tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post5012414179103529296..comments2023-10-23T10:30:25.494-07:00Comments on Bea in the Bull City : my first blog post is a doozyBeahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02009151140639905497noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-63354032634871015432009-08-31T17:31:16.211-07:002009-08-31T17:31:16.211-07:00Studies such as this one that have obvious flaws b...Studies such as this one that have obvious flaws but are written in a way that is pallatable to the public are a thinly vailed attempt to chip away at a womans right to choose. This is MORE than just an annoying article that plays on stereotypes of womens negative body image. This is one way to get women to "choose" to stop taking birth control. There are many bogus studies such as this one put out by researchers that are funded by pro-life organizations. I bet if you look into who funded this study you would find a direct link to an anti-choice organization.<br /><br />I know this is a very political and heated point to bring up, but I can't let this go unnoticed.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16892521965162165145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-40472781398348345072009-08-31T17:10:04.020-07:002009-08-31T17:10:04.020-07:00It seems a little silly for me to post a comment n...It seems a little silly for me to post a comment now after so many people have weighed in, but oh well. As Becky has said the study itself does not warrant the response from "media". I use quotes because the worst of it comes from blogs. What I find interesting is that their is no significant difference in strength gain. Becky made a very good point by questioning the dose of birth control used. When you think about it, the lack of muscle gain mass makes sense. What is one way body builders attempt to aid in their bulking up? They do what they can to lower their estrogen levels and raise their testosterone levels. What is the major component of birth control? Estrogen. Don't get me wrong, estrogen is great. It promotes the formation of female secondary sex characteristics, and who doesn't love those? For those who do not know, the study was conducted at Texas A&M. In fact they found that certain pills made muscle gain less likely, such as medium and high androgenic progestins, whose users achieved less than .5 percent gain during the study. <br /><br />My absolute favorite quote from one of the blogs was this: "The young women were on a very aggressive muscle-building campaign; participants exercised three times per week for ten weeks under the supervision of exercise physiologists. They performed a variety of exercises to include chest press, lat pull down, leg extension, triceps extension, arm curl and abdominal crunch. Exercise was done using standard exercise machines and each volunteer performed three sets of 6-10 repetitions per exercise." I do not call that "a very aggressive muscle-building campaign".<br /><br />So, if any of you ladies plan on being in a muscle magazine, you might want to make sure you are on a low dose pill. Otherwise enjoy the fact that you are going to get stronger but not bulk up (I am joking Mandy)Beahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02009151140639905497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-52646997947939030182009-08-31T15:24:39.232-07:002009-08-31T15:24:39.232-07:00go me with the triple post. i accidentally delete...go me with the triple post. i accidentally deleted my last post in an attempt to add to it.<br /><br />that picture is friggin' hilarious becky. what are those, 2.5lb weights? did they use those in the study? <br /><br />and that quote is priceless dori. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13651515620177857816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-10712234312542152582009-08-31T15:21:06.176-07:002009-08-31T15:21:06.176-07:00don't many women aovid weight training because...don't many women aovid weight training because they they have a (unfounded) fear they will wake up looking like a bodybiulder? <br /><br />seems this article would sell OC to some ppl rather than scare them away "Get Strong without the Bulk! (and stay un-pregnant too!)"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13651515620177857816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-49564144910115431912009-08-30T20:22:54.728-07:002009-08-30T20:22:54.728-07:00Dori - that quote is AMAZING...
I actually was ju...Dori - that quote is AMAZING...<br /><br />I actually was just encouraged to dig a little harder than my initial search and uncovered this: <br />http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/43210/title/Birth_control_pills_can_limit_muscle-training_gains<br /><br />It's a more straightforward article and actually goes into a some detail about methodology and the findings. It looks like these are press releases based on a paper presented at a conference in April and the manuscript isn't readily available online yet. While it doesn't address sample selection or the small sample size, it does mention that the type of birth control moderates the overall effect and is definitely much more reasonable with its conclusions.<br /><br />After doing some more research it seems the authors were trying to address differences in muscle building among women and chose to examine oral contraceptives. They have some interesting, but limited, findings that require much more rigorous future research to make any big conclusions (and even then would probably not deter women from using OCs!)...the big issue here are how the media then takes these findings and interprets them...making it a lot harder for us to ferret out what is really going on!Beckyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09939171987135207137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-66872143457046067492009-08-30T19:50:35.924-07:002009-08-30T19:50:35.924-07:00I'm glad you wrote about this. I hadn't r...I'm glad you wrote about this. I hadn't read the article until now, but Bea mentioned it to me last night and I've been irked by it ever since. I'm not sure I even understand the point of the study...as if women who are trying not to have children will actually weigh the potential for greater muscle gains against the chance of having an unwanted pregnancy. I personally think the study is bogus and for all the reasons you mentioned, I don't feel the study is very scientific. My favorite part of the article was this quote:<br /><br />“Numerous health and performance benefits including improved exercise/athletic performance, body composition, esthetic beauty, and self-image can be attained from the increased muscle mass and strength associated with resistance exercise training. OC users may not be able to fully enjoy those benefits ...." <br /><br />I love that three of the four "health and peformance benefits" refer to your physical appearance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276362145925713301.post-86206046611460569432009-08-30T19:48:44.896-07:002009-08-30T19:48:44.896-07:00Becky- Great commentary on this study.. I agree co...Becky- Great commentary on this study.. I agree completely that this research seems to have some significant flaws, including you point about the nonrandom sample selection. If they were not randomly assigned to OC vs non-OC, then there would be many variables that would have to be controlled for in the data analysis. I am definitely interested in reading the full publication to hear more about the specifics! And-what type of scientific study/researcher uses the publication of their results (with questionable validity)as a platform on which to voice their personal opinions?Sarah Glass 205https://www.blogger.com/profile/08179664930557173007noreply@blogger.com