Targeted Workouts and Fueling Help Women Get Strong!
By: Paul Warloski, Simple Endurance Coaching
Tags: Strength Training, Womens Health, Menstrual Cycle, Weightlifting, Menopause

Targeted Workouts and Fueling Help Women Get Strong!

Among all the advice from Dr. Stacy Sims in her book Roar, the three suggestions that are most important for my strength training and endurance sport female athletes and women are these:

One, lift heavy weights.

Two, consume more protein.

Three, utilize your menstrual cycle to your advantage.

Dr. Sims understood that most research on nutrition, strength training, and endurance training had been done on college-aged men, then extrapolated into recommendations for women.

As Sims likes to say, though, “Women are not small men.”

Over the past five weeks, I’ve been posting articles based on Sims’ book Roar. Here they are:

Brenda used a training plan based on her menstrual cycle to complete the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee.

Five Ways Women Can Get Faster Through Better Fueling, Particularly with More Protein

Female athletes and any woman who wants to get stronger needs a substantial amount of protein, timed at certain times.

This post discussed the timing of the protein, the amounts needed, as well as the value of good carbohydrates and good fats.

Four Tested Ways Women Can Improve Training During Their Menstrual Cycle

Female athletes have often gone to great lengths to manipulate their menstrual cycles during training.

Sims argues that women can use their cycle to actually improve their performance.

Here are four ways that women can get stronger during training by scheduling specific work based on their menstrual cycle.

Since Strong is the New Beautiful, Grab a Bigger Kettlebell

Women need to do strength training.

And by strength training, I mean heavy weights: High-intensity power training for pure strength.

This means doing power moves and low-rep, high-weight strength training because it helps increase the number of fibers recruited for contraction but don’t grow the size of your muscles very much.

This article shares some of Sims’ tips for getting stronger by lifting heavy things!

our Butt is a Steering Wheel, Make Sure It’s Got Power!

Women generate the majority of their power through their hips, and core strength is often weak, says Sims.

Your butt is the “steering wheel” for your legs. If you don’t have a grip on the wheel, your legs will go all over the place.

So your glutes need to be strong to keep your pelvis steady and help your quads go where they’re supposed to, rather than falling inward.

Female athletes need a strong core core to keep everything solid and tight.

Read this for tips on building strength in your hips, glutes, and core.

Can Menopausal Female Athletes Regain Their Competitive Edge?

Women of a certain age undergo significant hormonal and physical changes. You already know that.

Sims breaks down some of the key recommendations for female athletes who are going through menopause or are now dealing with its effects.

While there are significant and life-changing effects of menopause, all is not lost.

Female athletes can be their strongest, fastest, and fittest selves after menopause!

Here are Sims’ top tips for menopausal women.

Let’s Work Together to Get You Stronger!

One of the first things I did after I started as a trainer at the Wisconsin Athletic Club was work with a young woman who was training for the Milwaukee Marathon.

Brenda managed to cut down her marathon time as well as figure out some valuable lessons about training during her cycle.

What are your questions?

Go to http://www.simpleendurancecoaching.com/training/ for more endurance sport training information, research, and knowledge.