particularly I want to just focus with

you and your expertise around what we

can understand in in terms of exercise

across the life cycle of a woman. Um and

I want to almost start basically at the

beginning, right? So I I'm pretty sure

there are no teenage girls listening to

this podcast. I would be comfortable

saying there are exactly zero of them,

but there are probably parents of those.

And um a previous guest um made a point

that I thought was uh amazing and has

never left me, which is osteoporosis is

a childhood disease. Uh and what she

meant by that of course was that

particularly for women, they are

reaching their genetic ceiling at about

the age of 19 in terms of bone density.

And then from 19 until the end of life,

they're sort of hanging on to what

they've got. And then they've got all of

these things that get in the way such as

menopause. So let's just start with

that. So if you're even not a teenager,

you're a 10-year-old girl. Um how do you

think about the role of exercise

um across several dimensions, but not

the least of which being bone health,

but muscle health and reaching sort of

you know their cardiorespiratory

uh potential.

>> It's a big question, but I I would sum

it up of exercise is the best medicine.

uh starting young, I I would consider it

more play and then transitioning into

lots of different types of exercise. But

really, and there's lots of literature

to suggest this, the earlier you start

and the better base that you have, the

easier it is over time to maintain that

fitness. Um, so when we think about

young girls, uh, the biggest

conversation and and even some of the

research we do is the addition of

menration often is a turning point when

women and girls leave sport based on a

number of things of how their body

changes, how their performance differs.

And so part of what my lab looks at is

understanding how that menstrual cycle

might impact performance, recovery,

bloating, mental health. And so part of

why I'm here is the ability to have that

conversation. When I was growing up, no

one talked about it.

>> Were you a runner growing up as well?

>> Uh yeah, I played all sports. Um I loved

every sport you could imagine. It was my

ability to um like live life and and I'm

very thankful for that. But I did uh I

mean I grew up in a space where it was

exercise more and eat less. And when you

add running, it's this uh ability to

really um see how your fitness changes.

Same thing with resistance training. You

can see how strong you get. It's a very

empowering tool. Uh but I think we don't

talk about it enough with young girls of

what is menration? What why is it

healthy? as when you go into sports a

lot of times it's like oh it's a badge

of honor when you don't have your

menstrual cycle uh or there's a lack of

knowledge of it it is very much related

to nutrition.

>> So let's talk first about uh

pre-menstrual cycle.

>> Okay.

>> So are there any kind of dos and don'ts

that you think of for young girls who

are playing sports in terms of what they

can be doing to augment their training?

So, for example, if you're talking about

a young girl who plays field hockey or

volleyball or basketball, do you have

any thoughts on what they should or

should not be doing in the weight room,

for example?

>> Yeah. And I don't work a lot with young

kids and I actually have two little

boys, but I think the I I would tell you

the same thing of and there's a lot of

really interesting data that we haven't

done, but not specializing being uh in

lots of different sports to, you know,

accelerate lots of different types of

muscles and movement. And I'll I'll

speak to my personal experience of my

favorite lift when I was about 11 or 12

was the Romanian deadlift of like there

is resistance training is the best

prevention of injury and oftent times

coaches don't include that. There's a

lot of time on the soccer field or the

softball field and so um you know total

body exercises whether we start with

resistance bands or lightweights or

plyometrics or med balls those are all

really great things. Let's talk now

about this transition. As um as a girl

enters her reproductive years, it seems

that intense exercise can delay that,

right? The two athletes I tend to hear

this most about are gymnasts and

runners. Um I don't Does that also

happen with swimmers? I mean, they seem

to have some of the highest volume as

well. So, I would guess that's the case.

>> Yeah, it depends on I think the the

events, but yeah, absolutely. Cyclists.

>> Is there a downside to that?

>> I mean, there is. and and we've done a

little bit of work more capturing once

the the female is in college. So, kind

of the aftermath of that and there is

data that it it it very much negatively

impacts bone

>> because the delay of estrogen onset.

>> Absolutely. And I mean there's a number

of things oftent times related to

caloric restriction or indirectly over

exercise. I am a big believer that it's

not always intentional. Um the other

thing we see often with things like

track and field and gymnastics is every

athlete we scan they have um not full-on

scoliosis but a spinal curve

>> which really demonstrates the point you

mentioned that uh you know osteoporosis

is a childhood disease of setting bone

and what we do with those young girls

has a lifelong impact whether that's a

straight spine or a curved spine.

>> Say more about that. I I wasn't really

aware that the that the scoliosis

component could be partially acquired.

>> Yeah. So now I've been at UNCC for about

15 years, but when we first started

doing DEXA scans, we do a lot of whole

body for body composition. Um, every

high jumper and every gymnast has a very

distinct curve. Some of them are aware

obviously it's a very thick scoliosis

they know, but many of them were

unaware. And it's really important then

to say, okay, well, how do we stabilize

this as you age? You've already got

that. You can't necessarily change that

at 18, 19, 20, but you can very much

work on the muscular skeletal system.

>> And I would guess pole vters as well,

right? Anybody who's got an asymmetric

>> Exactly.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay. [clears throat] Interesting. Um,

do we see something different in male

equivalent of those sports?

>> That's a good question. I I we do not

have a male gymnastics team.

um don't see it as much. Uh but I I I

would probably love to get your

thoughts. What do you think? [music]