Book review: Up to Speed by Christine Yu  

By Emma Cole

I was recommended Up to Speed at a networking event a few years ago and I’ve been recommending it ever since. 

Yu explores the gender data gap in sports science, explaining historical bias in sports science and showing how male physiology has been the default as researchers have ignored women for years because our periods and our hormones were considered 'too complicated' to study. 

This has meant that the results of studies done on men were applied to women too. Quite literally women are offered training plans, nutrition advice, recovery methods based on research done almost entirely on men. 

From a REDs perspective it’s very informative, discussing the impacts of underfueling on the brain, on bone density, metabolism, and reproductive health.

Yu unpicks the age-old myth that a missing period is part of being an athlete or dancer. She explains how this has become normalised, why it’s become normalised (cue male centric studies) and how important the menstrual cycle is for women. 

While the revelations in the book can be deeply troubling and frustrating, Yu also highlights how empowering knowing all of this is. This knowledge means women can better understand their bodies, we can make provisions in research to include women, and ultimately we can create safer and healthier environments for dancers and athletes. 

It’s an eye opening read which helped me understand the wider sports science landscape, the complexities in research studies and the critical importance of women being involved in research. 

What else is on my reading list: 

• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

• This Is Not About Running: A Memoir by Mary Cain