Menstruation and Working Out

Let’s be honest: the fitness industry is currently obsessed with "optimization." The fitness industry loves to complicate things. If they can sell you a problem you didn’t know you had, they can sell you a solution you definitely don’t need. It is no longer enough to just exercise and eat well; we are told we must "hack" our biology. We need to drink green sludge for gut health, cold plunge for dopamine, and tape our mouths shut while we sleep. And now 'they' are telling you shouldn't lift heavy if you are in menstruation. Hogwash.

The latest frontier in this obsession with over-complication? Your hormones.

If you scroll through Instagram or TikTok long enough, you will inevitably find an influencer with perfect lighting and zero credentials telling you that lifting heavy weights during your luteal phase is dangerous. They claim it will "wreck your hormones," cause "adrenal fatigue," and lead to the dreaded "cortisol belly"....aka a beer belly.

Their solution is Cycle Syncing: a rigid, calendar-based approach where you change your entire workout routine every week to match your menstrual cycle.

It sounds scientific. It feels intuitive. It appeals to our desire to be "in tune" with our bodies.

But just like Fitness Shortcuts or the latest fat-burning supplement, Cycle Syncing is mostly noise. It is a marketing strategy designed to sell you PDFs and specialized coaching programs for a problem you probably don't have.

Here is the evidence-based truth about training through your cycle, and why you should stop planning your squats around your ovulation.

The "Instagram Hormone" Trap

The Cycle Syncing narrative usually goes something like this:

• Follicular Phase (Post-Period): Your estrogen is rising. You are a "superwoman." You should hit PRs, do HIIT, and crush Zone 2 Cardio.

• Ovulation: You are at your peak. Go for a 1-rep max (I don't have anyone ever do that)

• Luteal Phase (Pre-Period): Progesterone rises, and your body temperature increases. Influencers claim you are "fragile" here. They tell you to stop lifting heavy, avoid high intensity, and stick to yoga or Pilates to avoid "stressing" your body.

The problem? This binary view of the female body that you are either "strong" or "fragile" depending on the week is insulting. It’s also scientifically unsupported.

The Hard Science

When we strip away the social media hype and look at the actual data, the story changes drastically.

A massive meta-analysis published in 2020 by Blagrove et al. reviewed dozens of studies regarding strength and power performance across the menstrual cycle. Their conclusion was blunt: for the vast majority of eumenorrheic (regularly cycling) women, fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone have trivial to no effect on strength or power performance. In other words, you are not statistically weaker just because you are in your luteal phase.

More recently, a study by Colenso-Semple et al. out of McMaster University (arguably the world's leading institution for protein research) investigated Muscle Protein Synthesis—the biological process of building muscle. The result? There was no significant difference in the body’s ability to build muscle between the follicular and luteal phases.

This brings us to an important concept: Correlation v. Causation. Just because hormones fluctuate does not mean performance must fluctuate. Your muscles don't have a Google Calendar. They don't know what day of the month it is. They only respond to mechanical tension and Effort.

The "Nocebo" Effect: Why You Feel Weaker

"But Doug," you might say, "I definitely feel weaker the week before my period."

I believe you. Symptoms like bloating, cramping, fatigue, and irritability are very real. But we have to distinguish between physiological capability (what your muscles can do) and psychological readiness (how much you want to do it).

There is also the danger of the Nocebo Effect. This is the evil twin of the Placebo Effect. If you are told repeatedly by "experts" on your phone that you should be weak during your luteal phase, you will subconsciously throttle your own effort. You will walk into the gym expecting to fail, and so you will.

This undermines the most critical factor in any training program: The Science of Toughness. Resilience isn't about performing perfectly when conditions are perfect; it's about showing up and doing the work when conditions are sub-optimal.

The Solution: Autoregulation (Not Calendars)

So, should you ignore your body completely? No. That would be foolish.

But instead of a rigid spreadsheet that predicts how you should feel, you need a flexible strategy that responds to how you actually feel. This is called Autoregulation.

Autoregulation allows us to maintain consistency without burning out. We use tools like RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) or RIR (Reps In Reserve) to adjust the session in real-time.

Here is how to apply it:

1. The "Good" Days (Regardless of Phase) You walk in, and the weights feel light. Your energy is high.

• The Plan: Push the pace. Add weight to the bar. Focus on Progressive Overload.

• The Mindset: Capitalize on these days. Go for it.

2. The "Bad" Days (PMS, High Stress, or Poor Sleep) You walked in feeling heavy, bloated, or tired. The warm-up weight feels like a house.

• The Plan: Do not skip the workout. Instead, adjust the variables. Be consistent!

• The Tactic: Keep the weight the same as last week (or drop it by 10%). Reduce the volume (do 2 sets instead of 3). Or just grin and bear it.

• The Swap: If your lower back is aching from cramps, swap the Barbell Squat for a Leg Press or a Split Squat. You are still working the target muscles, but with less systemic fatigue.

This isn't "cycle syncing." This is just intelligent training. It applies to your period, but it also applies to weeks when you have a deadline at work, weeks when you travel, or weeks when you just didn't get enough Protein.

What About Nutrition?

The Cycle Syncing crowd also loves to overcomplicate food, telling you to "seed cycle" or eat specific vegetables for specific weeks. It is Bullshit.

Again, look at the fundamentals. Your metabolic rate does rise slightly during the luteal phase (sometimes by 100-300 calories), which explains the cravings. But you don't need a specific protocol for this. You likely just need to prioritize hydration, maybe eat a little bit more fruit, and ensure you aren't deficient in Magnesium or Iron. This is not rocket science.

Conclusion: Don't Let The Noise Distract You

If you are an Olympian where the difference between Gold and Silver is 0.5%, maybe....maybe tracking your hormones to the micro-detail matters.

For the rest of us trying to stay strong, lean, and healthy in the chaos of New York City, consistency beats "optimization" every time.

The danger of Cycle Syncing is that it gives you a "scientific" excuse to take your foot off the gas for 50% of the year. If you skip heavy training two weeks out of every month, you are missing 24 weeks of progressive overload a year. That is a massive amount of lost progress.

Don't let an algorithm dictate your capabilities. Your uterus is doing its job. You do yours.

Next Steps

• Audit Your Feed: Unfollow anyone telling you that a deadlift will "break your hormones"...or for that matter that it is bad for women.

• Focus on the Big Rocks: Prioritize Sleep, protein, and heavy lifting.

• Need a Plan? If you are tired of guessing and want a program that adapts to your life not the other way around Contact Joachim's Training today.