January 31, 2019Blog

Introduction

“I don’t have time” is easily one of the most quoted answers to working out more.

However, the fact remains that, if the right exercises are chosen, a full and comprehensive workout can be achieved in whatever time frame is available.

So, below, is a guide on exercise selection, organised by available time, that can be used to get in a full workout.

0-10 minutes: Keep it Complex

Seems counterintuitive right?

But complex, or compound movements can allow more muscles to be worked in less time, and just as effectively as when isolation work is included.

So, exercises that work the legs, core and upper body are ideal.

Recommended Exercise(s):

5x15m Prowler Pushes superseded with attached rope pulls.

10-20 minutes: Get Specifically Complex

Here, we can afford to actually allocate one exercise per body part.

While isolation work is still not an option, performing one compound movement per body part is.

Varying each sessions exercise can also allow a more comprehensive program too.

Recommended Exercise(s):

Session 1: Tri-set of Bench Press, Dumbbell Rows and Box Squat – 3 sets of 15 repetitions with 60 seconds break.

Session 2: Overhead Press, (Assisted) Pull Ups and Hip Thrusts – 3 sets of 15 repetitions with 60 seconds break.

20-30 minutes: Time for Some (Calculated) Isolation

With an extra 10 minutes to work, you can start hitting areas you think are lagging.

So adding in a set of bicep curls or tricep extensions won’t kill you.

But prioritise, some isolation work, like overhead extensions, offer tricep work that can’t be replicated with usual compound moves.

Recommended Exercise(s):

Session 1: Super set of Bench Press and Overhead Tricep Extensions followed by Rows and Biceps curls and finishing with Box Squats – 3 sets of 15 repetitions with 60 seconds break.

Session 2: Super set of Overhead Press and Lateral Raises, followed by (Assisted) Pull Ups and Reverse Flyes and finishing with Hip Thrusts – 3 sets of 15 repetitions with 60 seconds break.

Over 30 minutes: You Officially “Have Time”

With 30+ minutes you can pretty much do any conventional bodybuilding or fitness routine.

In fact, from a performance and results standpoint, you shouldn’t be going over 45-60 minutes.

So, if this is the case, look at reducing isolation work, via the above tips, or, for the more advanced athlete, splitting the session up into multiple daily sessions.

From a time perspective though, anything over 30 minutes is plenty to complete any workout.

Recommended Exercise(s):

Whatever the hell you want!

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January 31, 2019Blog

Whether looking to increase fitness, have a healthier lifestyle, lose some weight or improve overall health, nutrition plays a vital role in helping you reach these goals.

It can seem complicated to choose a particular diet or know which foods to avoid or take in due to many contradicting reports of different meal plans and nutrients in the media. However, most structured diets or “superfoods” are successful due to certain nutrients they contain.

By focusing on these nutrients, it can make following a healthy, comprehensive diet easy, cheap and time-efficient.

So, I put together a list of the top 4 core nutrients that should be included in the diet of any active individual. You can check out the list in my article for Urban Naturopathic Living here:

http://www.urbannaturopathicliving.com/top-four-nutrients-for-an-active-lifestyle-guest-blog-post/

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January 31, 2019Blog

Nowadays in sports performance and fitness, everyone wants to talk about recovery. But, very rarely do we hear about managing the stress that can interfere with it. Stress can have a major impact on your fitness gains, yet so rarely do we see it considered in a program.

So, In this article for Steady Health, I explain how stress can negatively impact your pursuit to get fitter, stronger or perform better, what stress is and how it can be managed effectively to help you get the most of your workouts and reduce stress in your daily life. Check it out here:

http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/stress-and-exercise-managing-one-to-maximize-the-other

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January 31, 2019Blog

Not all proteins are created equal, and few athletes have as wide a range of physical and psychological demands as that of a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter or ‘combat athlete. So, fueling a fighter deserves greater consideration than other sportspeople. For this reason, I put together an article on the best protein for MMA fighters. You can check it out on ChicagosMMA.com here:

The Right Proteins for MMA Fighters

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January 31, 2019Blog

Falling and injuries can be a huge concern for anyone over 60 years old. So, in another one of my articles for Steady Health, I look at how regular exercise can help prevent these falls and injuries and lead to a better quality of life throughout old age. Check it out here:

http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/slips-trips-and-falls-how-exercise-can-prevent-falls-and-injuries-in-the-elderly?show_all=1

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January 31, 2019Blog

Addiction is a huge problem. Studies suggest almost 5% to 15% of people were dependent on alcohol, and between 5% to 20% on other illicit drugs.

When people think of stopping a bad habit or quitting an addictive substance very few of them consider exercise or their diet. Despite the fact that both could affect their success. This applies to alcohol or any other recreational drug.

But, both exercise and nutritional programs have been shown to be very useful in helping protect against the use of harmful and addictive substances. This includes alcohol and other prominent drugs such as cocaine and opioids.

It also helps maintain abstinence or even reduce some side effects of rehab programs.

This is thought to be due to many different mechanisms put in motion by exercise and nutrients. These include changes in chemical balances in the brain. It can also include brain matter growth and regeneration of nerve cells.

As well as these physical benefits, social and psychological benefits are also provided. Increased social support, mood, well-being provided by exercise could all play major roles.

But, exercise and good nutrition won’t serve as a rehabilitation program on its own.

But, so far, research has shown that it may help a lot in improving the effectiveness, both short and long term, in rehab. This improvement is shown in various substances. These include alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opiates, and amphetamines.

Below, we take a look at the mechanisms behind addiction. We also look at how exercise and nutrition can help reduce substance use.

This is alongside how it can help improve recovery and long-term abstinence. I also look at the type of exercise or foods are most beneficial in helping kick bad habits.

Addiction: The Physical Element

One of the reasons exercise and nutrition can help is in the powerful effect both can have in maintaining brain and nervous system health.

There is already a lot of research showing that exercise and nutrients can increase brain matter growth. These nutrients include like Omega 3 fats, vitamins, and minerals. These nutrients may also protect against mental illness and improve behavioral problems.

Despite this, one possible reason for the lack of diet and exercise programs into traditional rehab programs is many think addiction is a psychological problem.

But, recent research looking at the changes in brain chemistry and physiology shows that substance abuse and withdrawal involve massive and long-term changes in certain protein levels in the brain, particularly in areas which control stress, panic, motivation, mood, and memory.

So, when considering the process of addiction, it is important to note that this is a very physical issue. This is alongside a social or psychological one.

It is the same above areas of the brain that are also affected by exercise and certain nutrients.

This then forms the basis for how these practices could help decrease substance abuse. It also suggests how it could improve sobriety, or increase success in rehab.

Exercise and Sobriety

It is well known by people who have had problems with substance abuse, and general populations that exercise can provide all sorts of health benefits. These are both physical and psychological in nature.

Despite this, less than half of smoking or alcohol dependent individuals do it. They also aren’t prescribed it when seeking recovery.

This a significant issue. There has been an association between increased exercise and decreased nicotine dependence. In fact, most research finds that vigorous exercise improves the success rate of smoking recovery programs.

Many recovering addicts also found it useful in relieving stress and tension. It also helped improve mood and motivation.

These same benefits are found with alcohol recovery. Exercise improves both the success of the initial recovery and increases abstinence.

There has also been some early research linking exercise and increased abstinence and cessation of stimulant drug use in college students. These include cocaine or amphetamines.

Exercise type, intensity, and frequency

High-intensity aerobic exercise has been looked at the most.  Specifically, circuit or interval training for 30-40 minutes, three times per week.

But strength training may be beneficial as well. Unfortunately, there has been tiny amount if any, research examining this.

Either way, exercise has shown to offer a cheap, easy and efficient way to help improve prevent substance use. It can also help improve initial recovery and life-long abstinence.

Nutrition and Sobriety

As stated above, the food we eat can also have a powerful effect on our mental health and mood. From our hormone levels to the actual structure and growth of individual cells in our brain, it has a big impact.

This can affect addiction recovery. Scientists found that mood and comfort were lower in recovering drug addicts when with lower carbohydrates in their diet.

This was likely due to the effect carbohydrates have in serotonin. This is a hormone known for causing relaxation and happiness and is affected by drug use.

Considering this, recovering addicts may be best served to keep carbohydrates high. They might also benefit from slow-releasing sugars such as whole wheat and grains. This could keep serotonin levels steady and improve mood swings in recovery.

But, it’s also important to note the important role that healthy fats like omega-3 fats could have in improving sobriety.

Omega-3 fats have been shown to increase brain growth factors. These are usually at a decreased level in current or previous addicts and contribute to the adverse effects of withdrawal. These all threaten long-term recovery and abstinence.

References

Abrantes, A. M., Battle, C. L., Strong, D. R., Ing, E., Dubreuil, M. E., Gordon, A., & Brown, R. A. (2011). Exercise preferences of patients in substance abuse treatment. Mental health and physical activity, 4(2), 79-87.

Amdahl, T. (2016). Benefits of Exercise for Individuals in Remission from Substance Use Disorders.

Beltz, B. S., Tlusty, M. F., Benton, J. L., & Sandeman, D. C. (2007). Omega-3 fatty acids upregulate adult neurogenesis. Neuroscience letters, 415(2), 154-158.

Berke, J. D., & Hyman, S. E. (2000). Addiction, dopamine, and the molecular mechanisms of memory. Neuron, 25(3), 515-532.

Brown, R. A., Abrantes, A. M., Read, J. P., Marcus, B. H., Jakicic, J., Strong, D. R., … & Dubreuil, M. E. (2009). Aerobic Exercise for Alcohol Recovery Rationale, Program Description, and Preliminary Findings. Behavior modification, 33(2), 220-249.

Cunningham, P. M. (2016). The Use of Sobriety Nutritional Therapy in the Treatment of Opioid Addiction. Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy,7(3).

Moorhouse, M., Loh, E., Lockett, D., Grymala, J., Chudzik, G., & Wilson, A. (2000). Carbohydrate Craving by Alcohol‐Dependent Men During Sobriety: Relationship to Nutrition and Serotonergic Function. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24(5), 635-643.

Nestler, E. J., & Aghajanian, G. K. (1997). Molecular and cellular basis of addiction. Science, 278(5335), 58-63.

Read, J. P., & Brown, R. A. (2003). The role of physical exercise in alcoholism treatment and recovery. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(1), 49.

Sussman, S., Lisha, N., & Griffiths, M. (2011). Prevalence of the addictions: a problem of the majority or the minority?. Evaluation & the health professions, 34(1), 3-56.

Wu, A., Ying, Z., & Gomez-Pinilla, F. (2004). Dietary omega-3 fatty acids normalize BDNF levels, reduce oxidative damage, and counteract learning disability after traumatic brain injury in rats. Journal of neurotrauma, 21(10), 1457-1467.

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January 31, 2019Blog

A Great AMRAP Workout From Your Own Home

With the sharp rise in popularity of fitness and exercise, gyms have become more common than a McDonald’s. There can be a gymnasium found for nearly every sport or purpose imaginable. CrossFit gyms, sports performance gyms and even casual fitness clubs can be found nearby. Here, everything from AMRAP workouts to heavy strength and power training is done.

Along with this increased presence, these gyms are also usually decorated with all of the latest fitness equipment. Everything from jump trainers, to curved treadmills can be found.

As a result, many have forgotten that often the best results can be found through the most basic methods. Most studies have actually found that any fitness goal can be reached from a home training program.

This not only saves you money through letting you ditch your gym membership, but also saves you a lot of time. So, those with a busy schedule or hectic family life can still find the time to get fitter and healthier.

One of the easiest ways to boost both your strength and endurance with minimal equipment is with home-made AMRAP (As Many Repetitions/Rounds As Possible) workouts. For those who don’t know, there are two main ways these workouts are done.

First, you can complete as many repetitions of each exercise in one circuit as possible. Alternatively, you can complete a set number of repetitions in each exercise for as many sets as possible.

So, AMRAP workouts can offer an easy way to boost either strength and power, or endurance and muscle growth. They are also easily progressed by measuring the amount of sets or repetitions performed and trying to improve it next time.

But, to get the most out of these workouts you need to choose your exercises carefully. Good exercise selections will make sure you work every muscle in your body equally and get the best results.

So, we decided to put together a few AMRAP workouts below to help you get in a good quality home training session. It should be noted that these can be further mixed and customised by adding exercises from resources with great AMRAP workout ideas for further benefits.

10 AMRAP Workout Ideas for a Home Gym

1. Burpees with Push Ups, Pull Ups and Rows

This is a good workout for athletes of all skill levels. It’s best used with As Many Repetitions As Possible sessions, as these are ideal for building endurance and only needs a pull up bar. But, they can also be used in As Many Rounds As Possible to build more muscle and power.

The pull ups can also be combined in the same movement as the burpees to create an extremely tough exercise.

2. Split Squat Jumps with Handstands and Band Pull Aparts

For those looking for a balance between strength and power, this workout is a useful circuit for beginners. Handstands can be done against a wall for added support and resistance bands can be easily increased or decreased in stiffness.

For best results, As Many Rounds As Possible sessions should be used, as some movements can be too intense to perform repetitions to failure. But, the band pull aparts can be done for as many repetitions as possible for added variation.

3. Clapping Push Ups, TRX Rows with Box Jumps

For more advanced trainees, this power workout is a great option. Naturally, this should be done for as many rounds as possible to avoid excessive fatigue and technique breakdown. The TRX device should also be secured against a door or frame for safe practice.

4. Handstand Push-ups, Pull Ups, Sit Ups and Single Leg Squats

This is another workout for the more experienced athletes. But, this one can be easily done for As Many Repetitions As Possible to build endurance or strength. For those struggling with the balance of single leg squats, using a box or holding a weight can help.

5. Sprints Bear Crawls and Medicine Ball Slams

This is another good power workout which needs no equipment. The circuit can also be done by novices or advanced athletes. For the best results, bear crawls should be done with the chest and hips as close to the ground as possible.

6. Renegade Rows, Single Arm Kettlebell Overhead Press, Goblet Squats and Kettlebell Swings

This workout can be done with  only two kettlebells or dumbbells, making  it easy to do at home or on the go. The renegade rows are a popular exercise for many people.

The reason for this is that the pushup-and-row combination and press builds strength in nearly very upper body muscle. Meanwhile, the goblet squats and swing mix help work the lower body.Either type of AMRAP workout can also be used and it’s ideal for athletes of any experience.

7. Sandbag cleans, Overhead Travelling Lunges and Bent Over Sandbag Rows

Sandbags are a great piece of equipment for a diverse workout. This workout uses this to it’s advantage, with a combination of power and strength exercises that work the whole body.

As Many Rounds As Possible is the best use for this kind of workout, with some complex power moves included in the circuit. It’s also better for intermediates and advanced workouts.

8. One-Arm Kettlebell Snatch, Medicine Ball Throws, Medicine Ball Slams

Another power circuit that is best suited for advanced athletes, it is also a great choice for CrossFit athletes due to how close the exercises are to CrossFit event movements.

Again, this is best suited through using As Many Rounds As Possible sessions, although experienced CrossFitters may need to occasionally use As Many Repetitions As Possible workouts to prepare for events.

9. Thrusters and Pull Ups

This simple workout is also possibly the most difficult on the list. But, it’s also one that can be used by any athlete to improve endurance and power. For thrusters, a weight can be used by holding kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, prevent sandbags. These can be increased or decreased as necessary.

Both AMRAP workouts can also be used depending on what aim you have for your training program.

10. Travelling Lunges with Overhead Press, TRX Rows and Push Ups

This is another good full body strength circuit that only requires a TRX and pull up bar. But, it will require some space to carry out the travelling lunges. It can also be made tougher by adding weight to the travelling lunges and the other bodyweight movements.

Like with the above workouts, it can be used as either type of AMRAP workouts to develop other strength or endurance and can act as a good basic circuit to prepare for the power workouts in this list.

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January 31, 2019Blog

Sexual health is an important topic. Sadly, it’s also pretty under-discussed. Despite the lack of conversation though, statistics are saying a lot lately. Sexual medication like Viagra pills are being purchased at a higher rate and problems with fertility is still a common issue today.

But, many people are unaware that sexual health can be substantially improved by diet and exercise, particularly by certain activities and nutrients. This might save you buying a costly medication or even a trip to the doctor.

See the full article on HealthyGenX.com here:

http://www.healthygenx.com/sexual-health/link-between-metabolism-and-sexual-health/

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January 31, 2019Blog

The menstrual cycle plays a key role in a woman’s life, having a substantial effect on how a woman exercises and eats, plus how much weight she loses, or strength she gains. In the article below, I take a look at exercise, diet and how to optimise them in each cycle.

Important note: This is a revised edition of the article I wrote for steadyhealth.com (found at: https://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/menstrual-cycle-impact-on-exercise-and-nutrition) , due to some errors seen in the version that was published on the site.

Hormones and the Menstrual Cycle: Nuts and bolts

Ask any healthcare professional, from doctor, to trainer, to exercise physiologist, and they can usually all agree on one thing; Women are complicated. From a medical standpoint, it’s, quite frankly, astounding. 

Their immune systems are usually more resilient and they generally recover faster than men from exercise. In terms of nutrition or program design, or even psychology and behaviour, men seem to respond and adapt fairly uniformly to exercise or certain nutrients, such as fat or carbohydrates. This is not always the case for women.

In terms of the current science on exercise and nutrition, we’ve seen a number of gender differences in the response of muscle to strength training. This is also true of the amount of fat that the body can store, and how it stores it.

But what causes these changes?

In one word, hormones. By and large, it’s these hormones, which basically act as chemical messengers to the body, which help control how we respond to exercise and how we eat, but also how we think, how we look, how we act, and pretty much everything about us. Luckily, these hormones can usually be studied and we can begin to understand how our bodies respond to different types of exercise and different foods.

With that in mind, exercise and nutrition in women should be fairly simple to understand then. If women release different hormones to men, all we have to do is understand these hormones and their effects. We can then structure our training programs and diet plans around them, right?

This is where the menstrual cycle comes into play.

See, in men, the hormones that are important for exercise and nutrition, i.e. those influencing fat loss, hunger, muscle growth, strength, etc., remain relatively constant. Their response to different types of exercise and food, such as fats, proteins and carbohydrates, remain fairly consistent too.

But, this is not the case for women. The menstrual cycle causes certain hormone levels to shift and change. This not only makes understanding and studying them more difficult, but structuring exercise and diet programs more difficult too. This could be why women seem to have less long-term success with weight loss than men, or why women seem to suffer more injuries in some joints than men, and seem to suffer more of them during the middle of their menstrual cycle than at other times during the month.

This brings us to the question of what the menstrual cycle is and how someone could adapt their training and nutritional practices to maximize progress.

For female readers, the menstrual cycle needs no explanation, but for the more inexperienced male readers, the menstrual cycle is the ‘time of the month’ that’s often mentioned, and the time surrounding it. It’s roughly 4 weeks period (no pun intended), where a woman’s ovaries produce (follicular phase), prepare and release (ovulation phase) and, if not needed, breakdown and excrete (luteal phase) the eggs that would be used for childbirth.

But how could this affect exercise or the way someone’s body uses nutrients?

Because, as hinted at above, hormones can play a key role in how hard we can exercise, how well we recover, how much fat we store and how hungry we feel. During each menstrual cycle phase, a woman’s hormones can change pretty drastically.

So, where men might benefit from a relatively consistent exercise and nutritional program throughout the entire month, a woman’s will require a bit more careful planning. With that in mind, we arrive to the exercise and nutrition side of the article.

Exercising And Eating During The Menstrual Cycle

The menstrual cycle plays a key role in a woman’s life, having a substantial effect on how a woman exercises and eats, plus how much weight she loses, or strength she gains.

As was said above, women’s hormones go through quite a change from week to week. This can have some significant effects on the body. For one, during the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle, known as the luteal phase, where the body prepares to excrete an unfertilized egg, the body actually tends to store more muscle glycogen than in the beginning or middle of the menstrual cycle. This may be why many women sometimes complain of bloating in the last two weeks of their cycle.

This has very significant effects on exercise and nutrition as not only can this ‘bloated’ feeling reduce the intensity at which athletes can work, but also because it means that a greater amount of carbohydrates that are consumed by a person during this phase can be converted to fat.

This could indicate that women may be better served to decrease their carbohydrate intake rather than their fat intake during the final weeks of their cycle if their goal is to maximize fat loss on a diet. A practice which has been shown to be more effective than conventional dieting in a recent study.

Another large difference can be seen in the increased recovery capacity women experience during the first two weeks, or the follicular phase, of their menstrual cycle when undertaking exercise. This, again, could be due to higher levels of certain hormones, such as estrogen, which is a group of hormones that causes cells to preferentially breakdown fats over carbohydrate for fuel, and, hence, could improve aerobic, long distance performance at the expense of high intensity exercise. It also helps reduce muscle protein breakdown, and aid recovery from such exercise.

However, muscle protein breakdown and excretion seems to increase during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Glucose metabolism also increases as fat metabolism decreases. This is due to dropping and a rise in progesterone.

So, while recovery from exercise may be improved during the initial phase of the menstrual cycle, this may not be an ideal time to increase strength training, as muscle protein synthesis will be negatively affected throughout this period. This, consequently, could also be a good time to increase protein intake.

Putting it into practice

So, now that we have a pretty good concept of how the menstrual cycle can affect hormone levels in women, and how this can then impact someone’s response to exercise or how they use or store different types of nutrients, we can make some recommendations to help minimize some of the negative effects of the menstrual cycle during certain exercises, i.e. increased muscle protein breakdown during certain phases.

We can also use the above information to help maximize the benefits of the menstrual cycle, i.e. improved recovery capacity and fat utilization. With that in mind, here are a few science based recommendations to help maximize exercise performance, improve weight and fat loss, and help improve recovery from exercise:

1. If combining strength training and cardio, keep most strength training to the first two weeks of the cycle to maximize strength and lean muscle development.
2. During the first two weeks, keep the intensity of any cardiovascular exercise low and steady in nature, i.e. 30 minutes of cycling at a steady pace, rather than interval training or high intensity, which would be better served during the last two weeks.
3. Start tapering the volume of any explosive training down after day 10 and be cautious of injury during the middle week of the cycle, and start tapering intensity up by day 18.
4. During the first two weeks of the cycle, reduce carbohydrate intake around 10% while keeping  protein intake stable and increasing fat intake ~10%. During the last two weeks, reduce fat intake by 20% the same amount while raising carbohydrate and protein intake by~10%
5. Also, if completing strength training, a higher volume (up to 5 days of training per week) may be well tolerated during the first two weeks of the cycle, provided that volume is then reduced in the last two weeks (to around one session per week).

References

1. Blaak, E. (2001). Gender differences in fat metabolism. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 4(6), 499-502.

2. Fulco, C. S., Rock, P. B., Muza, S. R., Lammi, E., Cymerman, A., Butterfield, G., … & Lewis, S. F. (1999). Slower fatigue and faster recovery of the adductor pollicis muscle in women matched for strength with men. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 167(3), 233-240.

3. Galliven, E. A., Singh, A., Michelson, D., Bina, S., Gold, P. W., & Deuster, P. A. (1997). Hormonal and metabolic responses to exercise across time of day and menstrual cycle phase. Journal of Applied Physiology, 83(6), 1822-1831.

4. Lamont, L. S., Lemon, P. W., & Bruot, B. C. (1987). Menstrual cycle and exercise effects on protein catabolism. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 19(2), 106-110.

5. McCracken, M., Ainsworth, B., & Hackney, A. C. (1994). Effects of the menstrual cycle phase on the blood lactate responses to exercise. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology, 69(2), 174-175.

6. Ortner, D. J. (1998). Male-female immune reactivity and its implications for interpreting evidence in human skeletal paleopathology. Sex and gender in paleopathological perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p, 79-92. 7. Riley III, J. L., Robinson, M. E., Wise, E. A., & Price, D. (1999). A meta-analytic review of pain perception across the menstrual cycle. Pain, 81(3), 225-235.

8. Wojtys, E. M., Huston, L. J., Lindenfeld, T. N., Hewett, T. E., & Greenfield, M. L. V. (1998). Association between the menstrual cycle and anterior cruciate ligament injuries in female athletes. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 26(5), 614-619.

9. Geiker, N. R., Ritz, C., Pedersen, S. D., Larsen, T. M., Hill, J. O., & Astrup, A. (2016). A weight-loss program adapted to the menstrual cycle increases weight loss in healthy, overweight, premenopausal women: a 6-mo randomized controlled trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition, ajcn126565.

10. Wikström-Frisén, Lisbeth, Carl Johan Boraxbekk, and Karin Henriksson-Larsén. “Effects on power, strength and lean body mass of menstrual/oral contraceptive cycle based resistance training.” Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 57, no. 1-2 (2017): 43-52.

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