Steph Ricciardello - Women’s Health Exercise Physiologist

19/03/2025

💪🏼EmpowerYour Body with Exercise: A Must for Endometriosis Warriors!💪🏼

Attention all Endo Warriors! 🌸

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month!

Living with endometriosis can be challenging, but incorporating regular exercise into your routine can make a world of difference. Here are some benefits:

1️⃣ Pain Management: Exercise releases endorphins, your body's natural painkillers, which can help alleviate endo-related pain.

2️⃣ Improved Mood: Physical activity boosts serotonin levels, reducing anxiety and depression often associated with endometriosis.

3️⃣ Enhanced Quality of Life: Exercise can improve flexibility and strength, making everyday tasks easier to handle.

4️⃣ Hormone Regulation: Regular workouts can help balance hormones, potentially reducing the severity of endometriosis symptoms.

5️⃣ Stress Relief: Exercise is a great stress-buster, promoting relaxation and overall well-being.

Remember, it's important to find an exercise routine that works for YOU! Whether it's weights, yoga, boxing, walking, swimming, or anything else you enjoy, your body will thank you! 🥰

Please use and share this post to raise awareness about the benefits of exercise for people with endometriosis!

17/03/2025

20/02/2025

Introducing the revamped pregnancy & post natal class!

Mumma & Mini

We’ve combined the old Baby Bump Active and Mum & Bub Active classes together. Same concept - run by Women’s Health Exercise Physiologist & mum of 2, Steph, and is safe for the Mumma to be & the new Mumma!

Monday’s & Wednesdays’s at 10am

You can book via the Gymmaster app or by clicking this link 😊

https://springintofitness.gymmasteronline.com/portal/account/book/class/165308?session_id=f8f3dd32-8dc0-4f07-a094-7f4111a6f6e4

23/09/2024

Happy World Clinical Exercise Physiologist Day! 😄

Hands up if you know what an Exercise Physiologist is 🙋🏻‍♀️

Make sure to keep reading 👇🏻

So, here’s the breakdown:

⭐️ university graduate with a minimum of 4 years studying 👩🏻‍🎓

⭐️ we are experts in anatomy and physiology of the human body, and specialise in injuries and conditions

⭐️ allied health professional

⭐️ we don’t use any hands on therapies (unless, otherwise qualified), instead we use exercise and movement as medicine.

⭐️ we work with people of all shapes and sizes, fitness levels and conditions, and use a wide range of exercise modalities to find something just right for everyone 😊

My area of expertise is women’s health!

Do you have any questions on how an exercise physiologist can help you achieve your health and wellness goals? 🤔

Drop your questions in the comments below 👇🏼



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18/09/2024

September is Polycystic O***y Syndrome (PCOS) awareness month!

PCOS is an endocrine disorder where there is an imbalance of reproductive hormones in the body. This can lead to irregular menstrual cycles, weight gain, fatigue, acne, hair loss, unwanted hair growth, infertility, low mood, anxiety and depression, bloating and digestive issues.

It affects 1 in 10 women! It is estimated that more than 50% of women with PCOS are not properly diagnosed, leaving millions of women living with symptoms that go unsupported and diagnosed.

Like other chronic conditions, exercise plays a vital role!

Exercise will help to:
- Ease symptoms
- Improve insulin action (reducing the risk of diabetes)
- Weight gain prevention
- Emotional wellbeing
- Energy levels, motivation and self-confidence
- Period regularity
- Fertility
- Fitness, muscle endurance and strength

Women with PCOS should aim for:
- 20-40 minutes of moderate exercise per day
- At least two strength sessions per week
- Increasing their incidental activity and reducing inactivity

The most effective exercise is the one you commit to and enjoy doing! Everyone is different, so every exercise program needs to be unique.

Steph, our Women’s Health Exercise Physiologist, can provide a tailored exercise program as well as lifestyle advice and support specific to your conditions and goals.

26/08/2024

🌟 Ready to get moving again after baby? Here are my top postpartum exercise tips to help you feel strong and amazing! 🌟

1️⃣ Start your pelvic floor exercises ASAP! They help reduce swelling, boost blood flow, and speed up healing. Seriously, do them every day—I’m squeezing mine right now! 🤪

2️⃣ Gentle walks are perfect to start right away. Go at your own pace, listen to your body, and ease back in. 🏃‍♀️

3️⃣ See a women’s health physio at 6 weeks postpartum! They’ll guide you in strengthening your pelvic floor, core, and rehabbing your ab separation. I’ve got a few WH physios that I can refer you to 🙌🏻

4️⃣ Once cleared by your doctor or physio, ease into low-impact or bodyweight exercises. You got this! 💪🏻 Also, you can come join my Mum & Bub Active class to help guide you 😊

5️⃣ If you’re breastfeeding, pump or feed before exercising. Not only will it be more comfortable, but it also keeps your milk in top shape for your little one! 🍼

Let’s do this, mamas!

❤️ pictured: Ava at 6 weeks old doing her exercises, with big sister supervising 😄 & me at 6 weeks post partum completing my first workout since Ava was born ❤️

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23/07/2024

Let’s talk about pre-workout!

There are many misconceptions about pre-workout but the truth is; is that it can be a helpful tool in fuelling an intense training session or, in some cases, a little energy boost.

Here are a list of benefits of pre-workout
- Improve performance
- Give you energy
- Improve endurance
- Extend the time to fatigue

I take True pre-workout for my training sessions, here’s a list of ingredients:
- Natural caffeine (super important to me its not synthetic = no crash)
- Creatine
- Vitamin C
- Beta Alanine
- Magnesium

With that in mind, to get the TRUE (see what I did there) benefit of it I make sure I am adequately hydrated before taking it and use this is as a tool to help me through my session. I am not reliant on it and I won’t take it if I have had a coffee 1-2 hours before my session.

Let us know if you would like to know more about True pre-workout!

19/07/2024

Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a form of diabetes that is diagnosed during pregnancy. It is diagnosed when higher than normal blood glucose levels first appear during pregnancy.

** please note: photo of me pregnant with Ava (Jan 2023) **

GDM is diagnosed using an oral glucose tolerance test at 24-28 weeks pregnant. From first hand experience, it is not fun! You have to fast overnight, blood is taken first then you have a sugary drink (which you must keep down!), wait 1 hour, more blood taken, wait another hour, and finally one last blood test and you’re done!

Thankfully, my test results for both pregnancies were all good!

It is important to get this test completed, so that you can start managing your GDM with a healthy eating plan, exercise and monitoring and maintaining blood glucose levels in the target range.

Exercise is important for every expectant mother. But, in regards to GDM, exercise helps your blood glucose post meal, lower fasting blood glucose levels. Exercising at a moderate intensity for 150 minutes in total per week is recommended (especially for those first starting to exercise).

Looking at particular types of exercise:

- Aerobic (walking, stationary bike): helps with reducing insulin use and dose, post meal blood glucose levels, birth weight and gestational weight gain.

- Resistance training (weights): aids in reducing insulin onset and dose, and the above.

If you’d like more information, let’s have a chat!

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16/07/2024

The conclusion (🤞🏼) of my back injury journey!

My first job out of uni was working for a chiropractor. I was meant to be working as an exercise physiologist (that’s obviously what I studied), but I ended up doing massages! I think for the entire time that I worked there, I had only one exercise physiology session booked!

He was the type of Chiro that would crack your neck, crack your back, get your money and see ya later! That’s where my hesitation stemmed from.

Late last year, we had .chiro from visit us in the gym. We had a great chat about what we do in the gym, in particular, about my women’s health classes. And she told us about the types of patients she sees in clinic and about her passion for lifting.

When it was time for me to take the leap, Sheena was the first chiro I thought of!

My initial assessment with her was so eye opening! It was great to see all the different things that chiropractors look at!

Sheena was able to finally give me the diagnosis that I thought I had for my glute nerve pain - piriformis syndrome!

From there, she was able to give me a treatment plan and rehab exercises. I was still getting the nerve pain, but finally it stopped at the start of June! Hooray! 🥳

I’m back training properly and lifting heavy again! It feels amazing! And, my mental health is so much better!

I’m lifting heavier than I did before I was pregnant with Ava. That was over 2 years ago! 😮💪🏻 let’s goooooo!

I have continued seeing Sheena until, sadly, she finished working at NFC last week to move back home to Malaysia. She promises to be back though! I had an appointment yesterday with the principal chiro at NFC - Nathan. He was great! I’m definitely going to keep going to get regular tune ups.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my back injury, and thanks for joining me on this wild ride!

12/07/2024

Welcome to part 2 of my back injury journey!

So, we returned home from our trip to Melbourne. My back felt a little better, even after being on a flight for 4 hours.

I booked an appointment with my physio for the day after we returned. He helped to loosen up my muscles and did some manipulations on my back and pelvis. I felt good walking out, but then it went back to feeling the same again 😩

Adrian and I went to the WWE Elimination Chamber at the end of February. I was getting really worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk and sit for a long period of time. But, it was fine! However, I was incredibly stiff and sore the next day 😣

My lower back was starting to feel great! But, then I started getting nerve pain in my right glute. It was painful to sleep, walk, pick Ava up and exercise! I struggled to find ways to exercise without feeling the pain. And it was taking a massive toll on my mental health 😞

I saw my physio 7 times in a 10 week period. We still didn’t know what the nerve pain was. I knew it wasn’t sciatica. From my research, I thought that it might be piriformis syndrome.

It finally got to the point where I needed to try something different to get to the bottom of things.

It was time to see a chiropractor. I had a bad experience with a chiro years ago, and it has put me off seeing one since then. But, I thought that I needed to give another shot!

Stay tuned for part 3!

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10/07/2024

Exercise for women with fertility issues can be beneficial for both the woman’s overall health, and also ability to conceive.

Let’s chat more about it 👇🏼

Lifestyle factors such as diet, smoking and alcohol consumption are recognised as important contributors to the risk of fertility. However, there are no clear guidelines regarding exercise and fertility.

In a 2023 research review (Mussawar et al.) looked at three groups of women:
- Healthy women trying to conceive
- Women with polycystic o***y syndrome (PCOS) trying to conceive
- Women trying to conceive through fertility treatment (eg. IVF)

For healthy women who exercise vigorously and are trying to conceive, it has been found that they need to be aware of their caloric intake. If you’re vigorously exercising and not eating enough, this is detrimental to your bodies ability to ovulate. Ideally, you will need to eat around the same calories that you are expending, or exercise with a moderate intensity.

As for women with PCOS who are trying to conceive, it has been found that if they undertake resistance training, they have an increased chance of improving their reproduction abilities. Consistency is key! It has been stated that for maximum benefits, they will need to train for up to 50 hours (approximately 1 month).

In this research review, they found that existing research suggests that exercise before and during IVF has either no effect or a positive effect on pregnancy outcomes. So, it is still unclear what the real exercise benefits are for women going through IVF.

From my knowledge and expertise in the area of exercise and women’s health, women going through IVF would benefit from moderate exercise. I would discourage them from doing vigorous exercise, as this may affect ovulation and egg retrieval.

If you want to know more and see how I can help you, let’s chat 😊