Up to Speed by Christine Yu

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.