Exercising in pregnancy is generally very safe and is actually recommended by both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). But why is exercise so highly recommended to pregnant women? Aren't we often advised to put our feet up for 40 weeks and just rest? Unless advised by your physician with evidence to support their decision, then exercising during pregnancy can have a host of benefits to help keep you and your baby fit and healthy.

Following on from the previous article, “How to Take Advantage of Your Menstrual Cycle,” we learned that up to 80% of women report symptoms such as acne, bloating, fatigue, and mood changes in the couple of weeks leading up to menstruation. These symptoms qualify as premenstrual syndrome in 20-30% of pre-menopausal women, with symptoms severe enough to interfere with social functioning and life activities, they meet clinical criteria for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) (1,2). PMS is characterised by recurrent, moderate-to-severe affective, physical, and behavioural symptoms that develop during the luteal menstrual cycle and disappear within a few days of menstruation (3). This article will look at the possible causes of PMS and methods to help alleviate the symptoms associated with it.

​If you've been trying to lose body weight/fat -or even just trying to maintain a healthy level - there's a fair chance you've found deciding what to choose when eating out to be a tough endeavour. Even those familiar with tracking calories can be left scratching their heads; giving their best estimation of the caloric content of a meal - a method that can be grossly inaccurate. Two recent studies set out to determine the average caloric content of the most popular meals across the world and in the UK. Their findings were startling. On average, fast food restaurants were lower in caloric content per main meal compared to full-service (conventional) restaurants!

When it comes to the female body, it’s safe to say how we feel, look, think and perceive things can change dramatically over the course of our cycle. Our body’s hormones control everything from our metabolic function to our pain threshold, to how we eat, and even to how much training we can tolerate. Up to 80% of women report symptoms such as acne, bloating, fatigue, and mood changes in the couple of weeks leading up to menstruation (1,2). Understanding what happens throughout the phases of your cycle can give you valuable insight into why we feel strong and powerful during one phase, to weak and weepy in the other.

This is the time of the year where people start to freak out. There’s the fitness fanatics that start to sweat with anxiety about the parties they have to go to, and there's yo-yo dieters who throw their hands up into the air and yell ‘screw it’ as they face plant into cake and momentarily blackout. It can be a stressful time for those concerned about their physiques, but it really doesn’t have to be. There’s many tricks to help stay on track and prevent doing serious damage, or having to avoid social occasions for the fear of indulging. Here are 5 simple tips and tricks.

Building muscle is hard enough as is - let alone having something possibly impair your potential. Many spend their whole lives trying to get 'too big,' only to find out it's very difficult to get too big! Endurance training (cardio) has an 'interference' effect on strength, power, and muscle hypertrophy gains (1). When added to a resistance training program, it has been shown to negatively impact the amount that can be gained (1, 2). This doesn't mean you can't make progress with some cardio training however - studies have shown you can still make good gains in strength, power, and muscle hypertrophy with the inclusion of cardio training in your resistance training program (1, 2) - it just means you have to be smart about how much and what type of cardio you decide to use. Different types and amounts of cardio have different effects on power, strength, and muscle hypertrophy gains.