June: Chemical tampons, muscle money …

and a sports bra made of cabbage …

1. Working Well

Where to start?

For starters lets start at the start with new starters who started this week. Please first welcome Jen Tomkins, our new Strategic Partnerships and Growth Lead, who joins from agency land and, in her 15 years in the game, has worked with Google, LEGO, the IOC, Premiership Women’s Rugby and the V&A.

Next up please welcome Gabriella Davies-Heard who’ll oversee projects and client deliveries while Tamara’s off making a delivery of her own. Gabriella’s a long-time consultant for purpose-led businesses oh and she’s also training to become a birth and postnatal doula. Gabriella hopes that working with TWHQ can be her chance to finally try all the sports she never did. Ooft. We’ll keep you posted …

So how many are we now? No one knows. More than three and less than 30,000, which might have been the number of attendees at last week’s Elevate conference. Baz’s on-stage double appearance opened with the line: There’s no future in fitness without building it for women. Squeaky bum time in the audience? Fo shizzle …

Last month we reported that we’re helping Gymbox get their menstrual cycle training project Bloody Good Workout off the ground and, holy hamstrings, it’s an instant hit. The first clutch of sessions was so oversubscribed that Gymbox is now laying on many more BGW classes. Bloody Good Workout? Bloody good show.

Oh last thing, our Guided Coaching Programme is out of the blocks and the Fitness Edition lands real soon. Interested? Sign up here. What, here? No not there. Here.

2. The World at Well

A round-up on spillage, slimming and the spectre of abuse

Boxing’s boob: There’s so much material to support in this section, and yes that’s a sports bra pun as Dr Emma recently attended a boxing event where one fighter’s boob popped out and danced around better than Sugar Ray Leonard. The cause? A sports bra which mightaswelluv been fashioned out of cabbage and dental floss.

Honestly, some sports still don’t get the importance of a well-fitting, high quality sports bra to protect against breast injury, general injury, and embarrassment. It’s also a scientific fact that sports bras boost performance. No brainer much?

Summertime: the push for bikini bods is on and, for many folks, weight loss drugs are a big part of that deal. Okay. We’d simply urge that you don’t pay for your summer wardrobe in lost muscle. If you’re on the drugs it’s crucial you stay active.

Sexual abuse: allegations have once again surfaced in women’s sport with sexual abuse and cultures of silence / rug-sweeping being uncovered in a new sport.

It’s painful but it has to come out and we can’t afford to be naïve. Gymnastics, ballet, swimming and now rowing – it won’t stop here. More dominos will fall. If you’re in any doubt about your sport then please speak up, anonymously if need’s be. Don’t wait until another person’s life changes.

3. SOOO what?

Central London space to celebrate women’s sport

Style of Our Own (SOOO) is a pop-up space celebrating women’s sports from all angles. And it’s open now in the heart of central London…

With watch parties, run clubs, fitness classes, panel events — even indoor football and DJ sets — SOOO offers community, contacts, connections and a world of independent, female-founded sports brands and products all under one roof.

So(oo). If you live in or near London, or you’re heading there this summer, get to 245 Regent Street for a unique experience that literally puts women’s sport on the map.

4. Here Comes the Science Bit

Seven years of harmful exposure?

A recent investigation found that some tampons contain toxic and / or harmful materials. It​ isn’t new news but it bears repeating.

Production techniques can lead to plastics, BPS, perfumes, chemicals, dyes and so on slipping the net before making their way up … the high street. Well, we say slipping the net but there’s no actual net. Tampons aren’t regulated.

Crude maths says that if you use tampons for up to one week per month for the duration of your menstrual years then you’ll literally have a tampon in you for seven and a half years in a lifetime. That’s a lot of potential exposure to nasties and, ‘cos this is women’s health, we natch lack research re the long term implications.

For now we can only recommend that you look at tampon ingredients — the same way you would food — and research anything you’re unsure about. We’d point you towards organic cotton tampons (check out Freya, Hey Girls, TOTM), and away from big pharma brands as transparency hasn’t always been their strong suit.

Sigh. Yes – the fact organic products deliver more peace-of-mind is problematic. It puts safety out of reach for those on a budget and asks that women pay a further premium on top of the just being female premium. The solve is simple though: regulation for tampons. Seven and half years folks – we’re not asking for the moon.

5. Medical BS

Why have the rules changed on cervical screenings?

Dr Bella says: Great question. Cervical screenings have gone from every three to every five years, but for once this is good news.

Cervical screenings link to the Human Papilloma Virus, which is basically warts. There are roughly 100 strains of warts and although we clear most easily, three or four strains are harder to clear and are therefore linked to cancer.

Until 2019, screenings specifically looked for precancerous cells, meaning we’d spot problems only after they’d become problems. From 2019 the approach changed and rather than hunting precancerous cells we instead focused on the patient’s HPV status, which was found to be a much more effective way of assessing not only your cancer risk now but your cancer risk in future too.

EU studies back up the new approach and it’s a win from multiple sides. With no less efficacy we can push back unpopular and unpleasant cervical screenings and allow the NHS to be more efficient; to filter out non-carriers so we can claw back time and resource to provide bespoke care to those at greater risk.

To finish, I’ll say that while the timeline has increased it’s still so, so, so important you attend your screenings. If you’re sitting on a letter or text then please just book your appointment. Screening really does save lives.