Blogging with Dr. Stacy Sims

How to Power Your Way Through Menopause menopause perimenopause May 12, 2022

Heavy lifting. Sprint training. Plyometrics. They all have one thing in common—they’re essential for menopausal health and performance.

Society has taught women to devalue their power. That’s especially true during menopause when we’re told it’s time to slow down and...

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How Your Female Sex Hormones Affect HRV hrv Apr 21, 2022

Why your recovery scores may not be what they seem depending on your cycle.

Many women tell me that they use heart rate variability (HRV)—the variance in time between beats of your heart—for tracking recovery. HRV is the metric that Whoop Strap, Oura Ring, and other recovery tracking...

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Why Women Need More Strength and Less Cardio Training strength Apr 07, 2022

Endurance sports have their place, but for long-term health and longevity, you need to hit the weights.

As a former Ironman triathlete and bike racer, I’m not about to tell anyone to hang up their racing flats or rack their bike. Endurance training can improve cardiorespiratory fitness,...

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Harness the Perimenopause “Power Window” perimenopause Mar 08, 2022

Research shows the perimenopausal period is the best time to adapt your training to prevent unwanted menopausal metabolism and body composition changes.

I’ll say up front that it’s never too late (or too early!) to start lifting heavy sh*t  and upping intensity to improve...

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Female Athletes Need Carbohydrates carbohydrate nutrition Feb 24, 2022

Men do, too. Research shows another downside to low-carb training.

Women perform best in a fueled state. That means eating carbohydrates. That shouldn’t be a radical concept. Carbs are the preferred fuel source for our brain; they’re necessary to fuel high intensity efforts, and they...

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The Power of Plant-Centered Eating fueling intermittent fasting ketogenic diet microbiome vegetarian Feb 08, 2022

Building the foundation of your diet on plants builds a strong foundation for health and performance, especially for women.

Since I spend so much time helping inform how other people should eat for optimal health and performance, many women ask me how I eat. I have been a plant-centered athlete...

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What We’re Learning About Covid-19 Vaccination and the Menstrual Cycle covid menstrual cycle Jan 24, 2022

If you thought it affected your cycle, you were right. Here’s what’s going on. 

  

I just got boosted. Aside from a sore arm (which I had to put a brave face on for, so my daughter wouldn’t be afraid to get her shot after me), I didn’t have too many side...

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You’re Not a Small Man, But You May Need to Eat Like One! fueling Jan 08, 2022

Research shows that female athletes have the same relative energy requirements as their male counterparts.

As anyone who’s been following me for more than 3 days knows, I’m all about women fueling properly, because the fact is that most active women do not eat enough to support their...

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Holiday Stress Cranking Up Your Anxiety? Turn Up the Intensity! anxiety intensity Nov 23, 2021

Study finds higher intensity exercise helps relieve anxiety.

I am a huge proponent of high-intensity exercise, especially short, sharp high-intensity training like sprint intervals of 30 seconds or less because it's like powerful medicine.

Sprint interval training (SIT) fires up your fast-twitch...

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Nail Your Golden Recovery Window for Optimum Health and Performance recovery Nov 11, 2021

Post-workout fueling matters even more for women than men.

Low energy availability is extremely common in women athletes. A 2019 survey of 1,000 female athletes across more than 40 sports published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine estimated the risk of low energy availability in women...

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Hydration is Power. Harness Yours hydration Oct 26, 2021

Women heat up sooner, sweat less, and have hormonal fluctuations that impact how we keep our cool when we crank up our efforts. 

I have been studying hydration my entire adult life (the basis of my PhD was sex differences in hydration in the heat!), both as an athlete myself in endurance...

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Sports Supplements: What Works for Women supplements Sep 21, 2021

Surprise, surprise, some ergogenic aids work differently for us than they do for the guys.

Research on female college athletes shows that more than 65 percent of them use some type of supplement at least once a month. I don’t know what the percentage is among performance-minded women...

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Exercising While Pregnant Is Good For You and Your Baby, Too pregnancy Sep 09, 2021

A new study links a mom’s physical activity to her offspring’s lung function.

For years, women have contacted me, fresh off a positive pregnancy test, wondering whether they need to stop working out for fear of doing harm. In fact, the opposite is true.  

For starters, it is safe...

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Period Power anemia period Aug 26, 2021

Menstruation can be prime time for PRs. Here’s how to go with the flow (no matter how heavy your flow).

“What’s the matter, you on the rag?”

“Hey ‘ladies,’ are you going to get your heads in the game, or do you need some tampons?”

When I was coming...

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Save your Sleep sleep Aug 04, 2021

Women struggle more than men to get a good night’s rest. Let’s fix that.

Women appear to have a predisposition to struggling with insomnia. Research meta-analysis has shown it. Surveys by the National Sleep Foundation have shown it. Up to 67 percent of women reported having trouble...

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Beat the Heat heat Jul 22, 2021

Working with your physiology to keep your cool is more important than ever as temperatures reach new heights.

Though the temps are cool and cloudy here in the Southern Hemisphere where I live, active women working out in the Northern Hemisphere are facing scorching temps, with many places hitting...

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#Fitspiration can be the Opposite of Inspiration body image Jul 09, 2021

Research finds viewing #fitspiration posts can harm body image and make exercise feel harder.

As a female athlete performance physiologist, I work with women of all fitness and age levels to optimize their physiology and help them feel and perform their best. I know all too well how many barriers...

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Worried About Wetting Yourself? incontinence Jun 25, 2021

Research shows incontinence is common in active women. Don’t let stress incontinence keep you on the sidelines.

During a photo shoot for our upcoming book (out Spring 2022), my co-author Selene Yeager was surrounded by fierce, active women, who openly shared something they generally keep...

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The Contraceptive Conundrum contraception Jun 11, 2021

Is the pill blunting your training gains?

Chances are, if you’re on the pill, it’s to prevent pregnancy (or to help treat other conditions like PCOS), not to enhance your athletic performance. But I’m guessing you don’t want your contraception to be hindering your athletic...

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Rundown? Underperforming? Research Shows You’re Likely Undernourished undernourished May 27, 2021

Here’s how to make sure you’re eating enough!

When women come to me because they’re struggling with poor performance one of the simplest (though not always easiest) and most successful strategies I provide is getting them to eat more.

Many women athletes are chronically...

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Yes! You are an athlete. No! You shouldn’t practice Intermittent Fasting. intermittent fasting ketogenic diet May 10, 2021

I sat down with 8x U.S. Champion Steeplechase runner and Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn for Episode 5 of Nuuness TV, a Nuun-sponsored YouTube series devoted to women in sports.

It didn’t take long before the topic turned to my scientific impressions of current diet trends. Of course, I...

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