The Female Body Bible: The Sunday Times bestselling guide to women's health and fitness Paperback – 9 May 2024

It's no exaggeration to say that this book could change your life! Chapters, packed with accessible, practical and fascinating advice, include:'Mastering your Menstrual Cycle', 'Your Body and Birth Control', 'Perfecting your Pelvic Floor', 'Supporting Your Breasts Well', 'Bodies That Move Well', 'Eating Well', 'Sleeping Well' and 'A Woman's Brain'.Having worked and coached in the fields of sport and fitness for over 25 years, I now have a 'go to' resource with all the current best practice and information in one place. Plus, it's easy to follow, lighthearted in places, highly readable and engaging.I will be recommending this book to all the girls, women and sports coaches in my life!

If only this book could have been written 30 years ago, it would have transformed my life. It is full of factually based information that every female should know about her body. Empowered with this knowledge we can all lead healthier, more enjoyable and more active lives. But it isn't just for women, I am going to make sure my son, my husband and my male work colleagues know this stuff too! I love the style, brilliantly written and easy to read.

Nice and informative

All women should read this. Gives you so much food for thought where women fit/don’t fit in the sports and exercise world.

This book is a must for all sports coaches and exercise professionals. It takes you on a journey to understand the female body and performance. How to work more effectively with girls and women, supporting them, creating coaching conversations, challenging your thinking and practice.It’s packed with tips and approaches to immediately impact your sessions and coaching practice; which influence your planning and design.Each chapter is carefully set out to guide you, supported by the authors sharing lived experiences from themselves and their clients.Whether you read cover to cover, dip into chapter headings or keep as your reference guide it will change your coaching of girl and women athletes.As a coach of women, my only regret is that the book wasn’t published a decade ago. It’s a great book to share with athletes as it provides a safe space for conversation and allows you to explore topics and have quality coaching conversations using the book as the ‘stimulus’. It’s added to my coaching toolbox.

This book is filling the gaps in the understanding of women’s health, wellbeing and fitness.From cover to cover you are learning about areas of women’s health and well-being that for so long haven’t been spoken about or that you felt too embarrassed to mention or that you should “just get on with it”Did you know women need more sleep than men? Did you know you are more prone to injury at certain times of your cycle? How much do you even know about the impacts of your cycle on your training…?Nutritional needs for women are totally different than men’s as well as the way we adapt and recover from exercise and injury.Whatever your age, status, levels of activity and training, read this book!It’s brilliant!!

Well written from 3 different authors’ perspectives. I thought I was pretty well-informed but wished I had known just how important a role female hormones have on so many different body functions at so many stages during one’s life. I wish there was more about older-than-menopause age. Perhaps when the authors get to that point in their lives they will add to what’s already published. Should be dished out to every woman so that they can then better understand what’s going on!

I’m not sure the market for this book. Who are the “females” its targeting. Is it teenagers?? Male trainers? It’s Depressing if women really do know so little about their bodies for them to need it delivered in this odd way. It feels a bit patronising and over simplified at times. There is some good stuff in here and I’ve learned a few things but it takes a while to get to make points. It makes for a very drawn out boring read. It has energy of someone preparing for a 15 minute talk and then on day being asked to make it stretch to an hour. It’s inconsistent where it says “not enough research” but here’s our feelings on the subject backed by one anecdote from one of the authors. “Sorry we don’t know anything but we knew this one woman who…” It all just feels a bit basic and dated, I’m surprised as they are by their own research that this book was written so recently. There’s more up to date info just scrolling Instagram period wellness and trainer accounts than in this book. The way it goes back to “self care” a lot as a solution is frustrating and patronising - hang on you’re talking about women collectively then putting it back on an individual armed with this book alone to now take care of herself - no push for community care or how to take care of each other with this stuff beyond just telling people your cycle. Capitalist patriarchal nonsense. It reads a bit like a cringy 90s cosmopolitan girl power article. I wanted to enjoy and learn from this book but I am struggling to finish it and the “talking like a friend” style writing drags a bit as there is not enough personality or interesting style of chat from the authors. It has ground breaking advice such as “take ibruprofen when menstruating” or “use hot water bottle or heat patches for pain”. I wish they’d tried to give people credit for knowing about our bodies already and offering additional insight rather than the condescending tone and presumption it’s all brand new information. It is absurd the idea of these “taboo unspoken subjects” impacting women under 40 - who in this century hasn’t spoken about periods and pelvic floors and incontinence, or in an age of information availability not accessed these things? A book like this could have been so much better. This book feels both over edited and soulless and the same time manages to drag on and lose its points. Like a PE a teacher who’s been tasked with relating to the kids to tell them about menstrual health but a bit formal and embarrassed about it herself. It also lacks a holistic or spiritual approach and doesn’t commit to a more clinical formal one either. This book has a bit of an identity crisis. Save your money and just chat to your friends about some of these topics if you haven’t already or find an article (this book could be a short article or leaflet) and don’t waste your time or money. Such a disappointment.