Periods can bring a whole lineup of side effects: cramps, mood swings, sleep disruption, bloating, digestive chaos, and the sudden urge to fight your partner because they breathed wrong.

We break down what's actually happening physiologically during the menstrual cycle, why some symptoms hit harder than others, and what can help from a non-medical, practical standpoint.

We get into cramping, insomnia, mood changes, gut issues, water retention, stress, magnesium, and the difference between normal cycle-related changes and signs that something more serious may be going on. It's a grounded conversation on how to better understand your body, manage common symptoms, and stop feeling like you need to just suffer through it.

Fasted training is currently a pretty polarized topic in the fitness world, with some arguing that it can provide meaningful improvements for fat loss, and others claiming it will ruin your performance potential or cause hormonal dysfunction in women. In this article, Coach Chris examines three of the most common claims we’ve seen lately: that training fasted improves fat loss, that it harms training adaptations, and that it doesn’t work for women.

“If I see one more of those articles, I’m going to lose my mind! Women don’t need to train around their cycles, that’s absurd!” I was sitting in a Strength and Conditioning class with my favorite professor. We were talking about fitness articles that discussed women adapting their training in the gym to sync with their menstrual cycles. The whole class laughed, and I chuckled along. Sure, I myself had problems getting out of bed and taking care of my kids, but maybe there was just something wrong with me?