Health And Physical Success Of Female Athletes

Exercise endocrinologist Dr Nicola Keay leads this week with her insightful lecture on female hormonal health through the life phases, plus live workshop interaction..

Lecture content

Week 1 begins by introducing the foundation concepts of exercise physiology and endocrinology, along with a consideration of imbalances that can occur along the way.

Topics covered include:

• Understanding a woman’s hormones: Exploring the building blocks of female athlete physiology, and recognising the importance of ‘balance’ for the health of female hormones and the delicate rhythm they maintain.
• The pre-puberty phase: Understanding pre-natal programming, hormones for growth and development, and healthy and timely menarche.
• Menstrual cycle irregularities: Consideration of luteal and follicular phases, common issues such as painful periods, polycystic ovaries, amenorrhoea or dysmenorrhoea, and the impact of over-exercising and/or under-eating.
• Perimenopause and menopausal transition: Supporting masters athletes when their hormones are in a big state of flux, and potentially an increased chance of weight gain. Considerations include dietary levels of protein intake, increasing rest days, incorporating strength training for muscle and bone strength, and potential use of HRT.

Registered Nutritional therapist and former international pole-vaulter, Henrietta Paxton, leads this week with her highly informative lecture on nutrition strategies for fertility, pregnancy, lactation, and weaning, tailored specifically to active and athletic women, including live workshop interaction.

Lecture content

Increasing numbers of couples, including those who are “healthy” and physically active, are experiencing challenges with conception. In this lecture, Henrietta explores how tailored nutrition and lifestyle interventions can help optimise outcomes for both mother and baby: supporting fertility preparation, pregnancy health, breast-feeding success and return to training.

Topics covered include:

• Fertility – preparing for a healthy pregnancy: Understanding how energy availability, micronutrient status, stress and training load influence ovulation and conception, with practical nutrition and lifestyle strategies to optimise hormonal balance and reproductive outcomes.
• Pregnancy – health in the athletic mum: Exploring physiological changes and increased nutrient demands to support maternal adaptation and foetal development, with guidance on nourishing the body, while maintaining safe activity levels.
• Lactation and weaning: Nourishing the exercising mum during breast feeding for healthy milk supply, challenges that can be encountered, plus appropriate and healthy initial weaning foods for the baby.
• Training and competition around pregnancy: Applying evidence-informed (and sensible) modifications to training loads and recovery across the phases of preconception, pregnancy and lactation, alongside personalised nutrition support for longterm health and performance.

Natural chef, health coach, and ex-international triathlete, Rachel Jesson, leads this week with her inspirational lecture on harnessing the power of food during the life phases of a female athlete.

Lecture content

This lecture explores specialised cooking approaches that maximise the functional benefits of food, helping to deeply nourish the body systems of female athletes. Rachel moves through key life stages with practical guidance on preparing meals for pre-pubertal, often picky eating, young athletes; menstruating athletes (including pregnancy and lactation); and masters athletes navigating the menopausal transition. A bonus lecture on the genetics of the oestrogen lifecycle highlights the value of personalised nutrition strategies.

Topics covered include:

• Natural cookery for young female athletes: Building on Nicky’s lecture about the nutritional requirements of young athletes, Rachel offers targeted nutritional and culinary strategies for this age group. Meals must be wholesome, nutrient-dense, and appealing for selective eaters, while remaining practical and adaptable around training sessions and competition schedules.
• Natural cookery for the pregnant athlete: Expanding on Henrietta’s comprehensive lecture covering fertility, pregnancy, lactation, and weaning, Rachel translates nutritional science into everyday practice with simple, nourishing meal ideas to support both active mothers and developing babies.
• Natural cookery for the menopausal athlete: Further developing Nicky’s discussions of the menopausal life stage in female athletes, Rachel addresses gut and hormonal health through a practical, food-first culinary approach that supports strength, recovery, and long-term wellbeing.
• Genetics of the oestrogen lifecycle: Looks at how oestrogen is metabolised and cleared within the body, including the roles of methylation, sulphation, and inflammation, and how balance can be influenced by interactions with other steroid hormones, with downstream effects on bone and muscle density.

Your learning is now flipped from a state of expert-led presentation to participant-led discussion, where you will tap into your prior life learning and experiences, along with that of your peers, to move towards ‘action’ steps of professional development before departing from this module. 

• You will firstly be asked to reflect on what you already knew about female athlete health and nutrition before the beginning of this module. I.e. what did you already bring into the classroom?
• As a team, you’ll then be asked to question what aspects of your thinking were potentially challenged and modified by your recent study of health and physical success of female athletes.
• Finally, you’ll be asked to consider how you might now think and act differently as you carry your collective knowledge forwards with you towards the action steps of working with exercising female clients.
• Done well, this kind of workshop amasses the knowledge and experience of the whole group in addition to what has already been learned from the lecturers.

Module assignment

In a concise 1000 words, you will be asked to write a flowing essay on a case study of a female athlete, or active individual, who has a goal of improving certain aspects of their female health and physical performance. Honouring the professional practice style of your base career, you’ll look to incorporate learnings from this module in your case description and intervention strategies.