Stacy Sims is a physiologist and nutrition scientist. During her TedTalk, Sims emphasizes that women are not like men and should not be treated with the same needs as men. She goes on to explain that sports nutrition and exercise science is all based on research done on men. This is a problem for the obvious reason that women and men are not the same. The biggest difference being that women have menstrual cycles. If women were to have the same diet and training as men the results would not be the same. Men would more likely gain muscle whereas there would be little change or even deterioration in women. Studies show that planning training around a women's period can be more effective. This is because a period can determine when a women is stronger or more susceptible to injury. This lack of research on the female body also translates to sporting equipment. All equipment athletes use has technology designed to help protect and improve their game. For example, soccer cleats are used to help keep players from slipping, ball control and much more. There are different types of cleats for different types of fields such as turf or firm ground. Lynn Le is the founder of Society Nine, a sports wear brand that specializes in women's sporting equipment. She was inspired as a kickboxer instructor when she realized boxing gloves were designed for men. Women either had to wear ill fitting children's gloves, cheaply made overly sexist women's gloves. If the gloves do not fit properly and your hands are not compressed then there wont be any shock absorption that can lead to injuries. While also making shin guards, Le soon learned that women's bodies vary much more than men. Since there was so much lack of research on women it was difficult to create shin guards that fit women accurately. Stacy Sims and Lynn Le both show different key points on the importance of research on the female body for the advancement of women athletes.
To watch the full TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5LYGzKUPlE&t=805s
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