Roar Quotes

“The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that eating just one serving of lettuce or other vitamin K–rich foods (leafy greens and veggies) a day can cut the risk of hip fracture in half compared to eating just one serving a week.”
― Stacy Sims, Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life

“performance during PMS: Take 250 milligrams of magnesium, 45 milligrams of zinc, 80 milligrams of aspirin (baby aspirin), and 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids (flaxseed and fish oil) each night for the 7 days before your period starts. Pretraining: Take 5 to 7 grams of branched-chain amino acid supplement (BCAAs) to fight the lack of mojo. These amino acids cross the blood-brain barrier and decrease the estrogen-progesterone effect on central nervous system fatigue. In training: Consume a few more carbohydrates per hour. In this high-hormone phase, aim for about 0.45 gram of carbohydrate per pound of body weight (about 61 grams for a 135-pound woman) per hour. In the low-hormone phase (first 2 weeks of the cycle), you can go a bit lower—about 0.35 gram of carbohydrate per pound of body weight (about 47 grams for a 135-pound woman) per hour. (For reference: 2.2 kilograms = 1 pound.) Post-training: Recovery is critical. Progesterone is extremely catabolic (breaks muscle down) and inhibits recovery. Aim to consume 20 to 25 grams of protein within 30 minutes of finishing your session. Overall you should aim to get 0.9 to 1 gram of protein per pound per day (a 135-pound woman needs about 122 to 135 grams of protein per day; see the Roar Daily Diet Cheat Sheet for Athletes for more information). THE MARTIAL ARTIST WHO BEAT HER BLOAT It may not be nice to fool Mother Nature, but there are definitely times when you need to trick her a little.”
― Stacy Sims, Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life

“We need protein, and we need it fast. Remember, progesterone exacerbates muscle breakdown in women. So you need more protein to protect those muscles and come back stronger.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Women recover faster with 25 to 30 grams of protein (with about 3 grams leucine) within 30 minutes of a hard workout. (Note peri- and postmenopausal women should aim for 40 grams of protein to help with recovery.)”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“carbohydrate, higher-electrolyte drink and eat real food. Women have a smaller window for recovery than men do. Maximize muscle adaptation and repair by eating for recovery within 30 to 45 minutes postexercise.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Hydration in the bottle, food in the pocket! Don’t rely on a typical sports drink or liquid sports supplement to do both; use a low-”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Compared to men, women are 5:1 more likely to experience GI distress. Avoid fructose and maltodextrin during exercise to work with your gut’s physiology instead of against it.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Low fuel in and around training sessions will inhibit your adaptive responses; reduce your body’s ability to lose body fat and gain lean mass; and increase your risk for stress fractures, poor blood glucose control, poor sleep, mood disturbances, and ultimately poor performance. In short, if you want to achieve your best performance and body composition, it is imperative that you fuel your workouts!”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“when you’re older. The best activities are those that are weight bearing (force you to work against gravity) and have multidirectional forces through the bone such as jumping (i.e., jump rope, plyometrics), dancing, and tennis and other ball sports, and of course strength training. Bicycling and swimming are excellent for your muscles and heart but not so much for your bones.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“SIDE PLANK (Hold for 20 to 30 seconds per side.) Strengthens the abdominals, obliques, and shoulders Lie on your right side with your legs extended and feet and hips stacked. Prop your upper body up on your right elbow and forearm. Raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. Hold this position. Flip around so that you’re lying on your left”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“PLANK WITH KNEE DIPS (10 dips per side) Strengthens the abdominals, shoulders, hips, and glutes Get into a pushup position, extending your arms so your hands are on the floor directly beneath your shoulders and your legs are straight with your weight on the balls of your feet. Keep your abs taut and your body in a straight line. Pull your abs in and slowly drop and tap the floor with your left knee. Straighten your left leg and”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“MAKE IT HARDER: Hold dumbbells. BRIDGE WITH ALTERNATING HIP FLEXION (15 reps per side) Strengthens the outer hip muscles and glutes Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the ground. Raise your butt up off the ground and squeeze. Lift your right foot off the ground and make sure that your right hip does not dip down. Lower your right foot and”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“MAKE IT HARDER: Hold dumbbells. SINGLE TOE RAISE (1 minute or 2 sets of 30 reps) Strengthens the calf muscle, improves glute strength, and increases balance Stand up with your hands on your hips. Bend the left knee up and contract your right glute and tighten your abs to maintain your balance. Slowly rise up on your right toes while keeping your balance. You may hold your arms out parallel to the floor to help stabilize. Slowly lower to the ground for a full set and switch to the other side.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“WALKING LUNGE (1 minute or 3 sets of 10 reps) Strengthens the glutes and quad muscles and improves balance and stability Take a giant step forward and lunge forward, leading with your right leg. Drop the back knee straight down, keeping your front knee over your ankle (you should be able to see your toes). Push off with your right leg and lunge forward with your left leg, repeating the move. Control the motion and try to prevent your front knee from caving inward.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“This is yet another reason why women need to be very careful about extremely low-carb diets, because restricting this macronutrient causes your brain to produce even less serotonin, setting you up for mood disorders, especially if you’re already prone to them.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“The review included interesting research on brain health in women; identifying research that women with a major depressive disorder who augmented their daily antidepressant with 5 grams of creatine responded twice as fast and experienced remission of depression at twice the rate of women who took just the antidepressant. The researchers recommend a traditional loading dose (0.3 gram per kilogram of body weight a day for 5 to 7 days) or a routine daily dose (3 to 5 grams) for 4 weeks as effective for women, regardless of age. The traditional side effect of weight gain (due to water retention) does not occur with this low dose, yet the health and performance outcomes increase significantly.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“With the onset of menopause, estrogen and progesterone diminish. Dropping hormones lead to a slew of changes that can result in disruptive menopausal symptoms and can make exercise feel harder, including less-compliant blood vessels (blood pressure changes are slower); it also gets harder to handle the heat. Menopausal women are more sensitive to carbohydrates, so they have more blood sugar swings and need less carbohydrates overall. Your body uses protein less effectively at this time of life, so the type and quality of protein you eat and when you eat it become very important to build and maintain your muscles. High-intensity power and strength training is really important once you hit menopause to prevent muscle loss, bone loss, and weakness with age.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Remember, no matter how fit you are, there’s no outrunning improper nutrition!”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“The omega-3s in fish oil (1,000 milligrams a day) have also been shown to quell common menstrual problems such as cramps and back pain.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“As a woman, you become more sensitive to carbohydrates as you age and especially as you enter the menopause transition, because of the decline in your estrogen levels, so eating a diet too high in carbs is detrimental from a blood sugar and metabolism standpoint. Starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, yams, and winter squash as well as root veggies such as carrots, onions, and garlic are superior forms of carbohydrate from a nutritional standpoint. You don’t need to eat a ton of carbs, but you should eat the right carbs throughout the day (and time them correctly before, during, and after exercise, which we’ll cover in depth in the next chapter) for your physiology and fitness level. What I find works best from both a body composition and performance standpoint among my female athletes is aiming for a daily intake of about 40 to 45 percent whole-food carbohydrates (e.g., veggies, fruit, ancient grains).”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Less power production (meaning you have to train for power, not for endurance). Solution: Focus on power training. The speed and strength of muscle contractions tend to diminish with age, thus power and speed become essential aspects of postmenopausal training. See Chapter 7 for specific exercises to boost your performance.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“It just means you need to train hard. All the cardio in the world won’t cut it. Research on women, especially past age 40, shows that even high levels of aerobic activity don’t translate into any meaningful changes in lean body mass. The only solution is strength training, strength training, strength training. And I don’t mean doing “toning” exercises with 5-pound dumbbells. I mean high-intensity power training—heavy lifting for pure strength. This kind of training stimulates your neuromuscular system, activating the maximum amount of muscle fibers. It also keeps those high-energy, powerful type II muscle fibers engaged, which is essential because those are needed for speed, and they’re the first to go.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Don’t train fasted. As a woman, especially, it can promote fat gain and reduce positive fitness adaptations.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Don’t get caught up in the numbers on the scale. Body composition is what counts, especially how much muscle you have.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Should you take melatonin? I would recommend using valerian and tart cherry juice (below) first, as these have been shown to naturally increase the body’s production of melatonin and do not have the melatonin hangover side effect that is common when taking straight melatonin.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Ironically, you are most like a man when it comes to exercise, fueling, and thermoregulation during your period and the follicular phase.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“Phase 1: the follicular phase (from the start of your period to ovulation) Phase 2: the ovulatory phase (ovulation) Phase 3: the luteal phase (from ovulation to the onset of the next cycle).”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“In the 5 to 7 days before your period starts, you can reduce the effect of cramp-causing chemicals (specifically PE-2, an estrogen-mediated prostaglandin) by taking magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, and low-dose 80-milligram aspirin. Yes, it has to be aspirin if it is not contraindicated for you, not ibuprofen or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), because aspirin suppresses the production of prostaglandins irreversibly, unlike the other NSAIDs, which are reversible.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“So, you need to put more carbs into your system during the premenstrual part of your cycle, especially if you’re doing long bouts of intense exercise. We’ll go into great detail in Chapter 10, but in general aim for a combination of 10 to 15 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbohydrates (about 180 calories) before any workout longer than 90 minutes, and 30 grams of carbohydrates combined with protein and fat (real food, not straight carbs from gels!)”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life

“with every beat—about 20 percent less cardiac output than men. Less oxygenated blood means we have to breathe more often, and as a consequence, our respiratory muscles—such as the diaphragm and intercostals between our ribs—need to work harder and use a lot of energy. Like other skeletal muscles, the contracting respiratory muscles require enough blood flow to meet oxygen demand. If you have a greater oxygen cost of breathing, you also likely dedicate a greater amount of blood flow toward your respiratory muscles during maximal exercise.”
― Stacy T. Sims, Roar: Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Body for Life