Browse the evidence

Resistance training in hypoxia enhances strength development (1RM) when using long inter-set rest intervals (≥ 120s) and moderate loads.

To gain strength in hypoxia, use moderate weights and rest for at least 2 minutes between sets. This allows you to maintain the intensity needed for strength adaptations, which hypoxia may support better than normoxia under these specific conditions.

In severely obese individuals, indexing estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) to actual body surface area (BSA) rather than the standard 1.73m2 reveals renal hyperfiltration, which significantly improves following medical weight loss.

If you have severe obesity, your standard kidney function test (eGFR) might be misleadingly low because it doesn't account for your larger body size. This can hide early kidney stress (hyperfiltration). Ask your doctor if they can calculate your kidney function using your actual body surface area. This method often reveals higher kidney function that improves as you lose weight, providing a more accurate baseline for your health.

Socioeconomic status, demographic factors (sex, age, country of birth), lifestyle habits (binge eating, alcohol use), and specific biomarkers (TSH, triglycerides, calcium, HbA1c) are the strongest predictors of BMI levels, with psychological factors (anxiety/depression scores) having stronger predictive value than self-reported diagnoses.

If you are struggling with obesity, look beyond just calories. Your socioeconomic context, mental health (specifically anxiety and binge eating tendencies), and specific blood markers (like TSH and triglycerides) are powerful indicators of your BMI trajectory. Addressing psychological health through validated screening tools may be more predictive and actionable than relying solely on self-reported diagnoses or medication history.

Using a single, universal velocity loss (VL) threshold to prescribe resistance training volume is unreliable and likely leads to variable acute physiological responses and divergent long-term adaptations because the volume of work completed at a given VL threshold varies significantly between individuals.

Do not use a single velocity loss threshold (like 20% or 30%) for everyone in your gym or program. The amount of work you do to hit that speed drop varies wildly between men and women, and between strong and less strong individuals. To ensure consistent training effects, you must individualize velocity loss targets based on sex, training status, and personality traits like emotional stability.

Sex significantly influences the volume of work completed at velocity loss thresholds, with females completing more repetitions than males at the same VL thresholds, while males perform repetitions at higher velocities.

If you are programming for mixed-sex groups, do not assume a 20% velocity loss means the same workload for men and women. Women will likely perform more repetitions to hit that speed drop, while men will maintain higher bar speeds. Adjust your targets or volume expectations based on sex.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) is associated with improved cognitive performance and a delay in cognitive decline in elderly populations, particularly when enriched with extra virgin olive oil or nuts.

Adopt a Mediterranean-style eating pattern focusing on extra virgin olive oil, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and nuts. This approach is more effective for cognitive health than taking single supplements. Prioritize high-polyphenol olive oil and moderate wine intake if appropriate for your health profile.

Plant-based diets, particularly those emphasizing nutritious plant foods, are associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment and dementia compared to non-vegetarian diets.

Shift your diet to center around plants: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. This pattern is linked to a significantly lower risk of dementia. Ensure you are eating 'nutritious' plant foods, as less healthy plant-based patterns may not offer the same benefits.

In well-trained males, the time course of recovery (muscle damage and performance fatigue) following volume-type resistance training (4 sets to failure at 80% 1RM) is similar for the back squat, bench press, and deadlift, refuting the belief that the deadlift requires significantly longer recovery.

If you are a well-trained male, you do not need to schedule significantly more rest days between deadlift sessions compared to squat or bench press sessions, provided you are doing similar volume (e.g., 4 sets to failure at 80% 1RM). You can likely train these movements with similar frequency (e.g., 2-3 times per week) without one causing disproportionately longer fatigue than the others.

Bariatric surgery significantly reduces the incidence of new-onset type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in severely obese individuals compared to no intervention.

For severely obese individuals, bariatric surgery is a highly effective preventive measure against developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The study shows that surgery reduces the risk of developing these conditions by 55-94% compared to no treatment. This should be a key factor in treatment decisions for severe obesity, especially in regions with high metabolic disease rates.

Physical activity attenuates the obesity-increasing genetic effects associated with the FTO locus by approximately 20-30%.

If you have a family history of obesity linked to the FTO gene, regular physical activity is not just beneficial—it is a critical counter-measure. Engaging in regular exercise can reduce the genetic impact on your BMI by 20-30%, proving that lifestyle choices actively modify genetic risk.

FTO gene variants interact with sweet beverage consumption and alcohol intake to influence obesity and blood pressure.

If you have the FTO gene variant, be particularly mindful of your intake of sweet beverages and alcohol, as these interact with your genetics to increase obesity and blood pressure risk.

Lifestyle-mediated weight loss interventions (diet and/or exercise) induce significant DNA methylation changes in blood leukocytes and adipose tissue, potentially serving as biomarkers for predicting individual response to therapy and reflecting systemic metabolic improvements.

Lifestyle changes like diet and exercise don't just change your weight; they change how your genes are expressed. This means your body's biological response to weight loss is unique and can potentially be predicted by looking at specific DNA markers before you start. Consistent lifestyle interventions can reverse obesity-associated epigenetic patterns.

Baseline DNA methylation levels can serve as prognostic biomarkers to predict which individuals will successfully lose weight in response to lifestyle interventions.

Your body's current epigenetic state might tell you how well you'll respond to a specific diet or exercise plan before you even start. This suggests a future where weight loss strategies are tailored based on your unique biological markers rather than just your current weight.

High-bar narrow stance squats increase knee extensor demand (greater knee contribution to total moment and higher vastus lateris activity) compared to low-bar wide stance squats.

If you want to prioritize your quads, use a high-bar narrow stance. If you want to prioritize your hips and glutes, switch to a low-bar wide stance. These technical changes directly shift the mechanical load to the target muscles.

Resistance training improves body composition, strength, and redox balance in older hemodialysis patients, but low baseline hemoglobin (<11 g/dL) specifically impairs fat-free mass gains.

If you are on hemodialysis, resistance training is highly recommended and can improve your strength, body composition, and blood markers. However, if your hemoglobin is low (below 11 g/dL), you may not see the expected muscle growth despite training hard. In this case, treating your anemia is likely a prerequisite for maximizing muscle gains from exercise.

Higher lifestyle disruption, measured by changes in diet quality, physical activity, sleep, snacking, and alcohol, is associated with greater bi-directional weight change (both loss and gain) compared to low disruption.

Major life changes tend to amplify your existing habits. If you are already active and eat well, disruption might not change much. If you are sedentary and eat poorly, disruption might lead to significant weight loss or gain. To manage weight during disruptions, focus on maintaining consistent physical activity and diet quality.

Daily application of microcurrent (50-400 μA) for 3 hours alongside resistance training maximizes specific muscular architectural changes (pennation angle) and attenuates delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) compared to resistance training alone, without providing significant additional benefits on body composition or general performance metrics.

If you are a trained male lifting weights 3 times a week, adding 3 hours of daily microcurrent (50-400 μA) may help you recover faster from soreness and potentially optimize muscle fiber arrangement (pennation angle). However, do not expect it to make you stronger, jump higher, or build more muscle mass than resistance training alone. It is a recovery tool, not a growth driver.

Elevated liver disease activity, measured by MRI-derived iron-corrected T1 (cT1), is independently associated with a higher risk of major cardiovascular events, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, CVD hospitalization, and all-cause mortality.

If you have elevated liver disease activity (measured by MRI cT1), your risk for heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and other cardiovascular events is significantly higher, independent of your liver fat or standard blood tests. This suggests that assessing liver health via advanced imaging may be crucial for cardiovascular risk stratification, even in those without metabolic syndrome.

Combining 3g/day calcium HMB with high protein intake (60g on training days, 30g on non-training days) during 12 weeks of resistance training significantly increases leg fat-free mass compared to protein supplementation alone, though it does not significantly increase whole-body fat-free mass.

If you are doing resistance training and already eating enough protein, adding 3g of Calcium HMB daily (split into 6 doses of 0.5g) can significantly boost your leg muscle growth compared to protein alone. However, do not expect this to change your total body weight or scale readings significantly. The benefit is localized to the legs, likely due to the specific training stimulus and metabolic response in large muscle groups.

The packaged food supply in New Zealand supermarkets is dominated by a small number of companies and is predominantly unhealthy, with 59% of products classified as having a Health Star Rating (HSR) below 3.5, 53% as discretionary, and 69% as ultra-processed.

The current supermarket environment in NZ is heavily skewed towards unhealthy, ultra-processed foods controlled by a few large companies. Individual choice is limited by this market structure. Systemic policy changes, such as mandatory reformulation targets and front-of-pack labeling, are required to improve the healthiness of available products.

Products that voluntarily display the Health Star Rating (HSR) label on the front of pack have significantly higher health scores (mean 3.2) compared to those that do not display the label (mean 2.5).

Voluntary labeling is not enough; companies that display the Health Star Rating tend to have healthier products. Mandating this label for all products would help consumers easily identify healthier options and encourage manufacturers to reformulate.

Core food groups such as bread, breakfast cereals, cheese, canned baked beans, and yoghurt have significant potential for reformulation to meet Heart Foundation targets, yet many dominant companies fail to meet these sodium and sugar targets.

Major food companies have the ability to reduce sodium and sugar in staple foods like bread and yogurt, but many are not doing so. Government-mandated reformulation targets for these core categories are necessary to improve population health.

In strength-trained individuals, resistance training frequency (1x vs 3x per week) produces equivalent maximal strength (1RM) and muscle hypertrophy (CSA) gains when total training volume is equalized.

If you are an experienced lifter, you do not need to train a muscle group three times a week to get bigger or stronger. You can train it once a week, provided you perform the same total amount of work (volume) and intensity. Focus on getting your sets in during that single session rather than spreading them out for frequency's sake.

In patients with type 2 diabetes and recent acute coronary syndrome, a body weight gain of 5% or more is independently associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality or heart failure hospitalization.

If you have diabetes and heart disease, gaining more than 5% of your body weight is a warning sign of heart failure. It likely means your body is holding onto fluid. Monitor your weight daily and seek medical attention if you see a rapid increase, as this may require medication adjustment for your heart.