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Menstruation-Dispelling Myths with Facts

51% of girls drop out of sports during puberty. So, to reduce this barrier, get comfortable talking about menstruation or bring someone onto your coaching staff who is.
- Before puberty, there is little difference in performance capabilities between genders. Throughout puberty, males increase their testosterone load; they begin to surpass females in power production. Puberty is a difficult time for young female athletes who were once keeping up with male counterparts. How do we normalize this to decrease internalized self-blame?
The App Fitr Woman is a great resource to help individuals track and learn about their period. Here is a podcast for coaches and athletes about menstruation.
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/coach-blog/coachcast-optimizing-physiology-with-stacy-sims/
Wrestling during menstruation is possible. It's even advantageous.
- Physical activity during pre-menstruation can lessen physical discomfort and support mood.
- Within 1-2 days after menstruation begins, the body is at its strongest and continues to be for about 2 weeks due to hormone levels.
What to wear? Some wrestlers choose to wear tampons with pantiliners, pads, menstrual cups, and period-proof underwear. Compression shorts can increase security and comfort. Check out Lucha Fit for period info and much more.
It is essential to understand that during some points in her cycle, a female wrestler can wake up 3-4 pounds heavier due to water weight that would typically shed easily and because of an increase in digestive weight. Tracking, planning, and considering the option of another weight class can reduce weigh-in stress and keep your athlete healthy.
In the high hormone phase, a female athlete is at greater risk of heat stress injuries.
Some forms of birth control can also put an athlete at higher risk for heat stress.
If your athlete’s menstrual cycle stops, talk to your athlete and her parents, and consider sending your athlete to her doctor. Although early puberty involves irregular periods, heavy exercise, and limited nutrition can cause lasting health problems.

Nutrition — It’s not just what to eat; it is the athlete’s relationship to food and body

Consistent fueling, quality nutrition, and hydration are key. Performance Nutritionist Erin Sparrold explains.
- Performance Nutritionist Erin Sparrold Video
Building a healthy, positive relationship with food and nutrition will benefit your athletes’ physical and mental health, allow them to reach their full athletic potential, and support them beyond their time on the mat.
Focus more on the QUALITY of nutrition and less on the calories. Food is a powerful and dynamic multipurpose tool. It is not just calories.
- An athlete who is getting nutrient-dense meals is less likely to feel excessive hunger.
- Calories do matter because fuel matters, but that is just one of many functions of food.
As a coach, you set nutrition standards that will affect your male and female athletes throughout their lifetimes.
Hydration is a key driver to proper nutrition; water follows sodium in the human body; for a successful season, applying re-hydration techniques post-weigh-ins and post-practice/matches are crucial to the recovery process. It is critical to understand that menstruation makes some athletes retain water, which does not translate into being hydrated for competition. So during menstruation, it is not reasonable to sweat off the increased weight; in fact, the body is more susceptible to overheating at this time.

Weight Management

#1 — Pick the appropriate weight for your athletes. Help your athletes understand they are not less of a wrestler if they don’t adopt extreme weight management practices from outdated wrestling culture.
#2 — Adapt your weight-management strategies to support female physiology. Understand that it will take more time to adjust weight in a female athlete.
The emotional relationship between food and body is significant.
- It is common for the scale to determine the mood and sense of self-worth of your female wrestler. As a coach, you can lessen this effect by encouraging your athletes to gauge their success based on how they felt during practice rather than what the scale says.
- Language around food should encourage your athletes to look beyond calories and weight. It is fuel for performance, building material to create performance adaptations, and messengers to help coordinate all the work their body does.
Female bodies react to stress differently than male bodies. An example of this is the ironic struggle where a girl starts to stress about making weight; and, in response to that stress, her body holds on to weight and will not let it go, resulting in further stress for the girl.
Sleep is a critical component of weight management. A female athlete needs 8-9 hours of quality sleep to help her body recover, make training adaptations, and manage hormones that play a key role in weight management.
Over-trained female athletes will struggle to lose body fat and recover muscle. Plan adequate recovery into their training. Two days of recovery is more efficient for female athletes.
For unexplained weight gain, increased adiposity (fat mass), increased fluid storage, increased digestive weight, consider factors that affect hormones such as birth control, stress, or other health conditions.
Consistent adequate hydration is critical for effective weight management.
Female wrestlers are at a greater risk of heat stress. Utilizing hydration shifts to make weight puts them at a greater performance disadvantage than their male counterparts. Their walk-around weight needs to be closer to their competition weight class.
- Sweat out workouts and keeping a sweat going is less efficient in females.
- Your female wrestlers need electrolyte replenishment.
When girls wrestle against boys, the tendency is to cut weight to bridge the biological strength gap. Bridging the strength gap with weight can result in health problems and burn out. Instead, consider the following.
- Work to get girls matches with other girls and support the sanctioning effort in your state.
- Find appropriately matched boys to wrestle your female wrestlers.
- Recognize that technique is a better equalizer than cutting weight.
CORE VALUE: Gage the effort: If more energy is going to weight management than wrestling, rethink your athlete’s weight class.