Network Magazine Summer 2019 | Page 37

WE NEED TO TRAIN OUR FEMALE CLIENTS BETTER By taking advantage of hormonal shifts and appreciating female physiological differences, you can vastly enhance your client’s outcomes, whatever her age, writes female training expert Nardia Norman. n 2016 at the Rio Olympics, Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui earnt international praise when she told reporters that her poor swimming results were due to her menstrual cycle. ‘It’s because my period came yesterday, so I felt particularly tired – but this isn’t an excuse, I still didn’t swim well enough’ she said. In doing so, she broke a long-held taboo: discussing the menstrual cycle and, specifically, the impact it had on her lacklustre performance. Yuanhui highlighted one of the big issues in women’s sport today. The menstrual cycle is an under-studied area of sports medicine, even though it impacts an individual’s performance, recovery and injury risk. But it goes beyond performance. The menstrual cycle is the body’s natural report card, and it tells a lot about the health status of the woman. Biologically, the female body has evolved to carry, grow and give birth to a child. The female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone are the reasons why it can do this. However, the sex hormones don’t I exclusively impact the reproductive system. Nor does every woman choose to, or is able to, have children and fill that biological program. The female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone influence practically every system in the body, from bone health, body composition and mobility and strength gains, to mental health, appetite control and cardiovascular function. These hormones, which are crucial to a woman’s entire being, are created in the ovaries via the menstrual cycle. That is why menstrual cycle irregularities or dysfunctions such as PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), and reproductive system stress, such as excessive exercise and low energy diets, negatively impact her overall health, wellbeing and performance. The menstrual cycle is considered so important to a woman’s health that the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) in 2016 declared it to be a ‘vital sign’. This report stated that ‘By including an evaluation of the menstrual cycle as an additional vital sign, clinicians reinforce its importance in assessing overall health status for patients and caretakers.’ In other words, a healthy menstrual cycle is an essential element of being a healthy woman. So, what does this have to do with you in your role as a personal trainer? Well, if you train women, of any age, then it has everything to do with you. Women are not little men with breasts In the fitness industry our biological differences are too often either dismissed or taken advantage of. Rarely are they given the attention NETWORK SUMMER 2019 | 37