Introduction

There’s a lot of misinformation out there in the general population about exercise and women (e.g. Nonsense like, “Don’t train with weights you’ll get too bulky”, etc.). Here at Guy Leech Fitness we thought it was about time we set the record straight on some of this nonsense.

Women in elite sport are pushing their bodies further and harder than ever before. Just recently British triathlete Chrissie Wellington completed an IM distance triathlon in 8 hours and 19 minutes placing seventh outright in the elite men’s field. To put this performance into perspective she has dropped the world’s best time for this distance race by about half an hour in less than five years!

In short women can exercise and they can exercise hard. They do however need to do things a little differently than their male counterparts. Men and women are wired differently - physiologically, biomechanically, nutritionally and even psychologically.  As such exercise and nutrition programs need to reflect these differences.

Whether we’re talking about elite sport or general fitness the principals remain similar. For example, with endurance athletes to reach their potential they need to do voluminous amounts of training in that specific sport. Generally speaking, for men (barring injury), this isn’t a problem. For women however high training volumes and significant weight loss can have long term health implications - particularly if the woman looses her menses (i.e. Stops menstruating) which can lead to long term losses of bone mineral density and resultant osteoporosis in later life.

It therefore becomes a little more of a balancing act for women to:

1. be aware of the potential pitfalls and implications of exercise
2. structuring appropriate exercise and nutrition programs to meet these gender specific needs.

To complicate things further every person (male or female) is an individual who can cope with differing exercise loads. Being involved in elite sport most of my life I’ve known some women who, at least in the short term, have been able to complete enormous training loads, while others have been debilitated by what would be considered at most to be a modest workload.

There are however some common themes that all women who are exercising or contemplating undertaking an exercise regimen should consider.

Iron requirements

Women are at a higher risk than men of developing iron deficiency, and as such should be very wary of misguided dietary practices where energy intake is cut to extraordinarily low levels in an attempt to drop body fat. In fact, restrictive dietary practices are more likely to chew through valuable muscle mass lowering metabolic rates and making it harder to tap into fat stores.

That is why here at Guy Leech Fitness we ensure that our nutritional programs are balanced in meet (and exceed) the RDI (recommended daily intake) of all micro-nutrients while matching the exercise and body composition needs of our clients.

So why is iron so important?

The human body needs iron to transport oxygen around the body to service the demands of working muscles. Iron is lost to the body through via a number of different processes including; (i) perspiration, (ii) urine and faeces, (iii) heel strike haemolysis of red blood cells (i.e. Destroying red blood cells via the impact of the heel against the ground when running), i(v) micro-trauma to the GI tract, and (v) menstrual blood loss in women. The symptoms of iron deficiency include impaired physical performance, tiredness/lethargy, headaches, cramps and shortness of breath.

Women who are exercising regularly should have blood tests every six to 12 months to check their iron status.

What can you do to offset such iron losses?

The best way to prevent iron deficiency is to ensure an adequate iron rich diet, particularly “haem” iron, which is found from animal sources, as it is far better absorbed by the body. Guy Leech Fitness nutrition plans are based around this premise.

 Amenorrhoea and women.

Women who suffer from amenorrhoea, or the absence of regular menstrual cycles (often due to low body weight) are at risk of long-term health implications. The hormonal changes that accompany amenorrhoea increase the risk of osteoporosis or thinning of the bones. Although exercise has been touted as a means of strengthening bones, there appears to be a certain threshold beyond which there are detrimental effects on the skeleton. A hypo-estrogenic state (low estrogen levels) has been shown to offset the beneficial effects of exercise on bone mineral density (BMD) in amenorrheic (non-menstruating) women.

A resumption of menstruation has been shown to improve BMD in adversely affected women. The ideal training program to optimise health of the skeleton has yet to be determined but all indications are that it requires a blend of aerobic and strength training whilst maintaining a certain body weight accompanied by a diet adequate in calcium.

Other Considerations for Women.

Women are generally smaller than their men with a smaller muscle mass (~ 20% less in the legs and up to 40% less in the upper body).

The quality of female muscle tissue and how it responds to strength training however is identical to that of men. Women don’t develop muscle mass in the same manner as men because they have less of the male sex hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is largely responsible for the development of muscle following heavy strength training.

Like anything in life the key is moderation and consistency. Our programs (exercise and nutrition wise) here at Guy Leech Fitness recognize the gender specific requirements of women and we program accordingly.