Effect of sex and menstrual cycle in women on starting speed, anaerobic endurance and muscle power

Abstract

The aim of our study was to compare the indicators of starting speed, anaerobic endurance and power in women as well as men, and to investigate whether the values of these indicators differ in women during the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. The studied group included 16 men and 16 women. The subjects performed the 20-second maximal cycling sprint test. The men performed the test twice at 14-day intervals. The women undertook the test 4 times: twice during the middle of follicular phase and twice in the middle of luteal phase in separate menstrual cycles. Hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle do not influence anaerobic performance, starting speed or anaerobic endurance in women. Anaerobic performance in men is higher than in women with similar aerobic performance expressed as VO 2 max/LBM (lean body mass). A lower power decrease with time was noted for women than men, with a similar time of maintaining power in both groups. This is evidence of women's better anaerobic endurance compared to men. At the same time, the men had significantly better starting speed rates than women.Keywords: anaerobic power, anaerobic exercise, acid-base homeostasis, gender differences, menstrual cyclePrevious studies have clearly showed significant differences in anaerobic power between men and women, indicating the reason for the differences to be inter-sex differences in muscle histology and enzyme activity associated with anaerobic metabolism (2, 12). However, in previous studies, the impact of women's menstrual cycle on the level of analyzed indicators were not always taken into account, which are essential in the evaluation of anaerobic performance, i.e. peak and mean anaerobic power (8,10,15). Other important indicators of anaerobic performance in sports are the speed of obtaining the maximum power (i.e. the time necessary to obtain maximum power from the start) and anaerobic endurance

Differences in autonomic heart rate modulation during rest and after a supramaximal anaerobic test in relation to gender and the menstrual cycle in women

“…Also, some authors suspect that differences in sarcomeral metabolism might have an influence on divergence in muscle power between sexes (27). Similarly to recently published results (28,29), the difference in anaerobic power parameters in women concerning menstrual cycle phases was not observed in our paper.…”

Analysis of the Effect of Menstrual Cycle Phases on Aerobic-Anaerobic Capacity and Muscle Strength

“…When studies conducted were examined, it was stated by various authors that menstrual period did not increase or decrease performance (Jaffre et al, 2006;Uçdağ, 2011;Aras et al, 2016). In their study, Wiecek at al. (2016) reported that hormonal changes in the middle of follicular phase and luteal phase during menstrual cycle did not affect women in terms of anaerobic performance, while in another study it was reported that menstrual cycle did not influence peak power, average power and lactate intensity (Tsampoukos et al, 2010).…”

Anaerobic Exercise-Induced Activation of Antioxidant Enzymes in the Blood of Women and Men

“…In our research, we stated that anaerobic exercise causes a smaller increase in XO activity in people with higher anaerobic performance ( Wiecek et al, 2017a ). At the same time, it is known that men generate greater anaerobic power and have higher anaerobic capacity than women ( Wiecek et al, 2015b , 2016 ).…”