Resistance training for PCOS

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I have a question regarding a friend with PCOS, specifically with raised testosterone and low insulin sensitivity. She’s an otherwise healthy 34 year old and hasn’t resistance trained before, however is at an otherwise healthy weight and waist circumference. She’s also my first ‘client’ so to speak of (if training a friend is considered a client - gotta start somewhere :slight_smile: ).

She’s quite fixated on the hormone changes and their negative effects her doctor has spoken of, so to improve adherance it would be great if I were on solid ground stating PCOS can be managed effectively with resistance training (increasing insulin sesitivity (likely yes), and lowering testosterone to ‘normal’ levels (?)). This goes further though as positive hormone changes mean the negative effects, such as female pattern baldness and excess body hair, could be mitigated substantially, or go away completely. Again, be good to get your thoughts here.

I am mindful that resistance training will, regardless of the answer to my questions, be beneficial, but it would be great to understand a little further.

Keep up the great work

Stu

2

Exercise would be expected to improve insulin sensitivity.

We don’t have much evidence on resistance training with respect to blood androgen levels, unfortunately.

Here’s a reference that may be helpful: Role of exercise training in polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed

1 Like
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Thank Austin - I’ll have a read.

I found Jordan’s ‘Shades of Grey’ article interesting, mentioning using PCOS patients as a gauge to understand performance in trans athletes. I’ll take “you’ve a 1-3% advantage over those without PCOS” as a silver lining, so there something :slight_smile:

Thanks again