Men vs Women
"Women are not small men" - Dr. Stacy T Sims
For years we have been told female athletes are inferior to males in terms of strength, speed and performance, this is like comparing apples with mice. Human performance has been researched for years and the test subjects, they have all been men. Women are starting to be seen as a separate and equally interesting subject which gets exciting for us ladies :)
The female menstrual cycle can be thought of as an underlying expression of a female’s health. Do you get your period? And is it regular? It can be a useful monitoring tool to increase performance, prevent illness and injuries if you know what you are looking for.
Compromise of the female reproductive system can indicate the athlete has a low bone density or even RED-S (also known as 'the female athlete triad’). If left un-diagnosed leads to stress fractures, shin splints, persistent hip pain, energy availability (all performance inhibiting) and most of all can have undesirable long term effects.
Let us take a look at the cycle, it is broken up into 2 main phases follicular and luteal, each lasting approximately 2 weeks in length (this can different from person to person). The luteal phase is considered the high hormone phase where Estrogen and Progesterone are on the rise and women are more compromised.
What effects can high hormones have on training?
Mood changes and mental capacity to focus.
Thermoregulation, your body has a delayed response to stabilize core temperature holding in heat before we sweat, altering our perception to heat stress tolerance.
Estrogen spares carbohydrates so you can’t hit intensities, impeding your performance.
Progesterone increases lean muscle mass loss, therefore increases the risk of injury.
The good news is this can all be supported through nutrition, for example increasing or decreasing the number of carbohydrates you intake at different points of your cycle can alleviate some performance impacts. Find yourself a good sports dietician to help guide you on food intake that supports your cycle.
Author – Head Coach Amanda Moore