One of the things that female athletes experience that’s different from male athletes is having to deal with the menstrual cycle. What can we do to alleviate some of the things that affect them while training during their period? Is it always a burden or an advantage?

In this episode, we are going to be diving into female athletes' menstrual cycle, how that impacts their training, and how it impacts their performance. 

We are joined by Erica Suter, a female athlete performance coach for 11 years. She works on a female athlete’s speed, strength, conditioning, deceleration, and agility.

Here are some insights to help empower your daughter to use her menstrual cycle to her advantage.

The four phases of our menstrual cycle:

Menstrual phase. It happens within four to seven days of bleeding. And this is the stage when ladies may experience bloating or cramping, mood swings, and exhaustion. It's the stage that many of us dread. 

Follicular phase. This is when estrogen starts to build gradually. It is also when progesterone levels stay low. And this is the stage where she is gradually emerging from menstruation and gaining vitality.

Ovulation phase. And this is the shortest, which is unfortunate since this is when you feel “ready to take on the world”. You're in a social mood. You want to do more sprints. Maybe your testosterone is at an all-time high and you're feeling like a total boss. But, as we all know, this is one of the shortest phases. It typically lasts around four days. Because of the testosterone levels at this time, we urge female athletes to take advantage of strength and power training.

Luteal phase. And this is when all PMS symptoms manifest. So estrogen levels rise again, and anger, weariness, mood swings, poor reaction times in games, and a general sense of being off may ensue. 

It's critical to understand what's going on at each stage so that we can adjust our approach to training and nutrition.

Using birth control pills is the “quick fix” and the pharmaceutical way of dealing with irregular periods.

Before deciding on going for the quick fix there needs to be more education about the lifestyle, the nutrition, the workouts, the stress practices, and the sleep.

Birth control pills create a fake period/ovulation.

I don't want female athletes to go on the pill and then ignore everything else. You have to train to be stronger and to reduce injury during these certain phases. I don't want it to be a thing that causes them to ignore nutrition as well.

You don’t always have to use the pharmaceutical option and risk the pros and cons. All our female athlete needs may be a healthy habit and strong mental capability to be more self-aware.

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Helpful Links:

• Hang out with Erica Suter on social @fitsoccerqueen and learn more about working with her!
• Visit our podcast website for more on this episode
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