When it comes to fitness, the female body is not exactly the same as the male body!
Let me first say, feminism is not anti-man. To men everywhere…
“We’re not wiser, or more in touch with nature, or down with it. We’re just people with a load more laundry issues than you. Have you ever tried to scrub blood out of a hotel sheet at 6am, using just travel shampoo and your toothbrush? It’s one of the defining aspects of being a woman.” *
That said, I have a massive spoiler alert:
Female bodies are not exactly the same as male bodies**.
And yet, the overwhelming majority of research in ANY field is done on male bodies because…get ready for it… female hormones screw up the data!
Any yet, here we are. Thankfully this is starting to change, but chances are that when it comes to fitness, every diet you’ve ever endured and every workout program you’ve ever pushed through, has been based on research from male bodies. Which is great if your body fits that mold.
If you’re the other half of the planet, maybe you want to learn stuff about your female body instead.
Here’s a sample of some of the things that fluctuate EVERY single month and will have an impact on your relationship with exercise and food:
- appetite
- metabolic rate
- body temperature
- sleep patterns
- energy levels
- muscle recovery rates
- co-ordination
- strength
- insulin resistance
- mood
- joint pain
And that’s just during the stage of life when are you having a regular cycle. If we start to look at menopause, pregnancy, or any of the things can interrupt a regular cycle (like PCOS or hormonal birth control), that list grows.
So does this mean you can’t get benefit from the workouts and nutrition advice you find online? Of course not; you absolutely can. After all, in the end, we are all unique and you will have to find the methods that work for you regardless of how you identify.
But just for a moment, imagine a world where we studied the different aspects of fitness at each phase of a woman’s cycle and we looked at how different nutrients supported each of those phases and we took into account the specific bone structure of a female body and pelvic floor muscles when analyzing plyometric work… and then whatever we learned, we took those results and told the male population to follow the plans we’d designed because “it’ll probably work just fine and whatever differences there are with male hormones won’t really change things.”
How do you imagine that would go over? Sounds ridiculous right? Why would a man follow a program talking about oestrogen levels and bone density while on hormonal birth control?
So then I have to ask… why would a woman follow a fitness program that ISN’T talking about that stuff?
Women hire me to feel sassy, sexy, and strong because most feel intimidated, lost, and fed up with workouts that were never designed for their body. I help them to love their body and their life…at the same time.
Bottom line:
You deserve to have all the info so you can make a decision about what is best for your body and in my experience, most women have not had that opportunity.
If you’d like to learn more about what and how all this stuff affects you, check out my free, no opt-in masterclass on what I call Organic Fitness.
You can learn more about the gender data gap in general on this podcast episode.
