- Title
- The effects of the menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive cycle on muscle function, resistance training responses and body composition
- Creator
- Thompson, Belinda Maree
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Female participation in sport and exercise has increased dramatically and therefore it is important to consider female specific factors that may influence performance. Most reproductive aged women are exposed to continuously changing female steroid hormone profiles due to the menstrual cycle (MC) or oral contraceptive (OC) use. Cyclic fluctuations of estrogen and progesterone may potentially influence muscle function, resistance training responses and measures of body composition. The review of methodologies used in recent MC research (Chapter 2) highlighted an area of concern, with only 44% of the selected studies measuring the actual concentrations of the female steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. Therefore the likely inclusion of participants with anovulatory or luteal phase deficient cycles in combination with small participant numbers has impacted results in recent MC research and consequently our understanding of this area. The systematic review on resistance training in females (Chapter 3) included a total of 16 articles. The reviewed articles reported conflicting findings, and were often limited by small participant numbers and other methodological issues. The findings of this review highlight the need for further experimental studies on the effects of the MC and OC on acute and chronic responses to resistance training. When investigating muscle function over the MC and high and low androgenicity OC (Chapter 4) no significant changes over the cycles were found for any perceptual measures, or isometric and slow isokinetic strength measures. For the MC group, isokinetic knee flexion at a fast velocity, and time of flight in bilateral hopping and CMJ showed better results during the mid-luteal phase compared with the late follicular phase. In the high androgenicity OC group isokinetic knee flexion at a fast velocity was significantly higher in the late hormone phase compared with the early hormone phase. For the low androgenicity OC group time of flight for the CMJ was lower in the late hormone phase compared with the early hormone phase. These findings suggest that fast, explosive measures may be affected by female hormone fluctuations. Chapter 5 showed that in response to a resistance training session there were no significant changes over the MC or OC cycles for rating of perceived exertion, or change in isometric and slow isokinetic strength measures. Time of flight in CMJ showed poorer results during the early follicular phase compared with the late follicular phase for the MC group, and post-exercise soreness at 24 hours was significantly higher in the early follicular phase compared with the late follicular and mid-luteal phases. In the high androgenicity OC group post-exercise isokinetic knee flexion at a fast velocity was significantly higher in the early hormone phase compared with the non-active pill phase. Growth hormone response was significantly lower in the early hormone phase compared with the non-active pill phase and late hormone phase for this group. There were no significant differences between the three groups for any of the acute resistance training responses. These findings suggest that post-exercise performance of fast, explosive actions and post-exercise muscle soreness may also be influenced by fluctuations in female steroid hormones. No significant changes over the MC or OC cycle were found for the majority of body composition measures in Chapter 6. However, DXA body fat percentage was higher in the mid-luteal phase compared with the late follicular phase of the MC, while for the OC group DXA body fat percentage was higher in the early hormone phase compared with the late hormone phase. Together, the findings suggest that endogenous and exogenous female sex hormones may influence some of the faster and more explosive measures of muscle function, post exercise muscle soreness, and sensitive tests of body composition.
- Subject
- menstrual cycle; oral contraceptive; muscle function; resistance training; body composition
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1403596
- Identifier
- uon:35191
- Rights
- Copyright 2019 Belinda Maree Thompson
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 10 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 163 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |