Our body is an enigmatic soup of many hormones and growth factors that determine how we develop, grow and age. One of the hormones primarily responsible for much of our early growth is aptly named ‘growth hormone.’ Like most growth factors in the body, growth hormone is a secreted protein that exerts multiple effects on […]
Should Women Train Like Men?
The answer to that question is yes and no. This column will explain the reasons why. For generations women have been perceived as being the weaker sex. But it is simply not true. Strength and speed are not a monopoly of the male gender. Women and men have the same capability to develop strength and […]
Planet Estrogen Part 3: The Menstrual Cycle and Athletic Performance
While the participation of women in sports has increased significantly over the last several decades, research of women in sports has lagged behind that of men. This is particularly true in matters related to reproduction and menstruation. Up until even recent years, women were cautioned not to partake in sports while pregnant or during menstruation […]
The Myostatin Gene
Super Cows and Mighty Mice In 1997, scientists McPherron and Lee revealed to the public the ‘secret’ of an anomaly that livestock breeders have capitalized since the late 1800’s: the gene responsible for big beefy cows (1). More than a century ago, livestock breeders in Europe observed that some of their cattle were more muscled […]
Planet Estrogen Part 2 – Apples and Pears
“At the same time that hormones challenge the pubertal brain, they change the body. A girl’s high estrogen content helps in the deposition of body fat on the breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks, subcutaneously, everywhere. Because of estrogen and auxiliary hormones, women have more body fat than men…..We can look at the deposition of body […]
Staying A-Breast of Things
Here in Texas where it is warm people like to show their skin regardless of size or stature. All too common I see women on the treadmills or in the aerobics classes who have double-C breasts crammed into flimsy size-B sports bras, their breast mass bouncing up and down like swinging water balloons. Many women […]
Female Athletes and Menstrual Irregularities
What sets the female gender apart most from the male is the dynamic rhythmicity of the reproductive cycle. Dynamic fluctuations in hormone levels cyclically prepare the female human body for propagation of the species despite the volitional intent to produce children. Today, more women are participating in sports activities and training has become increasingly intense. […]
Planet Estrogen: Hormone Therapy, Training and Diet
A common concern amongst many women is how their hormones affect their exercise training and diet. Women’s bodies are influenced by fluctuations in hormones not only throughout the normal monthly reproductive cycle, but also throughout their entire lives. Both men and women experience a significant change in hormones at the onset of puberty and sexual […]
Women and Steroid Blues
“Nobody knew or could agree on what women wanted or needed to be. Not even women themselves…. Up close and dressed in anything feminine, female bodybuilders started looking like something God had made suffering from a divine hangover and caught in delusional terrors beyond human imagination.”1 Body by Harry Crews In 1990 Harry Crews accurately […]
Connective Tissue Part 4 – Glycosaminoglycans
What are glycosaminoglycans? Proteoglycans are very large molecules consisting of proteins with attached chains of polysaccharides called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)(see Part 1). GAG chains contain repeating units of modified sugars: one of two amino sugars (glucosamine or galactosamine) and a uronic acid. Many of these chains attach to a protein core and are collectively referred to […]