When I first heard about cycle syncing your workouts, I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“Sure, I can just do yoga right before my period, skip workouts on my period, and my PCOS and endometriosis symptoms will be cured. Right.” I thought to myself.
I felt like I didn’t need cycle syncing, I was fine. I enjoyed lifting weights and I didn’t really notice a change in my lifts throughout the month unless I had just started my period.
Or at least that’s what I told myself.
Then I started noticing I was struggling with recovering after a workout, I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, and I was more bloating than normal during the second half of my cycle.
And that’s when I realized, maybe cycle syncing was something I should try, but I needed to re-define what it meant to me (since I love to lift and don’t want to take two weeks of the month off from lifting).
To understand cycle syncing, you first need to understand your cycle. Here’s a basic overview:
Most women have a cycle that’s 28 to 35 days long. Day one of your cycle is the first day of your period.
When your period ends, you move into the follicular phase, where you feel energized, generally in a good mood, and more.
Followed by ovulation. This is known to be the time women feel their best as your body is primed to getting pregnant.
After ovulation, your hormones start playing games to prepare for your next period. This phase is called luteal phase. This is where your energy does take a dip (and your mood can too).
Then you start your period, and the entire cycle repeats itself.
So, how do you pair your workouts with your cycle?
Typically, the first days of your period, you should take it easy, depending on your symptoms (cramps, heavy period, sleep issues) and energy levels. But as you’re ending your period and entering your follicular phase, your energy levels increase. This is a great time for higher intensity workouts and lifting heavier.
During ovulation, you can mirror the follicular phase with your movement. However, if you have ovulation symptoms similar to your luteal phase symptoms, you will want to lower your intensity. This one is dependent on the woman and her individual symptoms – and trust me, they vary per person!
When you enter luteal, with the energy dip and rise in other symptoms, to honor your body and support your hormones, it’s important to lessen the intensity of your workouts.
And this is where I had a problem with cycle syncing.
Everything you read on cycle syncing is, do yoga, walk, take the week off during your luteal phase.
I started to realize that for me – and many women who also enjoy lifting and what lifting does for their bodies – it was a swerve to go right into yoga and walking, instead of lifting and higher intensity workouts, and maybe something we don’t look forward to for our movement in general.
To experiment, I started playing with the intensity of my weightlifting workouts and slowly found that I didn’t need to take a week or two off from lifting; I could still lessen the intensity, reverse hormonal symptoms, and see progress towards my physique goals.
Here’s what I do instead of taking time off when I hit my luteal phase.
Now, I will do a few things, depending on how intense my symptoms are and how I feel. I will lessen the weight used, I will lessen my reps and sets, and / or I will lessen the time I workout or have longer rest periods during my workout.
For example, if my workout calls for 4 sets of 6-10 reps of back squats, I will do all 4 sets, but only 6 reps – sticking to the lower end of the range – and listen to my body with how much weight I should be lifting (this is typically less than what I can do during my follicular phase).
If I’m breathless, the weight feels heavier, or I’m mentally not there, I stick to a lower weight. Putting your ego aside will ultimately help you lift more.
I focus on fully recovering during my rest period. If that means I’m taking 2+ minutes between sets, that is what it is! That’s what my body needs, and it’ll help the remaining sets feel better and stronger than if I rush my rest time.
As for lessening the workout time….
When our hormones are going a little wild – whether it’s in the luteal phase or you’re working through some hormonal imbalances – it’s important to keep your cortisol (which is not a bad word!) in check.
When we are watching our cortisol and stress levels, for women, we should be capping our workouts at about 45 minutes and watching our heart rate zone. Keeping the heart rate in zone 2 and the workouts no more than 45 minutes helps support our cortisol production, so we are not over stressing our body, under recovering, and leading to more issues.
You may want to look into managing your cortisol if you have symptoms like, bloating post-workout, waking up in the morning and already thinking about going to bed, not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep at night, or If you feel like you carry weight around your midsection.
Since finding what cycling syncing means for me…
I’ve been able to lose weight and keep it off. I’ve been able to put on muscle. I can fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. I no longer have intense cravings or no appetite. And my periods are getting better – yes, even with PCOS and endometriosis.
It’s safe to say that, now that I re-defined cycle syncing – and yes, I still do yoga occasionally, there’s nothing wrong with yoga or walking – I’m a huge fan and see the benefit for every woman who has trouble seeing results and keeping results.
Want to know more about cycle syncing? Schedule a free discovery call to see if it’s the right approach for you and how to customize it.
