Welcome back to our Women in Climbing Series! Today, we’re going to focus more on the physiological impacts of being a woman in climbing. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a lot of conclusive data on this subject, and it appears that these studies use data from cisgender females, and distinguish between them by activity levels and birth control usage. Using this NIH article, I will do my best to explain the relationship between menstruation and athletic performance. However, I am neither a doctor nor a biologist, and so for more detailed information, visit the article and/or a medical professional.
Here is a plot from NIH depicting the 5 phases of a menstrual cycle (MC):
Phase by phase, we’ll discuss some relevant findings.
- Menstrual/Early Follicular Phase (Days 1-5):
- Hormones: lower/stable
- Perception: Athletes feel like they have poorer performance and they feel like they fatigue sooner. It is possible that these feelings are caused by lower serotonin levels during this phase.
- Higher Performance: aerobic
- Lower Performance: strength
- Late Follicular Phase (Days 6-13):
- Hormones: increased estrogen
- Perception: Athletes feel like they have more energy.
- Higher Performance: grip strength (dominant hand); stamina/endurance
- Lower Performance: anaerobic
- Ovulation (Days 13-15):
- Hormones: peak estrogen and testosterone
- Perception: Athletes feel like they have more motivation to workout, which may also explain some of the increases in performance.
- Higher Performance: power; coordination/reaction time; strength; anaerobic
- Lower Performance: endurance
- Luteal Phase (Days 16-28):
- Hormones: elevated estrogen and progesterone
- Perception: Athletes feel like they have lower performance, partially because of their menstrual symptoms (e.g., fatigue, pain). Similar to phase 1, this could also be explained by lower serotonin levels.
- Higher Performance: increased fat burning
- Lower Performance: decrease carb burning; strength; aerobic
This is all based of a review of several studies. The main takeaway after reading this review is that we still hardly know anything about how MCs affect women. Many studies did not gather enough data, but even so, many studies contradicted each other. While it may be because we don’t understand women’s menstruation very well, it seems that women’s bodies and cycles vary greatly. There isn’t a clear cut answer (yet) to how MCs affect athletic performance in women, but hopefully we will chip away at it through greater quality and quantity of studies.
thedihedral.com 
a huge subject….amongst our runners as well….for some reason it’s become a focus (I coach? and yeah, it’s a must know and understand thing)…Roar has become my constant companion..as well a couple of folks I use over and over again
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Any interesting finds?
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I could write a book!……one thing I found interesting was how females go to energy comes from fat, us, glycogen…and how where fat is stored in different places until menopause…hydration requirements are different, but the one huge take away, a similar book on us guys could be a pamphlet, for women, like a encyclopedia…how women are expected to look and what especially those sponsored athletes have to do to maintain that look…it’s insane, Nike actually considered pregnacy an injury….but, the most interesting, a test was done on male bike racers, they were injected with estrogen…sweated less, became fat burners, fewer postrace markers of muscle damage….good that you brought the topic up, I don’t think it’s not talked about enough, I think a subject all coaches should at least be aware of, and even a lot of women struggle with trying to navigate this topic, because, well, a lot of information is based on the belief that women are just small men
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My mom (back in 1965) refused to sign a permission slip for me to go to Olympic Training camp (middle distance runner) because “running will keep you from having babies.” I was 13. I didn’t want to have babies. I wanted to run. I know that was a long time ago, but there is so much “overcoming” still to do in the realm of women athletes. I’ve even given some thought to paleolithic people and the incredible athleticism demanded of everyone … oh well.
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women and sports has a horrible history, and knowledge is catching up…..now it seems the attention women with higher amounts of testosterone then others has become an issue…have no idea how that’s going to be dealt with…..is it unfair? I don’t think so, but does that even need to be addressed?
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We’re in weird times, but there was a time in the 60s? 70s? When Soviet woman athletes who got testosterone shots were the subject of debate? Comment? Outrage? Now trans-athletes… I’m glad it’s not my job to figure all this out. A philosophy teacher I knew once said that life isn’t fair, “fair is for soccer” and while that’s helpful in a lot of situations (broken hearts, death of loved ones) it doesn’t help here.
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I would get cramps when I would run! I wouldn’t swim! And, I couldn’t horseback ride.
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That sounds frustrating!
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Fixed all that with Mirena. The much bigger obstacle to my limbing is my kids…
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Until they become pro climbers, that is. 😎
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I will definitely share this with my sister!!
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