Training WITH our menstrual cycles

As a female our menstrual cycle gets somewhat of a bad rap. We spend years wishing it would go away, using medications and devices to prevent it from making us bleed every month and we think of it as a burden.

This was at least my view on things when puberty hit me like a tonne of bricks. Nowadays I find myself protecting my menstrual cycle, tracking it and logging it in an app on my phone, I’m hoping its going to come on time and I’m observing the impact it has on my everyday life. I’m also so grateful that this very cycle will one day allow me to bring life into the world!

Our menstrual cycles are incredibly impactful on a females life and I don’t feel we as females get the education we should around the whole ordeal. Our 28 (give or take) day cycles are a month of fluctuating hormones which impact our ability to reproduce, our mood, energy levels, hunger levels, concentration and even whether we are more prone to dislocating our bones (CRAZY, right?). These fluctuations also hugely influence our energy, strength and motivation levels in the gym. Not to mention at certain times avoiding eating every treat in sight feels kind of impossible. It is obvious therefore that having insight into our menstrual cycles, the hormonal fluctuations and why were left feeling all kinds of ways can be helpful when it comes to reaching our health and exercise goals.

We as females are hard on ourselves when we don’t have a productive session at the gym, or when we could lift 20kg yesterday and today we can only lift 5kg. We wonder why we’re so moody, so down all of a sudden, so hard on ourselves and then so happy other times or maybe why its so hard for us to lose weight and gain muscle compared to our stupidly lean boyfriends who eat a packet of tim tams a day….

Our cycle literally changes the physiology of our bodies throughout the month. We almost have four different bodies within the month.. Understanding this cycle means we can use it to our advantage, instead of constantly working against our bodies and feeling like its SO hard to get the results we want. We can plan our lives and exercise routines to match our cycles so we are getting the most out of our workouts.

OK SO, lets talk menstrual cycles!

The menstrual cycle can be broken down into four phases; the menstrual, follicular, ovulation and luteal phases. Some people break this down even more broadly into just the follicular and luteal phases. I will touch briefly on the menstrual and ovulation phase, so we all can get a grip on what these are, however will focus this blog around the main two which is the follicular and luteal phases.

First off we have the menstrual phase. Basically, this is when we have our period, we’re menstruating. During this phase our level of estrogen and progesterone circulating within our blood have hit the floor and we have low levels of both. This phase typically lasts around 3-7 days but obviously if you’re a girl with girl-friends, you’ll know this can vary significantly from female to female.

The first day of the menstrual phase is also the first day of the follicular phase (confused yet?). The follicular phase begins on day one of your period and continues until you ovulate, which is generally around 16 days later, however of course this varies a lot between individuals. During this phase our estrogen levels slowly begin to rise as time goes on. So they’re low during menstruation, but as we near the end of our period they’re beginning to rise again until they eventually spike. During this phase the pituitary gland (a gland in our brain) releases follicle stimulating hormone, also known as FSH. This hormone stimulates the growth of follicles in the ovary which will eventually release an egg during the ovulation phase – in simple terms its like the egg is maturing, getting ready to be released and potentially fertilized. This phase of the cycle is typically when we would feel happier, more energetic and inspired.

Following on from the follicular phase is ovulation which occurs around some time in the middle of our cycle. During this phase, well, were ovulating. Pretty self explanatory. A hormone called Luteinizing Hormone (LH) is released in response to the rising estrogen levels, which tells our body its time to ovulate – AKA release the egg!!! Our ovaries then get the signal to release the egg to travel to the uterus!

Finally, we enter the last 2 weeks of the cycle; the luteal phase. After ovulation the follicle that contained the egg (which our ovaries just worked so hard to produce) transforms into something called a corpus luteum (don’t know why they cant just call it something simple like a follicle containing an egg but anyway).

This fancy little Corpus Luteum actually secretes progesterone and estrogen and thus during this phase we see a rise in progesterone levels and another rise in estrogen levels, however progesterone is the dominant hormone during the luteal phase. If the egg is fertilized then the rise in progesterone will support the early stages of pregnancy, however if the egg isn’t fertilized then the Corpus Luteum will start to break down between 9-11 days after ovulation and with this comes a decrease in estrogen and progesterone (because the Corpus Luteum which is secreting these hormones is breaking down, make sense??).

This drop in estrogen and progesterone levels says to our body “hey we’re not having a baby this month so you can get rid of the lining of the uterus because we aint gonna need it!!” and HELLO its shark week again - AKA our body shed’s the lining of the uterus (which it makes to prepare for a new little bubba) and this is our period and we’re right back to the start of the menstrual cycle again!

The surge in progesterone at this phase in the menstrual cycle is what brings the dreaded PMS symptoms such as mood changes (can relate), cramps, acne, bloating, headaches, cravings and breast tenderness. Compared to estrogen which is often referred to as the happy hormone, progesterone is the sad hormone and it is during these last 2 weeks of the cycle that we can feel a bit down in the dumps..

Okay so now that we’ve covered the phases of the menstrual cycle (in a lot more depth than I intended, but I hope its helpful), we can move on to talk about what this means for our training and how we can work our exercise regimes in with our cycle.

So in the first two weeks of our cycle, which we now know is called the follicular phase, we have high estrogen levels. Estrogen, as mentioned earlier, has a positive effect on our energy, mood and our strength. This hormonal concoction makes for a great time to get lots out of your workouts! Lift weights and push for personal bests during this time as our body is equipped to recover better during this phase also, so we can get more out of our bodies. Right at the end of the follicular phase, just before ovulation, we actually also experience a small surge in testosterone and often this is when a lot of woman will feel their strongest, achieving personal bests in the gym.

These higher levels of estrogen also influence our hormones insulin and cortisol. During the follicular phase our cells are more sensitive to insulin and this makes us use carbohydrates more efficiently and as a result higher intensity training is ideal during this time.

Basically, we’re like little super-women during this time and should really push ourselves as our bodies are equipped to cope with it! Take advantage of the boost in mood and energy and see what you can do!

Next up, Luteal phase. I’m sure any gal who is in tune with her body will know what I’m about to say about the Luteal phase and exercising…

It is during this phase we might notice a dip in motivation, were not as energetic, our moods are changing (and changing and changing.. sometimes in the space of 5 minutes lord help our partners) and our ability to recover from our training is compromised. Also during this phase, when we near the dreaded shark week we get all those sometimes horrendous PMS symptoms which make us not want to leave our bed, let alone go out and exercise.

During the luteal phase it is therefore SO SO SO important to just listen to our bodies. If you really think about all that is going on inside your body during this phase (refer to over-complicated explanation of luteal phase up above…) then you should be able to appreciate why we may be more inclined to go a bit easier or even miss a session.

Alter your exercise to match your mood and energy for that day. Exercise is obviously such a mood booster in itself so I like to continue to train throughout my luteal phase, as it actually makes me feel better and gives me more energy. However, I always take it easier and day by day.

Overall however, during the luteal phase it may be beneficial to reduce the overall load of your exercise regime, use moderate weights (save your PB’s for the following 2 weeks because if you push yourself too much you might injure yourself, it is during this phase we as women are more prone to dislocation), do more body-weight exercises and shift into more mixed style training. Allow more rest days as your recovery is compromised during this time so an extra rest day can be beneficial to your overall training. Incorporate less intense workouts like yoga and Pilates, but if your feeling up to it, circuit training can be beneficial during this time also.

You really must just have the conversation with yourself each day, “What am I feeling up to?” and always try and honor where you’re at emotionally and physically each day.

By changing your training approach you are more likely to be able to stick to your exercise regime and get closer to your goals, as opposed to trying to push and push throughout your menstrual cycle, leading to fatigue, burn out, falling off the wagon and feeling incapable.

I found this super helpful little diagram online which provides an outline of the four weeks of the menstrual cycle and the differences in training to suit each phase..

I hope this gives some insight into how we can be more aware and in tune with our bodies to enable us to feel and look our best! I also hope this educates and inspires you to appreciate your cycle more. If you have an irregular cycle and your still not quite sure why, I would strongly encourage seeing both a naturopath and a doctor to try and work this out. As females we are programmed to have a menstrual cycle each month, if this isn’t happening (and your not on contraception causing it to stop) then this is not normal and should be looked into. And for those of us who are lucky enough to have our cycles regularly then I hope this inspires you to protect your cycle. There are so many factors within our diet, lifestyle and environment which can affect our cycles that we need to be aware of so we can protect our cycles – but we will save those details for another blog!!

I also really encourage getting an app on your phone to help you track your cycle, I personally use FLO which is super simple and easy to use and it also provides lots of helpful hints, tips and education around our menstrual cycles, which I think Is super cool! Knowledge is power people!!

Also, one last thing is to remember that everyone’s cycle is different. Personally, my cycle is actually more like 38 days long than the standard 28. Remember that 28 is “average” and should only be used as a guide. Always take into account other factors which may contribute to your cycle being different such as hormonal contraceptives, endometriosis or PCOS. It is definitely not a one-size-fits-all type of thing and we need to appreciate we are all different! Tracking your cycle can help you to be more in tune with what’s normal for you and then this guide can be modified to better suit your own cycle.

Anyway, that’s all from me today! I hope this has been super helpful, I’m so passionate about women’s health and hormones so I really enjoyed writing this one and will most definitely be ellaborating further / delving into a few more details around our cycles!

Until next time!

Vaida xx