The Female Body pt.1
For the longest time, sport science didn’t differentiate between the male and female body. When I say “the longest time,” I literally mean until 2001– prior to that, all sports science studies were done mainly on men. The numbers were then shrunk down to “fit” the female body.
This means that nearly everything we know about sports science– including all the information from my personal training license!- isn’t female specific. It doesn’t take into account certain female hormones, the reproductive system, or a menstrual cycle. That’s a huge huge chunk of biology that people have no idea about.
As a personal trainer who loves to learn (and has a female body…!) I do my best to stay educated beyond just my personal training license. Here are some things I have learned about training women…
Intensity is cyclical, not linear.
Depending on where a biological female client is in their cycle, the intensity of their workouts has to vary. The female body can lift heavier, run faster, workout longer during the ovulatory phase of the cycle, and will often need lower-impact training towards the menstrual phase.
Women last longer (;
The female body has more “slow-twitch” muscles than the male body does– women do very well in long-distance running and workouts that require holding positions for long periods of time. That makes barre and pilates great options for women! (side note: Outside of hungry hippie, I’m a barre instructor and I love it.)
Sports bras matter
Did you know that every increase in cup size adds an average of 4-8 minutes to a women’s marathon time? Anyone can work out effectively without the right shoes, but it’s literally impossible for the female body to move efficiently without the right sports bra or compression garment.
Learning more about training women makes me so much more passionate about my job and the clients that I serve…
Representation in sports and representation in science are equally important to keeping women healthy on a systematic and individual level. Go run like a girl!
