Are women’s bodies anomalies in sports? Does a female athlete’s career end with adolescence, motherhood, or menopause? Christine Yu’s answer is a definite “no”.

A sports journalist, Christine has made a name for herself by writing about women athletes and the unique challenges they face for publications like Runner’s World and Outside. On May 16, her first book Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes released from Riverhead Books. Building on her previous work, the book tells the sports science story of the second sex — a story that shows how a field initially focused on enhancing male physical prowess has only recently started catching up on studying the female body, and still has a long way to go.

UP TO SPEED by Christine Yu is an extremely informative text about "The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes." Yu, a lifelong athlete, yoga teacher, and award-winning journalist, begins with a story about her own experiences and remarks, "I've noticed that even as women have excelled in sports, there's an underlying sense that women and their bodies are an anomaly in the athletic world." From there, she goes on to document and discuss important issues like the bias against women in biomedical research. After broadly looking at how discrimination has impacted women in sports, additional chapters focus on specific topics like menstruation, nutrition, and sports gear. Yu reviews changes to women's bodies during adolescence (and pregnancy and menopause), including individual stories like that of Mary Cain. Our student athletes, their parents and coaches will find much of interest in this well-written book. In addition to over 140 interviews, Yu read several hundred scientific papers and roughly twenty percent of UP TO SPEED is devoted to extensive notes which will be tremendously helpful to student researchers.

Review: https://www.sportstoriespress.com/notebook/book-notes-up-to-speed-the-groundbreaking-science-of-women-athletes


Natalie Coughlin, 12-time Olympic medalist for USA Swimming, among many other achievements, used her Instagram account a few weeks ago to ask for audiobook recommendations, particularly nonfiction books. Journalist Christine Yu responded:

"Can I shamelessly recommend my forthcoming book UP TO SPEED: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes? It looks at why women are excluded from exercise physiology & sports science research, the implications of this gender data gap, and how we can build a better, more inclusive system of science and sport. It comes out May 16!"

Coughlin responded that she pre-ordered it on Audible; I also knew this was a must-read for Sport Stories Press.

In Up to Speed, Yu compiles the research on women in sports and, not surprisingly, finds how little research is available about women in general and women athletes in particular. The book is a literature review but written for a general population, full of anecdotes, and some personal experience to keep readers engaged. Yu touches on lack of research for adolescent athletes, pregnant and postpartum athletes, menopausal athletes, and everyday adult athletes — particularly elite and professional athletes, though the insights Yu provides can apply to women athletes of any level.

As an experienced athlete — and one who has done doctoral-level research on perceptions of women in sports and a recently pregnant & postpartum athlete searching for evidence-based research — a lot of this information wasn't new to me; other experienced athletes may discover they have also realized the dearth of evidence-based research to support and enhance their sport journeys. Even for readers who have familiarity with women's sport research (or lack thereof), this book is an excellent compilation of the research and anecdotal evidence of women in sports and is one that I anticipate referencing frequently throughout my own sports journey and while speaking to other women about theirs.

I hope Up to Speed inspires more much-needed sport, sex, and gender research. This is a must-read for women athletes at any level of sport participation as well as sports fans seeking to better understand the contexts in which women train and compete.

Let me preface by stating I am a former female athlete married to a coach of female athletes.

Up To Speed provides broad, well-researched insight to the unique qualities of female athletes. We learn early on about how underfunded research has been that is specific to the development of women athletes and a comprehensive plan for developing healthier bodies from puberty through menopause and beyond. The book should be read by anyone with the responsibility of developing female athletes—or more importantly simply in partnership with women.

At times the book overstates the shortcomings of sports leadership in women’s sports or incidentally misrepresents the timeline for when strategies for women entered practice. This seems to be most consistent with applying assumptions of what might happen with the most elite athletes to the typical athlete—or the most elite coaches to the most typical coaches. This includes a general view that the most elite coaches are ahead of the research curve. On a handful of occasions I found statements about purchase options, training methods, and medical understandings to be misaligned with times or places I experienced them earlier in the timeline or much more profoundly than outlined in the book.

It was disconnected enough for me at times that it feels worth further research and editing being pursued. However, the overarching information provided is important and well put together. Whatever errors I perceived are not errors in fact but in emphasis or timing.