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In this episode we cover breast injuries and breast pain, including how common it is, why breast injuries in particular go under-reported, plus what you can do to help, such as wearing a correct sports bra and tracking breast pain throughout your cycle.We also cover how to stay motivated during periods of injury and why doing research in females is so hard, and the areas which need more attention (all!)Thank you again for providing us with some interesting topic points. Keep your questions coming! Visit the link in our Instagram to submit a question.Recommended sports bras:For contact sports- Boob Armour / Shock AbsorberFor running (& Jess' recommendation)- PumaFor growing bodies- LimitlessTelegraph article: Why breast injuries are slipping under the radar in sport

In this episode we discuss the relevance of International Women's Day (this episode was recorded on 15th March), and we answer listeners questions around osteoporosis, osteopenia, and ask can the pill mask a menstrual dysfunction such as amenorrhea? The team also give strategies and tips around how to help get your period back when coming off the pill.Plus, we discuss the various menstrual cycle technologies and apps, including period relief device Myoovie.Thank you again for providing us with some interesting topic points. Keep your questions coming! Visit the link in our Instagram to submit a question.

In this episode we answer listeners questions across a range of topics.Including: What are the key things women should be aware of in regards to iron? How can endometriosis sufferers tailor their training? Plus, we give advice and personal stories about social media comments and abuse and how best to deal with it.We also recommend an awesome new book around women in running and the inequalities they face, plus how we can help create change. Link below.Thank you again for providing us with some interesting topic points. Keep your questions coming! Visit the link in our Instagram.Book recommendation: Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's WorldPrevious FAP episodes around Iron: Previous FAP episodes around Endometriosis: Previous FAP episode on athletes dealing with Social Media Abuse:

Our questions this week are around coaching the female athlete. We chat about the challenges for male coaches and ask are females the preferred option? Also, should National or World Governing Bodies be expected to take on the responsibility of educating their athletes or should it fall to parents? We discuss how we can ensure coaches and clubs are educated on the various topics of female athlete health. Plus, we answer a question on the culture of running and weight and the concept of a “race weight”. We ask whether athletics is beginning to break away from this sometimes damaging culture and environment. Thank you again for providing us with some interesting topic points. Keep your questions coming! 

In our second episode back, we're chatting through more listener questions and we're focussing on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). We cover what RED-S is, how it may present, how to deal with RED-S when returning from having a baby and the difference between RED-S and Overtraining Syndrome.Send in your questions for future episodes here.Helpful resources:Returning to running postnatal guidelines Project Red-S: Pippa Woolven

We're back for Series 5 and answering your questions! In this episode we catch up with all the happenings of the past six months, highlights include travels to New Zealand, getting married, buying a house and competing in the World Championships to name a few! But enough about us, we're back to answer our listener questions around female athlete health. This episode sees us chat about the menstrual cycle and training, how to adapt in different phases, plus how injury and illness may be impacted by the phase of your cycle you're in and why stress, illness, injury and under fuelling may cause delays to your period.Please feel free to send in your questions for future episodes via our Form or via our Instagram page.

In this episode we speak about a topic close to our hearts: how to get more people speaking openly about the menstrual cycle and why it is so important the area becomes less stigmatised.We ask when is it the right time to bring it up with your coach as an athlete and vice versa or as a parent.We give our top tips for starting this conversation both at home and in a sports setting and more generally with your friends and colleagues.We speak to ten time Olympic swimming medalist Allison Schmitt who tells us about her experiences and anxiety of being on her period when competing in the pool and how she developed an open and positive relationship around the topic with her male coach.This episode was recorded in collaboration with Orreco and FitrWoman's Summer of 2022 education campaign encouraging more people to open up and have the conversation about their menstrual cycle.For more resources visit the FitrWoman website. 

How about we cover all stages of the female life cycle in one episode? Let's do it!From puberty, menarche and menstruation, to pregnancy, peri-menopause and beyond, in this episode we discuss the physiology, hormonal changes, nutrition and exercise requirements of the female life cycle.We also touch on bone health through the different stages and the wellness and mental health aspects of going through puberty and peri-menopause. Plus we chat about the research relevant to the various stages- it's a bit of a whirlwind tour but we enjoyed covering the whole lot in one episode, hope you do too!Resources:Return to running postnatal guidelinesTwitter: Dr Georgie BruinvelsTwitter: Dr Jess PiaseckiTwitter: FitrWoman and FitrWoman InstagramFitrWoman website 

We're back with another episode to begin series 4! We speak with superstar sisters Dr Natalie Brown and Beky Williams (Director of Stride Active) about the state of menstrual cycle education in UK schools. Recently Natalie and Beky, along with our co-hosts Georgie and Jess and Dr Laura Forrest collected some very powerful data that details the current lie of the land with regards to menstrual cycle education in the schooling system and the findings unfortunately weren't too encouraging.As a podcast team we are particularly passionate about this topic and providing young women and girls with all the information they need in order to remain physically active and have a firm understanding and appreciation of their menstrual cycle. Natalie and Beky go into detail on the reasons behind the study and the important information that can now be drawn from the data, plus what their recommendations are to schools, parents, teachers and young women and girls. Read the full report here. Dr Natalie Brown on Twitter: @Natalie_107 and Instagram: @optimal.periodBeky Williams on Twitter: @stride_active and Instagram: @beky.williams 

For this special episode we talk to co-host Dr Jess Piasecki about her recent marathon performance. Jess completed the Seville marathon in February and achieved a 3 minute personal best time of 2.22.25, to put her second on the British all time list for the marathon, only Paula Radcliffe has run faster! In this episode we hear from Jess about the race itself and how she put together all the little things in order to achieve her personal best. We chat through things like a typical training week, her fuelling in the build up and during the race, tapering, chafing, race tactics and much more.She gives some great insights that will hopefully help anyone listening achieve their own personal best, and not just in the marathon! Check out Jess on Instagram

In this special Series 3 FINALE, we look forward to the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics in less than a month. We speak to two current Olympic gold medalists; GB Hockey player Lily Owsley and GB Track Cyclist Elinor Barker, as well as our own Jess Piasecki who has been selected for Team GB in the marathon. We also catch up with our other co-host Dr Georgie Bruinvels about her work with female athletes in the build up to the Games. In our discussions we cover why tracking the menstrual cycle has been a GAME CHANGER for both Lily and Elinor, why you might be less coordinated as you approach your period and why role models are so important to inspire women to get involved in sport, plus how the Olympics and sportswomen in particular can help provide these.*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.Thank you to Specialized Bikes for sponsoring this episode.  Specialized is the global leading bike brand aiming to serve all riders of all abilities, helping them to better enjoy every aspect of cycling. Specialized’s innovation has improved riders’ performance, comfort and understanding to enable all riders to go further and faster.  Head to Specialized.com to see how it is helping pedal the planet forward.

In this episode we cover a whole host of topics about the female athlete with Dr Katie Lydon, a Sports Medicine doctor with a particular interest in the menstrual cycle. In our open and honest chat we talk about how women need to be more thoroughly educated on their menstrual cycle and the correct terminology, why it is so important to track our cycles, hormonal contraception and how a withdrawal bleed is not a 'real' period, plus what PMS is and how nutrition can really help with the associated symptoms. *Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.Thank you to Specialized Bikes for sponsoring this episode.  Specialized is the global leading bike brand aiming to serve all riders of all abilities, helping them to better enjoy every aspect of cycling. Specialized’s innovation has improved riders’ performance, comfort and understanding to enable all riders to go further and faster.  Head to Specialized.com to see how it is helping pedal the planet forward.

In this episode we speak to the wonderful people at Umi Health who happen to be our title sponsors for Series 3. Umi is a one-stop hub for all things pelvic health. Whether you have a question about incontinence, painful sex, weeing, pooing, pregnancy or post-natal, Umi is the place for you.In our chat we pick the brains of Helen and Elizabeth from Umi Health to ask, what actually is pelvic health, why is it important, what types of problems do women often report  and why is there stigma around it still? We also learn all about Umi Free and Umi Plus memberships and how the team at Umi is helping women understand and own their pelvic health.*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentFollow Umi Health on InstagramFollow Helen Keeble on Instagram Follow Elizabeth Davies on Instagram Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.

In this episode we speak to two experienced female cyclists and Specialized ambassadors ; 2020 Triathlon World Series Champion Georgia Taylor-Brown and SES Racing's track cyclist Yewande Adesida. We chat about all the basics to consider as a female cyclists including saddle sores and how to deal with and avoid them, choosing the best saddle, what their training looks like day to day, how they deal with their menstrual cycles, how they fuel for longer rides and why they believe more women should get into cycling. Georgia Taylor-Brown Instagram:Yewande Adesida Instagram: Specialized Instagram: Nikki Brammeier Instagram:*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.Thank you to Specialized Bikes for sponsoring this episode.  Specialized is the global leading bike brand aiming to serve all riders of all abilities, helping them to better enjoy every aspect of cycling. Specialized’s innovation has improved riders’ performance, comfort and understanding to enable all riders to go further and faster.  Head to Specialized.com to see how it is helping pedal the planet forward.

In this episode we speak to Dr Chris Bramah and former GB 800m runner Becky Lyne all about biomechanics and how important understanding our running biomechanics is to reducing injury risk and bettering our performance. We ask Becky about setting up her own GRACEfull Girls running programme, what the programme involves and why she wants to help other runners avoid the injuries which plagued her own career.With Dr Chris Bramah we hear what injuries runners historically suffer from, simple tips for the best running technique, how mixing it up in terms of running surface and different training stimuli is a great idea to stay injury free and ask about the  injuries women runners typically may suffer as opposed to men. We also hear how to build up your running if you're just getting started and why having your running gait analysed is a really good move. Resources:Becky Lyne GRACEfull Running programmeDr Chris Bramah @chrisbramah on Twitter*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.

In this episode we speak about the gender data gap and lack of research on women, and the ongoing impact this has had on females in society, emergency medicine and in sport. Our guests today are two experts in this area, Dr Alyson McGregor and Dr Neha Rauker. Dr McGregor, co-founded the Division of Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine at Brown University and is the author of 'Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health—and What We Can Do About It', while Dr Rauker is the Director of the Division of Sports Medicine within the department of Emergency Medicine at Brown University. In our interview we touch on topics such as why there is a historic gender data gap, why women are more likely to be misdiagnosed, how women can get more out of their visits to the doctor, how concussion is different for women and men and how more data will be able to help us recognise when in a woman's menstrual cycle she may be more at risk of injury. Resources:Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health—and What We Can Do About ItDr Alyson McGregor on Twitter: @mcgregormdDr Neha Rauker on Twitter: @NehaRaukarMD*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime. Thank you to BOXD for sponsoring this episode. BOXD is for the active and outgoing women we all hold dear, no matter your health goals! It’s a wellness shake saving you time and simplifying your route to a healthy nutrition through pre-measured, pocket-sized sachets that make preparation anywhere, a breeze. The packaging is 100% recyclable and compostable and both their whey and vegan ranges are GMO-free and contain a unique multi-vitamin blend with up to 24g of protein per sachet.>>>BOXD would like to offer a chance to 3 of our wonderful listeners to get their hands on a free box of their shakes. All you have to do is visit BOXD and sign up to their email list. That’s it! Visit https://boxdhealth.co/about-us/ and sign up to their list. The winners will be chosen within 76 hours of this episodes release. Good luck!

In this episode we speak to Dr Rebecca Robinson about returning to training post illness. We particularly focus on the longer term impacts of contracting Covid and the implications on returning to play.  We speak about how to best avoid illness through sleep and nutrition and giving the body the recovery and rest it needs after experiencing illness. We also chat about how best to prepare and tweak your training regime around the vaccine and ask whether exercise is good for the immune system and if so how much? *Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.>>>This episode is sponsored by Run4It. Run4It is an independent retailer whose mission is to inspire people to improve their fitness, health & wellbeing through running. Whether you're looking to start running, return to running, conquer a new distance, or chase a PB, Run4It has lots of gear and advice to help you get more from every step this Spring and Summer! Visit run4it.com to explore the fantastic range of running shoes, clothing and accessories available for road and trail. Use discount code FAPOD15 for 15% off full price running gear online or in-store until 31st July 2021.* VOUCHER LINK: http://bit.ly/r4i-fapod-2021-2 Run4It operates online at run4it.com and has 8 shops across Scotland (currently operating by appointment only due to Covid-19). To book an appointment for +runlab gait analysis and other in-store services visit run4it.com/book*Terms & Conditions: Not valid on GPS watches, gift vouchers or in conjunction with other offers. Valid until 31st July 2021.

In this episode we're extremely excited to speak to CrossFit legend Samantha Briggs. Sam is a nine times CrossFit Games competitor and in 2013 became the world CrossFit champion, claiming the title of ‘Fittest on Earth’.  Sam has an interesting story as to how she got into the sport which she discovered whilst working as a fire fighter. In the interview we chat about what CrossFit actually is, the culture and equality of CrossFit, Sam’s training regime, how her menstrual cycle affects her and how she is currently undertaking a new challenge to be named the fittest 40 year old in history, proving that age is no barrier to performance.    We also do a quick fire question round asking about all about her career so far, including her favourite CrossFit Games moment.  Learn more about CrossFitSam Briggs’ InstagramSam Briggs Top 10 Crossfit Athlete - Moments in her careerSam Briggs’ Autobiography: Start Your Engines A huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment

In this episode we speak to a recreational runner, Jenny Tomei about her experience with an eating disorder. Throughout her late teens and early 20's Jenny battled with Anorexia Nervosa, an unsustainable training load and lost her period for an extended period of time. Jenny talks about what triggered her, her personality traits, how she attempted to cope and the consequences of pushing her body too hard, particularly on her gut health. Jenny also speaks about her recovery and why she wants to help others avoid the same pitfalls by setting up her social channels and new website JenUp.We also talk in this episode about why being lighter as an athlete isn't always better, the balance which needs to be struck and the detrimental impact on training and performance if this balance isn't met. A huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentResources:Jenny's  website Jenup: www.jenup.comhttps://www.jennytomei.comJenny's blog on Female Athlete Podcast websiteInstagram: @askjenupFacebook: @askjenupTikTok: @askjenupArticles:6 Common Types of Eating Disorders (and Their Symptoms)What are eating disorders?

In this episode we focus on strength and strength training and the female athlete with Dr Rich Blagrove. Dr Blagrove is a senior lecturer in strength and conditioning at Loughborough University and has worked within many team and individual sports developing strength and conditioning programmes for female athletes over the years. Rich also has a plethora of publications in strength and strength training.We answer questions such as: What is strength and conditioning?  Is the culture and perception changing to be more female friendly? What is the research in this area in relation to the menstrual cycle? And what further research needs to be done?Rich Blagrove on Twitter: @rich_blagrovePublication: Variations in strength-related measures during the menstrual cycle in eumenorrheic women: A systematic review and meta-analysisBook (March 2021): The Science and Practice of Middle and Long Distance RunningA huge thank you to our Title Sponsors for Series 3; Umi Health. Umi  is your go to, one-stop-hub for all things pelvic health, come join the revolution at umi-health.com.  Want to lean more about pelvic health? Watch the Umi Essentials course for FREE, sign up here or learn with  Umi Plus including incredible resources and courses around pregnancy and postnatal, all for  £4.50 a month, no minimum term, cancel anytime.Thank you to Specialized Bikes for sponsoring this episode.  Specialized is the global leading bike brand aiming to serve all riders of all abilities, helping them to better enjoy every aspect of cycling. Specialized’s innovation has improved riders’ performance, comfort and understanding to enable all riders to go further and faster.  Head to Specialized.com to see how it is helping pedal the planet forward.