The Female Factor: What Your CrossFit Training Is Missing With Dr. Stacy Sims (EP. 021)
The CrossFit Podcast
CrossFit LLC
4.3 • 757 Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Stacy Sims is an exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist, TEDx speaker, and the bestselling author behind the viral phrase “Women are not small men.” In this episode, she joins Denise Thomas to unpack what we really need to know about women’s physiology — and how most training and nutrition advice completely ignores it.
They get into the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, postmenopause, and how to train through it all. Stacy explains why women lose power during certain phases, how training affects the brain, and what female athletes should do differently when it comes to strength, conditioning, recovery, and stress. They also break down cold plunges, sauna use, and why CrossFit coaches and gym owners have an opportunity to lead the way in changing the narrative.
Topics Included
- Biological differences in training, recovery, and metabolism
- Power, hormone shifts, and the menstrual cycle
- When and how to modify workouts
- Why fasting and cold plunges don’t affect men and women the same way
- How to feel and perform your best during perimenopause and postmenopause
- Raising the next generation of girls to understand their physiology for performance
Resources Mentioned
- Dr. Stacy Sims’ TEDx Talk: Women Are Not Small Men
- Book: “Roar” by Stacy Sims
- Book: “Next Level” by Stacy Sims
- DrStacySims.com
- Proov or Oova (hormone-tracking tools)
- OsteoGains app
Community Highlight
Arielle Loewen is a household name in CrossFit — fierce on the floor, kind in every interaction. But behind the scenes, she’s also quietly mentoring the next generation.⠀Last year, she supported eight teenage CrossFit Games athletes, checking in weekly to discuss the mental aspects of elite competition. One even flew out to train with her in person.
Arielle’s leadership comes from lived experience. In 2013, she couldn’t afford her first competition — someone else covered the entry fee. Now, she pays it forward. She designs and sells “Strong Mom” shirts to help other moms cover local competition costs.
Her message is simple: “When you think you’re done, you’re not done.”Arielle’s a bright spot in the CrossFit community — and we’ll be cheering her on at the 2025 CrossFit Games.
Know someone you think deserves to be highlighted? Nominate them here
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Women are not small men. The end result was they threw my results out. And I was told, well, they don't match what we were thinking. That was the first time I heard, well, we actually don't really want to study them because they have a menstrual cycle. Yeah, I do credit CrossFit with bridging the divide. And it was the very first sport that didn't say women do this and men do that. It opened up heavy lifting |
| 0:21.4 | for women. It opened up Olympic lifting and movements and Metcon and women are like, I can do |
| 0:26.3 | the same thing as men. |
| 0:32.0 | Hello everyone and welcome back to the CrossFit podcast where we welcome guests who dedicate |
| 0:36.8 | their lives to making |
| 0:38.4 | the world a fitter and healthier place. And today, we're going to dive into the wonderful |
| 0:43.6 | world female physiology, Dr. Stacey Sims, who aims to revolutionize exercise, nutrition, |
| 0:50.1 | and performance for women. So yes, this is an episode about women and it's for women, |
| 0:56.0 | but it's also for anyone else or everyone else who knows a woman, who maybe works with a woman, |
| 1:02.1 | has a personal relationship with a woman, but honestly, more importantly than that, |
| 1:06.3 | who just cares about understanding women as it relates to exercise. Dr. Sims is an exercise physiologist |
| 1:13.0 | and a nutrition scientist and holds a PhD. She's published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, |
| 1:19.8 | is an author and has an awesome TEDx talk titled, Women are Not Small Men. And that's become a |
| 1:27.3 | trademark and her mantra, and I cannot wait to |
| 1:30.2 | unpack all of that. Also, Dr. Sims challenges the dogma. She stiff arms outside influence by |
| 1:37.1 | self-funding all of her work and believes that you have everything it takes. Yes, ladies, I'm |
| 1:42.0 | talking to you. You have everything it takes to turn your |
| 1:45.5 | life around as long as you have the drive and the desire to do so. So Dr. Stacey Sims, |
| 1:51.6 | thank you so much for being here and welcome to the CrossFit. Thanks for having me. I'm very |
| 1:55.9 | excited to be chatting today. Oh, us too. And you live in New Zealand, right? But right now you're in San Francisco. |
| 2:02.4 | Correct. |
| 2:02.8 | I'm in my hometown, but I live in New Zealand. |
... |
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