Women face many issues when it comes to maintaining their health and fitness – that men simply don’t!
Compared to men, women are widely different in their physiological, anatomical, psychological and hormonal make-up. Women carry higher amounts of body fat due to their inherent design. They have the ability to gain weight faster than men due to higher amounts of estrogen, they take longer to build muscle definition due to less testosterone and experience dramatic ebbs and flows in general hormone production including hunger receptors, which fluctuate throughout each month.
Inside the Menstruation Cycle
In summary, the average 28-day menstrual cycle is divided into 2 stages: Follicular (Menstruation to Ovulation) and Luteal (Ovulation to Pre-Menstrual), with ovulation being the mid-point of the cycle. The prime fuel source at rest in the Follicular phase is carbs, however in the Luteal phase it is fat.
Water retention increases toward the end of the Follicular and Luteal phase which leads to an increase in overall weight (therefore ladies, don’t weigh yourself around days 8-14 or days 22-28). Hunger is lower in the Follicular phase however it increases in the Luteal phase.
Injury risk is higher in the early Luteal phase due to less estrogen and higher amounts of progesterone which leads to a loss of strength in muscle tendons and ligaments. Muscle growth is at its peak for women in the Follicular phase, as testosterone is higher.
The following extract is taken from the ground-breaking text “The Women’s Book Vol 1” by Lyall MacDonald (MacDonald, 2017), which shows the key changes in women’s hormonal levels and how this can impact on their physiology:
These dramatic changes in hormone levels also contribute toward ups and downs in energy, food cravings (and subsequent weight changes) and mood. Compared with men, the sex hormones testosterone, progesterone and estrogen remain stagnant every day… of every month…with minimal fluctuation, with the exception of age-related changes.
External Battles of Being a Female in 2019
In addition to the internal challenges, women constantly sacrifice their time, interests and their physical bodies for the purposes of child-rearing and caring for family. They are exposed to greater levels of external messages from the media, including advertising and social platforms and society in general, which place negative, unrealistic and unnecessary pressure on women to look and feel a certain way. Women are oftentimes highly sexualised and exploited all in the name of marketing, which leads to issues of low self-esteem, self-worth, anxiety and depression.
Outdoor Grit is Adelaide’s Home-Grown Women’s Only Group Fitness Provider
At Outdoor Grit, we understand the internal and external battles faced by women and identify their needs to look and feel healthy, to enjoy quality time for themselves and to have stable and empowering friendships that they can invest into.
We are born and bred right here in Adelaide and provide a specialised women’s only fitness group – BarBellas. Our group is built on the core value of community, commitment and courage – meaning we promote teamwork, trust and respect within each session and encourage our women to come as they are, be themselves and be real with each other. We challenge our women to learn new skills and push themselves physically and mentally. We cater for pre and post-natal clients, as well as the everyday female who is looking for a stable and inspiring fitness program, in which they can achieve their best.
Our workouts are constantly varied so you never get bored. We incorporate whole-of-body functional movements that carry over to everyday life, and build broad general fitness, overall strength and core stability. Our programming methodology is supported by our personalised nutrition coaching service, which ensures weight loss is achieved in a healthy and sustainable manner.
Outdoor Grit is the new outdoor group fitness provider in Adelaide, specialising in women’s health and fitness services. We are based in Prospect, at St. Helen’s Park, on 39 Prospect Road, Prospect.
Session times are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9.15-9.55am. As our group continues to grow, we endeavour to grow our session times too. This is something we will do in consultation with our members, so we can offer more session times that work in with your varied schedules.
To book in your free intro session with our BarBellas group, click on the link below:
https://outdoorgrit.sites.zenplanner.com/freeTrial.cfm
We can’t wait to see you at one of our upcoming sessions.
References
MacDonald, L. (2017). The Women’s Book – Volume 1 A Guide to Nutrition, Fat Loss and Muscle Gain. Austin, TX: Lyle MacDonald Publishing.