Does the Menstrual Cycle Impact the Maximal Neuromuscular Capacities of Women? An Analysis Before and After a Graded Treadmill Test to Exhaustion.

Morenas-Aguilar, MD, Ruiz-Alias, SA, Blanco, AM, Lago-Fuentes, C, Garcıa-Pinillos, F, and Pérez-Castilla, A. Does the menstrual cycle impact the maximal neuromuscular capacities of women? An analysis before and after a graded treadmill test to exhaustion. J Strength Cond Res 37(11): 2185-2191, 2023. This study explored the effect of the menstrual cycle (MC) on the maximal neuromuscular capacities of the lower-body muscles obtained before and after a graded exercise test conducted on a treadmill to exhaustion. Sixteen physically active women were tested at21163,2563, and 563 days from the luteinizing peak for the early follicular, late follicular, and midluteal phases. In each session, the individualized load-velocity (L-V) relationship variables (load-axis intercept [L0], velocity-axis intercept [v0], and area under the L-V relationship line [Aline]) were obtained before and after a graded exercise test conducted on a treadmill to exhaustion using the 2-point method (3 countermovement jumps with a 0.5-kg barbell and 2 back squats against a load linked to a mean velocity of 0.55 m·second-1). At the beginning of each session, no significant differences were reported for L0 (p 5 0.726; ES # 0.18), v0 (p 5 0.202; ES # 0.37), and Aline (p 5 0.429; ES # 0.30) between the phases. The MC phase 3 time interaction did not reach statistical significance for any L-V relationship variable (p $ 0.073). A significant main effect of "time" was observed for L0 (p, 0.001; ES520.77) and Aline (p 5 0.002; ES520.59) but not for v0 (p 5 0.487; ES 5 0.12). These data suggest that the lower-body maximal neuromuscular capacities obtained before and after a graded treadmill test are not significantly affected by MC, although there is a high variability in the individual response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]