Women’s hormones are complex.
I’ve found this out more than ever before and have been on a rollercoaster of a learning-journey this past year. Long story short, I did my research and decided to experiment with training according to the stages of my menstrual cycle. So, in this blog post, I’ll give a detailed review of each week in the hope that this might impact other women out there who are either curious about their how to train with their cycle or struggle with their hormones, just like me. This is just my experiences and while I have done all the research I can to educate myself on the issue, I am not qualified in the matter so I encourage you to combine my experiences with your own research and decisions as the human body is complex and no two people are the same.
How did I get here?
With a background in competitive gymnastics, I’ve had a lifetime of sports and pushing myself hard in the gym - I’ve never really known any different.
I got my period late into my teens and it hit me hard - cramps, teariness, heavy flows, bad skin...etc etc. But, naive and desperate, the contraceptive pill was offered by my GP as a way to fix all that - sadly, Doctors prescribe the pill far too easily as a quick fix, without considering the repercussions later down the line.
Fast forward ten years and I’m off the pill but without a period in two years. I’m working out hard, attempting to manage a stressful job and battling my own mental health demons. Still no period. Specialists tell me I need to gain a bit more weight, workout less intensely and reduce my stress, which was hard to hear, but I committed for the sake of my health, and my periods slowly and surely came back. I now have a regular cycle, which is brilliant! However, this past year I have found myself feeling more tired than ever, suffering badly with PMS and my workouts seemed to suck. I just didn’t feel like me anymore and this made me sad.
So I decided to do something about it, one of them being to test out cyclical training which in short, is adapting your training to suit the stages of your menstrual cycle.
Many an article and podcast later, the findings suggested that the complex nature of a woman’s hormonal system affects EVERYTHING. Literally everything - sleep, energy levels, metabolism, heart rate, basal body temperature, mood, hunger…. the list goes on. This fascinated me and suddenly everything made sense.
Something that I found REALLY interesting was that most information released to the public about the best way to train, the number of calories to consume etc are actually the result of studies conducted on men - YES, men! Men whose hormones remain pretty much constant all day every day.
This got me so interested that I decided to dig deeper and plan my training around each phase of my cycle, as well as changing a few things in my diet to support it. (If you want to find out more about the menstrual cycle before reading on, click here.)
And here’s how it went…
Week 1 (First day of menses - Day 7)
If you don’t currently track your period, I’d really recommend doing so. I use an app called Period Tracker, but you can even do it on a normal calendar.
Contrary to popular belief, Week 1 of your cycle is actually when your energy levels start to rise and you can hit the gym hard!
This fact will be a shock to most, which says it all about the lack of education around women’s hormone. However, the first few days of menstruation might be a little uncomfortable still, so research suggests that it might be best to start “Week 1” on Day 3 of your cycle (please note that each individual is different so it is best to listen to your body and seek medical advice if you are unsure).
Week 1 Training:
Lift heavy and include HIIT.
Why? Because Estrogen and Progesterone have dropped and will remain low.
Example of a workout I did in Week 1:
(This was a Team Grit OCR inspired workout!)
21-15-9-5
Burpee box jumps
Overhead press with dumbbells
V-ups
Air bike calories
Followed by 5km fast run.
Supplements I used to support hormones: Magnesium, Zinc, B12
I also seed cycled, because in the follicular phase (first two weeks of your cycle) 1tbsp of pumpkin seeds and 1tbsp flax seeds are recommended to support hormones.
My Review of Week 1:
I found Week 1 interesting because even at the end of a tiring day, when I felt mentally drained, I knew I could push my body physically. This stopped me from confusing mental tiredness with physical tiredness, so I sucked it up, got my gym gear on and went hard. In short, it was a good motivator.
The mistake I made this week was not eating enough carbohydrates. In this phase of the cycle, I had read that your body can cope with fewer carbs but seeing as I was already on a lower carb diet due to insulin sensitivity and digestive issues, I pushed hard but without the proper fuel. This left me tired, craving all sorts of food and generally quite grumpy. I will DEFINITELY be upping my cards when I go through Week 1 next time.
Week 2 (Day 8-14)
For me this was Day 11 to 17 because I started my “Week 1” 3 days after the first day of menstruation. Good news though, Week 2 is when your energy is at its peak!
This is the week where you nail the runs, you feel indestructible and you hit your PBs - hooray! Advanced warning - a week later you might attempt to achieve the same goals only to be hit by a big red stop sign because your body feels like its been hit by a train and you can’t understand why… you feel like such a failure. BUT YOU’RE NOT… there is a legitimate reason for this! It’s all to do with your hormones, which you’ll find out in the Week 3 section.
Week 2 Training:
In Week 2, it is suggested that you partake in max effort workouts, such as “all-out” shorter sprints and HIIT. Great!
Example of a workout I did in Week 2:
(Adapted from the Team Grit 8 week OCR programme - which I highly recommend)
5 sets of:
1km sprint/fast run
10 lunges per leg
10 hanging knee raises
20 burpees
15 weighted sit ups
1 pull up and 4 scaled down pull ups
Supplements to support hormones: Magnesium, Zinc, B12
Again, I seed cycled, with 1tbsp of pumpkin seeds and 1tbsp flax seeds to support hormones in the follicular phase.
My Review of Week 2:
Similar to Week 1, I knew that even if I felt ‘tired’ because of my job, I could push myself physically in the gym. No excuses. However, I know now that I just wasn’t fuelling right - my carbs were too low and I wasn’t hydrating enough with electrolytes, so I found myself feeling overwhelmingly tired and craving food between meals. I really have learnt my lesson from this and after a conversation with Jessie Montague, my go-to girl for everything, I realised what I had been doing wrong and felt so much better when I made some changes to my diet.
Week 3 (Day 15-21)
Queue the luteal phase of the cycle; this is where the female body really begins to react differently to exercise due to the change in hormones estrogen and progesterone.
Around Day 14/15 of your cycle, ovulation also takes place. The only way to know if you're ovulating is by recognising a few key signs: slight rise in body temperature, twinges in the left or right ovary area...amongst over things (click here for more). Personally, I feel quite low and tearful for a few days around ovulation.
Week 3 Training:
In Week 3, research suggests that training should take on an aerobic focus. Loads should be moderate and workouts should be less intense but longer, e.g. long runs in HR zone 3.
Towards the end of the week, as core body temperature increases and PMS sets in, training should be tapered off in preparation for Week 4, which is the week before your period arrives.
Example of a workout I did in Week 3:
20 minute cycle, HR 130-140
10 minute jog on a treadmill, HR 140
10 minute 12% incline walk, HR 140
10 minute AMRAP:
30 second plank
10 crunches
10 V-ups
10 press ups
20 squat jumps
20 jumping jacks
On another day I did a 10km HR zone 3 run.
Supplements I used to support hormones: Magnesium, Zinc, B12 and Iodine (Iodine supports progesterone production as I am low in this hormone, which causes a few issues for me).
The seeds for Seed cycling changes after ovulation to 1tbsp of sunflower seeds and 1tbsp sesame seeds to support hormones in the luteal phase.
My Review of Week 3:
I have to admit, I was really excited to start Week 3! I was looking forward to a change in my exercise routine and felt more at ease knowing that I was doing the right thing for my body by taking the intensity down a notch this week. In the past, I would have felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for not pushing hard - if I didn't finish my workout drowning in a puddle of my own sweat, was it even a workout?!
Thanks to Team Grit and their blog post “Sean takes on Pole Dancing”, I attended my first ever Pole fitness class and absolutely LOVED it. Like, really really loved it. It ignited something in me and filled the hole in my heart that gymnastics and performing used to fill. The combination of strength, acrobatics and dance was 100% up my street so I decided to go for it and one of my new 2020 goals is to become a badass Pole Dancer!
Anyway, the point I’m making here is that Week 3 encouraged me to explore other forms of fitness, such as Pole, which I might not have normally done. I did this in addition to some of my longer and lower intensity workouts. I also upped my carbs by about 20g to support this phases of my cycle, as you need more calories a this stage too. It’s safe to say, I was a big fan of how I felt physically and emotionally in Week 3.
Week 4 (Day 22-28)
This is the week that many people call the “Down Week”, largely because you are lacking in energy and should be winding down and taking it easy ready for menstruation. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t workout, you just need to be smart! You also need to realise that your body won’t be able to do what it did in Week 1 or 2 as easily; things will just feel a lot harder for a number of reasons:
Resting heart rate will be naturally higher so you’ll reach your peak much quicker than normal
Your core temperature will be higher so you’ll get hotter faster and systems will be under stress much more quickly
You will feel most PMS symptoms this week, e.g. irritability, increased hunger, tender breasts, emotional outbursts, clumsiness, bloating, water retention, menstrual cramps etc.
But fret not! The point of Week 4 is to rest, recover, chill and plan for the above.
Week 4 Training:
If you decide to workout, don't expect too much of yourself and take comfort in the fact that in a week’s time, you’ll be back to super woman and full of energy. This is a perfect opportunity to build in recovery time to your training - an aspect that most people miss out, which is a BIG no-no for aspiring athletes.
Luckily for me, Week 4 coincided with CNY so off I went for a week away on a beautiful beach holiday where I could build in plenty or R&R, as well as a few Week 4 approved workouts.
Example of a workout I did in Week 4:
20 minutes easy indoor cardio using Fitness Blender on Youtube
20 minutes strength, conditioning and flexibility:
Banded Lat pulls 10 x 4 sets
Straddle leg lifts 10 x 3 sets
Dish rocks 10 x 4 sets
Handstand against the wall 40s x 2 sets
Front splits 1 minute each leg
Box splits 1 minute
5 minute Vinyasa flow
(I also built in Team Grit’s WOTW on one day, ensuring I had plenty of time to recover afterwards)
Supplements I used to support hormones: Magnesium, Zinc, B12 and Iodine. Again, I seed cycled with 1tbsp of sunflower seeds and 1tbsp sesame seeds to support hormones in the luteal phase.
My Review of Week 4:
I really noticed the difference in my body this week but instead of being frustrated with its inability to do what it normally can, I accepted it and knew that it was temporary. BIG WIN for me.
Anyone who knows me, knows how much I struggle when I feel like I’m not hitting goals or doing my best, so this has been quite the game changer. It was almost as if I gave myself permission to slow down and rest, even sleep more. And eat a little more…but not in an out-of-control way, more from a place of nourishment.
I think that by doing this, as soon as I hit Week 1 again I am going to be fuelled up and ready to go hard, which in the past I’ve probably not been able to do 100% because I didn’t allow myself the time to slow down and recover beforehand. It’s actually been such a light bulb moment and I’m feeling rather proud of myself for doing this little experiment. And as well as this, I actually experienced less of the PMS symptoms I usually do, which is a wonderful change for me. All in all, Week 4 has been a success!
Summary
Training with my cycle is definitely something I am going to continue with for the time being. In terms of my fitness progress, I can’t say for sure if I’ve made any, but I genuinely think this is because I made a few mistakes along the way, especially in Week 1 and 2. I’ve learnt a lot from this and feel ready, in fact excited, to launch myself into Round 2 of training with my cycle. As my four week experiment has proven, I’ve got nothing to lose by going for it again.
Another thing this experiment has taught me is that, in the words of Dr Stacy Sims, “Women are NOT small men” and therefore we cannot expect to train in the same way. It’s about training smart, and having an awareness of what’s actually going on in those complex female bodies of ours so that we can plan and prepare sessions to work with and not against our hormones.
I really hope that I’ve made a difference to someone who has read this blog, especially if they’ve been feeling a little lost lately. Perhaps in a couple of months I can let you all know how I’m getting on. Thanks for reading and to quote Jessie Montague, stay “Strong Like a Girl!”