Personal Trainer For PCOS

PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder in women of childbearing age and can lead to issues with fertility. It can come with a series of unwanted issues which can affect a woman’s mental and physical health.

The good news is, that you can get a personal trainer for PCOS who can help you manage this condition and its effects with exercise.

Do you suffer from PCOS?

Our team of in-home trainers can help you with a workout regime that can help you manage this condition and optimize your health as best as possible.

Do you want to understand what PCOS is, how you can better manage it and the benefits of exercise? Working with a personal trainer for PCOS might be the best thing you can do. Let’s get to it…

So what exactly is PCOS?

You may have heard of it, might have it or you just want to know more about the condition. PCOS or in other words, Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition that affects how the ovaries work.Symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome can be very troublesome including irregular periods, facial hair and difficulty getting pregnant.

The main treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome is medicines for things like hair growth and irregular periods. Keeping a healthy weight also helps which is where a personal trainer for PCOS comes in. It’s not clear what causes polycystic ovary syndrome, but it’s thought to be linked to hormonal problems and is even linked to obesity. 

Why does it make weight gain more likely and weight loss harder?

A Specialized Personal Trainer For PCOS Can Help

Maybe you feel as though you have been stabbing in the dark with your weight loss goals and because of PCOS you feel like just giving up.

Hope is not lost because your personal trainer for PCOS can help. It works both ways when it comes to PCOS and obesity because PCOS can contribute towards obesity and obesity can make PCOS symptoms worse. However, PCOS does not discriminate and can affect women of all shapes and sizes.

These are questions which as personal trainers, we get asked an awful lot. Having PCOS doesn’t mean you are doomed to never lose weight, it just means you have to go about things in a slightly different way. PCOS makes it more difficult for the body to use the hormone insulin, which normally helps convert sugars and starches from foods into energy. This condition — called insulin resistance can cause insulin and sugar to build up in the bloodstream.

High insulin levels increase the production of male hormones called androgens. High androgen levels lead to symptoms such as body hair growth, acne, irregular periods and weight gain. Because the weight gain is triggered by male hormones, it is typically in the abdomen. That is where men tend to carry weight. So, instead of having a pear shape, women with PCOS have more of an apple shape. Abdominal fat is the most dangerous kind of fat. That’s because it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and other health conditions.

This is where your personal trainer for PCOS steps in. Diverging a tailored and specific plan for someone with PCOS is imperative. You want to be able to maximize your time exercising and be able to supplement it with a nutrition regime that will compliment your efforts. 

Are there any risks with PCOS-related weight gain?

Maintaining a healthy weight with PCOS is important, and if you feel like you are struggling then hiring a personal trainer for PCOS is one of the best things you can do to keep your weight in check. Weight gain alone comes with a number of different issues.

Women with PCOS are more likely to struggle with weight gain due to the reasons mentioned above and many of the problems associated with weight gain and insulin resistance, including:

• Type 2 diabetes
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Sleep apnea
• Infertility
• Endometrial cancer

What’s more, many of these conditions can lead to heart disease. 

Healthy habits to help:

In addition to any doctor-prescribed medication, there are a number of healthy habits you can adopt in your daily life when managing your PCOS. Some of these include:

Eat a high-fibre, low-sugar diet – Eat the lower sugar fruits such as citrus ones, get in your green and leafy vegetables, and whole grains. Try to avoid processed and fat-laden foods to keep your blood sugar levels down and healthy. If you’re having trouble eating healthy on your own, talk to your doctor or a dietitian.

Eat smaller, more frequent meals

Eating smaller meals throughout the day instead of larger meals will help control your blood sugar levels and your appetite. 

Regular exercise

Something your personal trainer can help you with, but ideally, you need to be exercising for at least 30 minutes a day on most, if not all, days of the week. Be it walking, going to the gym or working with your personal trainer. 

See your doctor regularly

Ensure you see your doctor to track your cholesterol and blood pressure levels so you always know where you’re at. 

Quit smoking and drinking

If you can’t quit then try to keep these to an absolute minimum. There are absolutely no benefits to smoking or drinking If you smoke, get involved in a program that can help you quit.

We have discussed what PCOS is, how it affects you and some of the daily habits you can adopt to manage this condition better, now we are going to look at how exercise can help you even more.

Cardiovascular exercise

Cardio exercise is very effective at reducing insulin resistance, helping to boost fertility and stabilizing the mood due to the release of those feel-good hormones.

Moderate exercises like brisk walking, jogging, cycling or swimming are all great activities that can assist with your PCOS weight loss. CV exercise increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin, which in turn reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Your personal trainer for PCOS will create you a tailored plan, but ideally, 30 minutes or more a day can also help with weight management, symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as improving the frequency of menstrual cycles and ovulation.

And if you’re about to start IVF that’s an even better reason to work with a personal trainer so they can schedule specific, regular light exercises chosen to boost your reproductive success.

HIIT training 

HIIT is amazing for increasing cardiovascular fitness and decreasing your waist circumference. It maximizes calorie burn in a short space of time. It involves swapping between short bouts of high-intensity work and lower intensity recovery in an ‘interval’ format. It’s a time-efficient way of boosting your cardiovascular fitness and boasts extra benefits for those with PCOS.

Giving it you’re all on the spin bike burns a shed load of calories, and helps to obliterate that abdominal fat more effectively than say, a brisk walk.

This can help you achieve a 5 – 10% weight loss, which studies show can decrease PCOS symptoms by reducing excess testosterone and improving insulin resistance.

Strength training

Strength training or resistance training is excellent for a number of things such as reducing insulin resistance, increasing metabolic rate, and improving body composition (more muscle and less fat tissue) to name but a few. So what exactly is strength training? Bodyweight exercises like squats, push-ups, or tricep dips are strength exercises that may enhance insulin function.

Furthermore, weighted moves like bench pressing, leg pressing and bicep curls can also boost your metabolism by building more muscle mass.

Let’s just bust the myth that this type of training will make you huge; you won’t bulk up unless you’re taking steroids! More muscle simply means burning more calories while exercising, but also throughout the day even at rest.

Combining a mixture of strength training and cardio based is the best way to ensure you’re building a lean body, achieving a healthy BMI, and reducing your risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.

Simply put, exercise is a real game-changer for those women who suffer from PCOS. It can be a way to get a hold of the condition and minimize the effects it can have on your body.

Consistency is key and you really have to tick every box and leave no stone unturned. Remember though, you are not alone because working with a personal trainer for PCOS can take all the stress out of planning exercises.

You can enjoy tailored and structured workouts, especially for your condition.