“Women are not small men.”
Dr. Stacy Sims famously coined that phrase concerning the lack of exercise, nutrition, and medical research specific to the female body. The idea that you can “shrink it and pink it” in women’s sports has met its long-overdue demise. This shift in perspective is further emphasized by the growing adoption of menstrual cycle tracking.
Menstrual cycle tracking provides a wealth of knowledge and data that can help sports practitioners better provide personalized care. Athletes no longer shy away from discussing their cycles and phases and the impact on training and performance. Elite organizations in women’s sports are embracing menstrual cycle tracking as a critical component of optimizing an athlete’s training.
Jump to:
- The Benefits of Tracking Menstrual Cycle in Elite Sport
- A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Teamworks AMS Menstrual Cycle Monitoring Workflow
- Additional Best Practices
- Elite Sports Organizations Optimizing Performance with Menstrual Cycle Tracking
The Benefits of Tracking Menstrual Cycle in Elite Sport
Tracking an athlete’s menstrual cycle can help identify health issues and minimize the risks involved with:
- Amenorrhea (lack of a menstrual cycle)
- Bone Density
- Optimal Iron Status
- Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome*
- Injury
- Pregnancy
- Menopause
The above are all common health concerns for female athletes related to the menstrual cycle and associated hormones, which can affect short-term and long-term performance.
The other significant benefit is optimizing athlete training and, thereby, performance potential. With athlete-specific data, sports practitioners, coaches, and staff can consider strategic and personalized planning in response to cycle-related information to:
- Maximize strength & power training sessions
- Manage aerobic and anaerobic loading
- Understand skill transitions and risks
- Minimize stress response and illness
*Pro Tip: With the integration between Teamworks AMS and Teamworks Nutrition, understanding and managing the relationship between menstrual cycles, energy intake and performance is easier than ever.
A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Teamworks AMS Menstrual Cycle Monitoring Workflow
With Teamworks AMS, all athlete health and performance data can be consolidated into one flexible analytics platform designed to provide integrated high-performance teams with a holistic view of athletes.
Human Performance Expert and Teamworks Senior Solutions Consultant Alistar Inglis shares an inside look at an example of a menstrual cycle monitoring workflow in Teamworks AMS. He explains how AMS can track and overlay different pieces of information and data for female athletes, such as cycle day, phase, symptoms, flow, wellness metrics, and physical performance metrics.
This workflow can be customized and configured based on individual organization’s requirements. By gathering more data, organizations can better understand an athlete’s cycle and predict future phases.
Additional Best Practices
1. Educate – Train staff and athletes on the importance of female health and its associated effects on performance and risk.
2. Gather – Administer comprehensive, tailored questionnaires during medical screenings.
3. Personalize – Allow sports practitioners 1-on-1 time with athletes to gather more information and provide tailored guidance.
4. Strategize – Create a strategy for decision-making in response to flagged data points and injury indicators.
Elite Sports Organizations Optimizing Performance with Menstrual Cycle Tracking
Teamworks AMS supports elite sports organizations, like NWSL, WNBA, and AFLW teams, to track specific metrics related to menstruation through their highly customized AMS.
Let’s talk – Learn how to better optimize performance based on your athlete’s menstrual cycle today. Contact us here.
Stay tuned for more information on how our partners use this feature and how members of the sport performance interdisciplinary each play a key role in optimizing performance with menstrual cycle tracking.
