Sporting Women - knowing your physiology will make you faster

Dr Sims is the world-leading expert on Female Physiology and Nutrition.

Women are different. And in sport, that difference should be part of our training programme, our lifestyle and our sport psychology. As Dr Sims said in her TED talk - women are not small men.

Stacy's slides are viewable at this link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GUoIiYB1dpUd58vjqLSJH0oBzy2h5RKr/view?usp=sharing

After hearing Dr Sims you will be more aware of your physiology, understand your menstrual cycle and hormonal contraception and how this affects your training, performance, immunity and recovery.

Stacy will also explain LEA and how to avoid it.

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ROAR. How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life

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Faster Masters Rowing announces the launch of the Faster Five the key concepts you need to learn before mastering rowing and sculling for masters.

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Kanghua single for sale

The team at Kanghua has a single scull available for sale. It’s an all carbon Spirit design for athletes weighing 60-65 kilogrammes. You can trial a Spirit single scull near your home club by contacting Eric Sims

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Timestamps to the Show

02:30 Stacy's background in sport rowing and a sport science career

05:30 Myths and Generalisations about women in sport

08:00 Overview of sport science up to the 80s and the background to phrases like Girl pushups and Throw like a girl.

09:00 Female sex hormones affect every system in your body from puberty onwards

12:00 Difference cue angles in the young female athlete with the wider pelvis and shoulder girdle

14:00 Phases of the ovarian cycle pre-menopause. Ovulation makes you feel bullet proof and high training loads are possible.

19:00 Understanding which contraceptive pill someone is on affects your sporting performance

21:00 Intermittent fasting and keto diet trends. How you eat around your training has great effects Women have a greater calorific need than ,en.

27:00 If you lose your monthly periods it's a sign of endocrine dysfunction. You are not a healthy athlete. less than 30 calories per kilogramme of fat fee mass per day or FFM

32:00 GAS - the stress response system. It responds and then fatigues.

34:00 Cycles fluctuate between 23 and 40 days for menstruation as a normal response to stress.

37:00 Working with the menstrual cycle you can use the app www.wild.ai It learns from your data and recommends interventions around your race events

39:00 Research in menopausal women - peri menopause where you get more estrogen dominance is the 4 years prior affects your body composition where biggest changes happen.Many epigenic changes happen. First reduce long slow distance work and emphasise heavy resistance training and increase higher intensity work and plyometrics. Glucose control and when lean mass development and recovery when they flatline or the ratios of each change, you need an alternative to stress. You have to challenge the body post menopause - the longer you go the slower you become. Use the stressors from exercise and specific nutrition dosing to get what estrogen and progesterone hormones used to do for you.

Buy Stacy's book

ROAR. How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life

https://amzn.to/3dKQbSb

Amazon affiliate link

QUESTIONS that Stacy answered

- What's the best way to fix it if you lose your period - Eat more and stop training until your periods come back. Eat food before every workout and especially if training over 90 minutes duration, eat during exercise too. You need 30-40 grammes of protein after exercise within 30 minutes.

- Low Energy Availability LEA is key to female athlete health. First fuel around your training sessions. Then add an afternoon snack to up your calories.

- Sleep - eating within 2 hours of bedtime you significantly impact your sleep quality. REM and blue light filters and sleep hygiene are also important.

- Plant based diets - the biggest issue is not enough protein

- What to say to athlete who is considering a keto diet? Keto diets - why do people want to do it? Do some bio hacking and let them try it for 2 weeks and check their performance.

- How long before getting back to normal period cycle after coming off the contraceptive pill?

- Implant contraception has the least effect on training

- Lucine is critical when considering plant protein versus animal protein. Women need higher levels of lucine.

- Specific tips on adjusting training to your menstrual cycle phases.

- High hormone phases relating to competition and what interventions are recommended.

More information at www.drstacysims.com