Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a broad, umbrella term which can include many aberrant conditions involving any part of the cardiovascular system. Common pathology included in CVD is atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, cardiac disease, previous myocardial infarct, hypertensive disorders, history of stroke, cardiac arrhythmia, cardiac failure, or cardiac valvular disorder. For the sake of this article, let’s discuss how hypertension (HTN) disorders can improve when perfo

I applaud your desire to make healthy lifestyle choices which includes participation in physical activities to help reach your goals such as improved daily energy levels, reducing bodyweight, and improving overall fitness ability. However, beginning a structured exercise routine can seem daunting, overwhelming, or unappealing. Questions like, “How can I even run or cycle or lift weights when its already embarrassing the level of exertion it takes me to climb a flight of stair

A 2017 RCT study I found examined the effects either moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) compared to high-intensity interval training among alder adults (mean age 64) to determine how different exercise variables improve arterial elasticity since large artery stiffness predisposes older adults to cardiovascular diseases (Kim et al., 2017). Addressing (and preventing) arterial stiffness is a major goal for reducing CVD risk. Previously demonstrated in another study b

Research article citation:   Wang, W., Wu, D., Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Jiang, X., Li, S., Shi, Y., & Gao, X. (2024). Acute Effects of Breath-Hold Conditions on Aerobic Fitness in Elite Rugby Players. Life (Basel, Switzerland) , 14 (8), 917-. https://doi.org/10.3390/life14080917 Let's get right to it. Straight to application on why having half a dozen breath holds during an easy aerobic warmup could supercharge your VO2max transiently for instant benefits in subsequent training

Endurance sports have a risk of the athletes developing intentionally or unintentionally LEA (low energy availability) which has higher prevalence in females, but should we be monitoring males, especially youth males for relative energy deficiency in sport (aka RED-S). An interesting study examined the special energy analysis of youth cyclists in season which occurs during hotter weather for possibility of LEA. By definition LEA is when daily consumption of <30kcal/ kg fat-fr

The narrative review by Wohlgemuth et al. (2021) explains most research for nutrition and sports performance is on males instead of females and it is females who have a variety of fluctuating nutrition and metabolic changes depending on their cycle. For example, eumenorrheic women metabolize fat and protein at a higher percentage in the luteal phase compared to the follicular stage. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) and training recovery rate/ capacities also vary across the cycle.

More discussion as grown in the past few years about the special considerations and ways to take advantage of the female cycle in exercise in sport. For sake of discussion, a young adult (premenopausal) moderately active female field sport athlete will be considered as an example for this article.   A recent study surveyed elite female athletes and found that 86% were unwilling or uncomfortable to take time off from the psychological and physical effects of the menstrual cycl

Should children be resistance training? If so, how should we be preparing children for it? For the sake of this discussion, “children” will be defined as those who have yet to reach puberty, so generally somewhere between 6-13 years old depending on sex. Secondly, under what context would we consider resistance training for children? Again, for the sake of this post, the demographic would be elementary P.E. class or general physical conditioning for kids not necessarily invol

What are the recommendations and guidelines for exercise implementation in the post-partum phase? More specifically, how does one determine when, how much, and the expected benefits of exercising and movement? A sample recommendation of a daily exercise routine will be provided below and would be after 4-6 weeks post-partum. Why Some research studies have demonstrated safety and effectiveness of some exercise like Pilates as early as a few days post-partum. However, there is

The metabolic disorder of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) will be discussed for this post. DM2 affects over 27 million people in the USA and often can have sequalae of dyslipidemia, hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease, neuropathy and obesity comorbidities (Dunford & Doyle, 2019). DM2 is the resulting cascade of insulin resistance resulting in the body’s inability to transport and shuttle glucose into the cells which leads to proinflammatory proteins and fasting blood g

Sample Athlete:  14-year-old eumenorrheic basketball player without symptoms of RED-S in the “specific preparatory” phase of the preseason.   The sport of basketball demands a variety of fitness abilities from the athlete unlike many other sports. There is nearly equal aerobic and anerobic needs as repeated sprinting and shuffling occur without significant rest between these bouts. Therefore, a key need is the ability to perform repeated short, high-intensity efforts (5-10 s

Recommended 4 Week Resistance Training Intervention for College Female Basketball Players During Pre-Season.   Rationale :             Female basketball players require a diverse set of fitness abilities to both excel in the sport and prevent injury. Basic requirements to be a proficient player consist of aerobic endurance, jumping ability, agility, strength, balance, coordination, and higher lactate thresholds. Regarding injury risk, a major concern in basketball are lower b

One RCT study tested a theory of transient hypocalcemia occurring towards the middle-later portion of the luteal phase in certain women. Subjects who supplemented with 1,000mg calcium for these 7-10 days saw significant reduction in PMS symptoms (Arab et al., 2020). Since divergence from serum calcium homeostasis affects so many systems from cognitive and emotional to muscle contraction and relaxation, I also investigated specific recommendations from this week’s article Reco