Kelsie VanKoughnettFounder of Fortalé | Kinesiology Graduate (B.HES) | Certified Personal Trainer | Online Fitness & Nutrition Coach

You’re fcking up your gains and here’s why #bodyrecomp #gymgirl #femalefitness #gymtips #gymshorts

26 Jun 2025 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:19

In this high‑energy YouTube short, Kelsie VanKoughnett argues that most fitness advice is based on male‑centric research and ignores the hormonal fluctuations of the menstrual cycle, leading women to train in ways that increase injury risk and hinder muscle growth. She explains how estrogen peaks during ovulation raise joint laxity, while higher progesterone in the luteal phase causes inflammation, fatigue, and reduced load tolerance. Consequently, strength training during these phases yields fewer hypertrophy gains. VanKoughnett also debunks the fasted‑training myth for women, stating that pre‑workout nutrition is more beneficial for them than for men. She calls for women to stop treating themselves like “small men” and to align workouts with their cycle to improve safety and results.

Chapters

We are literally so behind in woman-led fitness because what do you literally mean? There are actual studies showing that women actually not following their cycle and pushing through, pushing through, following this hyper-masculine fitness approach, actually putting them at a higher injury risk. Women literally follow a 28-day cycle, whereas men follow a 24-hour cycle. And guess what drives that cycle? Hormones. Okay, say it with me now: hormones. Thing that you've been hearing all about but don't actually know what the fuck they are, what the fuck they do. Those are literally driving your body right now. That's literally why as women we should not be training every single day, pushing yourself so hard beyond limits, not even taking into account how your body fucking feels or how much rest you got the night before. All of these myths— training fasted— those literally have more benefits for men. Women actually benefit more if they eat something before their fucking workout. If you're telling me you're training fasted because you want to lose more fat, now you just sound silly. Majority of research has been done on men. I will say it once and I will say it Again and again and again until every person on this fucking planet hears it. Women are not small men. I was actually just reading this article about injuries and how women literally have more ankle injuries than men. They aren't doing anything about it. Everyone's just blaming it on ligament issues. Truth is, this study is literally showing estrogen peaks in your ovulation phase is literally correlated with an increased joint laxity. Your ankles, your knees, for example, the ones that drive your strength training movement, are not as stable, meaning there are actual implications on your hypertrophy training when you're not training following your cycle. Top of the joint stuff, there are actual neuromuscular changes that are happening following your cycle. When you're doing your strength training in your ovulation and your luteal phase, you actually won't have as many gains as if you fucking trained with your cycle. In your luteal phase, you actually have a higher level of progesterone that you're going to feel more inflamed, fatigued, on top of an instability risk in your joints. Meaning that you'll have altered movement patterns, reduced mind-muscle coordination, decreased load tolerance, so you won't be able to lift as much weight, and less mechanical tension on the muscles that you literally want to grow. But hey, don't work out following your cycle, okay? Like, that's just a bunch of bullshit, right?