It is well known that participating in sports provides many benefits to both males and females, of all ages. Sports can teach us lessons, bring people together, and provide a healthy energetic outlet. For many, sports are a fun extracurricular activity, but for others, sports become a passion that one devotes many hours, weeks, and even years. While the health benefits of participating in sport are immense, in some instances athletes engage in unhealthy behaviors and push their bodies to extremes in pursuit of being the best at their sport.

The Male Athlete Triad is a medical condition characterized by three interrelated conditions: energy deficiency, reproductive suppression, and compromised bone health. The Triad most commonly affects males involved in weight-class sports, sports that emphasize leanness or muscularity, and high endurance sports. Often, sports that emphasize leanness, including aesthetic sports like diving or gymnastics, lead athletes to do whatever they can to achieve the body they believe will get them the scores they want. In sports like wrestling, which fall under the category of weight class sports, athletes tend to engage in unhealthy and dangerous behaviors to drastically cut weight before competitions. With that being said, it’s important to note that the Triad can affect ANYONE, regardless of if they are a high-level athlete or not.

Components of the Male Athlete Triad Explained:

1. Energy Deficiency:

When you aren’t consuming enough calories each day to meet the needs for your level of physical activity, your body goes into a state of energy deficiency. This deficiency leads to your body altering important systems, such as the reproductive system, in an attempt to conserve vital organ processes that are essential to life. An energy deficiency can occur with or without disordered eating, a clinical eating disorder, or inadvertent undereating. In other instances, an energy deficiency may simply be the result of high levels of endurance and aerobic activity.

2. Reproductive Suppression:

An energy deficiency can result in reproductive suppression in the form of reduced testosterone levels, as well as other important sex hormones, abnormal sperm, and reduced sex drive.

3. Compromised Bone Health:

The most serious consequence of the triad is the risk of bone injuries, including stress fractures and shin splints. Those with the triad may experience a weakening of bones, which, in its most serious form, can lead to osteoporosis.

Luckily, the Male Athlete Triad is preventable and often reversible, if caught early, once healthy eating habits are resumed. As an athlete, active person, parent, or coach, you are capable of preventing the triad through education and early intervention. Be aware of warning signs, stay educated, and remember, men, the Triad affects you too.

-Theresa Cwenar, Triad Team Content Creator
Tenforde et al. (2016). Parallels with the female athlete triad in male athletes. Sports Medicine, 46(2), 171-182. 
De Souza, M. J., Koltun, K. J., & Williams, N. I. (2019). What is the evidence for a triad-like syndrome in exercising men? Current Opinion in Physiology, 10, 27-34.