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I've only speed read a pretty densely worded study summation, so I'm dropping this here for a re-read, and for others who might find this interesting. Looking into the emotional and mood dynamics surrounding elevated progesterone - not only naturally occurring, but also supplementally so - it appears that the sensitivity of the amygdala is a real possible factor. As the article suggests, these are very complex mechanisms, and you can't just say that "fear goes up" (for instance it also suggests that the ability to also reassess fear responses, and have control over them, also goes up), but this does possibly coincide with experiences Sylvie has reported in her sparring and training in general. There are times that she will have fear responses that are not cognitively fear driven, as if her body is just responding fearfully, almost independent of her thoughts and conscious beliefs. Or, experiences of physical touch sensitivity, almost a nerveyness, a rawness, not wanting to be touched, but still having to spar. We haven't correlated this to the luteal phase, having just begun looking into this, but...this could be a pretty huge and seldom discussed dimension of emotional shifts of female fighters in training and fighting. You may have one emotional spectrum and sensitivity at Day 8, in the Follicular phase, and a completely different one at Day 20 in the Luteal phase. Some set of events or circumstances at Day 8 may produce one set of mental and physical responses, and quite another at Day 20. And, if you are fighting at a progesterone peak period, knowing that your amygdala and related systems could be heightened, is probably a really important framework to be thinking about, in terms of performance, catch-safes, anticipation, recovery and self-forgiveness (if overcome at times). And, this could also have some bearing on progesterone birth control methods and how they might effect your emotional spectrum, the ability to overcome fear conditions, etc. It's not something as plain and simple as a fighter's concern: Fear goes up during the Luteal phase, as also it is suggested that alertness might go up as well, which may aid in fighting, but if one could have a differing set of criteria of self-judgement, based on where in the cycle one is, and even two (or more) sets of criteria, and skill requirements, for differing areas of the cycle, that may be of real importance. We tend to judge ourselves on a very flat, inflexible scale of perfection. [edit: reading further down in this thread, the amygdala has right and left hemispheres which play different roles. Differing hemispheres in the menstrual cycle are heightened in women, generally it is the left hemisphere which is heightened during the Luteal phase, but not always so] In any case, worth thinking about and reading more into. Progesterone selectively increases amygdala reactivity in women https://www.nature.com/articles/4002030 Edit in: A graphic of the main notes taken from the studies in the thread. It's important to note that these are narrow studies, and women can have the columns or rows reversed, individually based on history or individually. More important maybe is tracking your own pattern. These are just aspects that are hormonally in play.

Another recent Noir take on Muay Thai: photography, this time capturing the Golden Age fighter Pairojnoi striding in a gym.

I've been asking myself that a lot lately, as I keep working on it. I think we all have a 2.0, 3.0, 4.0... onward. It's a way to find a direction you want to develop and just f***ing go for it. For me, the "Sylvie 3.0" model is largely about feeling and the kinds of freedoms and lack of fear/tensions I want as a fighter. Those are really, really hard to accomplish. And there's no blueprint. It's a re-invention but also fixing a lot of bugs, making more efficient, offering better features, etc. to borrow from computer and application terminology. In the process of working toward Sylvie 3.0, I hit up against a lot of the old grooves and habits I have. Those are "bugs" in my system, to me.