The postpartum period is one of the most physiologically demanding times in a woman's life. You are healing from birth, potentially breastfeeding, sleep deprived, and trying to figure out when and how to return to the training you love. And as mothers ourselves, we've seen the information available is often contradictory, outdated, or written for a general population that does not account for the specific needs of an active woman who wants to perform.
At HIVE Training Centre, we work with female endurance athletes through every life stage including the postpartum period and we are constantly asked what to read. While there are hundreds, here are several books loved by our community. Each one is science-backed, written by credible experts, and practically useful for women who are serious about their recovery, their nutrition, and their return to training.
1. ROAR (Revised Edition) by Dr. Stacy T. Sims and Selene Yeager
If you only read one book from this list, make it this one.
ROAR by Dr. Stacy T. Sims, PhD is the book that changed how female athletes understand their own physiology. Dr. Sims is an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist whose work is built on one foundational truth: women are not small men. The training and nutrition advice that has been handed to female athletes for decades was built on male research. ROAR fixes that.
The revised 2024 edition includes full chapters on pregnancy and postpartum, updated research on hormonal contraception and training, expanded guidance on protein needs across the lifespan, and a deeper dive into recovery tools including sleep, sauna, and cold water exposure as they apply to female physiology.
For postpartum athletes specifically, ROAR gives you the framework to understand what your hormonal environment is actually doing and how to fuel and train accordingly rather than guessing.
Best for: Female endurance athletes who want the full picture on how their physiology works and how to train and eat to match it.
Get it: Penguin Random House or your local bookshop. Also available as an audiobook on Audible.
2. Next Level by Dr. Stacy T. Sims and Selene Yeager
If ROAR is the foundation, Next Level is the next chapter. While it is specifically designed for women approaching or experiencing perimenopause and menopause, it contains deeply relevant content for any postpartum athlete navigating hormonal shifts, changed body composition, disrupted sleep, and reduced recovery capacity.
The reason we recommend it even for women in the earlier postpartum period is that the hormonal environment postpartum shares significant overlap with the perimenopausal state, particularly for breastfeeding athletes where oestrogen is suppressed. The guidance on training, nutrition, sleep, and supplementation translates directly.
Next Level covers training adaptation, strength programming, carbohydrate fuelling, bone health, and the specific supplements with the strongest evidence base for hormonally complex life stages. It is thorough, science-backed, and written for women who train seriously.
Best for: Postpartum athletes who are also approaching perimenopause, women navigating hormonal complexity, and any active woman who wants a comprehensive physiology-based guide.
Get it: Dr. Stacy Sims official site or Penguin Random House.
3. The Postpartum Nutrition Cookbook by Diana Licalzi and Ashley Reaver
The Postpartum Nutrition Cookbook is one of the most practical postpartum resources published in recent years. Written by registered dietitians Diana Licalzi and Ashley Reaver, it prioritises the mother's nutritional recovery in the fourth trimester rather than defaulting to infant-focused guidance.
The book includes 100-plus simple recipes designed specifically for postpartum nutrient needs, make-ahead breakfasts and one-handed lunches (the realities of new motherhood are well understood here), grocery shopping lists, meal prep guidance, and targeted nutrition advice for the key nutrients required for healing and energy restoration. For athletes returning to training, the sections on iron repletion, protein requirements, and energy availability are particularly useful.
This is not a performance nutrition book in the traditional sense, but the foundational recovery nutrition it covers is what makes returning to training possible. You cannot train on empty.
Best for: Postpartum women in the first six months who want practical, immediately usable nutritional guidance for recovery alongside their return to training.
Get it: Penguin Australia or Amazon.
4. Run Like a Mother by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea
Run Like a Mother by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea has become something of a cult classic in the mother runner community, and for good reason. It is the honest, practical, emotionally intelligent guide to running as a mother that most training books are not.
It covers the logistics of fitting training into a life with children, the mental load of being both an athlete and a mother, the specific challenges of postpartum return to running, and the community aspect of training alongside other women who understand the reality. It is not a physiology textbook but it is an important companion to the science-heavy books on this list because it addresses the full picture of what returning to running as a mother actually involves.
Best for: Mothers at any stage who need both practical training guidance and the reassurance that what they are experiencing is normal, manageable, and worth doing.
Get it: runlikeamother.com or Amazon.
A Note from HIVE
Every book on this list will give you better information than most of what is available online. But books are general. Your body is specific. Your hormonal context, your recovery, your training history, and your goals are not the same as the next athlete reading the same page.
At HIVE Training Centre, we coach female endurance athletes through the postpartum period with programming that accounts for where you actually are, not where a generic timeline says you should be. HIVE Collective Training is $99 per month and includes live coached sessions, a structured training plan for your goal race, and coaching support from coaches who understand female physiology because it is all we work with.
If you are postpartum and trying to figure out your return to training, reach out at coach@thehivetrainingcentre.com. The books will give you the framework. We will help you apply it.
Sources and Further Reading
Dr. Stacy Sims: drstacysims.com
ROAR Revised Edition: penguinrandomhouse.com
Next Level: drstacysims.com/nextlevel
The Postpartum Nutrition Cookbook: penguin.com.au
BJSM Return to Running Guidelines: bjsm.bmj.com
Goom, Donnelly, Brockwell 2019: bjsm.bmj.com
Herman Pontzer Burn: penguinrandomhouse.com
Run Like a Mother: runlikeamother.com
HIVE Training Centre: thehivetrainingcentre.com
HIVE Female Performance Project: thehivetrainingcentre.com/pages/research-project
