Female Athlete Performance Nutrition: Improving Energy, Recovery and Speed

22 Apr Female Athlete Performance Nutrition: Improving Energy, Recovery and Speed

Posted at 13:36h in Blog, Female Athletes, Nutrition, Recovery, Uncategorized by erica 0 Comments

It’s year 2022 and I’m still talking about the benefits of strength training for female athletes. For some, the conversation is easy and they get it. For others, I feel I have to cajole them to get under the iron, and that their female athletes won’t get “too big” or “slow down.”

Team coaches and youth female athletes alike, still have a bad taste in their mouths toward lifting weights.

Unless a girl does 5+ sets for 15+ reps every exercise, while doing endless muscle isolation work, and consuming a surplus of calories, they might get “bulky” and hinder their explosiveness and speed in their sport.

But look…this isn’t bodybuilding.

Female athletes need total body strength training with low to moderate volume, high intensity, moderate to heavy weight, combined with speed, plyometrics and conditioning.

The amount of miles team sport female athletes cover weekly is massive (around 7-10 miles or more), and all of this endurance work actually makes their muscles wither away, so strength training is a year-round non-negotiable.

We need to continue to build girls’ muscles to protect their joints, bolster their bone growth, and improve their speed. Combine this all with proper nutrition, and things get even more magical and amazing.

We need to continue to build girls' muscles to protect their joints, bolster their bone growth, and improve their speed. Combine this all with proper nutrition, and things get even more magical and amazing. Share on X

In my latest podcast appearance on The Female Athlete Nutrition Podcast, I discuss the importance of female athletes strength training for life, as well as fueling with whole foods.

Listen to the full episode HERE

Get The Strong Female Athlete book HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for over 13 years. She has worked with soccer, lacrosse, track, volleyball, softball, and basketball girls, and has inspired her athletes to strength train not just for sport, but for life.

Her athletes have gone on to play college sports at University of North Carolina, University of Maryland, Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, University of Detroit, Mercy, Northwestern, Eastern Carolina University, Georgetown, West Point, University of South Florida, University of Charleston, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Rutgers, Towson University, and have gone on to play for professional various clubs in Europe.

Of course, she is proud of her athletes who made it to the college and pro levels, but she is most proud of her girls who stick with being strong and healthy for a lifetime. The training she does is about getting into good habits young, so girls can take these tools with them even after sports end.

Need more personalized help from Erica? BOOK A CONSULT HERE