In this discussion, Dr. Christina Prevett presents Push-ups Before Push Time, where she challenges outdated, fear-based exercise restrictions for pregnant and postpartum women. Dr. Prevett—a pelvic floor physiotherapist, researcher, and competitive strength athlete—draws on her clinical work, research at the University of Alberta, and her own athletic pregnancies, to argue that movement during pregnancy should be guided by evidence and individualized capacity, not blanket bans. General guidelines mirror those for non-pregnant adults—150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week, plus resistance training—but Dr. Prevett highlights how recent studies support lifting heavier weights, maintaining supine positions if tolerated, and continuing high-intensity intervals safely when individualized monitoring is in place. Miscarriage risk, diastasis recti, and rigid heart-rate caps lack evidence as reasons to limit exercise, and she emphasizes that deconditioning often poses greater risks than carefully progressed training.
Dr. Prevett dismantles long-standing myths—from the “20-pound limit” to fears about abdominal “coning”—by showing how new data and nuanced coaching can empower pregnant athletes and everyday exercisers alike. She advocates reframing diastasis recti as a manageable adaptation, not an injury, and encourages clinicians to support progressive loading, core strengthening, and breath strategies based on individual comfort rather than rigid rules. Her research also points to potential benefits of movement in high-risk scenarios—such as prolonged pregnancy after premature rupture of membranes—and questions the routine use of bed rest or “pelvic rest,” which often lacks evidence and may worsen outcomes.
The presentation also addresses practical implications for clinicians and fitness professionals. Dr. Prevett urges providers to “bulletproof” rather than “bubble-wrap” pregnant individuals by tailoring exercise to their baseline fitness, goals, and symptoms—then supporting early, gradual postpartum activity rather than enforcing a uniform six-week rest. The conversation with Karen Thomson also touches on perimenopause, menopause, and geriatrics, extending the same principle: that effortful, appropriately dosed strength training across the lifespan improves resilience and quality of life far more than overly cautious restrictions.
This BSI Medical Society Webinar was streamed on August 13th, 2025.
A 10-minute summary of the webinar is available here free, for anyone, while the full video is available for Medical Society Members and MetFix affiliates in their dashboard.
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Metabolic health, medical education, and the case for bringing clinicians and coaches together
At the 2026 Unbreakable Health Retreat in Miami, Emily Kaplan hosted a panel with Bob Kaplan, Professor Thomas Seyfried, and Dr. Derek Lee on what it means to treat cancer as a metabolic disease. They discussed the glucose-ketone index (GKI), nutritional ketosis, and strategies aimed at restricting the fuels cancer cells depend on while considering how metabolic therapy can fit alongside standard cancer treatment.
The conversation also addressed the practical realities patients face when trying to pursue a metabolic approach within the conventional oncology system, including questions about nutrition, repurposed drugs, inherited cancer risk, and how to evaluate different treatment options. Seyfried and Lee connected these clinical questions back to mitochondrial dysfunction, fermentation, and the metabolic vulnerabilities that may offer additional targets for cancer treatment.
An abbreviated version of this discussion is available here, for free.
At the 2026 Unbreakable Health Retreat in Miami, Professor Thomas Seyfried presented the case that cancer is fundamentally a mitochondrial metabolic disease rather than primarily a genetic one. He contrasts the dominant somatic mutation theory with a metabolic model in which impaired mitochondrial respiration drives a shift toward fermentation, dysregulated cell growth, and the mutations commonly associated with cancer.
Citing the work of Otto Warburg and research from his lab at Boston College, Seyfried explains how cancer cells rely heavily on fermentable fuels—particularly glucose and glutamine—and why mitochondrial dysfunction sits upstream of many of the genetic abnormalities seen in tumors. He also discusses reactive oxygen species, altered cellular signaling, and the role of mitochondria in regulating cell growth and behavior.
The presentation then turns to the therapeutic implications of this model. Seyfried explains strategies aimed at placing tumor cells under metabolic stress by restricting the fuels they depend on, including ketogenic metabolic therapy and approaches targeting glucose and glutamine. For Seyfried, the therapeutic target follows directly from the biology: restrict the fuels cancer cells depend on, exploit their metabolic weaknesses, and treat mitochondrial dysfunction as the central feature of the disease.
An abbreviated version of this discussion is available here, for free.
MetFix and BSI Members can view the full 54-minute video.
