Promoting Positive Body Image in Sport
My story
I’ve reflected a lot on body image ever since my volleyball career ended in 2019. It’s only recently that I’ve started coming to terms with the changes my body has made. Forgive me for how vain this might sound, but when volleyball first ended, I was terrified of losing my six-pack. I'll even admit that this fear is one of the reasons I became a personal trainer.
In high school, I relished the metabolism of my teenage years. Sure, I was self-conscious about my body, but if anything, I sometimes felt like a party trick for having the abs of a bodybuilder. It wasn't until college that I first took notice of my weight and fat percentage.?Unhealthy dietary and exercise habits soon followed.
It was after spring season testing and my strength coach called me into his office. The conversation was short and sweet. He basically said I gained too much fat and I needed to watch my diet. He might have given me some dietary advice, but all I remember hearing was my new fat percentage: 23%. I also remember I wasn’t offended; he meant no harm and I continued to enjoy his training sessions and mentorship in the future. At the time, I simply saw losing weight as a good summer project.
That summer after my second season, I lost an extreme amount of weight (about 10KG/ 22LB in the span of 2 months). Thanks to intermittent fasting and the keto diet, I was the slimmest I had ever been. I loved seeing the number on the scale go down. To make matters worse, I was working out at least 2 times a day during a time that was meant for recovery.?Most people noticed how slim I got but they didn't think anything of it. Athletes are supposed to be healthy, right?
Looking back, I had other things going on in life that probably contributed to that behavior. My parents divorced for one thing. Regardless of what was going on, working out and eating "right" felt good. I was proud of myself for being disciplined and losing weight so quickly. I found comfort in the fact that I had the "skills" and knowledge to do this.
I would never have to worry about gaining weight again. Silly, I know, but that's where my head was at.
Not surprisingly, I injured myself in the upcoming pre-season - a pulled bicep. I knew immediately what contributed to the injury, but I didn’t tell anyone of it. I was ashamed; Deep down, I knew my eating habits and excessive working out was alarming. The injury that kept me out for almost two weeks was a reality check. I was lucky it was just pre-season. Thankfully, I had the self-awareness to eat more food and not rush my recovery.
I didn't realise it at the time, but this experience left me with an intense fear of gaining weight and those summer habits reappeared later as a retired athlete.
My experience is not unique.
You can prevent this!
As a coach or trainer, you should familiarize yourself with the warning signs of EDs. They also need to be confident enough for appropriate intervention. There are screening tools athletic trainers can administer like the Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) clinical assessment, which evaluates the presence or absence of ED symptoms to determine if an athlete is at low, medium, or high risk of relative energy deficiency.
Warning signs and screening tools aside, there are four practices you can implement to consistently promote positive body image to athletes.
1. Help athletes discover their identity apart from sport.
In my first year as a retired athlete, I forgot who I was, what I was good at, or what I even liked to do besides play volleyball competitively. This was when my fear of gaining weight was at its highest.
To help prevent this, athletes should start figuring out who they are apart from sports before their career ends. At the end of each season, athletes can reflect on questions like the following as to not end up mistaking their athlete title for their identity.
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2. Monitor your language when speaking about weight.
Recording weight and fat measurements can be a tricky business, let alone having a conversation about it. For some sports, there's no getting around it. If you're to take these measurements, it should only be out of necessity for the sport, or because performance measures have dropped. If performance has gone down or hasn't improved to a certain standard, then this might warrant looking into weight as a factor.
If an athlete has gained (or lost) too much weight, then be mindful of your language. As coaches, we're often taught that external cues can be more effective than internal cues. The same type of thinking can be applied to conversations about weight. Take these two examples:?
Coach A: “You have gained some weight over the last two months and your jump performance has gone down. You need to get back to [previous weight] by the start of next season”
Coach B: “Your jump performance has gone down. I think we should take look at some dietary changes to help you improve your jump performance”
While Coach A's focus was weight loss (internal), Coach B's focus was nutrition (external). Coach B also provides a more welcoming environment for the athlete to ask questions about nutrition. This brings me to my third point.
3. Educate all athletes on performance-based nutrition. ?
The reality is this: for how much athletes rely on their bodies, they don't understand enough about nutrition and its effects on performance and recovery. There are too many athletes relying on supplements, and counterproductive diets to fuel their performance out of pure ignorance or pressure to please.?
Not all sports teams can have a dietitian, but a course or workshop on performance-based nutrition can help eliminate an athlete's confusion surrounding diet. Taking a nutrition course should be a requirement for all athletes in both high school and their first college season. Another class can even be taken at the end of an athlete's career so they can understand how to adjust their diet for different lifestyles and general well-being.
4. Prepare athletes for changes.
As dumb as it might sound, I genuinely thought I could maintain the athletic body of my college years forever. This thinking led me to skip out on meals and intensify my training for fear of weight gain.?
The reality is that changes within the body are normal and will happen for the rest of our lives. Exercise and diet aren’t the only factors that affect these changes. Stress, hormones, age, menstruation, and even the seasons can all play a role in weight fluctuations. As a coach or trainer, you have the power to help athletes get comfortable with these simple truths.
References
1.?????El Ghoch, Marwan et al. “Eating disorders, physical fitness and sport performance: a systematic review.”?Nutrients?vol. 5,12 5140-60. 16 Dec. 2013.
2.?????Greenleaf, C., et al. “Female Collegiate Athletes: Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating Behaviors”. Journal of American College Health, vol 57(5), 489-496. 2009.??
3.?????Kato, K. et al. “Body image disturbances in NCAA Division I and III female athletes.”?The sport journal?vol 14. 2011.
4.?????Sundgot-Borgen, et al. “Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Elite Athletes Is Higher Than in the General Population,” Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine Vol 14, 1 - p 25-32. Jan 2004.
5. Vaughan, Jennifer L. et al. “Collegiate Athletic Trainers' Confidence in Helping Female Athletes With Eating Disorders.”?Journal of athletic training?vol. 39,1 (2004): 71-76.