How to Work Out Like a Woman

Meno this, lady that. Do we actually need special workout rules? Here's what the science shows no matter your sex, age, or stage of life.

- By Lauren Colenso-Semple, PhD illustrations by Eddie Guy

When I think back to my time in high school and college, the message was clear: Going to the gym was for losing weight and becoming smaller.

The weight room—and building muscle—was solely for guys. I had that stereotypical fear of “looking like a bodybuilder” and lived by the assumption that lifting was an activity for the male body. Falling victim to the misinformation directed at women, I spent my time on the treadmill, ending up with a stress fracture...and a wake-up call.

Three months of rehab in a walking boot tanked my running performance. Ready for a new fitness challenge, I started lifting weights.

Gaining more muscle gave me resilience and confidence—and showed me firsthand that those sex-based fears were more myth than science. That shift sparked my love for strength training and inspired me to become a trainer and muscle physiology researcher.

While I love seeing more women embracing strength training, the old narrative persists: that our biology means we need to work out differently than men. Social media is overflowing with cycle-syncing workout plans, “female-friendly” routines, and pink-washed supplements. (Sheatine, anyone?) It’s time to question where these recommendations come from and if they hold up.

Hormone Hypothesis

The idea that women need different workouts than men usually hinges on one thing: hormones, especially testosterone. That has opened the door to a wave of sex-specific training notions, despite the fact that, in recent decades, multiple studies in women have shown that the principles of developing strength and muscle are the same for both sexes.