What does being a Female Health and Performance Coach really mean?

I have attended many Fitness conferences over the past 18 years or at least before COVID-19 hit and have followed Nardia Norman for many years. She is a very knowledgeable female who speaks about very complex topics but in a very easy to understand way.

I came across Nardia again in 2020 during COVID-19 lockdown and discovered she was now specialising in women’s health and was running a ‘Female Health and performance coaching’ program for health and fitness professionals which I eagerly booked into.

I had no idea of the complexity of the female body especially due to the complex nature of our hormones. I also learnt that most studies conducted in relation to ‘health and performance’ to date have been conducted on men and not women.

Nardia’s course covered in detail the ‘life stages’ of females from adolescence onwards, which is typically defined by the changes in hormones. These developmental stages have an influence on emotional, psychological, and physical wellbeing.

These stages are:

• Infancy
• Childhood
• Adolescence (onset of puberty to 8-10 years later)
• Adulthood (18ish to 35)
• Midlife (35-60)
• Older Woman (60+)

The course focused on adolescence onwards but more specifically when the start of a female’s period begins.

So, what is ‘Female health and performance’ coaching really about?

In a nutshell, it’s about training the female body around her period cycle to maximise the most out of her training without causing injury and burn out. And this doesn’t stop just because a woman enters midlife or menopausal years. We remain hormonally complex humans!

‘Female health and performance coaching’ is also about making sure there you are eating a nutrient rich and balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein and fats and how to change these ratios around your period cycle.

‘Female health and performance coaching’ is also about identifying the best type of training to be done at each stage of your period cycle. We do however need to start at the bottom of the triangle to address each level before ensuring the success of your training program.

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In summary, we need to realise that women’s bodies are very different to men’s and need to be trained differently. Some interesting facts include:

• Women have 10 times less testosterone than men and is one of the reasons why we don’t bulk up like men
• A male skeleton is bigger than a female due to testosterone levels. So, because a man’s rib cage is larger this influences the cardiovascular system and muscle mass
• Women have shorter ‘long’ bones than men
• In women, the pelvis is wider and shallower to support carrying a child and the hip sockets are set further apart. This creates a problem at the knee joint, so women are at greater risk of knee injury due to ‘poor tracking and instability’
• Women have lower bone mineral density than men
• Women have 2/3 the amount of muscle mass as men
• Men require more calories at rest than women
• Women have a greater amount of subcutaneous body fat and is distributed differently to men, mainly hips and legs
• Women need to train fuelled and not on an empty stomach. It causes too much inflammation

Interested in a consultation with me? Complete this on-line form. I am really excited to be sharing ‘Female health and performance coaching’ with you to ensure you reach and maintain your health and fitness goals without injury.