Is this you? You have goals. You’ve been hitting the gym. But you aren’t seeing results – no matter what you do, how hard you work, or how often you go to the gym.
But at the same time, you are unbuttoning your pants on the drive home every night because you’re so bloated. You have surprise acne, especially before a big meeting. You are exhausted all day, but can’t seem to sleep at night.
I hate to break it to you, but when you have active hormonal symptoms – like bloating, acne, a funky GI system, fatigue, brain fog, or bad periods – no matter how hard you work in the gym, your hormones will prevent you from achieving your physique goals.
And, even worse, depending what you’re doing in the gym, you actually may be making your hormonal symptoms worse.
So, what are the best ways to workout when you have hormonal symptoms?
First, let’s dive into how your workouts are likely making your hormonal symptoms worse.
A lot of the symptoms you have are connected to cortisol – your stress hormone. When your nervous system feels like she’s in fight or flight mode, cortisol increases. This can lead to bloating, period pain, trouble sleeping, and more.
Your workouts, though they will boost serotonin (your happiness hormone) and make you feel great afterwards, are also a stress on your body.
Think of it this way, if you’re lifting weights, you’re breaking down your muscle fibers (stressing your body) and your body needs to use her resources to build them back up (hello muscle definition!).
Or, when you are doing cardio, your heart is being stress tested. Though you feel a high afterwards, your body is still stressed as she recovers.
These are all good stresses. But when you have other stresses – work, rush hour, kids, family, health, you name it – your workout stress can add to those, increasing cortisol, and escalate your hormonal symptoms worse, making it hard for you to get toned, hit PRs, or lose weight.
At the end of the day, stress is stress. Your body doesn’t know the difference between the “good” stresses (working out) and the “bad” stresses (your jerk of a boss).
Despite your hormonal symptoms, you do have goals. So let’s talk about your workouts!
Don’t worry, just because you have symptoms doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you to stop working out. Instead of pushing through your workouts, depleting your hormones more, and getting frustrated that you aren’t seeing the physique changes you’re working so hard towards, I want you to make a couple adjustments to your workouts.
Scale back the cardio. I care about your heart health and this won’t be forever. But keeping your heart rate in zones 1 and 2 will help take stress off your body, help her heal, and then you can dabble in higher heart rate zones a couple times a week as your symptoms are decreasing. (Read more on zone training HERE)
Take a minimum of 2 rest days per week. I see it over and over again. The women who have the worst hormonal symptoms are also the women who have a hard time resting. Maybe you don’t realize you’re working out every day or maybe it’s your YOU time and escape. Either way, taking two rest days every week will help nourish and repair your body.
Lift heavy and follow a program. You know the benefits of lifting heavy by now. But following a strength training program will ensure you’re lifting heavy enough, improving week over week, and makes sure you aren’t neglecting certain body parts because you don’t enjoy them (me with core, ugh!).
As you adapt these habits for your workouts and focus on fueling your body to nourish your hormones,
you will see your bloating start to decrease, your digestion to improve, your acne to clear up, your energy levels increase, and to sleep through the night.
It may feel slow, but when your body feels safe, when your hormonal symptoms start decreasing, you will be able to add more volume (like weight, sets, reps, and time) and cardio to your workouts (if you want) and you will more easily lose weight, get toned, and hit PRs.
And if you’re looking for more help on
Managing your hormonal symptoms on your own ➡️ Check out SHECycle Method
Having a customized approach to your symptoms ➡️ Let’s Chat!
Following a hormone approved training plan ➡️ Check out Action Athletes
Or send me an email (ashley@actionashley.coach) to figure out what’s best for you and your next steps!
