This book tackles the taboos around women’s bodies and aims to educate and empower us to be open rather than embarrassed about our health throughout our lives.

Women go through various life stages, with each moment bringing a new set of challenges and opportunities. Yet rarely do we speak openly about these, nor share our knowledge and solutions with each other. We use euphemisms to describe periods rather than saying the word, let alone fully understand and maximise the cycle. We don’t acknowledge leakages or admit when we do not know how to find the pelvic floor or why it even matters. We buy trendy sports bras with little knowledge of how they work for breast health or exercise performance. We fall victim to the reality that many young women give up exercise in their teens to the detriment of their health at an older age. We barely mention the menopause.

In addition to this tendency to secrecy, health advice and fitness programmes are generally based on what works for men, with a shrink to fit approach for women, despite research increasingly showing that this is far from optimal for women. Women are at greater risk of injury than men through physical activity, yet there’s little focus on this in an attempt to prevent it.

Body literacy is something every woman is entitled to. Everything that makes women female shouldn’t be medicalized or considered niche, but be fully considered in making us better, fitter, healthier and happier humans. Health and fitness are not the same as aesthetics and photogenics. Instead of prioritising how a body looks we need to focus on how it feels and functions. How it works. When we listen to the body, embrace it and nurture it, health and fitness will follow.

Merging the expertise of sports research scientist Dr Emma Ross, athletic coach Baz Moffat and medical practitioner Dr Bella Smith, The Well HQ champions the non-negotiables when it comes to understanding our health and wellbeing as women. This book will ask the questions that have been ignored for too long such as:

What does good menstrual, breast and pelvic health look like in active women?
How can you make the monthly cycle work for you and not against you?
Why are women at increased risk of injury in sport, and how can we prevent it?