Exercise & Your Menstrual Cycle

Most of us have heard about syncing our workouts to our cycle. When to go hard, when to hold back and what types of training are best for each phase.

Is this just another fitness fad or actually something we should be paying attention too?

While it’s true that, for example, we experience higher inflammation and calorie needs during the luteal phase, and a boost in energy, strength, and pain tolerance during the follicular phase.

The reality is there is far too much individual variability to follow a set ‘here is how to train at X stage of your cycle’ advice.

Your cycle length, period regularity, individual hormonal fluctuations, response to those fluctuations, diet, lifestyle, sleep, stress and recovery are all going to be different for all of us.

And all those factors impact our training and how we respond to different training styles at different times in our cycle.

👉 In this post, you’ll learn:

• Why one-size-fits-all cycle training doesn’t work

• How to use RPE (rate of perceived exertion) to train smarter

• How to start tracking your own patterns and energy

We are all unique

Like I said, the length of our cycle, how we respond to hormonal fluctuations, our diets, lifestyle, sleep…I could go on! All impact how you personally respond to different stages of your menstrual cycle.

So while we know that Estrogen and progesterone fluctuate during the cycle, and have known effects on things like energy levels, pain sensitivity, thermoregulation (how your body regulates it’s temp), and recovery- the reality is we don’t all respond to those hormones and their shifts during our cycle in exactly the same way.

Some people feel energised in the follicular phase (first half), others feel best mid-luteal (second half), and others notice no difference at all!

Now sure, there’s some evidence that strength gains might be slightly enhanced in the follicular phase, but this is based on small, limited studies, and the differences are modest.

Meaning, not worth following as a hard and fast rule.

So are changes happening? Yes.

Are the symptoms and how we feel and respond to those changes all the same? No.

So how do we best support our bodies?

So because it’s not the 1950’s anymore we aren’t going to say that the menstrual cycle doesn’t impact your training.

So I want to be clear on that. It does impact your training, but the key takeaway is how it affects it? Is going to be individual.

Rather than being rigid with how you train at what stage of your cycle I recommend following the guidelines below to find out what works best for you.

So here are some ways you can make sure you are working with your body and giving yourself the best chance of getting the gains you want, while honouring the shifts that are happening in your inner world.

🏃🏻‍♀️ Use the RPE scale

RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion- simply meaning, how hard does the workout feel.

I’m sure you’ve experienced this before where the same workout can one day feel easy like a 6 out of 10 effort and the exact same weights and exercises another day can feel like a 9 out of 10!

So rather than following a generic training plan (e.g do yoga only in your luteal phase, go hard during your follicular) you can instead use this RPE (effort level) scale to match your workout to how your body actually feels.

I recommend aiming for an 8 out of 10 effort level. RPE 8.

Any lower and you likely won’t be placing high enough stimulus on the body for it to change and adapt.

Any higher and you’re pushing your body too far into break down mode which will affect the quality of the rest of your sets and reps, your recovery, energy and ability to repair and bounce back stronger from that workout (training to failure has it’s place, but as a guide aim for no higher than 8 out of 10 in general).

So what does this mean for your cycle?

If you go into the gym during the luteal phase of your cycle (about a week before your period) and your usual weights feel like a 9 or 10 out of 10?

Dial back the weights till you feel the effort level is no higher than an 8 out of 10. That might even mean dropping the weight by several kg and that’s totally ok (e.g going from a 7kg shoulder press to a 5kg).

Your effort level, how hard you perceive the workout, is the same. But the weights vary. And that’s ok, our bodies are working as hard both times because both times they are working to 8 out of 10.

So we are honouring and listening to the fact that we have less in the tank and need to dial things back during certain phases. (This goes for intensity too if you’re doing cardio).

CAVEAT HERE: Use this guide while listening to your body. If you know you’re too exhausted and absolutely wiped out to workout it doesn’t matter where you are in your cycle- listen to your body saying it needs rest. Use this scale when you feel good enough to go to the gym but still want to make sure you are meeting your body where it is at that day.

Trust you know your body

You know your body better than some app that tells you how to train when.

Trusting it, listening too it, respecting what it is telling you?

That’s really the most powerful thing you can do for your training.

If you’re running on empty regardless of where you are in your cycle- dial in back.

You’ll know (if you truly listen to your body) if you’ve got capacity to still lift or not, do that HIIT class or not- and if you don’t have the energy?

Focus on mobility exercises, lighter weights, a gentler activity like yoga or take a day to rest.

Trust that your body will share with you what it can handle.

Track your cycle

If you like to have a plan and want to deepen your connection to understanding your body and how it responds to your unique cycle?

The best thing you can do is track it.

Apps like Flo or just doing journalling in a notepad are a great way to start noting down when you feel most energised, when you feel most tired, when you notice your mood dip, when you need extra focus on recovery.

This is great not only so you can start planning ahead for how you’ll train/move and rest, but so you can start to support yourself in other ways too.

If you know the week before your period your mood always crashes?

That’s powerful information you can use to set things up ahead of times to better support yourself during that time (more social connection, rest, time outside, watching comedy movies and staying away from true crime!)

You’ll start to notice patterns and be able to plan ahead.

While still, of course, trusting and listening to your body as you go.

But data is power. So start paying attention to your cycle, your peaks, your lower energy phases and use this as your guide.

The key takeaway

While there are physiological changes happening during different phases of your cycle, the best way you can support your body with your cycle?

Is to be guided more by how you feel, than someone dictating what you should do at certain stages of your menstrual cycle.

I remember, getting the advice that during the week of my period I should only do yoga. Which I thought was weird…so I went and did my usual strength workout and holy heck I felt like a machine! If I had just listened to generic advice? I would have completely missed out on how powerful and strong I was during that phase. That’s not going to be how everyone feels, it’s how I felt. Because we all respond differently.

Now of course I listened to my body during the workout AND importantly also after. I saw that there was no negative impact on my energy, recovery, muscle soreness or any other markers that would suggest that I shouldn’t have done the heavy workout.

I encourage you to do the same.

Gathering your own personal data is not only a great way to fit your training to your needs, but it’s always a great way to better connect with our bodies and minds.

It encourages us to listen a little closer, to pay more attention to what our bodies are saying. What they need and when they need it.

Our cycle length, hormone levels and how you respond to those hormones, is going to be unique.

Individual variation means there can’t be one generic ‘this is how to train during each phase of your cycle’ formula that is going to fit us all.

Nutrition & the menstrual cycle

While how we feel during each phase of our cycle can vary a lot — especially when it comes to energy and symptoms — what's happening in our inner world (like hormone shifts, inflammation, and nutrient needs) tends to follow a more consistent pattern across most people.

So how we respond to these in terms of energy and recovery? Individual.

But what is actually happening physiologically? Is more consistent.

This means we can use nutrition as a tool to help our body through those changes and to recover better from training. For example:

🥬 Focus on anti-inflammatory foods (like oily fish, leafy greens, and berries) in the luteal phase — especially if you're training during this time as workouts increase inflammation. Now we could say ‘avoid workouts when inflammation is high!’ but if you feel good and working out also supports your mood and energy then rather than letting this inflammation stop your exercise routine? We have this amazing tool of nutrition to help lower inflammation and better support recovery.

🩸 Add more iron-rich foods around your period to support energy and recovery.

🥙 When your appetite ramps up (which it often does pre-period), think hearty, balanced meals that actually fill you up and keep your energy steady for whatever your day or training session throws at you.

I’ll dive deeper into this in Part 2 (coming out next week!) — but for now, know that nutrition is a powerful way to nourish and support your body across the month and to better support your training.

I hope this helps you feel clearer and more confident on how to safely and effectively train respecting and supporting your menstrual cycle.