Transcript
Automated:
Human Vortex Training and Menachem Brodie present, The Strong Savvy Cyclist and Triathlete Podcast, where we talk strength training, physiology, psychology, tech and much more, to help you get fitter, faster and stronger, in and out of your sport, giving you expert insights, talking with other leading experts. And now your host, World-Leading Strength Coach For Cyclists and Triathletes, Menachem Brodie.
Menachem Brodie:
Hi, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Strong Savvy Cyclist and Triathlete Podcast. Today, we’re going to be talking in more detail about an article or a topic that I contributed to for an article in Triathlete Magazine.
This was done back in October. I don’t know when this is posted. It’s November or December of 2019. Something like that. But essentially, the title of the article was, The Differences in Strength Training For Men and Women.
The reason I’m doing this podcast and extrapolating or getting into more detail as to what the article is going to say, is because as I’ve learned contributing to more and more articles, is that most of the writers have between 500 and 750 words, which means a lot of the information…
Great journalist find the big take-homes and put them in, but that also means that a lot of it doesn’t get out there. And one of the big things I’ve been a huge component of for years since 2007, 2008, is women in cycling and triathlon.
More so cycling than triathlon. I think that triathlon women get a decent representation. But cycling in particular, I have been a big proponent. I think that the sport of road cycling, the women’s side, is much more exciting and there’s a lot more to it, but there’s also a lot of different challenges.
So those of you who don’t know me very well, if this is your first episode, or maybe you just listened to a couple, I grew up with three sisters and no brothers. I was very well aware of the differences between male and female from a young age as far as training and sensitive to it rather.
So as I got into training and coaching others, I began to realize that there are some really big differences between men and women, because some of the programs that I would give to my male clients, the female clients wouldn’t respond quite as well for about half the time.
Now, part of that has to do with the fact… Or maybe a little bit more. Maybe a third of the time. At the time back then, I thought it was half the time, but looking at it now or thinking about it, I’d think it’s a little bit more than that. And I just started to realize that a lot of it ties into the menstrual cycle, and there is huge hormone fluctuations that women go through.
So being a nerd that I am, I started to look for specific research articles. And I remember spending a couple hours in the Pitt Computer Lab. I think it was at Hillman Library, if I’m not mistaken. It was either Hillman or Posvar Hall, if you’re familiar with the campus.
And I just remember spending a couple hours, and the next thing I looked up, it’s one o’clock in the morning. I’d gone in around 9:00 and there was nothing there.
The sample of women for most of these studies were extremely low. And then often when you go and you read the results… If you know how to read a research article, you first read the introduction, then you get down to the results, and then you go back through and look through the methods.
So you’re looking for certain things. You have to understand and learn, are they lying with statistics? Is it a good peer-reviewed article? Is it a bad peer-reviewed article? Did someone sponsor this? So they’re looking for specific things. That’s a really big one as well.
And I just kept coming up short. So essentially, I just dabbled and I was just flying blind, trying to find what worked for each of the clients. Started from a baseline, and then started to develop one thing and then had a new client, and then all of a sudden, everything got messed up. So I’m starting again.
Well, thankfully, you don’t have to go through all of that frustration, because there are a number of sport scientists, thankfully, one of whom who’s very outspoken, and out there. She actually wrote a book with Selene Yeager. Her name is Dr. Stacy Sims, and the book is called Roar. R-O-A-R.
So if you are listening, if you are a male coach, and you work with any females at all, any age, I strongly recommend you pick up that book. I actually bought, I think, four or five copies. I gave three away, I have one that I loan out and another one that I keep and have my own notes.
And I should probably get another one because it’s getting a little bit crowded with all the notes and the highlighting. Oh no, I lost that one. Sorry. No, I lost that one. I had to buy a new one because I lost it in a move. So I have a new one.
It’s one of those books and as a coach and as an athlete, you keep going through and you’re going to find these resources that you’re going to keep coming back to. And I’m going to use that for a soft pitch for my Strength Training for Cycling Certification Course, because that is one of them that you’re going to keep coming back to, because it is so incredibly powerful.
And in fact, I actually had a number of beta testers come back through the course, and the feedback from them was, “You need to move eight or nine course resources. The videos, need to be in the main course, because they are so powerful and so good. They can’t be a resource. They need to be part of the course.”
So that’s the type of information you’re getting in the Strength Training for Cycling Certification. So if you head over to humanvortextraining.com, you’ll be able to find a link.
It is not open for signup all the time. We’re only going to open it once. Maybe twice a year for enrollment. I’m doing that for a reason. We’re building a community. I want to be able to answer questions. So if it’s not live…
If you click on the signup button and it takes you to the sign up for our newsletter, make sure you check that little box that says, Strength Training for Cycling Certification, because you’re going to get a specific email, when it’s getting ready to be launched again and released.
We’re doing this because every time someone comes through just like with the beta testers here, we’re going to improve it. There are some rules that we have to play with the continuing education units, so a lot of the improvements will come on the back end as far as course resources, but there is a ton in there for you.
But back on track. As it pertains to today, let’s talk about strength training for women. And even before we get into that, let’s go even broader and talk about strength training plans, and why so many people are not seeing the results that they need from these one-size-fits-all training programs.
And a number of people have emailed me and said, “Hey, I’m on TrainingPeaks, or I’m on this other platform and I’m looking for a pre-made training program from you for strength training, and there isn’t anything out there. What’s wrong? Why do you only have on-bike or triathlon or running programs?”
The answer to that is also the answer to this question. Well, I’ve gotten to the point in my coaching career… And those of you who’ve known me since the beginning, even as a very young coach, I was really anti-general strength training programs.
But after coaching for about 10 years, I was like, “Okay, here are the key tenants for a solid training program that’s going to help 75% of the people out there achieve fantastic results, and then the other 25% are going to get really good results. Maybe 5% won’t get great results, but they’ll get results.”
“So okay, we can do some general strength training programs that are pre-made for anybody to buy.” But when it comes to strength training, even more so, it depends, and it is so incredibly far. It is the furthest thing from one-size-fits-all.
Far, far, far, far, far, far, far more than any swim, bike, run or triathlon program that we can come up to. Strength training programs require especially so detailed personalization, to a much higher degree.
And the thing is, is that this comes down to the differences that we have person to person, and also right arm to left arm. Right leg to left leg. Between your right hip and your left hip.
If you and I are standing together, in a room, there’s four hips, right? Your right, your left, my right, my left. Of those four hips, one of them can have a variance or a change or a difference in the angle of the femoral neck, or the smaller, slim part of the bone that comes from the ball and socket, down to the big upper leg, the femur, of between five and 20 degrees. One of our four hips.
That means one of us isn’t going to be symmetrical, and that can cause major issues. And that’s just one general example that I like to use, because it’s very easy for me to take my wrist and my forearm in my hand and flex my forearms. I’m just kidding. I don’t do that. Well, I have to, to move it, but people can understand that very quickly.
But that also comes down to how we squat, how we hinge, how we press. And the number of athletes that I’ve worked with in person, a number of them say, “Well, I want my right arm to be the same as the left.” And that’s just not possible.
And this is one of the reasons why I am really against pedal-based power systems. Aside from the fact that they’re highly inaccurate and unprecise, there’s a number of other issues with the pedal-based power systems.
I remember three specific people that said they wanted to work with me and I said, “Okay, great. I have a used Power Meter. You can rent my PowerTap wheel and we can get started.” “No, no, no. I need the…” This is Pedal-Based Power. This is before Garmin bought them. “I just want to wait and get the pedal-based system.”
And it was four freaking years. You know what happened in those four years? All of their riding buddies who they were able to hold on with, who were either working with a coach or finding a program that worked for them, or taking their training serious and doing their own training, all got so much faster than these other people.
And then when the pedals came out, they had all these problems with them. And this was a huge problem. And one of those things with developing a product is you never know what’s going to happen and what type of issues are going to come out.
But those pedals, Garmin essentially forced them through because they had dumped so much money into them as it were. That’s my little rant for the day. Power is power, yes, but I am very much so against the pedal-based systems.
Yes, they come along way. Yes, there are a lot cheaper, but there’s a reason for that. I’d go with the crank-based system. I started with the PowerTap wheel for a number of years, and then went up to a Quarq, because the SRM was a little bit out of my price range at the time.
And I love the Quarq. The SRM and the Quarq, are my two go-tos, depending on what people’s budgets are. You can get them used. The maintenance is very low on them. The SRM is fantastic, highly accurate, highly reliable. So that’s the little thought on power.
But when it comes back to strength training, and we’re talking about the differences that we have, as we go through a personalized training program, there are a number of reasons that people make one-size-fits-all.
And this is why I don’t have pre-made training programs, but I have my Monthly Strength Training for Cycling, or Monthly Strength Training for Triathlon Membership Program, is because there were enough people that were interested in this, that we’re looking to have a program that’s fit for a group of people, as opposed to something that’s cookie-cutter, so to speak, or pre-made.
And the thing that is really awesome about the group training, there aren’t a lot of people in it. And I keep it that way on purpose. I will take it up and down and drive some people crazy.
But I’ll take it up and down depending on how many people are in the group, because the strength training programs that are built every four to six weeks, are built around the people that are in the group at that time, their needs, and allows you guys as a cohort to be able to progress.
But why are strength training programs made and put out there for sale? And I’m sure at some point, or I think at some point in the future, maybe I’ll get to the point where I find one or two that work really well, or three or four maybe. Or maybe something that’s specific for power production.
But there’s going to be a lot of, if thens. The reason why a lot of people do the pre-made training programs is it scales well. They’re able to sell a lot. And that’s not my primary motivator, is not money.
The second is, the person is very, very experienced. They have a great product and philosophy that they’ve been refining over many years. And working with thousands of athletes, if not hundreds of athletes, definitely hundreds of hours working with real athletes in person, that’s really important, in person.
And they’ve gotten to the point where they’re able to build a rock-solid template of the program that can help 70% or more of those in that specific sport or that specific challenge.
And even then, those few programs… And I’m thinking more about basketball than I am about cycling, because a lot of the cycling pre-made ones that I’ve seen, in my professional opinion are garbage.
They just take, oh, well, this and this and this, and they don’t give you different variations. They don’t tell you, if then. They’re just poorly put together in my opinion.
And of course, there’s always exceptions to the rule. So if you’re coach who has pre-made training programs, “Oh, Brodie said this.” It’s okay. I don’t mean any offense. It’s my opinion.
I hope there’s going to be someone who will send me one, and I’ll say, “Wow! Actually, that’s a really good one.” So that is the big picture side of things, is that strength training programs are the farthest thing from being able to be cookie-cutter and produced en masse.
And I know that, again, the group training that I’ve done has changed pretty drastically from when I first started about a year ago until now, because the group has changed. And I don’t force anybody to stay in.
It’s month to month. If you decide that you don’t want to continue, you just send me an email, say, “Hey, thank you very much, I appreciate.” And that’s it. No harm, no foul.
Now getting into our main focus for today. What are some of the differences between men and women when it comes to strength training? Hmm, this is a fantastic question.
There are a number of different things that we can look at. Let’s start first from the hormonal level. And when we talk about the hormonal level, there’s a lot of myths and misconceptions out there.
Again, thankfully, Dr. Stacy Sims is out there, her book. Selene Yeager has also been writing quite a bit about it as well for a number of years. So you’re getting good information is finally starting to trickle out.
But good information is hard to get out there, because as mentioned at the beginning of today’s podcast, the writers only have so many words. There’s only so much space. Some of my early submissions for publications were actually rejected, because they were about 2,500 words.
If you look at the Human Vortex Training blog, one of them, the journalist did a fantastic job, is about, is strength training better in the morning or in the evening? And I wrote I think 2,430 something words for Men’s Health on this, and the journalist did a fantastic job. She got all the major points and that is a skill.
So just because someone’s a writer, doesn’t mean they can’t pull out the major information and get that across. So the writer for this piece that we’re talking about, I was really impressed with the order of the questions. I could see her thought process and I’m really excited to see how she puts things together.
But as it pertains for the hormonal differences, and the way men and women are going to be affected by strength training, there are two important things that we need to remember.
Now, I’m going to insert something here, and this is going to blow a lot of people away. It really bothered me when I finally figured it out.
Number one, taking the pill, so to speak, or as it’s called, is not a good move for you, if you are a serious athlete. Thankfully, back in the Olympics, I think it was summer of 2012 or 2016, there was an athlete who actually swam and competed while on her period and spoke about it.
If I’m not mistaken, know less, she was from China. So think about how taboo that was. But she shared that she swam, and she competed during that phase of her cycle. And people are like, “Why isn’t she on the pill? Her coaches are awful.” Well, actually, the pill does do a lot more disservice than service.
So there’s two different types of pills. There is a monophasic, where there’s just one type of dosing that you have for hormonal response, and then there is a triphasic, where there’s three different cycles.
So depending on the contraceptive pill that you are on, that’s going to affect the body’s response. But either way, both of them, the way the hormones work in the body… And we’ll save this for another podcast later on. Maybe, hopefully, we can get Dr. Sims on here, and we’ll actually be able to get into detail.
I’m hoping that would be like a two or three part series, because I’d really like to get into details with her. But essentially, when you take that pill, it is causing essentially a flatline of sorts.
So they’re producing or you’re intaking… What’s the word I’m looking for? … synthetic hormones, which we can’t exactly replicate what goes on in the body. They’re chemical differences. That’s one of the questions I have for Dr. Sims, is how exactly does that work? How does that affect us in the long-term, because people don’t talk about that.
And what this does is that instead of having this criss-crossing of all these different hormones, and they ebb and flow at different times, you’re essentially putting them on autopilot, like, “Okay, you’re going to go up five milligrams, and then you’re going to stay at eight milligrams.”
I’m just using these numbers. They’re wrong. But just to give you an idea. “And then you’re going to go up all the way up to 10 milligrams for one day, and then you’re going to come down to four, and then you’re going to go up to five, over three days, and then you’re going to stay at five.”
The body doesn’t work like that. The body has an ebb and flow to it. And that’s going to affect how you are going to respond to your training.
Now, with that being said, how many days are in a menstrual cycle? Well, if you go based off of what is in textbooks, it is 28 days. Why is it 28 days? Well, that’s how many days the billing cycle is for my Monthly Strength Training Program. Or this is the number of days in an average month. 28 days is a nice, even number. It’s a square number.
Well, 28 days was just a number that someone pulled out, because that’s what they programmed the pill for. You like how I put that little sales pitch in there?
But with the natural cycle, it can be on average, between 35 and 42 days. And this drove me crazy. I’m not kidding. It really drove me crazy when I first started really getting into it with some of my female clients.
One of whom had type 1 diabetes. So there was that layered on top of other things. She was a swimmer, so she was picking her sugars to get the swim. And there were days where the pool was closed, because something happened, and then her sugars were high. So I had to get her an intense workout session, so she could drop her sugars.
And then she didn’t have the energy, because she was right in the second half of her cycle, but we didn’t figure that out for a year and a half. There are all these things that just drove me crazy. There’re so many complex things.
And working with these athletes, I started to realize, well, 28 days isn’t necessarily. That’s what’s in the textbook, but every body is different. So I need to figure out, if someone’s not on the pill… And even if they are…
By the way, that timing for your pill is so important. A lot of people are just very haphazard about. “I usually take it at 7:00 AM, but it’s 9:30, so I’ll take it today.” The next day they sleep in, so they take it in 11:00, because it’s a weekend or they get back from their ride.
That timing of the pill is super important, and not taking it at that time can drastically affect its effectiveness. Decrease its effectiveness. And then you have a whole nother level of issues. That’s an aside.
But when it comes to the cycle, the big myth I want to bust here is that, it is not 28 days. That is a manufactured number because that was what fit. If you do 28 days, that’s 13 cycles in a year. It makes it nice and easy to be able to plan for. But in reality for most women, the mean is somewhere between 35 and 42. So think about that. That’s very different.
And the second part of this, is the hormonal differences between the men and women that are going to respond to strength training, it’s going to depend. That’s why our first episode is called, It Depends.
The First half of the menstrual cycle is called the follicular phase. Days 1 to 14, if we’re going with the 28 days, which I don’t know why we should. So we’re going to go with 20 days.
So day 1 to 20 is going to be the follicular phase. Whatever the first half of days for you. If you’re not taking the pill, if you’re not taking any type of contraception, this includes IUDs, anything of that nature. As long as you’re not on any type of contraception, this is your normal regular cycle.
Know what it is for you. Make sure you’re keeping track. But the first half, almost exactly the days. And you’ll know. There’re some months where it starts a little bit early, it starts a little bit later, but roughly the first half.
Days 1 to 20 is called the follicular phase. And there is essentially no difference between the responses to strength training or on-bike training or swimming or biking or running. I said biking already, between men and women.
You’re going to have the same anabolic response. So you’re going to be able to go out and do a heavy strength training session. You don’t have to worry super, super much about the timing of your protein. You’re going to be able to have the ability to build muscle mass. You’re going to be in an anabolic state.
The satellite cells are going to respond appropriately. And I actually presented about satellite cells about six years ago for USA Cycling, in one of the presentations I did on strength training. And we’re seeing these are coming up and research more and more.
So think about that. Six years ago, we were talking about the satellite cells. We’re going to talk about that or mention them a little bit when it comes to the menstrual cycle, or we’ll just do that now.
Because the satellite cells, rather not the menstrual cycle, but menopause, even though you’re having your perimenopause. Even though you’re having relatively regular menstrual cycles, you’ll start to notice the hormones are going up and down, and you’re not going to be responding as well to your strength training or to your regular training.
Part of that for the strength training side, is a decrease in estrogen at that point of time, and the satellite cells are going to decrease their response. They’re not going to respond as well, essentially. That’s an aside here. But for those of you who are between the ages of having your first period and going up until perimenopause that’s really important.
I do have three athletes right now that I’m working with on a one-on-one level for either strength training, triathlon training, or cycling training or a combination of the two. They are going through this and it’s very frustrating. But we’ll come back to that a little bit later.
In the first half of your menstrual cycle, you’re essentially a male equivalent. And we need to remember that women are not small men, as Dr. Sims says. So totally true. But in this time period, physiologically, you’re very similar to men.
So you’re able to do the same type of training, you’re able to follow many of the protocols that are out there, that good science has shown works. But when it comes to the second half, so days, 21 to 40, or whatever the second half may be…
And you need to feel your body and understand. Again, this is non-contraceptive. So no pill, no IUD, anything like that. The second half of your menstrual cycle, which is called the luteal phase, there are massive differences in the hormonal statuses of women, as their body is in a high hormone, more catabolic, or breaking down state.
This is where nutrition comes even more important. This is where hydration becomes even more important. And we’re not talking about drinking your calories, please. We also aren’t talking about putting just regular table salt into your water, which so many athletes do. Are taking salt pills. Please don’t. Unless it works for you, which in case, all right.
There’s three different types of sodium. I have a video on YouTube, which actually talks about the hydration differences between men and women. You can check that out. HVTraining on YouTube, which by the way, we’re going to have a bunch of new videos coming out here in 2020.
We actually shot them over the last three and a half, four years, and they’ve just been needing to be edited and uploaded. So there’s a ton of stuff coming. So make sure you like and subscribe over there and hit that bell icon, because we are going to have more.
So in the second half of your menstrual cycle, there are a big number of differences in this high hormone phase, because you’re more catabolic. The body is breaking down. Think about it. The uterine lining is breaking down. It’s physically breaking down. And that’s the hormonal status of the body.
This means that during this luteal phase, women’s trainings need to change because your body is different. Especially if you want to continue to build strength and power through your strength training and in your in-sport sessions.
And this is something where I lagged. I didn’t connect the dots for a couple of years. I kept the strength training the same. And sometimes with some athletes if they’re responding well, I’ll keep it roughly the same. Usually, I’ll keep the volume almost exactly the same for the second half of the menstrual cycle.
And most of the time. It’s a fifty-fifty shot. Sometimes they feel great until the last week and then we go to a movement session. And other times, it’s very apparent right away, “Hey, this isn’t working. We need to go down.”
But during the luteal phase, days 20 to 40, we’re talking about lower blood volume, specifically lower blood plasma volume. Just a one and a half percent drop in blood plasma volume, can decrease your VO2 max output by 3% to 5%.
Most women are sitting between, on average… This is average, so keep that in mind. On average, which there’s more variance, upper and lower, about 3% to 4%. So that means your VO2 max in your anaerobic power, is going to be…
You’re missing essentially 10 to 15% of your power. And that’s only if you’re drinking the same amount you usually do. And that depends on how bloated you feel, and how many other side effects you’re having from that part of your cycle.
I know some women that I’ve worked with, really don’t drink in the second half of their menstrual cycle. There just that thirst isn’t there, which is counter logic for me. So it becomes even more important to make sure that what they are drinking is being absorbed.
This also ties into the strength training sessions. And that’s a main focus for today, is that when it comes to the strength training sessions, as I mentioned, it took me a year or two. Or three, let’s be honest, to make that connection of the strength drops.
And this is where I actually started doing more RPE or rating of perceived exertion, for some of my athletes. They were the female athletes, and they led the charge for the changes.
And now I have everybody, male and female, are getting RPE prescription for their strength training, instead of necessarily specific weights, because it’s going to change on hormone status, rest, neuromuscular recovery, neural stimulation, how many stimulants are they taking, caffeine, all this other stuff. All these things have a huge impact.
So we need to keep this in mind that as you go through that second half, that luteal phase, that means we’re going to have to scale back the strength training, and it may go down to as little as one session a week with weights.
And we’re going to do it at a lower perceived effort, maybe a four, instead of a five, six or seven. We need to just keep that consistency. It depends on how she’s feeling. How you’re feeling.
Then we can add in after a run, bike, swim, which we have decreased the intensity, because we know that it’s going to be a lot harder to get through those intensities, especially anaerobic power, V02 max. Sprinting is going to be a lot harder. There’s going to be a decrease in the output of strength and the abilities you’re going to have.
We can do small movement sessions at lighter weights to keep the consistency. Because remember, it’s not about the weights that you’re moving, it’s about the consistency that you’re getting, that’s going to allow you to progress.
So lighter weights may be used. Even though we’re in a hypertrophy or a power phase, we’re going to use lighter weights, more rest time between sets, to allow that neural system to recover, and more time between strength training sessions.
So we may go from Monday, Wednesday, Friday, to Monday, Friday. Or Tuesday, Friday, depending on what the athlete needs in order to keep a good hormonal status, which is going to be conducive to performance gains, as well as to allow her to recover and to be able to actually adapt instead of getting hammered down.
And I’ve been guilty of this. There are some athletes, especially the perimenopause, that it’s a little bit difficult. We’ll get into rhythm, we’ll get three, four months, things are going really well…
I’m just telling it how it is. It’ll take me two or three months to make the connection of, “Oh, they’re going through another change here, so we need to change it. This is why we’re seeing this trend.”
And this is why it’s important to keep those notes as a coach and as an athlete. These little notes of, “Hey, my energy levels are at a seven today, but my strength feels just really weak,” is important. Those small things add up and can really lead us into a much better personalization for your strength training program, whether you’re working with a coach or not.
Now, as far as recovery goes, this is where it’s going to be individual, but there’s also some trends that we want to do. And we’re not going to go too deep into them, because we have already covered a lot and we have a lot more to cover.
Another thing that women can do, and this is something new that I’ve just started recommending. I actually picked it up from Dr. Sims. She had, I think, a soundbite from a presentation she did.
I was recommending for one of my perimenopausal athletes, that she have about 25 or 30 grams of protein after strength training or any intense session in the second half of her menstrual cycle, day 21 to 40, luteal phase, and Dr. Sims said, “Actually, we tested 20, 30 and 40, and we saw that 40 was where the response was.”
So that’s a lot of protein if you think about it. 40 grams, mixed source proteins, immediately after an intense training session, and especially after a strength training session.
I’m still looking for the answers for this, but I think for a perimenopausal woman, that’s going to be even more important, because we already know, and Dr. Sims talks about this in her book, Roar, that the pool of amino acids is going to be heavily depleted when you get into that state of menopause as well as perimenopause, can be affected by those very drastic and changing hormonal statuses in the body.
So that’s something that we want to keep in mind and be able to have mixed source proteins. Now, when it comes to the mixed source proteins, we are going to touch on this a little bit.
I’m hoping that we’ll have Dr. John Berardi on here. So John, if you’re listening to this, it would be great to have you on, because I’d really like to pick your brain on a bunch of the protein-based stuff, as well as this whole thing right now that’s going on with…
I can’t remember the name of a film that just came out, but it’s about being vegan. So we’re seeing this cycle again, which we saw about 12 years ago, 10 years ago, as well with the… What was it? The China study.
Anyhow, on track for today, the 40 grams of mixed source proteins, Whey, is one of the best, if you can get actual meat protein. But for those of you who are vegan out there, if I’m not mistaken, I believe soy protein is okay, but it takes longer for it to have that effect.
And it’s going to be a lower effect as well, as it doesn’t have as much leucine, which is the one amino acid that you’re going to need much more of, because of the specific key it serves in the body, so to speak, as a female athlete.
There are vegan athletes that I’ve had that will use Whey protein, because they really do feel a difference. Other people won’t take it off of principle, that’s fine. You need to find what works for you. But it should be a mixed source protein meal.
So what I like to recommend is one scoop of protein with some type of drink, with a little bit of protein in it. Again, we’re not on the bike, we’re off the bike. Somebody said once before, when I said that after a presentation, they’re like, “You said don’t eat your calories.” I was like, “That’s on the bike or the run. It’s not for now.”
I like to say one scoop, so it’s about 25 grams of protein, in your cup, in your mixer, along with… Let’s be honest, at this point I have gone from soy milk to almond milk back to regular milk, so that’s 32 grams.
And then have some type of other protein. It could be an egg. It could be some type of tofu, which gives you some of the soy protein as well. And that will give you a nice profile of the protein for after your strength training session. That’s really important.
And there was a huge shift. And pretty much within this article being published, or the article being made public and making its around through social media, I had a number of female athletes starting to report that they were feeling more sore and less recovering, and this is…
What article am I talking about? The article that said that that 30 minute window after your workout is actually BS. Now if I recall correctly, from what I remember, it was Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, who’s at the top or at the forefront of looking at hypertrophy. He has published something like 70 or 80, if not more research articles at this point across a number of really good journals.
I believe he’s the one who did that, but they were male. So you have to keep that in mind. This is where you need to be a very savvy consumer. You can’t just take what’s being written. You have to learn how to read a research article.
And I will admit that I was not the best student in Dr. Nagel’s class back at Pitt, on the exercise physiology track when it came to research articles, but I did keep that folder. I actually still have it here somewhere.
And when I finally woke up to the realization that, “Hey, Dr. Nagle, really was trying to help us a lot here.” And I finally went through and learned that and implemented it along with a book called, How to Lie with Statistics.
How to Lie with Statistics, is the name of the book. It was published back in the 1960s, maybe a little bit earlier, maybe 1950s. Totally relevant. Pick that up. I’m not going to give you my notes from Dr. Nagel’s class. Shame on you. You can’t have that. I had to pay $45,000 or $50,000 for that education. You’re not getting that.
Whole other thing. If you want to hear my thoughts on student loans, Joe Bauer, and I did a podcast on his… That you can hear about that. But anyhow, How to Lie with Statistics is a great book. I strongly recommend you pick it up, and learn how to read research articles.
Hint, as I mentioned earlier, you don’t read from beginning to end. Read the introduction, read the results, and then you read how they actually went about and did it and broke it down.
So those are some things that are important. That 30 minute window in the second half of your cycle, day 21 to 40, super important to get those 40 grams of mixed source proteins.
And it doesn’t mean it has to be a super high protein source, if you’re out for a long, hard ride. It could also be something that’s as simple as some scrambled tofu, a side of toast with hummus. You can have a glass of milk, let’s say.
I don’t know why you’d do that, because you had scrambled tofu instead of scrambled eggs. But maybe you can’t stand eggs. And then some type of bread that has nuts and seeds in it. So you’re getting mixed protein sources.
The one thing you want to pay attention to from what I understand is the leucine content is important. So again, that’s where the Whey can really help. And for most people in the mornings, unless it’s a weekend, it’s really hard to have that time to go through and be able to actually get that leucine profile in. But it does have a big impact.
So casein protein, Pea Protein, the profile for the leucine is a little bit too low. Leucine and Valine are the two. Those are going to be too low to really get the time that they’re released and absorbed. There’s a timing for different proteins and that’s a whole nother topic that we’ll cover at another time.
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Want to learn more? Check out humanvortextraining.com. For more on this topic, from Coach Brodie and today’s guest.
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Now, if you’re sitting here thinking, “Leucine isoleucine, valine. Oh, my goodness, my head’s going to explode. I don’t even know what this stuff is.” Don’t worry about it. The bottom line is a mixed protein.
Okay. Now, so we’ve talked about the hormonal difference between men and women for the second half of the menstrual cycle called the luteal phase, days 21 to 40.
We talked about how the 28 day menstrual cycle is pretty much a myth, and was just convenient as far as dosing for medicine for the most part. And that the average female is between 38 and 42 days for her cycle. Roughly 35 to 42. So we’re just choosing 40 because it’s a nice and round number.
Next up, we’re going to talk about, what are the physiological or some of the physiological differences between the men and women respond to strength training. We’ve actually covered most of the answer for this.
We’ve talked about the hormonal difference, especially in the second half of the menstrual cycle, days 21 to 40. How you’re in a more catabolic state. But other than that, there’s only one other time, for the most part, that women are going to be different than men. More of two. It’s perimenopause and postmenopause.
And now, when we get into that time of your life cycle, what’s going to happen is when you’re perimenopause, which is around the menopause… So menopause tends to happen towards the second half of the 40s. So 46, 47, 48, 49. Although it’s not always linear. Again, every body is different.
So even though you may still be having a regular cycle, you may have the hormones going crazy, and you’ll feel you’re not getting the same response that you’re used to. You’re having trouble recovering.
All of a sudden, “You’re starting to feel fat around your stomach, or in other areas where you carry.” Well, you’re still eating and training the same way you were before, but it’s just not quite having the same response or effect on your body.
This is a very challenging time, and will be an episode at some point in and of itself. You can follow Dr. Stacy Sims. D-R, S-T-A-C-Y, S-I-M-S. On Instagram, she has a bunch of great stuff there, also on Facebook. You can go to her website, drstacysims.com.
I’m not getting paid for any of this, but a large part of me starting this podcast, was to share with you the most up-to-date information. And that’s pretty much going to be the resource.
There are a number of other researchers that are out there, and really pushing our understanding of women’s specific training, but Dr. Sims is the one that I’m most familiar with.
If you have somebody else in mind, and you know, and you’d like to share them, please send an email, feel free to comment. This is all about learning and helping every body grow. That is the most important time.
Nicola Rinaldi is another one. She has a book called No Period. Now what? There’s a number of, thankfully, resources that are growing for us out there who are looking to really train women.
Now, the thing is, is that when we get into these physiological differences, that’s pretty much the second half of the menstrual cycle. If you’re before menopause, perimenopause, it’s going to depend. And there’s a number of other things that we need to think of.
But the physiological differences seem to be proliferated in the mass media, in that women… I go into a gym and most of the weights that are light, are colored pink, and purple, which have since the 1980s, been deemed women’s colors.
And really, up until the 1980s, there was no difference between light blue, or what’s now called baby blue and pink. It was unisex. So if you were to look, when did pink become a girl color, you’ll find that it wasn’t until the 1950s I think it was or something like that. And then that’s when we started to signify gender based off of color.
I remember growing up, my mom actually used to sew our clothing. We would go to Joann Fabrics, which is in the northeast, and she would select a fabric and then she would make pajamas for my older sister, and then I would inherit them. And I specifically remember there was some type of pajama that was pink and blue and I think green.
I didn’t know any difference until I was 15 or 16. And then I asked my mom, “Why did you have me wear girl colors?” And my mom was like, “Pink and blue wasn’t a girl or boy color until later.” Anyhow, so that’s a whole nother thing.
There was some documentary on Instagram that I watched… Not Instagram, on YouTube, that was actually pretty interesting and they… Maybe Netflix has it. One of those. Either YouTube or Netflix has a documentary that describes when these color differentiations were made.
But anyhow, back on point with the weights, that’s one of the reasons why I decided to wear a pink Casio watch. It’s become my trademark. It’s something that people remember me by. “Oh, you’re the trainer or you’re the guy with the pink watch.” “There it is. Yes, it is.”
But it’s also to help my male clients become more comfortable picking up the pink weights, because they needed them. That was the right weight for them. The number of times that I just heard, “No, I’m not picking. That’s a girl color. Dude, it’s a color. It doesn’t freaking matter.
And then on the other side of things, there’re also females who refuse to pick it up, because that’s pink and that sexist. No, it is the right weight that you need to use. The color doesn’t matter.
“Well, people are going to think I’m lifting it up, because I’m a girl.” No, you’re going to use this for a couple months, or a couple weeks, and then you’re going to start using the baby blue one, which is also a sexist if you want. And then you’re going to start using the yellow one, which is 16 kilos. It’s just a color.
Why is it am I going off and talking about the colors of the weights? Because a large reason why this happened is because, Jane Fonda came in, we had aerobics, so the lightweights, high repetitions were seen as feminine. And when you go into a gym, what do you find?
And I remember this distinctly when I started working in the floor at the gym, is that the women were commonly on the cardio equipment, and the men were in the weights. And there was very little crossover.
If a female came over to do some squats or bench, “She’s going to hurt herself. What’s going on? Is something wrong? Is she feeling okay? Is she lost?” Dude, it’s lifting weights. This is important for everybody.
Unfortunately, since the 60s and 70s, and even up until today, women’s fitness and the magazines have leaned very heavily towards aerobics, lightweights, high repetitions, fanning the fire for women don’t lift heavy weights, or you’ll bulk up and look manly.
Hmm. That sounds familiar, because cyclist if you pick up weights, you’ll get bulky. Oh, come on, give me a break. If you’re doing a bodybuilder routine, which many people are, I’m constantly amazed. And here’s the thing, is that a certain repetition scheme doesn’t automatically make it so that you’re going to bulk up.
But when a cyclist comes to me and says, “Oh yeah. I’m lifting heavy weights. I’m doing five sets of five.” And I say to them, “You realize that you’re programming the body to put on muscle mass, right? You’re going to really pack on pounds doing that.” “Oh no. It’s heavy weights.”
And then they come back a couple weeks and say, “Well, I’ve put on two pounds of weight. Almost a kilo and I don’t know why.” When you’re doing strength training, you’re programming the body for specific results. So it’s not that you touch a weight for a set of five and poof, automatically, it happens.
There are a lot of things that have to occur. Including, the satellite cells have to respond, the body has to have the right hormonal status to be able to lay down useful muscle that you can actually add for function.
Which is going to be a challenge when you are in the second half of the menstrual cycle, because it’s going to be hard for the body to put on muscle mass you’re going to actually have access to. And there’s a number of other considerations.
But really, what it comes down to, is that women are going through this cycle, no pun intended, where they’re going to have times where they can put on lean muscle mass that’s functional.
And this is the one time where it’s not a catchphrase, like functional training. Functional training is the fundamental 5+1 movements of push, pull, squat, hinge, press, rotary stability. That’s functional training.
Doing a Barbell Back Squat on a stability ball is not functional, unless you’re in Cirque du Soleil, in which case, it’s probably going to be functional for about 3% of what you do in your act. So functional muscle mass, is muscle mass that you’re actually able to access and use for tasks at hand. And this is where we need to be careful.
I’ve had a number of cyclists in particular, who have messaged me, “Oh yeah. Well, I lift heavy. I do five sets of five and then I progress to three sets of 10, or three sets of eight.” Well, that’s not the answer. There’s a lot more to it.
But kudos to you, number one, for not being afraid of heavy weight. But as a female, we need to be careful and understand that, it should not just be the sets and repetitions or the number of repetitions per set.
During the second half of your menstrual cycle, day 21 to 40, we need to be basing off of perceived exertion, because your neuromuscular system is not going to be as fired up or able to execute as quickly, because of the hormonal status of your body, especially if you’re on the pill or another type of contraceptive like an IUD.
Now, each of the different contraceptions… Contraceptives, excuse me, have a different effect on the body. So the IUD is going to act a little bit differently than the pill. And the monophasic pill is going to have a different impact than the triphasic pill. So we have to make this differentiation.
And by the way, the pill that makes it, so you only have three or four periods a year, really bad. I don’t know all of the science on it, but just looking at things from the fact that this menstrual cycle is healthy and good, and you’ll see better performance going through.
That’s right, I am promoting or condoning not being on the pill. Obviously, there are other considerations, starting a family. Do not take my word for it. But talk to your family doctor. Make sure you’re reading, because not all family doctors are up to par with all of the research.
Some doctors are still telling athletes, “Oh, you’re an athlete, so you must be on the pill,” and prescribing it without even asking any questions. They just say, “Oh, you want to be competitive athlete? Here’s the pill.”
Tongue-tied. “What? Have you read the women’s specific research that’s coming out and showing that the pill is not conducive to better performance? Do you see that? Have you seen that?”
And most family physicians just don’t have time. Just keep that in mind, and know you have to be your own best advocate. I’m getting off on a side here a little bit, on a little bit of a rant.
But the physiological differences in the way men and women respond to strength training, we’ve already covered. Days 21 to 40, you need to be very aware. You’re going to go based off of RPE. So instead of going a heavy weight based off of your percent of estimated one-rep max… And if you’ve listened to the previous podcast, you’ll understand why it’s estimated.
Instead of going best off of estimated RPE, or estimated percentage of 1RM, you’re going off of RPE, because if it feels like an eight, it doesn’t matter what the weight on the bar is, because that’s going to be the same amount of response you’re going to get from the body.
And these pauses are for emphasis because I want this to process. If an RPE is of eight, and you have 100 kilos on the bar for deadlift, for the first two weeks, days 1 through 20, but an RPE of eight is 80 kilos, days 21 to 40, as long as you’re thinking about getting the same speed of the movement and lifting with all of your strength, you’re going to get the same results.
And that’s actually something that’s really interesting is… I think this was Dr. Schoenfeld, if I’m not mistaken, was either the author or a co-author on a paper that looked at the intent that you have. The intent.
Are you thinking about just picking up a lightweight or are you pretending like whatever weight you touch, is 500 kilograms? That will determine what outcomes you have and how much of that motor unit you recruit. So your mind has a lot to do here.
And we heard from Dr. Lewis, at some point here in the Road to Kona. Again, I don’t know where this is being released, because I’m not sure when the article will be published. And this is going to be published at the same time. But that mental training matters a lot.
Next one we’re going to get into. This is a favorite one. What are some target areas considered important for men in triathlon, but not so much so for women?
Well, women like to spot reduce their thighs and other areas that the mass media tells them is less appealing, because they have to look a certain way.
If you look at models from the Victorian era, and going even further back to the Renaissance era. In the Renaissance era, women who were heavier, were seen as more appealing, because they were seen as healthier.
And that’s gone all the way to the end of the spectrum now, where heroin chic is in. Dove has a campaign essentially teaching women to be happy in their bodies, and I love that, because that is important. You shouldn’t have to have in your mind to look a certain way.
Now, let’s not kid ourselves. When it comes to specific sports, there is a certain body type that tends to do well. As a cyclist, I’m not it. That’s how I became known as the Human Vortex, because I got big broad shoulders, a rather thick midsection, not fat, but just I’ve never been thin, so to speak. That’s my body type.
And people tell me, “Oh, you don’t look like a cyclist?” “Well, I don’t look like a cyclist, but I’m a cyclist.” So we have to keep in mind that if you’re going for the top levels of the sport, there is a certain body type that is conducive to having better results.
Just like with certain hips, certain shoulders, for other sports are going to be conducive for better performance and worse performance. If you’re looking to do some of the Highland Games, well, if you have eastern-style hip socket that’s very shallow and loose, you’re probably not going to do that well.
But if you have a Celtic hip, Highland Games, Celtic, Irish, you’re probably going to do a lot better, because you’re made for lifting heavy things and marching for long distances carrying stuff. So there are certain types that we need to think of.
But as far as target areas that are considered more important for women than men, aside from thinking about the Q angle of the knee, because Women tend to have wider hips, outside of that, diastasis and prolapse.
Diastasis, men can also have. It’s not something that’s only a female problem. In fact, I’ve had more men. And this is after working specifically with postpartum women for the last two years, I’ve still had more men with diastasis who went undiagnosed, because nobody thought to ask them or check for diastasis.
And this tend to happen more so in women. Prolapse is much more so in women because that’s after childbirth, where the pelvic floor is unable to hold things up and it falls down.
That comes with its own unique sets of challenges. And triathletes, runners and cyclists, I strongly recommend that you work with a postpartum corrective exercise, such as myself, or a physical therapist who is trained for pelvic floor issues.
And a physical therapist needs special training for this. And surgery is not necessarily the answer. There’s a lot of physical therapy exercises and breathing exercises and posture exercises, that you can do to get your pelvic floor to function better. There’s a lot of stuff, as far as getting some work with diastasis.
Again, with my over 10 years of working with triathletes and cyclists, I’ve seen more over 40 year old males with diastasis than women. And in the third trimester, I think week 38, 39, 40, 100% of women have diastasis. It’s just a separation of the linea alba. The six pack muscle has to open to physically make room for the baby.
So just something to be aware of. And it often presents as back pain, or a deep ache. Although, it can present in a number of ways. Those tend to be the most common that I’ve seen.
That’s really the only difference, is just as a female, to be more aware if you’ve had children, you had some kind of diastasis, most likely if you carried full-term, and prolapse to be aware of that. And most women usually know.
Leaking when you’re running, leaking when you are jumping, leaking when you are exerting yourself, is not normal. And you need to get that looked at. That’s a pelvic floor issue, and you need a postpartum corrective exercise specialist or a pelvic floor physical therapist, to be able to help you to be able to work through this and to build yourself up.
And if you’ve read my recent posts, and blog posts on TrainingPeaks, you’ll notice that I’ve been doing a lot more on the pelvic floor. If you took any of the emails that I sent about two years ago, in the spring, there was a lot on diastasis and pelvic floor issues for female triathletes and runners in particular, although we also spoke to cyclists.
Just something you’ll get if you sign up for the HVT newsletter. I don’t post all of my content, but most of it goes on the public sites. But for most of my newsletters, I try and give unique content, so if you’re interested there.
Oh, we’ve covered a lot so far. We really have. We’re still going here. We still got a little bit more, so bear with me. I know that it’s getting a little bit long.
We’re coming up on an hour, and there’s so much that we need to think about, as far as getting you to be able to function and move better. But I just want to wrap this up with two big pieces of important information that I think are missing today.
Number one, train like a female. None of this, “Oh, it’s egalitarian to be like men.” We have different physiologies, and if you keep bashing your head against the wall, you’re going to get a headache and eventually a subdural hematoma. You are going to just run into roadblocks. Train to your physiology.
And while I’m speaking directly to the women, it also goes for the men. Just because a workout worked for a friend of yours, does not mean it is going to work out for you. Nor does it mean that it’s the right time of the year or in your training cycle for you.
Train to your individual physiology. Modulate your training and nutrition strategies, as well as your program to match your physiology. Women have very different physiological needs in the second half of their menstrual cycle, days 21 to 40.
And if you’re serious about your strength training or your in-sport training progress or just your fitness in general, you must take this into account and make some big changes to see the results you deserve.
The word deserve is very, very specifically chosen here because so many women are frustrated. They have their ups and downs. They just can’t seem to connect it. If you’d like to learn more about this, pickup Dr. Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager book, Roar. R-O-A-R.
You can get it in Amazon digital as a Kindle, you can get a physical book. I’d recommend the physical because you can highlight and write in the sides. Follow Dr. Sims on Instagram, on Facebook. You can follow us here at HVT as well. But that is the number one thing. Train for your individual physiology.
Be an intelligent consumer. Train smarter, not harder. And that’s been our mantra and our logo here since 2007, when we opened the doors. We got rid of live it, love it, be it. People we’re just confused, but train smarter, not harder.
Which leads us to number two, get strong. Quit wasting your time on tricep pushdowns and bicep curls or using lightweights. Learn how to perform what I call the fundamental 5+1 movements properly. Push, pull, squat, hinge, press, rotary stability, and work appropriately with heavy weights, building towards two to three sets or three to eight sets of three to five repetitions.
This isn’t a blanket, there is no one set and rep scheme of five sets of five, moving to three sets of 10 or three sets of eight, that’s going to work year round. You need to program, what’s called the conjugate method, where you’re bringing out different physiological adaptations and specific physiological and physical expressions of strength and abilities throughout the year, and it should change.
So if you’d like to learn more about this, my Strength Training for Cycling Certification is going to launch here in the near future. It’s not going to be available 24/7/365. It’s only going to be available once or twice a year.
So if you missed it, if you go to the Human Vortex Training website, you go to courses, you click on Sign up for the Strength Training for Cycling Certification, and it takes you to the signup page for the newsletter, sign up for the newsletter.
Make sure you check that box for the Strength Training for Cycling Certification, so you get notified before it goes live again, because it’s not going to be open year round.
The other option, if it’s closed, is to go to TrainingPeaks University and pick up my Strength Training for Cycling Success. Or if you want a bit more on female specific issues, you can pick up my Strength Training For Triathlon Success Course.
So even if you’re a cyclist, you’ll get a little bit more on the running side and the swimming side, just a little bit more geared to that with how the course was made. These are not the same course.
And a number of coaches and athletes have emailed me saying, “Hey, I bought your Strength Training For Triathlon Course, and it’s completely different than the cycling course. What gives? I expect it to be the same thing with just different programming.” Two different sports need to be trained two different ways.
Number three, hire a good strength training coach and learn how to lift heavy things for the fundamental 5+1 movements with great technique. Hiring a strength coach or a very good personal trainer for even two to three sessions, is going to really help you speed up and fast track your ability to great technique, allow you to be able to address major issues up front and help you build better programs.
Just be upfront with the coach or the personal trainer. Say, “Hey, here’s my budget. I have enough for two or three sessions. I’d like to learn how to deadlift. Push, pull, squat, hinge, press, rotary stability. I’d like to learn each of these, to learn the proper technique. And what are my specific adaptations I need to make in order to execute it properly?”
By the way, remember, you do not and most of you should not be deadlifting off of the floor. So keep that in mind and use your head. You won’t get bulky. But with a great program design you’ll get stronger and see many, many rewards out on the road and out on course.
Last one for today. Number four if you are postpartum. And keep in mind, please postpartum is forever. There’s no time limit on postpartum. It is forever after having baby.
If you have had prolapse or your diastasis has yet to fully heal, find a postpartum corrective exercise specialist like myself, or a pelvic floor physical therapist, to help you address this really important issue.
Not only can this save you pain and suffering in your training and racing, but it can have long lasting negative impacts on your general health and well-being in the future.
And again, leaking is just a little bit of pee coming out. When you’re jumping, when you’re putting force down, when you’re putting out a hard effort, is not normal. That should not happen. Same with coughing or sneezing.
So if you have that, please seek out a postpartum corrective exercise specialist or a pelvic floor physical therapist to work with you and help you with all of that.
Now the last two points just to drive home again, change your strength training program to be more based on perceived exertion and days 21 to 40, whatever the second half of your cycle is.
And you don’t need to lift two to three days a week to keep up with the consistency during this phase, as far as heavy lifting. Just one session a week at the same RPEs. So don’t let the weight guide you. Let your perceived exertion guide you.
Plus one or two movements sessions before or after and in-sport, can help you continue to progress. And in fact, a number of women I’ve worked with, have done better when we’ve done this. Instead of saying, “Oh well, you wrote three days a week, so I needed to get it in.” So just keep that in mind.
Number two, nutrient timing after your workouts is super key, in the second half of your menstrual cycle called the luteal phase. Post-intense sports or strength sessions, you want to have a meal with 40 grams of mixed protein within 30 minutes of finishing the session. Ideally as quickly as possible.
Number three, remember that during the second half of your menstrual cycle called luteal phase, you’re also going to experience a drop in blood plasma volume. If you remember, this will significantly affect negatively your ability to put out power above your lactate threshold.
But not only your lactate threshold efforts, but especially your anaerobic efforts, VO2 max, all outs, sprinting, are all going to suffer. Some riders have seen a decrease in power as high as 20%, when this has not been addressed.
Remember, if you lose just 3%… I’m sorry, 1% of your blood volume, you can lose between three and 5% of power at VO2 max. So it’s not just a matter, again, of taking salt from the table and putting it into your water.
There’s three different types of sodium, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and you have sodium… I want to say sulfate but that’s not right. Sodium citrate is the last one.
So sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is regular table salt. Sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate are the two that you’d like to have a little bit more, because they help actually bring that water into your system through the large and small intestines, which will help keep your blood volume up.
Which leads us to the next point. Make sure that you’re not drinking your calories on the bike. You want to have real food on the bike, instead of lots and lots of sports drink and gels.
I was one of the worst people when I started coaching. I remember going out and literally spending every penny I had on gels. I’m claiming that I love them. Honey Stinger gels, because I knew the regular gels with the super complex carbohydrates like GU, they tasted great. I loved the taste, but my stomach did not like them.
Whereas when I started using Honey Stinger… And this is not an endorsement for the brand. I’m not getting pay for this. It’s what works. The Honey has an immediate but slow impact on your blood glucose levels, and allows me to feel a lot better.
So these are things you want to take into consideration. We’ve covered a lot today. If you liked this, please help me out, share the love, subscribe to the channel, share the course or… Rather share the link to today’s episode.
If you’d like, please take my course. There’s a ton of information in there that you’re going to get out of it. And there is a lot that you can do as you go forward and start training like a female to your specific physiology.
That’s it for today. We’ve covered lots of information. I hope you found this useful. Again, if you did, like, share, and don’t forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. We’re going to have lots of great information coming out for, you out there.
So until next time, train smarter, not harder because it is all about you. Training like a female, not like a male and getting the results you deserve. We’ll see you next time.
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That’s it for this episode of the Strong Savvy Cyclist and Triathlete Podcast, with World-Leading Strength Coach For Cyclists and Triathletes, Menachem Brodie. Don’t miss an episode. Hit that subscribe button and give us a review.
For more exclusive content, visit humanvortextraining.com or get the latest expert videos from Coach Brodie on the HVT YouTube channel at HVTraining. Until next time, remember to train smarter not harder, because it is all about you.
