From 6 Episodes to 31: What 2025 Taught Me About Training Women - Year-End Summary | Dr. Tony Boutagy

What started as 6 planned episodes became 31 conversations throughout 2025. This is my year-end reflection on the final five conversations - and the one consistent message that emerged from every expert.

The core message:

Individual variation matters more than sex-specific protocols. Training principles apply to human physiology, not gender categories. What you do consistently shapes who you become.

Key insights from 2025:

💡 You are what you do repeatedly" - Professor Sophia Nimphius. Your training history shapes your physiology more than your sex does.

💡 Research + coaching perspectives both matter. Research shows what works on average. Coaching finds what works for you.

💡 The public message has become too complex. 80% of women aren't lifting weights, yet the advice has become increasingly segmented and contradictory.

💡 Training frequency: The pre-steroid era (1800s-1950s) used 2-3x per week full body training. Modern muscle physiology supports this approach for natural lifters.

💡 Menopause care is patient-centered. History, symptoms, and goals drive treatment decisions - not blanket "every woman should" recommendations.

💡 Low energy availability is the hidden epidemic in midlife women. Even 35-year-olds are showing perimenopausal symptoms from chronic under-fueling.

Brief highlights from 5 conversations:

🎙️ Round Table (Paul Laursen, Jake Doleschal, Dana Lis): How strength, endurance, and nutrition interact in real life. Why zones are coaching prescription tools, not gender-specific protocols.

🎙️ Jake Doleschal: Training frequency and the muscle fiber-specific nature of hypertrophy. Why first sets give you 50% of stimulus with diminishing returns after.

🎙️ Dr. Nadya Chami: What happens in a menopause consultation. Individualized hormone therapy decisions based on patient needs and contraindications.

🎙️ Professor Abbie Smith-Ryan: Context matters for fasted training. Fueling around training sessions for better body composition. Why short-term studies miss real-world complexity.

🎙️ Professor Sophia Nimphius: Research quality issues (85% of top meta-analyses contain errors). The circle of resistance training life. Why more overlap exists than difference between male and female training responses.

📅 2026 plans: Body composition focus, continued women's health and performance, and the experts doing the actual research.

If you found this valuable, follow for more evidence-based insights in 2026.