Female athletes can learn more about their own body
Knowledge about training and muscle gain is often based on research carried out on men. PhD student Mikkel Oxfeldt from Aarhus University aims to also generate knowledge for women and has received an Elite Research Travel Grant of DKK 200,000 to do this.
Research into elite athletes and how hormones and nutrition affect muscle performance is in ninety per cent of cases based on cases of data from men. Recommendations for women's training are often simply adapted on the basis of male athletes reality.
PhD student Mikkel Oxfeldt from the Department of Public Health wishes to change this and will examine physiological conditions in female athletes. An Elite Research Travel Grant of DKK 200,000 gives him the opportunity of a research stay at McMaster University in Canada, where he will, among other things, look into the correlation between energy absorption and the ability of the muscles to grow.
In his PhD project, Mikkel Oxfeldt investigates how consuming too little energy affects trained women's performance and overall health. In addition, he examines how birth control pills affect the ability of the muscles to recover after heavy weight training.
Mikkel Oxfeldt hopes that the results will form the basis for evidence-based guidance for physically active women.
Contact
PhD student Mikkel Oxfeldt
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Mobile: (+45) 2070 7078
Email: mox@ph.au.dk