menstruation and female athletes

Do you mean how the monthly cycle affects their ability to compete? Or how training for competition affects their cycle? They're two different things.

grumpifrog said:

I'm working on an article on ways that menstruation affects teenage female athletes, and I would like to talk to parents or women who were once athletes.

You can email me at [email protected]

Thanks,

Sue

Click to expand...

I never competed on that level... but i think most female athlets today use medication to controll the cycle.. and some use shott's that make stop it for 6 months at a time...

I played volleyball and ran track as a teen, and was very competitive. Usually, my cycle affected my training in the beginning just because I was tired during that time and not as motivated as usual. But once I was in shape for competition and had been training, my cycles would stop, and I didn't take any medicine to make them stop, it just happened.

Between the ages of 17-22, I was a competition powerlifter. I worked out with weights, ran, swam and various things three to four hours per day, five days a week. The most noticeable thing that I discovered was that about a week before, I would get cold for a day or two, to the point that my fingers and toes would become numb and it would be harder to train unless I STARTED my workout with a sauna or a dip in the hot tub. Like storygirl, my cyles were quite erratic -- ranging from 28-45 days or sometimes stopping for several months at a time. I'm trying to remember if I ever had an actual competition during. I think so once or twice, because I remember it was difficult to get my weight belt latched into the proper holes because of bloating. It was uncomfortable, but didn't affect my performance.


Does that help any?

I was a track athlete in high school and college and my cycle never affected my abilites or performance. I honestly think the daily workouts helped. I was also very active when off the track. But that experience is from just one athlete. I'm sure there are several stories out there.