A woman’s menstrual cycle can create challenges in maintaining a regular training plan and diet but can also create opportunities to make better strength and fitness gains due to fluctuations in hormone levels.
Female sex hormones, such as oestrogen and progesterone, play a major part in how you feel, how easily you build muscle and recover, and your perceived effort.
Time your training
The correct training type and intensity can impact your body’s hormone levels, which can help decrease symptoms and improve your mood.
Conversely, exercising too intensely at the wrong time in your cycle can amplify symptoms and leave you feeling drained.
The key to training through every phase of your cycle is understanding the process and adapting your approach to make it more comfortable when you’re not feeling your best while capitalising on phases when you feel strong and energetic.
Female Phase Training
The menstrual cycle consists of four distinct phases driven by oestrogen and progesterone. Understanding each phase in your cycle empowers you to shift your approach, choosing the right workouts and foods to improve your performance, decrease your injury risk, and possibly manage symptoms.
Women will generally feel their most energetic during the follicular phase, which starts once your menstruation phase ends. In the days directly after your period ends, oestrogen levels are low and are only starting to rise.
This is the best time to get in your most intense training sessions. Your mood, energy and strength levels are usually at their best, making it the ideal time to engage in heavy weight lifting or plyometrics in the gym, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts on the road or bike.
During the ovulation phase, a 24-48 hour period that marks the middle of your cycle, testosterone levels peak, which should leave you at your strongest and fastest.
During the final phase of your cycle – the luteal phase – progesterone emerges as the prominent hormone and your body temperature rises, which boosts your metabolism and you burn more calories than at any other time during your cycle. This increase has been measured at anywhere from 2.5-11% above normal energy expenditure1.
If you add intense, prolonged exercise to the mix, you’ll raise your metabolism even higher, which can leave you feeling more exhausted. This increased energy expenditure is also linked to the rise in appetite and cravings during this time.
When oestrogen and progesterone levels are highest during the follicular and luteal phases, keep your intensity low as high-intensity training can increase the production of these hormones.
Engage in activities like walks, low to moderate weight strength training with higher reps, and yoga and Pilates to improve flexibility and mood, manage stress, and possibly reduce symptoms like cramps.
The menstruation phase marks the start of your cycle and usually lasts 3-5 days. During this phase, hormone levels are low, your body has realised it is not pregnant and starts shedding the uterine lining to prepare for the next cycle.
When you start menstruating, keep exercise light and listen to your body. If you don’t feel up to exercising, take a rest day, but there is little risk associated with exercising during the menstruation phase
Shifting energy metabolism
It is also worth noting that the fluctuations in progesterone and oestrogen, and their differing concentrations, impact your energy metabolism.
During the initial phases, you become more fat efficient, as oestrogen makes you more insulin sensitive2, which makes you less likely to store fat and more efficient at metabolising fat stores for energy.
Progesterone, on the other hand, makes you more insulin resistant3, which can make it easier to store fat and can hamper efficient energy production.
Higher progesterone concentrations during the luteal phase also affect fluid balance, which initially results in a loss of water and electrolytes, and can leave you dehydrated and listless.
However, as you transition from the luteal phase back to the follicular phase, progesterone levels drop and you may experience premenstrual water and electrolyte retention, which can cause bloating.
References:
- Wohlgemuth KJ, Arieta LR, Brewer GJ, Hoselton AL, Gould LM, Smith-Ryan AE. Sex differences and considerations for female specific nutritional strategies: a narrative review. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021 Apr 1;18(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s12970-021-00422-8. PMID: 33794937; PMCID: PMC8015182.
- Yan H, Yang W, Zhou F, Li X, Pan Q, Shen Z, Han G, Newell-Fugate A, Tian Y, Majeti R, Liu W, Xu Y, Wu C, Allred K, Allred C, Sun Y, Guo S. Estrogen Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Suppresses Gluconeogenesis via the Transcription Factor Foxo1. Diabetes. 2019 Feb;68(2):291-304. doi: 10.2337/db18-0638. Epub 2018 Nov 28. PMID: 30487265; PMCID: PMC6341301.
- Yeung EH, Zhang C, Mumford SL, Ye A, Trevisan M, Chen L, Browne RW, Wactawski-Wende J, Schisterman EF. Longitudinal study of insulin resistance and sex hormones over the menstrual cycle: the BioCycle Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Dec;95(12):5435-42. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-0702. Epub 2010 Sep 15. PMID: 20843950; PMCID: PMC2999972.
- Gabriela P Mena, Gregore I Mielke, Wendy J Brown, Prospective associations between physical activity and BMI with irregular periods and heavy menstrual bleeding in a large cohort of Australian women, Human Reproduction, Volume 36, Issue 6, June 2021, Pages 1481–1491, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deab055.
