'Now women are understanding that hey, I might be feeling this specific symptom during this time for this specific reason, so I’m going to be tender with myself."
Women in combat roles were unavailable for comment.
"When a woman asks for no deadlines during their period, do they still expect to be paid the same?"
Yes.
"Lots of men don't feel great every day either, they just deal with it."
Yes.
"Is it too much to expect women to do the same?"
Yes.
A woman can do anything a man can do but not all the time, apparently.
Here's a dirty little secret: the Pill makes those low-energy times feel worse than they are. I don't recall begging off from my running schedule because of that, but I often did feel a little sluggish. Elaborating further would be TMI.
I've tried some of those so-called cycle trackers, and they're useless. There are a lot of built in assumptions they seem more gimmicky than useful.
I learned how to chart the old fashioned NFP way, taking into account waking basal temperature plus other minute symptoms and using graph paper, noting trends and being able to count off the days dividing the fertile part of the cycle from the less fertile/safe days. But you have to commit to it - that means every day, without fail.
So a MENStrual cycle is something that women experience?
In 2023?
I can see why the trans people are confused.
For five days each month, I had to switch out my running routes from the forest trails to indoor treadmills on account of bears.
Inverse juicing.
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