For a while now I’ve been meaning to put together a comprehensive piece on women and fitness. As most of you are aware, I am a man, and I base a lot of my fitness and nutrition advice on my own personal experiences. As most you are also aware, men and women are different, so my personal experience won’t always translate into proper advice for women. For the record, the information contained in this 2-part series comes from scouring the web (research papers, blogs, interviews, etc.) as well as anecdotal evidence from some female lifters that I know personally. Again, I can’t draw from my own personal experiences, so I did my best to find the highest quality information to share with my female audience. Let’s start with the basics:
As usual, there is nothing we can’t learn from Arnold. With the basics out of the way, let’s talk fitness and nutrition.
Why women shouldn’t train like men
First of all, I think the phrase “train like a man” is absolutely comical. If you trained like the majority of men, you’d be weak, with pathetic legs, overworked biceps and an inflated sense of self-worth. Most men have no idea what they’re doing at the gym, so please, don’t try to train like a man. Train like a woman- train smart, train efficiently, and train with a passion. Training men is a pain in the ass, because most men want big vanity muscles and little functionality, whereas women tend to see the big picture: a balanced body is a beautiful body.
Semantics aside, there are some major differences between men and women when it comes to training, and most of this can be attributed to hormones. Men have high levels of testosterone, making it relatively easy to add and maintain muscle mass; fat is predominately in the abdomen. Women have high levels of estrogen and progesterone, making it difficult to add muscle mass; females tend to have smaller waists, with fat being stored on the hips, thighs and breasts. In general, women with relatively higher levels of estrogen tend to store more fat around the hips and thighs, whereas high levels of progesterone can lead to larger breasts (although this is less indicative). Testosterone levels in men rarely fluctuate, but women experience monthly hormone fluctuations due to their menstrual cycles. These fluctuations have a large effect on how women look, function and feel, and also alter fat-burning, fat-storage and muscle-building properties of the female body.
And both with make you fat; especially when combined!
Cortisol and insulin also play a huge role in the regulation of female sex hormones. If cortisol and insulin are out of control, estrogen and progesterone levels will be negatively affected and manipulation of these hormones for effective fat-loss and muscle-building will be futile. A quick reminder: cortisol is a stress hormone, and will be elevated in the body in times of stress, lack of sleep, etc. Insulin is the hormone responsible for regulation of blood sugar; carbohydrate intake is the largest factor affecting insulin levels. Cortisol and insulin levels can be largely manipulated by nutrition and lifestyle intervention. What compounds the equation is that cortisol and progesterone are created in the female body from a common precursor (pregnenolone). In times of stress, pregnenolone is largely converted into cortisol, leading to lowers levels of progesterone. Lower levels of progesterone will equate to relatively higher levels of estrogen, which will increase the amount of fat stored (especially in the thighs and hips), especially when carbohydrates in the diet are high (read: when insulin levels are high). In other words, too much stress will have many negative side-effects: poor fat-burning, increased fat-storage, poor muscle-building, poor libido, decreased mood, etc.
Additionally, as women do not have high levels of testosterone, it is human growth hormone (GH) in the female body that predominantly leads to muscle-building/body-toning/fat-burning (and is therefore the closest thing that women have to reproduce the effects of testosterone has in men). You know what keeps GH high in women? Lifting weights, eating high-quality protein sources, and sleep. That’s it. You know what prevents women from the benefits of elevated GH levels? Lots of cardio, lots of carbs, and lack of sleep. Those are the facts.
Finally, women tend to be more flexible and mobile than men, and can handle more frequent training sessions (women recover faster than men because they are not as strong and tend not to tax their muscular and nervous systems as much during training). Women should therefore spend a greater percentage of their workout time on strength work take advantage of their quicker recovery time by training more often.
But I don’t want to get bulky!
To quote a good friend of mine:
“Women worrying that lifting weights will make them bulky is like me shooting some hoops and thinking I’m going to the NBA.”
This honestly puts things in perfect perspective. Honestly ladies, I’ve been lifting very seriously for 10 years, for the most part trying extremely hard to get bigger, and it’s damn-near impossible- and I’m a man, with (supposedly) high levels of testosterone. You are not even hormonally equipped to put on muscle mass!!! Unless your birth control pill is laced with anabolic steroids, it will be next to impossible for you to get “bulky”. This seriously drives me crazy. You are a woman. You have high levels of estrogen. Good luck putting on muscle mass. Furthermore, lifting heavy weights for low reps builds strength, not mass. Lifting lighter weights for 8-12 reps is the scientifically proven way to grow bigger muscles. Lift heavy, for low reps, and you’ll blast through fat without adding “bulky” muscles. You know what will make you bulky?…
Bingo.
What other factors are there to consider?
Everyone is an individual, and every woman will have different hormonal levels and patterns and some will be more prone to increased cortisol levels than others. I have read about women getting “burned out” if they train weights for longer than 60 minutes. Then again, I know some competitive weight lifters who train with serious weights for 3-4 hours without any issues. As with anything else, there will be individualized effects.
Aside from this, there are two major issues for women that can affect hormones and training results: birth control and menopause. From what I can find, the effect of birth control is extremely variable and the jury is out on how it really affects training results. There are several different kinds of birth control on the market, but all of them are in essence, a manipulation of the body’s natural hormonal state (the medication usually contains estrogen and/or progestin). My findings have been slim, but here is what I could dig up:
- Almost all forms of birth control lead the unwanted storage of fat. Progestin-only pills show a greater tendency toward weight gain.
- Birth control tends to correlate with higher cortisol levels (not surprising, considering the unwanted fat-storage)
- It is harder to put on lean muscle mass while on birth control
Long story short, it seems as though birth control is a small hindrance to losing body fat. If this is a major issue for you, please discuss it with your physician.
In regards to menopause, I’m really no expert. When menopause hits, progesterone levels drop, libido drops and fat begins to accumulate around the midsection instead of being predominantly stored in the hips/thighs/breasts. The only way to battle these symptoms (aside from hormone replacement therapy, progesterone creams, etc.) is to be vigilant with nutrition and exercise intervention, as I will discuss below.
NOTE: Training during menses has shown to have some ill-effects on performance (strength is sometimes compromised, bloating and cramps can lead to issues, etc.), but activity should not be halted during this time of the cycle.
With all this in mind, how should women eat and train?
Well, if you’ve been following my other posts, the advice is still pretty similar. Here are the nuts and bolts:
Stop jogging/running long distances often: For countless reasons. This type of exercise increases cortisol levels, depletes GH and progesterone stores, eats through muscle and has little-to-no positive effects on the female body. You don’t have to stop running completely, but it must be minimized. High-intensity training (HIIT) should have a larger role.
Weight training is paramount: Hormone regulation (GH production) = fat-burning = look amazing. No more “skinny-fat”. This is the number one most important take-home point for menopausal women, as weight training will increase GH (helping to burn fat), but will also strengthen bones and ward off osteoporosis and improve overall quality of life.
Low-carb is king: If you control your insulin, you can control your sex hormones, and you can control your fat storage. The type and amount of carbs will vary based on several factors, but in general, carbs will need to be low.
Protein and veggies: High-quality protein sources (again, restoring GH levels) and lots of fiber and micronutrients will give your body the fuel it needs, without the fat to store.
Sleep, sleep, sleep: The best way to keep cortisol at bay and increase GH is to get as much sleep as possible. Less cortisol = more GH and more control of sex hormones = happier, healthier, and beautiful.
That’s it for Part 1! In Part 2, I’m going to cover specifics, including a dietary and nutritional breakdown, how to train optimally for fat-loss and muscle tone, and how to optimize your training program around your hormonal peaks and valleys.
For more information on women and weights, you know how to find me!
- DW
