Análise da força muscular dos membros inferiores em mulheres praticantes de musculação nas diferentes fases do ciclo menstrual

The menstrual cycle can be divided into four biological phases: menstrual phase, post-menstrual phase, ovulation phase, and post-ovulation phase. Each phase is characterized by the alternated release of follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones, as there is the secretion of progesterone and estrogen. The purpose of this study was to verify the muscle strength of the lower limbs during the four phases of the menstrual cycle. The participants of this study were 15 women aged 18-39, who had practiced strength training for at least six months, and used to take oral or injectable contraceptives. Muscular strength was measured through the submaximal load testing of Welday (1988) on the leg press machine 45° during all the phases of the menstrual cycle. Collected data were tabled in a database on the Excel spreadsheet for Windows and after being adjusted, they were treated statistically through the software StatisticalPackage for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0 for Windows. For the analysis and interpretation of the obtained data, descriptive statistics with measures of central tendency (average) and dispersion (standard deviation). Shapiro-Wilk test showed normality through the investigated variables, leading to the option for parametric tests. The comparison of the samples was held through the Teste-t de Student for independent samples, adopting the significance level p