Booty Center Academy · Coaching the female physique athlete · 1.9 NASM and AFAA CEUs
The Science of Her
Win her division on how her body actually works. Fifteen modules on the female physique athlete: her physiology, her six divisions, the prep, peak week, the off-season and her labs, so the look you build on stage is still there a year later.
1.9 NASM CEUs · 1.9 AFAA CEUsApproved continuing educationProvider PRO-014620
Coaching education, not medical advice.
studies of female
competitors+ 2023 review of
15 prep athletes
Which one is you?
You can get her lean. The question is whether she is still winning a year later.
Most prep education is about the look on the day. This course is about the whole year around it: what a long deficit does to her cycle, her thyroid, her gut and her bones, and how to build the next prep higher than the last.
- Read her against her division's published standard, not against a feeling
- Set a rate of loss the evidence supports, and know the signs it is too fast
- Run peak week as polish, with a practice run, not a gamble
- Run the off-season as part of the same plan, so the next prep starts higher
She wants to step on stage. You are the first professional she asks.
A general certification does not cover the female physique athlete. This course gives you the physiology, the six divisions and the shape of a competitive year, so your first answer is a good one.
- Know what each division rewards before she picks one
- Tell her honestly what a prep takes, and what comes back after
- Screen before the first session, and know who belongs on her care team
- Add a specialism that women are looking for
You should understand what a prep asks of your body before you agree to one.
The course is written for the coach in the room, in plain English. Many athletes take it to understand their own cycle, labs and recovery, and to ask their coach and physician better questions.
- Why your period is a health signal, not a nuisance
- What your division is judged on, in the federations' own words
- What the research says about refeeds, peak week and the weeks after a show
- What your labs should show through a prep, and after it
The athletes of the course
Real athletes.
On the covers and the pose pages.
Six IFBB Professional League athletes, six divisions. Select a name to visit her page.
Women's Physique
Dr. Natalia Abraham Coelho
Source and Credits: Instagram @ifbbpronataliacoelho, Dr. Natalia Abraham Coelho
Each photo is credited to the athlete's own page.
The curriculum
15 modules in four parts and a close.
18 hours 54 minutes of narrated lessons across 895 slides. The modules are studied in order, because each one assumes the ones before it. Open a part to see its modules.
IPart 1
Foundations
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Part 1
Foundations
The aims of the course, the care team, the health screen before the first session, how to read a study, and the course map.
MODULE 0146 min
Course Overview and Orientation
Read the evidence. Follow the map.
IIPart 2
The Body
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Part 2
The Body
Female physiology and endocrinology, hormonal contraception, cycle dysfunction, gut health and thyroid health, as they show up in athletes who train hard and diet.
MODULE 0290 min
Female Physiology and Endocrinology
Her cycle, her hormones, her muscle.
MODULE 0379 min
Hormonal Contraception
Understand it. Describe it. Leave the decision with her.
MODULE 0490 min
Hormone Modifiers and Cycle Dysfunction
Energy, PCOS and menopause.
MODULE 0584 min
Gut Health Issues and Optimization
What training and prep do to her gut.
MODULE 0671 min
Thyroid Health Issues and Optimization
Energy, prep and the thyroid.
IIIPart 3
The Stage
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Part 3
The Stage
Training against the division standard, contest prep from the decision to compete to the start of peak week, peak week itself, and the off-season.
MODULE 07108 min
Training and Program Design
Read the physique. Build to the standard.
MODULE 08122 min
Contest Preparation: Start to Stage
Readiness, the rate of loss and the refeeds.
MODULE 0995 min
Peak Week: Finding the Look
Polish, not build. The practice run. The division.
MODULE 10101 min
The Female Off-Season
Recover. Rebuild. The next prep.
IVPart 4
Monitoring and Health
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Part 4
Monitoring and Health
Reading a lab report inside a coach's scope, fuelling by division as published evidence handed to a registered dietitian, and athlete health and safety.
MODULE 11104 min
Female Lab Interpretation
Ranges, test day and markers, read as a coach.
MODULE 1254 min
Fuelling by Division
Same floor, different job. The dietitian writes the plan.
MODULE 1341 min
Athlete Health and Safety
Her health across the life stages.
VThe close
The Close
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The close
The Close
Five principles, one athlete's year and two checklists. Then the course assessment.
MODULE 1442 min
Final Thoughts
Fourteen modules. One way of coaching.
MODULE 156 min
Course Assessment
Seventy questions. One best answer each.
- 1.9
NASM and AFAA continuing education units, from 15 modules taught in order from her physiology to the stage and back.
Approved provider PRO-014620 - 15
modules taught in order from her physiology to the stage and back, with a narrated video lesson for each.
About 23 hours of study - 727
handbook pages, with every figure, a glossary and a chapter quiz in each module.
Coach handbooks, PDF and Word - 989
references cited across the modules. Each lesson names who was studied and how far the finding reaches.
Cited to the primary literature - 6
divisions read against their published standards: fit model, bikini, wellness, figure, women's physique and women's bodybuilding.
Module 07, with real athletes on the pose pages
Why this course exists
Most women are still prepped from a men's playbook.
A men's plan with smaller numbers can get a woman lean. It cannot tell you what the deficit is doing to her cycle, her bones or her thyroid, and it has nothing to say about the months after the show.
This course starts from her physiology and works outward: the division she is judged in, the prep, peak week, the off-season, and the health signals that run under all of it. It teaches from the published evidence to the coaching decision, and it is honest about where the evidence stops.
What usually happens
- ×A men's prep, scaled down
- ×A lost period read as a sign the diet is working
- ×The physique judged by eye, against no written standard
- ×Peak week run on gym folklore
- ×No plan for the weeks after the show
What this course teaches
- ✓Female physiology at the centre of every module
- ✓Her cycle as the readout of whether the plan is working
- ✓A structured read against each division's published criteria
- ✓Peak week as polish, with a practice run first
- ✓Recovery and the off-season as part of the same plan
What's inside
Her whole competitive year, in one order.
Fifteen modules that build on each other. Every claim is cited, and every module ends with a scope-of-practice statement, a glossary and a quiz.
Modules 02 to 06
Her body under training and a deficit
Her cycle and hormones, hormonal contraception, cycle dysfunction, gut health and thyroid health, as they present in athletes who diet.
Module 07
Six divisions, six standards
What each division rewards and marks down, how it is shown on stage, and how to turn a read into a program. Real athletes on the pose pages. Meet the athletes
Module 08
Prep, start to stage
Readiness to compete, the rate of loss, refeeds and diet breaks, and the signs that a prep is costing more than it should.
Module 09
Peak week
What the research says about the final week, what is folklore, and why the look is polished, not built, in seven days.
Module 10
The off-season
Recovery after the show, the return of her cycle, the surplus, and building the next prep on a healthy base.
Modules 11 to 13
Labs, fuelling and safety
Reading a lab report as a coach, fuelling by division as published ranges, and athlete health and safety across the life stages.
What you get in every module
Watch it, read it, then check you know it.
Watch
Narrated lesson
The full module, narrated over the slides. Teaching modules run from about 40 minutes to two hours.
Keep
Coach handbook
Every word of the lesson with every figure, table and citation, as a PDF and a Word file.
Review
Slide deck
The lesson slides, so you can flip back to any chart or decision point.
Search
Lesson script
The complete narration script, so you can find any line and come back to it.
Check
Chapter quiz
A quiz at the end of each module, printed with its answer key and the reason for each answer.
How the course talks
The evidence, and the beliefs you will meet.
The course does not pretend the gym only speaks in studies. Every module names the beliefs coaches and competitors hold, and sets each one against the closest evidence. The two passages below are taken from the Module 02 handbook.
Field belief · Module 02
"Her period comes every month, so her hormones are fine"
The belief treats a period that arrives on time as proof that her cycle and her hormones are healthy. It comes from the reasonable idea that a missing period is the warning sign, so a present one must be the all-clear. The closest evidence: in exercising women with regular-length cycles, only half of the cycles were ovulatory (De Souza 2010).
No controlled evidence supports this. It is described here because you will meet it.
What the evidence says · Module 02
"Losing your period just means you're lean enough"
Missing periods are so common in lean sports that many athletes and coaches treat them as a sign the diet is working. But the evidence says the opposite. A period that stops is a signal that her body does not have enough energy to run its normal functions, and the cost shows up in her bones and her fertility.
Your action is simple. If her period has stopped for 3 months, or her cycles are running longer than 45 days, she sees her physician.
Look inside
Real pages from the handbooks.
What you'll be able to do
Six things you can do when you finish.
- Describe how the female reproductive, thyroid and metabolic systems respond to training and to a long energy deficit, and explain why her cycle is the coach's readout of whether a plan is working.
- Read a female physique athlete against her division's published standard, and turn that read into training decisions for the off-season, the prep, peak week and the recovery after a show.
- Recognise the signals that a prep is costing more than it should, including a missing or changed period, bone pain, persistent fatigue, disordered eating and emergencies, and respond to each one early.
- Describe the published evidence on fuelling, rate of loss, refeeds and the off-season surplus as ranges, and hand the plan itself to a registered dietitian.
- Appraise a study or a field belief against who was studied and how far the finding reaches, and say plainly what the research does and does not establish for female physique athletes.
- Apply the course's standards of privacy and record keeping to every conversation and check-in across her competitive year.
Who it's for
- Certified personal trainers who coach, or want to coach, female physique competitors
- Contest prep coaches who want a female-specific, evidence-based grounding
- Strength and conditioning coaches whose female athletes diet for a weigh-in or a stage
- Fitness professionals who want to recognise an under-fuelled female athlete early
Who it's not for
Anyone looking for meal plans to hand out or a diagnosis. The plan belongs to her dietitian, and medical decisions belong to her physician.
Exam and certificate
Earn the certificate and 1.9 CEUs with one final examination.
- Step 1 · Learn
Watch and read
Take each module's narrated lesson and keep its handbook as your reference.
- Step 2 · Check
Pass each module quiz
A 10-question quiz after each of the 14 teaching modules. Pass at 70 percent to open the next module.
- Step 3 · Exam
Pass the final examination
70 questions, five from each teaching module, each written new for the exam. The pass mark is 70 percent, which is 49 correct. Retakes are unlimited, and each attempt presents the questions in a new order.
- Step 4 · Certify
Receive your certificate
Pass the examination to receive the Certificate of Completion from Booty Center, with 1.9 NASM and AFAA CEUs.
Sample certificate. It records completion of an education course. It is not a professional certification, and it does not confer any licence, registration or practice authority.
Who built it
Built by the Booty Center Academy faculty, not by one voice.
The people behind Booty Center's coaching and education have prepared and competed with athletes at every level, from a first regional show to the professional stage. This course was written from published research, one module at a time, and every module was checked against its sources before it was accepted.
Every claim is cited. 989 references across the 14 teaching handbooks.
Every limit is stated. Each lesson names who was studied and how far the finding reaches.
Every module stays in its lane. No diagnosis, no meal plans.
- Exercise physiologistsPostgraduate training in exercise science. Faculty continuing education includes pharmacology and physiology through Harvard Medical School (HMX) and exercise physiology through the Stanford Center for Health Education.
- IFBB professionalsAthletes who have competed on the professional stage
- Competitors across every divisionFit model, bikini, wellness, figure, women's physique and bodybuilding, from regional to national level
- Contest prep coachesCoaches who have taken athletes from their first show to the top of their division
- Hypertrophy and glute specialistsThe training science Booty Center is known for, applied to the female physique athlete
- Published researchersFaculty who co-author peer-reviewed research and present at international sports science congresses
Enroll
The complete course on coaching the female physique athlete.
The Science of Her
Or 3 monthly payments of $175. Self-paced, with no live sessions and no deadlines.
14-day refund policy. Email team@bootycenter.com within 14 days of purchase for a full refund, as long as you have not attempted the final examination. Coaching education, not medical advice.
1.9 NASM CEUs · 1.9 AFAA CEUsApproved continuing educationProvider PRO-014620
- 15 modules in four parts and a close, about 23 hours of structured study
- Narrated lesson, coach handbook, slide deck and lesson script for every module
- 727 handbook pages and 895 slides, with 989 cited references
- Six divisions read against their published standards, with real athletes on the pose pages
- A quiz for each of the 14 teaching modules, 70 percent to pass
- A 70-question final examination with unlimited retakes
- Certificate of Completion from Booty Center
- 1.9 NASM and AFAA CEUs on passing the final examination
Questions
Before you enroll.
Does this course carry continuing education credit?
Yes. Booty Center is recognized by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and by the Athletics and Fitness Association of America as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (PRO-014620), and this course is approved for 1.9 NASM CEUs and 1.9 AFAA CEUs. You earn them by passing the final examination. Your certificate carries your name, the course title, the provider number, the completion date and the CEUs earned.
Who is the course for?
Certified fitness professionals who coach women for physique competition, or whose clients ask about competing: personal trainers, contest prep coaches, and strength and conditioning coaches. Competitors take it too, to understand their own prep and ask better questions.
Do I need a certification first?
No. Enrolment is open. The course assumes working knowledge at the level of a current personal training certification: basic anatomy and physiology, training variables and client assessment. Continuing education credit only applies to learners whose certification recognises it.
Does it cover pharmacology?
No. The Science of Her is the physiology course. It does not teach drug classes or prescribing.
Will it give me meal plans to hand to athletes?
No. The course describes the published evidence on fuelling as ranges, division by division, so you can read and support the plan a registered dietitian writes. Writing the plan stays with the dietitian.
What are the Field Belief boxes?
Coaches and competitors hold beliefs that no study supports. The course does not skip them. Each one is named in a labelled box, set against the closest evidence, because you will meet it in the gym.
How long does it take?
About 23 hours of structured study. That is 18 hours 54 minutes of narrated lessons across 15 modules, plus the chapter quizzes. It is self-paced, with no live sessions and no deadlines.
How is it assessed?
Each module ends with a quiz. Pass it at 70 percent to open the next module, and pass all 14 to open the final examination. The final examination is 70 questions, five from each of the 14 teaching modules. The pass mark is 70 percent, which is 49 correct. Retakes are unlimited, with no waiting period.
Are the athletes in the photos real?
Yes. The athletes on the covers and pose pages are IFBB Professional League athletes who gave permission for their photos to appear in this course. Every photo is credited to the athlete's own page.
Is this medical advice?
No. This is coaching education. Nothing in the course authorises a coach to diagnose, treat, prescribe, counsel, plan meals or interpret a blood test as a clinician. The coach reads early and keeps a record.
Scope of practice
The Science of Her is coaching education, not medical advice. Nothing in the course authorises a coach to diagnose, treat or prescribe for any condition, to counsel, to plan meals, to recommend supplements, or to interpret a health screen or a blood test as a clinician. The coach teaches the science, assesses and programs training, notices early, keeps a factual and private record, and keeps coaching inside the plan the athlete's care team sets. Booty Center is recognized by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as an Approved Continuing Education Provider. Booty Center is recognized by the Athletics and Fitness Association of America as an Approved Continuing Education Provider. Refund policy: full refund within 14 days of purchase if the final examination has not been attempted.
The bottom line
Coach the look. Keep the athlete.
Her physiology, her division, her prep, her off-season and her health, in one course.