Women Are Not Small Men: Understanding Female Physiology for Optimal Performance with Dr. Stacy Sims

Dr. Stacy Sims is a senior research scientist, innovator and entrepreneur in human performance, specifically sex differences in training, nutrition, and environmental conditions.

Prior to working at the University of Waikoto, where she is now, she served as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University from 2007 to 2012, where she specialized in sex differences of environmental and nutritional considerations for recovery and performance.

It’s safe to say that Dr. Stacy Sims is an expert when it comes to women’s health and performance. Taking all her knowledge and available research, Dr. Sims released her first book ROAR, a comprehensive physiology-based nutrition and training guide to help women work WITH their unique physiology to achieve optimal performance, body composition and health throughout the different stages of our lives.

Today Dr. Sims and I will be:

• De-mystifying the menstrual cycle
• Highlighting how the different phases affect your fitness and fuel utilisation
• Recovery from training and your menstrual cycle, plus
• The launch of her new course Women Are Not Small Men

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Podcast Summary

Periods are so taboo, right? I mean who wants to talk about the cramps, bloating, fatigue, cravings, and fluctuations in your workout performance during the month? Well, I do. The truth is your lady hormones have a huge impact on every system in your body, and affect your fitness.

These natural fluctuations can explain why you struggle through a sprint session some weeks, and feel like superwoman on others. But if you learn to work with instead of against your physiology you’ll rock your workouts all month long. Here are the ups and downs of a typical 28-day cycle and the best workouts to do during each part.

For more info on Dr. Stacy Sims check out her socials here:

Instagram @drstacysims

YouTube TEDx Talk

Online course