All teenage girls have probably experienced some kind of embarrassment at school, doing physical education exercises when they were on their period. Fearing that the pad might not do its job, feeling clumsy and pretty far from athletic.

Perhaps, though, those experiences belong to the past – and for good. Yes, because one of the world’s sports apparel top brands (a real giant of the sector, Nike) has crushed this umpteenth taboo: practising sports and the menstrual cycle are by no means incompatible. On the contrary, it is quite possible to train and optimise your energies based on the menstrual cycle phase you’re going through, so as to focus on a physical activity that is compatible with that very phase.

The Nike Training Club app now features the “Cycle Syncing Training Collection”, designed together with physiologist Stacy Sims. Nike and Dr. Sims studied the needs and desires of sports women, seen as their requests are seldom acknowledged by sports brands.

Nike chose to work with Dr. Sims (author of the book Roar) because she pointed out, several times, that the offer of technical sports apparel and training schedules – originally very much focused on men – is somehow adapted to women just by making the items “smaller and pink” and adding the “for women” label, rather than creating a brand new, tailor-made item. And that was the starting point of the “Cycle Syncing Training Collection”.

We hope this shall be just one of many steps that will pave the way for a more gynocentric offer in all fields of daily life.