Fitness

Women have specific exercise and nutritional needs. Dr. Stacy Sims explains | CNN

Published

2 years ago

May 2, 2024

Women have specific exercise and nutritional needs. Dr. Stacy Sims explains | CNN

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As reproductive health remains a key issue in the 2024 US presidential election, a recent executive order signed by President Joe Biden to improve women’s health research grabbed headlines. The March 18 directive is notable for its aim to integrate women’s health across federal agencies and drive new research. The timing could not be better.

For centuries, medical researchers have exclusively studied men, downplaying or outright ignoring sex differences and extrapolating their findings to women. However, women are not physiologically the same as men — marked most plainly with the onset of menstruation at female puberty and two X chromosomes — and thus have often been given incomplete, poor and even harmful medical advice.

This long-standing lack of female-based research stemming from sex and gender bias spurred Dr. Stacy Sims, an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, to devote her career to determining how women should be eating and exercising for optimal health. “If we work with our physiology knowing that women are women and men are men, knowing that women are not small men, then imagine the (health) outcomes,” she said at a 2019 TED talk.

READ MORE: Lab rats are overwhelmingly male, and that’s a problem

Cardiac arrest is a good example. While it was known in 2007 that women are nearly twice as likely to die from heart attacks as men, and that they report many more symptoms associated with acute coronary syndromes, a National Institutes of Health study published that year still recommended against differentiating heart attack symptoms between men and women.

Even today, women remain broadly underrepresented in medical literature, according to a study published in 2022 in Women’s Health Reports. Misogynistic attitudes remain as well. And while the US National Institutes of Health in 2016 implemented a policy requiring researchers to consider sex as a variable in their biomedical research, the results were mixed.

The number of studies including women did noticeably increase after this policy debuted. However, a 2019 bibliometric analysis — a rigorous means of analyzing large volumes of data — showed the majority of more than 700 medical studies failed to analyze the resulting data by sex, limiting their usefulness.

Sims, who is also author of the science-based book “Roar,” which details sex-based differences in exercise and nutrition at different life stages, recently shared her thoughts on the topic with CNN.

Before beginning any new exercise program, consult your doctor. Stop immediately if you experience pain. This conversation was edited and condensed for clarity.

CNN: How can it possibly be that women are still so medically understudied in 2024?

Dr. Stacy Sims: I know! Isn’t it crazy? Historically, when you think about who developed science and research, women were pushed out right at the start. The men were like, “Oh, women are lesser beings than us. They have smaller brains.” Even Darwin said that women weren’t as smart because they have smaller brains. So when you think about scientific method and how it all started, who were the people in the room? It was all men. No one really questioned the lack of women being studied. They just assumed women were smaller versions of men, so whatever works for men works for women. Tradition is really hard to change.

One thing the Covid-19 pandemic did do that I appreciate is cause researchers to sit up and say, “Holy sh*t, we really need to look at sex differences.” Because Covid-19 was more severe in men, yet side effects of the vaccine were more prominent in women. Also, long Covid has hit women more severely and has affected their brain more than men. That’s why we’re seeing all of this sex-specific stuff coming out that’s really good science instead of just generalized.

CNN: What are some basic things all women should be doing when it comes to exercise?

Sims: Any movement is good, but it’s more important that women put in strength or resistance training. It’s more for brain health. If we look at resistance training and the neural pathways it creates, we’re seeing it really does help attenuate dementia and Alzheimer’s — and there is a sex difference there as well. Historically, though, women haven’t been directed into doing resistance training. But across the board, from young to old, women should be doing strength training.

CNN: Does strength training have other impacts as women approach menopause?

Sims: Yes. When our hormones start changing between 40 and 50, it has a massive impact on our body composition. We start losing muscle and putting on more body fat. But if we have that lean mass from strength training, it really helps calm down that rate of change. Strength training also helps protect our bones and helps us keep our balance and proprioception (the awareness of where our body is in space). We don’t see these kind of changes in men until they’re in their late 50s to 70s.

CNN: What about exercise differences between the sexes when it comes to cardiovascular work?

Sims: Men can pretty much get away with everything. Women already have the capability of going long and slow, so we don’t need to do that kind of exercise — our bodies are already there. What we do need to do is high-intensity work: those true high-intensity intervals of 30 seconds or one minute. This helps women raise their metabolic rate, it helps reduce visceral (deep belly) fat and, most importantly, it helps keep our gut microbiome diverse and helps improve cardiovascular health. So when we look at all the research on high-intensity versus moderate-intensity versus low-intensity workouts, we really need to push the emphasis for that high-intensity work, plus resistance training.

CNN: Do women recover from exercise the same as men?

Sims: Right after exercise, there is a blood pressure difference. Women will experience vasodilation, so all their blood will go to the periphery, whereas men will have vasoconstriction, which means all of their blood comes back to their heart and can be pumped a lot faster for a quicker recovery. So women tend to get lightheaded and feel a little dizzy after a hard session, because all of their blood is pooling out. Drinking something cold right after exercise helps bring that blood back centrally, reduces metabolites and starts the reparation process.

CNN: What about nutritional differences between the sexes?

Sims: There is a big conversation around protein intake and how the recommended daily allowance for women is really low. It’s also based on cadaver work on 70- to 80-year-old men. So while protein is important for both sexes, we need to emphasize it for women — and especially as we age, since women become more anabolically resistant to exercise and protein intake, which means their bodies don’t respond as well to exercise and protein intake to build muscle. So it takes more protein, post-exercise, and higher loads or more volume of resistance training to get muscle protein synthesis.

In general, women should have 1 to 1.1 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. If you’re doing strength training, have 15 grams of protein before a session and 30 to 35 grams after, which helps with strength and facilitating reparation. For cardiovascular work, have 15 grams of protein with 30 grams of carbohydrates before — the carbs help bring your blood sugar up, because women’s bodies go through blood sugar quickly — but afterward is when you need protein — 30 to 35 grams, or 40 grams for perimenopausal and early post-menopausal women.

CNN: There has been a lot publicized recently about the benefits of intermittent fasting, training in Zone 2 — long and slow — and other fads. Are these equally beneficial to men and women?

Sims: Most of the trends out there are great for men, but it’s a different story for women. My voice is always, “Let’s show why what we’re seeing for the general population is not appropriate for women, but also, what is appropriate for women?” Because no one’s used to pausing and saying, “OK, I heard this. But what was the population it was studied on? If it was studied on men, it might not be great for me as a woman. Well, what is appropriate for me?” It’s too many steps.

Melanie Radzicki McManus is a freelance writer who specializes in hiking, travel and fitness.

Fitness

best ellipticals for a low-impact full body workout

Published

2 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Press Room

best ellipticals for a low-impact full body workout

Although it may seem straightforward, there are some key steps you should follow when using an elliptical. Elyse Miller, an iFIT trainer and elliptical class instructor, shared some insight on the key things to keep in mind when hopping on one of these machines.

Stand up straight: You must remain upright while on an elliptical. Miller says you should stand in a tall, upright position with an engaged core by tucking your hips forward. This will also activate your glutes and keep tension away from your lower back. Your upper body should be relaxed as well. “Relax your shoulders and leave elbows soft without locking them,” Miller said.

Additionally, your front leg should feel like a natural stride forward and your heel will slightly lift as you rotate ahead. “Your hands should remain neutral while holding the handles on the elliptical, but don’t squeeze them tight,” she said, adding that once you have the form down you can mix things up. “For example, angling your toes out will work your inner thighs or moving your hands up and down the handlebars will target different muscles in the upper body.”

Hold onto the handles: One of the unique aspects of an elliptical is that it lets you work your full body at once. To get the most out of your workout, you’ll want to make sure you’re holding onto the handles as you pedal. This will allow your upper body to get the blood flowing as well. “Since elliptical arm handles are long, you can easily change the hand placement as needed for different heights or to target different upper body muscles,” Miller said.

Don’t slouch over: If the resistance is too high that it’s causing you to sacrifice your form, change up the intensity. “Reduce the resistance to maintain a strong, confident posture,” Miller said, adding, “don’t get stuck in the circling rut — make sure to try out intervals, resistance changes and level shifts rather than zoning out and going through the motions.”

Keep your feet on the pedals: Naturally, your body is going to move with the forward motion of the elliptical when your arms and legs are involved. Make sure to keep your feet sturdy and flat on the pedals as you go through the motions.

Fitness

Very difficult and extremely cool: how to start doing pull-ups

Published

14 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Press Room

Very difficult and extremely cool: how to start doing pull-ups

The pull-up has long been seen as an important fitness metric. From 1966 to 2013, public middle and high school students in the US were required to do pull-ups as part of the presidential fitness test (an evaluation Donald Trump has considered reinstating). US Marine Corps members were long required to perform pull-ups as part of their regular physical fitness test, and prospective UK Royal Marines must complete a minimum of three to four pull-ups before they are eligible to join.

There is no definitive data on how many adults can perform a proper pull-up, but two things are clear: they are very difficult and look extremely cool.

“When a new client comes to see me, the most common exercise they say they’d like to be able to do is the pull-up,” says Emily Schofield, a certified personal trainer at the training company Ultimate Performance. “Achieving that first proper rep is one of the most satisfying milestones you can reach in the gym, because it’s a genuine, hard-earned display of strength, coordination and control.”

Do you want to literally and figuratively flex on others at the gym? Here’s how to start doing pull-ups.

What is a pull-up?

To perform a pull-up, a person starts by hanging from a bar with their arms fully extended and feet off the ground; this is also known as a dead hang. From there, they pull themselves up until their chin is over the bar, and then lower with control.

“Done well, it’s a controlled, deliberate movement,” says Schofield. “There’s no kicking, jerking or relying on momentum.”

What are the benefits of pull-ups?

Pull-ups build upper body strength, particularly in the back, says Mathew Forzaglia, certified personal trainer and founder of Forzag Fitness. “It also helps develop core stability, which prevents the body from swaying during consecutive reps, and improves grip strength,” he says.

The muscles most engaged by the exercise, according to the Cleveland Clinic, are the latissimus dorsi (or “lats”) – the large, broad, fan-shaped muscles which stretch from the bottom of the back to below the shoulder blades – and the trapezius (or “traps”) – the triangle-shaped muscles that run from the neck to the mid-back. They also engage shoulders, forearms, biceps, triceps and abdominal muscles.

When Schofield performs a pull-up, she says she focuses on not just using her arms: “Putting too much emphasis on your biceps to execute the move will make you tire quickly and diminish how effectively you’re targeting the lower back,” she explains, adding that the lats should be doing the heavy lifting.

In addition to looking impressive at the gym, pull-ups also help with functional strength. Because pull-ups force the body to work as a single unit, they improve “strength, coordination and neuromuscular control”, as well as helping with posture, improved performance on other lifts, and a more balanced physique overall, Schofield says.

Can anyone do a pull-up?

For the most part, yes.

Many women in particular seem to doubt this. And can you blame them, when the New York Times once published an article titled, Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups? (Granted, the article was controversial at the time, and several outlets and blogs published rebuttals.)

Schofield says many women she works with “instantly dismiss the idea they’ll ever be strong enough to perform a pull-up”. But she emphasizes that neither age nor gender should be considered a barrier to the exercise.

“I train a client who is in her 70s and she can perform a full set of eight pull-ups with greater strength and control than people half her age,” Schofield says.

Some people need to be especially careful when performing pull-ups, Schofield says – specifically those with shoulder injuries, elbow painor any type of upper-body joint issue.

“In those cases, I’d always prioritize rehab and strengthening work before attempting the exercise,” she says.

How do you do a pull-up?

One of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to pull-ups is jumping straight on to the bar, Schofield says. Most people will need to build up a base of strength before they can successfully perform the exercise.

To do this, prioritize exercises that strengthen the muscles you will need to perform a pull up. These include:

Forzaglia also recommends inverted rows using TRX straps or a barbell set up in a squat rack. “This helps build the foundational pulling strength needed to progress,” he says.

Even if you can’t complete a pull-up, it’s worth spending time on the bar, Schofield says: “That might mean attempting partial reps, holding the top position, or controlling the lowering phase.” All of these help the body learn how to coordinate the movement, she explains.

Regardless of gender, building to a full pull-up can be a slow process. Countless programs claim to be able to teach people how to do a pull-up in 30 days. That might be possible for some. But achieving a pull-up depends on a number of factors, including baseline fitness, bodyweight and physical build. Although the above exercises are all relatively safe, it is a good idea to work with a certified personal trainer who can offer the best personalized guidance. And encouragement.

“Because pull-ups are difficult, people tend to avoid them when they struggle. But that’s exactly when they should practice them the most,” Schofield says. “The key is to practice, practice, practice.”

Fitness

Strengthen your lower abs with this unusual but beginner-friendly core exercise

Published

1 day ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

Strengthen your lower abs with this unusual but beginner-friendly core exercise

We’re always on the lookout for new core exercises to add to our fitness routines, especially ones that help improve form and control. Midlife trainer Dr Won Dolegowski created the barbell back-supported knee raise with exactly this in mind, saying the movement ‘trains your lower abs without stressing your lower back’ while also teaching core control by reducing momentum and swinging.

‘A strong core goes beyond aesthetics. You need it for better posture, to protect your back and to carry you through life,’ she says.

Sarah Campus, PT, instructor, nutrition coach and founder of LDN MUMS FITNESS, explains how to perform the exercise with proper form, why it’s so effective and the key muscles it works.

How to do the barbell back-supported knee raise

Set up a barbell on a rack so it sits at lower-back height when you’re positioned beneath it. Add a hip-thrust pad for comfort.
Lean your lower back against the bar for support and stability, keeping your core engaged throughout.
Raise your knees towards your chest by curling your pelvis upwards, rather than simply lifting your legs.
Slowly lower your legs back down with control, avoiding swinging or arching through the lower back.

Muscles worked

The movement mainly targets the core muscles, says Campus, including:

Rectus abdominis – particularly during the lifting phase of the knee raise
Hip flexors – which help lift the knees
Obliques – which assist with stability and pelvic control
Transverse abdominals – for deep core stabilisation

Other muscles involved include:

Quadriceps – which help maintain leg position
Forearm and grip muscles – which help support your hold on the bar
Shoulders and upper back – which stabilise the torso against the support

Benefits of the barbell back-supported knee raise

Campus says the exercise offers several key benefits:

The core stays under constant tension throughout the movement, as the back support reduces momentum and swinging.
It helps stabilise the spine and pelvis, reducing strain on the lower back and making the exercise feel safer and more comfortable.
Because the torso stays in a fixed position, it’s easier to perform a proper pelvic curl at the top of the movement, helping improve lower-ab engagement and control.
It can also help strengthen grip, adds Dolegowski.

Modifications of the barbell back-supported knee raise

1. Reverse crunches

Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms by your sides, palms facing down. For extra support, place your hands underneath your hips.
Press your lower back into the floor and brace your core by pulling your belly button towards your spine.
Engage your lower abs to lift your legs and curl your knees towards your chest, allowing your hips to lift slightly off the floor at the top of the movement.
Slowly lower your hips back down with control before extending your legs back to the starting position.

2. Hanging knee raises

Hang from a bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Pull your shoulder blades down and brace your core.
Bend your knees and raise them towards your chest using your core muscles, aiming to bring them up to hip height without swinging.
Pause briefly at the top of the movement while keeping your torso stable.
Slowly lower your legs back to the starting position with control.

3. Captain’s chair leg raises

Position yourself in a captain’s chair with your back against the support pad and your forearms resting on the arm pads. Let your legs hang straight down.
Brace your core and slowly raise your straight legs until they reach hip height or slightly higher.
Pause briefly at the top while keeping your torso steady and avoiding swinging.
Lower your legs back down slowly and with control before repeating.

Having a strong core is about far more than sporting a six-pack. Build functional mid-section strength – while also improving your power, posture, coordination and balance – with WH COLLECTIVE coach Izy George’s 4-week core challenge. Download the Women’s Health UK app to access the full training plan today.

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Sarah Campus is a highly qualified women’s PT, Nutrition Coach, Running Coach, Distance Runner, mum of 3 and founder of LDN MUMS FITNESS.

She’s the host of the Soho House Run Club in Chiswick and a STRAVA and TOMMY’s marathon coach and ambassador. She specialises helping non-runners get into competitive distance running.

As a fitness and holistic wellness expert, Sarah regularly features on TV and in Magazines, offering tips and advice to keep the whole family healthy and active.