RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE IN FEMALE ATHLETE RUNNERS, BENIN CITY.

ABSTRACT

Background of the study: The influence of the Menstrual cycle particularly on endurance, speed and fatigability corresponding to variations in levels of estrogen and progesterone in female athletes needs to be investigated as a parameter for developing individualized training plans. There is paucity of research in this area of sport science, hence the need for this study. Aim:The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the variations in hormonal fluctuation during the different phases of menstrual cycle on the, speed endurance and perceived rate of exertion of female athletes Methodology: This was a performance based study that used a convenience sampling technique to recruit 11 eumenohorric female student athlete runners in University of Benin, Benin city. The data was collected using the sprint speed 20 meters test, cooper’s 6 minutes test and borg’s rate of exertion scale.The data was analyzed by statistical analysis using ANOVA with repeated measures The alpha level was set at p < 0.05 Results: There was a significant difference in the endurance of the respondents during the late follicular phase and the ovulation phase (p=0.000). There was a significant difference in the speed of the respondents during the late follicular phase and the ovulation phase (p=0.002). There was no significant difference in the perceived rate of exertion of the respondents during the late follicular phase and the ovulation phase (p= 0.499). The ovulation phase has been shown to produce better results for all tests in contrasts to the other phases. Conclusion: Findings suggest that that natural fluctuations in ovarian hormones across the menstrual cycle can influence both anaerobic sprint ability and aerobic endurance performance in student female athletes. Keywords: menstrual cycle, ,eumenohorreic, female athletes, runners, physical performance