Can ‘cycle syncing’ workouts to your menstrual cycle improve fitness levels?

December 29, 2022 Vera

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If you’re someone who has to deal with a period regularly, you’re probably all too familiar with just how much your energy levels can change throughout your cycle thanks to hormonal fluctuations. Not only can this sometimes make even the simplest daily tasks challenging, it can make it even harder to stay motivated to keep fit and stick to your regular workout routine, especially when noticing a decline in your performance.

But, according to some popular information on social media, a technique called “cycle syncing” may help you avoid feeling this way.

The premise of cycle syncing is relatively simple. Instead of doing the same type of workouts throughout the month, you instead tailor your workouts according to the current phase of your menstrual cycle. Some women also go a step further and tailor their diet to each phase as well. The claim is that, by doing so, it can help “balance” your hormones — which in turn may lead to a range of health benefits, including improved energy levels, fewer PMS symptoms and better health overall.

But while evidence does show that certain phases of your menstrual cycle may be optimal for different types of exercise, there’s currently no evidence showing cycle syncing has any benefits beyond making it easier to keep fit. Not to mention that actually managing to execute cycle syncing properly may be easier said than done.

The menstrual cycle can be split into four phases: menses, follicular, luteal and pre-menses. The concentration of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone change in each phase.

During the menses phase (your period), estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest levels. But as you move into the follicular phase, estrogen begins to increase. In the luteal phase, which immediately follows, progesterone concentrations also begins to increase. Both hormones reach their peak near the end of the luteal phase, before dropping dramatically during the pre-menstrual phase (days 25-28 of the average cycle).

Research shows that

10 Minute Ab Workouts: 5 Exercises To Try

December 19, 2022 Vera

A lot of us have busy schedules, so it’s not always easy to find time for a full-body workout. That’s why we’ve rounded up five simple 10-minute ab workouts that are great for getting your heart rate up and working all your major muscle groups.

The best part about these 10 minute ab workout is that you can always add more resistance and keep progressing, while training not just your abs, but also the rest of your body!

10 Minute Ab Workouts That You Must Try

1) Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are a great 10 minute ab workout that can be done anywhere. They’re a compound exercise, meaning they work multiple muscles at the same time, making them more efficient and effective than isolation exercises. Mountain climbers also target your core and upper body for an overall total-body workout.

To do mountain climbers:

Start on all fours with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
Brace abs so they’re tight — this will stabilize your body as you move.
Pull your right knee toward your chest while keeping your left leg straight behind you.
Return to the start position, and repeat by bringing your left knee toward your chest while keeping your right leg straight behind you — that’s one rep!
Repeat in rapid succession for a minute before resting. Do 3-4 sets of this exercise.

2) Planks

This one is a classic 10 minute ab workout. Planks are the foundation of a strong core, and they can help improve posture and lower back pain as well as increase your overall strength.

To start, lie on your stomach with your forearms on the floor below you supporting your weight, with fingers facing forward (not inward).
Keeping your body straight and tight from head to toe, lift yourself off of the floor by engaging your core and glutes.
You can hold this position for as long as possible or up to 60 seconds at first.
Either way, try to increase that time over time so that eventually you can hold it for 30-60 seconds comfortably.

3) V-ups

V-ups are an incredible 10 minute ab workout to fire up your core. They are a bit more challenging than most other ab exercises, but you can always get stronger by trying this exercise!

You can try this exercise by following these steps:

Start in a push-up position, with your hands slightly wider than

Trainer Krista Stevens utilizes TikTok, Instagram to give workouts

April 17, 2022 Vera

Assist area journalism. A digital subscription is exceptionally reasonably priced and makes you the most educated particular person close to. Click on here and subscribe today.

Summer time is appropriate about the corner, and if you are 1 of several persons seeking to transform your wellness and exercise patterns, I’m here to enable.

My title is Krista Stevens. I was born and raised in central Florida and not long ago graduated from the College of Florida.

There are a lot of distinctive explanations people hold off their physical fitness journey. In many situations, people just really don’t know exactly where to commence. For other individuals, it may be a absence of motivation, or it may be deemed much too highly-priced.

I’m in this article to help you master the place to begin. I’m also right here to motivate you and clearly show you receiving in form doesn’t have to be an high priced endeavor.

Fitness center memberships expense hundreds of dollars a year and often go unused.

If you choose an at-residence alternative, you may well locate your self missing the inspiration to start and keep your exercise sessions.

Major exercise providers offer at-home, live exercises, the equipment prices hundreds, if not, 1000’s of dollars, and then you pay out an additional every month membership. They do appear to solve the challenge of motivation, but not everybody can find the money for it.

You can do it! Walters: Training for a half marathon isn’t really easy, but it can be one thing you can do

Do not do it:Nourishment for These days: Are Carbs community enemy No. 1? Unquestionably not. They are seriously vital

Kidney care:Mitra: Your kidneys do a great deal more than you notice make certain you acquire treatment of them

I’m right here to introduce you to my remedy to some of these troubles, even though also giving you strategies each and every month on what you can do to reach your health and fitness plans.

I check out to enable people applying my expertise by means of TikTok.

No, it is not just a location where by people today do silly dances. It is a terrific house for men and women like me to share my experience and interact with the persons who abide by my website page.

I provide cost-free, stay exercises. You won’t genuinely want any tools, even though I do

Short home workouts can boost your mood and reduce stress : Shots

October 17, 2021 Vera

Add five-minute stints of fun and easy exercise to your day at home by working with what’s around you, says trainer Molly McDonald.

Cha Pornea for NPR

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Cha Pornea for NPR

Add five-minute stints of fun and easy exercise to your day at home by working with what’s around you, says trainer Molly McDonald.

Cha Pornea for NPR

Of all the ways in which the pandemic has affected Americans’ well-being, perhaps the one we’ve noticed least is how much we’re sitting. And it’s not just bad for our waistlines — it’s hurting our mental health.

More than a year and a half of social distancing and work-from-home policies have led to less time moving around and more time sitting and looking at screens — it’s a potentially toxic combination that’s linked with poorer mental health.

“The sneaky effects of the pandemic that we might not even notice [is] that we’ve changed our sitting patterns,” says Jacob Meyer, director of the Wellbeing and Exercise lab at Iowa State University.

His own research showed that in the early weeks of the pandemic, people who exercised less and had more screen time were likely to be stressed, depressed and lonely.

And though most people saw their mental health gradually improve as they adapted to a new reality, people who stayed mostly sedentary didn’t see get the same improvement, according to a follow-up study by Meyer. “People who continued to have really high levels of sitting, their depression didn’t improve” as much, says Meyer.

The good news is that something as simple as some very light movement around the house to break up all that couch surfing time can make a difference in mood, as Meyer’s earlier research has found.

Scores of previous studies confirm that being physically active boosts mood, lowers anxiety and improves sleep quality.

“We know consistently that the more people are active, the more that they exercise, the better their mental health is,” says Meyer.

For many office workers like me, working from home means we’ve fallen into a routine of spending hours at our desk. With another pandemic winter about to hit us and much of the country and the world still dealing with COVID-19, we are often stuck at home more than we’d like, so it’s time to start sitting less and moving around more.

Meyer and other exercise experts shared some tips