It’s a Balancing Act! Menopausal Symptoms in Competitive Weightlifters

Abstract

Athletes may be unprepared for the onset and duration of menopausal symptoms and how they affect training and competition goals. There are inconsistent results about physical activity and menopausal symptoms, and guidance for athletes is lacking. We aimed to study the reciprocal association of performance and weekly hours of weightlifting training with menopausal symptoms. Women reported the frequency of weightlifting training and additional physical activities, heaviest weight lifted, and menopausal symptoms using the validated Menopausal Rating Scale. An online survey was distributed by national governing bodies in 30 countries to female master weightlifters (ages 30 to 79 yr) in May 2022. Simultaneous equation models were used to provide reliable estimates in the presence of contemporaneous effects. Participants included 868 women, 178 postmenopausal. The proportions of moderate or more severe somato-vegetative symptoms and psychological symptoms were 25.7% and 46.5%, respectively. Better performance, defined as weight lifted relative to age and body weight, was associated with a lower score of menopausal symptoms (−0.51, P < 0.001); worse menopausal symptoms were associated with lower performance (−1.22 for somato-vegetative, −2.19 for psychological; P < 0.001). More hours of weightlifting training were associated with worse menopausal symptoms, whereas more hours of other physical activities were associated with worse somato-vegetative but not with psychological symptoms. Instrumental variables in the model were joint pain and protein tracking. The majority tracked their daily protein intake (62.8%) with a median of 1.9 g·kg−1 body mass. Somato-vegetative symptoms were less prevalent in weightlifters than in the general population. There is simultaneous feedback between sport performance and severity of menopausal symptoms. Athletes must balance training intensity and menopausal symptoms to achieve training goals.