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Picture from Getbodysmart |
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Picture from Takahashi et al, 2025 |
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Picture by John Hull Grundy |
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Picture from Getbodysmart |
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Picture from Takahashi et al, 2025 |
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Picture by John Hull Grundy |
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Picture from Nike |
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Picture from Intermountain Health |
However, both men and women respond differently to weight training and endurance training. How different? A randomized crossover study examined how the heart's structure and function change after 12 weeks of endurance versus weight training in males and females (Naylor et al, 2025).
64 untrained but healthy individuals (38 females, 26 males) were randomized to either 12 weeks of endurance training (running or cyling 3 times a week) or 12 weeks of weight training (progressive weights, 3 times a week).
The 2 groups swap training routines after a 12 week cooling off rest period. This allowed researchers to compare how the same participants responded to both types of training.
The results showed that overall, endurance training led to healthier heart adaptations than weight training. weight training in men led to thicker heart walls but this led to worse diastolic function (relaxation), potientially increasing stiffness in walls of the heart.
Endurance training improved the size of the left ventricle and its ability to pump blood (systolic function) and to fill with blood (diastolic function) efficiently.
Men's hearts responded more to weight training, the left ventricle size increase significantly. However, men showed signs of worsened diastolic function after weight training. Their hearts became stiffer.
The women in the study showed no major heart changes after weight training. Their hearts also adapted more to endurance training. Left ventricle size increased in both men and women in the study , but the women showed better diastolic function improvement.
The womens' hearts also adapted more to endurance training. Left ventricle size increased in both men and women, but the women showed better diastolic function improvement.
Both men and women had no major changes in systolic function after endurance training.
So what does this mean for runners or endurance athletes and those who favour gym exercises/ weight training?
Those who favour weight training need to include aerobic training so that their heart walls do not get too stiff to impede diastolic function.
If you are looking at heart health, endurance training improves heart structure without adding stiffness to the walls, this is true especially for women. Since endurance athletes will do more aerobic training they should still include weight training for better heart health and performance.
Even though endurance training improves heart function, weight training definitely benefits health (especially strong bones) and performance too. This is why we do both.
Reference
Naylor LH, Marsh CE, Thomas HJ et al (2025). Impact Of Sex On Cardiac Functional Adaptation To Different Modes Of Exercise Training: A Randomized Cross-Over Study. Med Sci in Sp Ex. DOI:10.1249/ MSS.0000000000003654
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Fasted training means one abstains from consumption of food for 8-12 hours in advance of a training session. Most people do an overnight fast so training is done in the morning before breakfast. It has become popular among people interested in fat loss, metabolic health and for performance or adaptation reasons (especially endurance athletes).
Why would anyone do fasted training? There are lots of videos and reels online suggesting that when you train in a fasted state, your insulin levels are lower, so your body is more likely to use your fat stores for fuel (lipolysis) and better fat utilization.
There are endurance athletes who use fasted training to encourage adaptations like increased mitochondrial density. This is to allow their cells to make more new mitochondria and increase existing mitchondria. Our cells often increase mitchondria biogenesis in response to increased energy demands triggered by physical activity. With more mitochondria in our cells we become stronger.
With fasted training, endurance athletes are training for better fat utilization to spare their glycogen stores so they can have better endurance. This may work if you're exercising at lower intensities, not when you are going fast at higher intensities since carbohydrate/ glycogen is still very much needed. With fasted training, there will be a severe restriction on the ability to do anaerobic work.
Moreover, over the course of a day, the net fat loss may not be that much different from fed training.
Fasted training may improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance especially in sedentary or overweight individuals.
I also know people who feel better when they exercise or train on an empty stomach and most find it logistically easier to exercise right after waking up.
Although fasted training can help metabolic adaptations described above, it can also potentially lead to a deficit in total daily calorie intake and this has been shown in active males.
If this reduction in daily calorie intake is not the intended outcome of fasted training it can potentially lead to a state of low energy availability, which when repeated frequently may lead to stress fractures and poor bone health (Raleigh et al, 2024).
The incidence of bone injury was 1.61 times higher in those who currently use fasted training compared to those who never used it.
Fasted training is not ideal for everyone since you may feel sluggish, lift less (if you're weight training) and perform worse in high intensity workouts. In prolonged fasted states, there is a higher chance that your muscles will be broken down to be used for fuel with intense workouts.
In summary, weigh the pros and cons of fasted training, be aware of how your body responds to it and ensure that it works for your body in the long run.
References
Raleigh C, Madigan S, Sinnott-O'Connor C et al (2024).Prevalence Of Reducing Carbohydrate Intake And Fasted Training In Elite Endurance Athletes And association With Bone Injury. Eur J Sp Sci. 24(9): 1341-1349. DOI: 10.1002/ejsc.12170
Zouhal H, Saedi A, Salhi A et al (2020). Exercise Training And Fasting: Current Insights. Open Access J Sp Med. 21(11): 1-28. DOI: 10.2147/OAJSM.S224919
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I can still remember the exhaustion and agony I felt after the finishing line. I had willed myself to keep going despite hitting the proverbial wall and that led me to wonder about the brain's response to endurance exercise.
So I am not surprised that a recently published study shows that marathon running can cause a temporary reduction in brain myelin content. Full recovery only takes place after 2 months. Myelin is a fatty substance that covers and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. It makes up 40 percent of the brain's white matter. The white matter is in charge of nerve signaling to enable learning, memory, sensory perception, motor control and cognition.
Other than allowing faster transmission of nerve impluses (which helps you move more quickly or learn with better focus), myelin helps convert glucose into energy for the brain. This is very important since so much energy is needed for all those nerve signals, especially when running a marathon.
Researchers used advanced MRI with multicomponent relaxometry to assess the myelin water fraction (MWF) to measure the amount of myelin in the brain. This was done on 10 runners ages 45 to 73, both before and 48 hours after completing a marathon.
They found substantial reduction in MWF in 12 areas of white matter after the race. The most significant reductions were observed in the pontine crossing (28%) and corticospinal tracts (26%). The affected areas are crucial for motor function and integrating sensory and emotional inputs, suggesting impact on movement and emotional regulation.
Since this was a small study, they did follow up scans 2 weeks after the marathon and 2 months after to track recovery.
MWF levels begin to rebound within 2 weeks and recovered fully to pre-race levels by 2 months. These findings suggest that brain myelin content is temporarily and reversibly diminished by severe exercise. Analyses of brain volume and hydration status showed that dehydration was not responsible for the changes in MWF.
Since the brain and your legs are both competing for glucose while running a marathon, the brain turns to myelin lipids for energy. Previous studies have shown that lower brain myelin content is linked to cognitive decline - in areas related to verbal fluency and excutive function.
Should those of us who participate in endurance sports be concerned about myelin depletion in our brains? The authors say the breakdown of myelin from endurance exercise is actually beneficial, especially since it generates between 2 weeks to 2 months as it 'exercises' the brain's metabolic machinery.
Reduction in myelin levels can be similar to how muscles react to strength training. Your muscles break down as glycogen levels get depleted during weight training and endurance exercise before building back stronger with adequate rest.
Better fueling with carbohydrates help sustain effort during training and races and may possibly reduce the amount of myelin used. Some runners in the research took carbohydrates during the marathon while others none, but there were no differences in this research.
The authors did not investigate running speed. Perhaps running faster if underfueled may exacerbate brain myelin reduction.
So I was drawing on my myelin lipids to support my brain function in my maiden marathon and many times subsequently while exercising and competing for all those years.
Can repeated depletion and restoration of myelin have long term consequences for people who frequently engage in prolonged, strenuous exercises and competitions?
The reversible nature of MWF is definitely reassuring (to me at least) and as I am still able to write an article for you readers weekly, I think all those hammer sessions and races definitely helped improve my brain function.
I don't do those long, intense sessions much compared to before, but I will make sure to have enough rest after. Make sure you do too.
Reference
Ramos-Cabrer P, Cabrera-Zubizarreta A, Padro D et al (2025).Reversible Reduction In Brain Myelin Content UponMarathon Running. Nat Metab. DOI: 10.1038/s42255-025-01244-7
The course is now a two day (16 hours) in person course with a 4 hour online pre course. Most if not all other taping courses takes place over just 2-4 hours. Compared to the 2 previous versions of the course, there is now a much bigger emphasis on the Kinesio Medical Taping section instead of just the Kinesio Taping Methods where muscles, joint and tendons were the main focus.
Unlike other tapes, Kinesio Medical Taping utilizes much lower tensions (no pulling/ stretching of the tape) and thinly cut applications. There is a much bigger focus on skin and fascia stimulation to improve superficial, lymph and interstitial circulation. Hospitals in Singapore only use Kinesio tapes (and not other brands) when they have to treat patients with lymphedema.
Personally, I have great results using the EDF (epidermis, dermis and fascia), jellyfish and the Space Correction webcut applications with bruising and swelling. A patient with a partially torn calf muscle yesterday immediately felt better and could walk with less limping after the jellyfish application (pictured below.
Attendees will learn multiple taping techniques and be able to treat clinical cases using Kinesio tape alone or in conjunction with other strategies. There will be ample time to practice assessments, screenings and taping techniques to a variety of upper and lower body conditions.Past participants have said that they were able to "immediately use the taping on the patients with good results" when they resumed work the day after attending the course.
Interested to attend the course? I have attached the link to sign up here. You can also email us if you need more details.