Comparison of Cardiovascular Endurance Response to Concurrent Training Across Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle in Young Women

Sharafi, Elham; Hasanvand, Bahman

doi:10.22034/jmbs.2025.525609.1249

Comparison of Cardiovascular Endurance Response to Concurrent Training Across Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle in Young Women

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Elham Sharafi ¹

Bahman Hasanvand ²

¹ Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran.

10.22034/jmbs.2025.525609.1249

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Physiological changes associated with different phases of the menstrual cycle may affect women’s cardiovascular endurance capacity. This study aimed to examine the effects of concurrent resistance-aerobic training during the follicular and luteal phases on the cardiovascular endurance of healthy young women.
Methods: This semi-experimental study involved 23 young women with regular menstrual cycles (mean age 17.35±2.08 years; cycle length 26.52±1.83 days). Concurrent training was implemented separately in each phase over 8 weeks, with three sessions per week. A washout period based on each participant's menstrual pattern was considered to control for crossover effects between phases.
Results: Training in both phases led to significant improvements in cardiovascular endurance (follicular phase: t=18.64, P<0.001; luteal phase: t=15.36, P<0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in training effectiveness between the follicular and luteal phases (F=1.677, P=0.203).
Conclusion: The findings indicate that the timing of training across different menstrual cycle phases does not result in significant differences in improving cardiovascular endurance in healthy young women.

Keywords

Concurrent training

menstrual cycle

cardiovascular endurance

Subjects