At Wild AI, we believe that the needs of women are different from men. Nutrition is a key element for optimal training and performance, and as the physiological needs of women across the menstrual cycle and/or life stages change, so should nutrition to support that.
Why is nutrition so important?
Nutrition is essential for not only your health and well-being but also your performance and training [1]. Specifically, nutrition provides your body with the energy it needs for training, recovery and adaptation to the training stimulus (i.e. get fitter and stronger overtime) [2].
It also plays a vital role in our bone health, mood and motivation, as well as our ability to train consistently and reduce your injury risk [2].
Why should women consider nutrition around their training?
Whilst there is no shortage of nutrition guidelines for optimal health and performance in men, not all information might be relevant to women. For example, research highlights that fasted training, although becoming increasingly popular, is not advisable to women in particular. Fasted training might lead to low energy availability and REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport) [2], a condition that can be detrimental to making fitness gains.
This is because women are highly sensitive to changes in energy availability. Along with training, the process of making female hormones is also an energetically costly process (£££) that is supplied by energy (in calories) from food. In addition, female hormones also contribute to making training gains! It’s therefore important to meet the energy demands of training AND hormone production as they both help us adapt to get fitter and improve performance [3,4].
How can you make sure you’re fuelling right?
To start fuelling to meet the demands of your training and your female physiology, the first step is to make sure you focus on your nutrient intake around training. This ensures that you have adequate energy to train and recover from training. You can do this by following the recommendations in the Wild AI app!
To use this feature:
- Select ‘Training’ in the dashboard screen, and input your training session details.
- Your pre and post training recommendations will then be provided.
- Once you’ve completed your recommendations you can simply check them off.
- Tip To find out more you can select the information button (i) which presents you with further advice, insights, and references.
Quick question: I entered two training sessions and received two pre- and post-training nutrition suggestions, which do I choose?
We suggest following the higher quantity of carbohydrates and protein option, especially if your activities were within 90 minutes of each other.
Originally published: 23.11.2021
References
- Holtzman, B., & Ackerman, K. (2021). Recommendations and Nutritional Considerations for Female Athletes: Health and Performance. Sports Medicine
- McGregor, R. The Female Athlete Training Diary.
- Hutson et. al (2021). Incidence of bone stress injury is greater in competitive female distance runners with menstrual disturbances independent of participation in plyometric training. Journal of Sports Sciences
- Wohlgemuth, K. (2021) Sex differences and considerations for female specific nutritional strategies: a narrative review. Journal of ISSN.
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