Can Having More Muscle Help Your PCOS?

Did you hear that resistance training is one of the best forms of exercise for PCOS, but you are still not convinced or ready to commit?

Women often avoid resistance training in fear of becoming too muscular and favour aerobic exercises. But here is the thing: All women should work on building muscle, especially women with PCOS.

In this post, you will find out how having more muscle may benefit your PCOS and what exercise you can perform to start building muscle. I will also provide you with 7 beginner weightlifting tips to get you started.

Before I outline why having more muscle can be beneficial for your PCOS, let me answer a common question:

Won’t I get bulky?

The simple truth is maybe. Given that you have PCOS, your testosterone levels may be higher than those of women who do not have PCOS, and as such, you may find that you put on muscle a little more easily. However, whether you appear ‘bulky’ is dependent on your genetics and other factors, aside from hormone levels.

PCOS and Insulin Resistance

Around 70% of women with PCOS suffer from insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to spikes in blood sugar. The role of insulin is to unlock the cell’s door, allowing sugar to enter. The cells use the sugar for energy.

However, in a condition like insulin resistance, this process does not happen, instead, the cells in the body have trouble absorbing glucose in the blood. As a result, there is a build-up of sugar in the bloodstream. Even though the cells no longer respond to insulin, the pancreas continues to release the hormone because sugar remains in the bloodstream.

It is the high insulin levels that cause the ovary to produce excess amounts of testosterone, resulting in PCOS symptoms like infertility, irregular periods, weight gain, and acne. But good news:

Women can reverse their PCOS and insulin resistance.

You might be wondering:

How can muscle help my PCOS?

Below are some of the key benefits of having more muscle for women with PCOS.

The Benefits of Muscle for PCOS

Increases Insulin Sensitivity

As I mentioned above, one of the problems women with PCOS struggle with is blood sugar imbalances and high insulin levels. While studies show that all forms of exercise are excellent for treating insulin resistance, researchers have found that exercises that focus on building muscle are more effective.

Researchers found that a 10% increase in muscle mass was associated with an 11% relative reduction in the risk of insulin resistance. In other words, an increase in muscle density can improve insulin sensitivity and, as a result, reduce the likelihood of suffering from Type 2 Diabetes.

Astonishing.

Get this:

When we contract our muscles during exercise, we increase the rate of glucose uptake. This means glucose transport is activated, independent of insulin, through muscle contraction. Regularly using our muscles allows the glucose in the bloodstream to be used for energy, helping the cells become more sensitive to insulin.

Boosts your metabolism

Weight gain or trouble losing weight is a common PCOS symptom. A study found women with PCOS, with or without insulin resistance, have a lower Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is the number of calories your body burns at rest, e.g., breathing, sleeping, sitting.

Many women with PCOS are also often led to believe that if their metabolism is slow, they have to live with it and that there is nothing they can do.

But this is not true.

One way to boost your metabolism is to build muscle. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, which means it burns more calories when your body is at rest.

Boosts your confidence

With all the symptoms that come with a PCOS diagnosis, a woman’s confidence is low. I have personally found from my own journey and listening to others in the PCOS community that building muscle boosts your confidence.

As you build muscle and sculpt your body, your attitude towards yourself and life changes. You start to feel good and more confident.

So, What Exercises Build Muscle?

To build muscle, you want to follow a resistance training program. Resistance training is any exercise that involves your muscles contracting, such as:

Weightlifting – This exercise involves lifting free weights, such as dumbbells and barbells.

Callisthenics and bodyweight – You don’t need free weights to create resistance. Bodyweight exercises are a great way to build muscle.

Resistance band workouts – A significant difference between weightlifting and resistance band workouts is the tension. With free weights, gravity dictates the direction from which the weight is coming. Therefore, one part of the movement may have more resistance. Resistant bands, however, maintain constant tension on the muscle you are targeting.

Is there a best resistance exercise for PCOS?

There are pros and cons to each of the resistance training exercises, so I wouldn’t say there is a ‘best’ one. All variations are effective at building muscle, which is the goal here. When choosing your resistance exercise, I recommend selecting one that you enjoy and see yourself doing in the long term, because consistency is key to achieving results. So, if you have never tried any of them, I suggest giving them all a try!

Beginner weightlifting tips

Focus on form and technique – This is particularly important for all lifters, but especially beginners, as it is crucial to learn and execute the movement correctly before increasing the weight to prevent injury.
Warm up and cool down – Warming up gets your body ready for your workout. Stretching may be best done after you warm up, when your body temperature has increased and your muscles are loose. A cool-down is also essential to include at the end of your workout to help your body return to its resting state.
Focus on compound lifts – These are exercises that engage multiple large muscles during a single movement, such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press. Including these compound exercises will result in faster muscle growth.
Train each body part twice a week. Research has found that training each muscle twice a week is more effective than training it once a week in increasing muscle growth and strength.
Follow a program – As a beginner, following a program will help you get started and take the guesswork out of what to do in the gym. Additionally, following a structured program will help ensure progression and challenge you, resulting in faster muscle growth.
Fuel your body – Women with PCOS are commonly told to follow low-calorie diets to lose weight. However, if you want to build muscle, you need to ensure that you are fueling your body with enough food to help it repair.
Schedule rest days – Exercise is a stressor on the body. While regular exercise helps lower inflammation, overexercising can actually increase inflammation in the body. Women with PCOS already suffer from underlying inflammation. Therefore, scheduling rest days to avoid over-exercising is essential.

The Bottom Line

Choosing the proper exercise for PCOS is key to achieving hormonal balance. All women with PCOS should incorporate some form of resistance training into their workout routine to help build muscle. Don’t be afraid to put on muscle because you might get ‘bulky’. The benefits of having muscle for PCOS are incredible and encouraging.

Find a resistance training program you enjoy and can do regularly. It doesn’t necessarily have to involve going to the gym and lifting weights; resistance training for PCOS can be done with bodyweight exercises or resistance bands. If you do opt for weightlifting, make sure to always focus on form and technique, include compound lifts, and schedule rest days to avoid overexercising and injury.

Despina Pavlou is the founder of PCOS Oracle and a Certified Personal Trainer. She is on a mission to raise awareness about PCOS and empower women with the knowledge they need to reverse their PCOS naturally.