Women Who Fight supports female fighters, collecting specialist advice and sharing current research from the experts. We are passionate about creating a space where women can find answers in a supportive and safe environment, promoting equality in the gym, on screen, in research and in prizes, as well as sinking our teeth into the best ways to optimise our health and training. We believe that our training should work with our unique and dynamic bodies, building on our strengths to help us grow and evolve in our field. In a male dominated sport, women need to support each other as we develop within it, and Women Who Fight aims to bring knowledge to the people who need it.
Episodes
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
The information on sports performance (or indeed any research) has up until recently been taken from studies made on 18-22 year old men, with women being left out as they were considered an 'anomaly' in science due to their monthly hormone cycle. The consequence of excluding women from studies means that their findings don’t fully apply to 50% of the population.
Currently there is a lot of talk on social media and in the news about how women must train and eat 'with their cycle' but what does that actually mean? How can we manipulate information designed for men to suit our physiological requirements?
For this episode we had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr Stacy Sims. Stacy is a researcher looking specifically at sex differences in training, nutrition and environmental conditions. Stacy co-authored the book 'Roar' (2016) which is filled with ways you can adjust your training to suit your individual requirements according to your cycle, and walks you through the general changes you may need to make through perimenopause and beyond. It is a fantastic introduction to this way of thinking and the only book of its kind; looking at both the cycle and its relationship to sports performance.
We squeezed our millions of questions into just under an hour, but if your curiosity has been roused check out her ted talk on YouTube.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
Guest: Dr Stacy Sims
Podcast Editor and Music Producer: Will Grant
Wednesday Mar 03, 2021
Wednesday Mar 03, 2021
We were delighted to have the lovely Ffion for this episode talking about body image. Ffion Davies is an elite BJJ female competitor who has won world titles as a black belt and is absolutely smashing it (in non-covid normal times).
Ffion made a post on instagram recently about her experiences as a woman and the insecurities and social expectations that come with it. We're all aiming to be comfortable in our own skin, but how we go about it can seem a little upside down, trying to change ourselves to fit a social "norm" or what's in fashion, rather than learning to love what we have and what our bodies can do.
Being a female athlete comes with its own trials, particularly in the form of society's paradoxical attitude towards them, i.e. you are strong and win matches which we love, but why do you have big (strong) arms? This is patriarchy at its finest, and this attitude in particular can be a difficult one to come to terms with.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Ffion Eira Davies
https://www.instagram.com/fffioneira/
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Founded by Sally Roberts in 2016, Wrestle Like A Girl is an Organisation with a mission to empower girls and women through wrestling. We spoke to Victoria, Jacque and Emma about their involvement and what we can do to help women's wrestling progress.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Victoria, Jacque and Emma
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
https://www.instagram.com/willgrantt
Wednesday Feb 17, 2021
Wednesday Feb 17, 2021
We have known Hazel for a couple of years having interviewed her early on in the Women Who Fight journey and collaborated for an event in 2019. We revisit her now for our podcast to talk about her career as a kickboxer where she achieved impressive British, European and World Championships between 2008 and 2014. Her experiences during this time lead her to become a successful cognitive hypnotherapist and author. As always, it was a privilege to speak to Hazel.
There is some swearing at the end.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Hazel Gale
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
https://www.instagram.com/willgrantt
Wednesday Feb 10, 2021
Wednesday Feb 10, 2021
Jo Crowley started Ealing Judo Club 18 years ago, and still runs it to this day. She is a support coach of the GB Judo Team and coach of the Olympian Nekoda Davis. A 4th dan black belt in Judo, she is also a happy white belt in BJJ and a single mum of four. Jo sees coaching as a skill in its own right, and has worked tirelessly over her career to be the best for her students. We talk to her about what it has been like being the only woman in a male dominated career path, facing challenges and dealing with the imposter syndrome. It was a real pleasure to have Jo as our guest!
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Jo Crowley
http://www.ealingjudoclub.com/
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
instagram.com/willgrantt
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
This week we were joined by Katoucha, a friend who trains BJJ.
Racism in the West is very much a reality, and the call to be actively anti-racist rang out loud and clear during the BLM protests last year. Within martial arts black people are heavily underrepresented, and although we would all like to think that the martial arts are apolitical and treat each of us equally, peoples' experience of racism shows otherwise. Katoucha shares with us her experiences and perspective in this episode, and we are grateful that she gave us her time and energy to do so.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Katoucha Fall
instagram.com/_katouchafall_
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
instagram.com/willgrantt
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
This week we had the absolute pleasure of welcoming April to our podcast. April created the Vagina Blog which is creating a community for women, at the core of which is body positivity, education and breaking taboos around the female form. April is also a doula, photographer and birthing assistant to a midwife.
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: April Davis
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
instagram.com/willgrantt
Wednesday Jan 20, 2021
Wednesday Jan 20, 2021
On this weeks episode we invited Chloe Moore to join us to discuss her experience as a transgender person, particularly in relation to sport participation. Chloe is a BJJ competitor who started a women's only BJJ competition called Fight Like a Girl.
Please check out our other episodes on our youtube channel or for audio please visit Spotify or the iTunes Podcast app
*There is some swearing during this podcast
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
https://www.womenwhofight.co.uk/
Guest: Chloe Moore
Insta - @fight_like_a_girl_bjj
Facebook - www.facebook.com/groups/fightlikeagirlbjj
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
instagram.com/willgrantt
Wednesday Jan 13, 2021
Wednesday Jan 13, 2021
This week we are speaking with Louise who is a sufferer of Endometriosis and will be telling us about her unique experience of the condition. We recently made a podcast about this topic with Endometriosis UK (episode 18) which provides more detailed information. It was a privilege to hear Louise's experience of endo, we hope you enjoy it!
There is some swearing in this episode.
https://www.wellandgood.com/women-clinical-trials/
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
Guest: Louise Litchfield
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
Wednesday Jan 06, 2021
Wednesday Jan 06, 2021
Hosts: Shanti & Marina
Guest: Dr Kokes
Sound Editor and Song Writer: Will Grant
https://drkokesnd.com/