Support Hormonal Function
Women go through several life stages where our hormones can be all over the place … let alone the ups and downs just during our cycle - encouraging optimal hormonal response will impact us physically and mentally.
So, for a woman we go through many hormonal phases.
Puberty - Pregnancy (in some cases) - Peri menopause - Menopause
Those are the big hormonal changes in our life cycle but to top it all off … we also have a monthly cycle!! So we experience ups and downs of our glorious hormones every 25-35 days!
It will always amaze me what our bodies go through, but the fact we function and thrive through it all is really quite amazing (in later posts ill be giving you more information about hormones and our cycle … seriously its a really cool topic that (well for me) I didn’t know anything about until I studied it - but more on this soon!
So, strength training and supporting your hormones!
We all know the big hormones related to women … oestrogen and progesterone. But, there is of course so much more.
A few more hormones to mention are, testosterone, cortisol, serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, insulin and endorphins.
There are over 50 hormones in the human body and all play specific parts in ensuring we run optimally.
But the reality is that we all experience hormonal imbalance … they fluctuate ever day, hour and minute many things can be the factor down to the food we eat to company we keep.
But another external source that has an impact on our hormones is strength training!
Here is a very quick run through on how hormones are effected by strength training:
Strength training increases insulin sensitivity = basically this is a good thing, being insulin density means when you eat the calories are being used more efficiently and effectively (this is a very very simple way to put this)
Strength training increase endorphin level = ‘endorphins make you happy’ - Elle Woods.
And its true so when you training you’ll feel happier .. we’ve all felt that buzz .. you can thank your hormones.
Strength training increase oxytocin levels = any mamas out there will be aware of this hormone as it is the ‘magic hormone of child birth’ but it is boosted when we train so be prepared too feel amazing, strong, powerful and in a state of ecstasy when you train.
Strength training manages cortisol levels = high cortisol means high stress. Now, training increases your cortisol levels … you are putting your body through a stress to adapt and change BUT stress isn’t always a bad thing. When your body learns to adapt and deal with stress and use it to grow we actually become more responsive to stress so the stresses we experience in day to day life become more manageable.
Your body can’t tell the difference between physical and mental stress - stress is stress in the bodies eyes and unfortunately stress is not something we can avoid so we might as well take it on and adapt, rolling with it and come out stronger.
Strength training increases testosterone levels and human growth hormone = Yes women have levels of testosterone … the levels are low of course but it is still an awesome hormone for women and something that when we increase (the levels rise during training and drop again) will support us to build lean muscle tissue an, which mean you can work develop and adapt your body overtime to thrive in the benefits of training.
Testosterone helps support many body functions, but for now ill just say about he increases lean muscle mass - more muscle helps increase strength, increase metabolic rate and is the key to anti ageing (seriously, more muscle keeps you young!)
Supporting certain hormonal concerns: strength training can decrease the levels of oestrogen - this means is can help with the symptoms of PCOS and PMS symptoms which are caused by too high levels of oestrogen.
Working with your body is VITAL. So listen to your body and its cues, if you’re feeling fated, drained, highly stressed or you experience negative training results (decrease in performance of injury) you know its time to pull back … its all a learning curb so be kind to yourself and when you train with your body you will reap the benefits!
So, that is a very simple mini break down of some hormones effected by strength training - I hope this is more then enough of a reason to really up the strength training … but if you need more convincing check out next weeks post and the future hormone posts!