Exercise & Your Cycling Hormones: How to Find Synergy | Ep. 24

#24. Discover the power of syncing your fitness plan with the rhythm of your menstrual cycle for a transformative approach to health and wellness. I'm Bridget Walton, here to guide you through the ebb and flow of hormones and how they interplay with exercise. As we journey together, you'll find out how each phase of your cycle—menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal—offers unique opportunities to maximize your workouts, from soothing yoga sessions when you're menstruating to the adrenaline rush of high-intensity interval training during ovulation. By tuning into your body's natural signals and adapting your exercise intensity, you'll unlock the door to improved well-being and hormonal harmony.

This episode isn't just about theory; it's a candid look at my own experiences with over-exercise and the wisdom I've unearthed by aligning my physical activity with my menstrual cycle. Learn how to harness the benefits of strength training, not only to boost muscle mass and stabilize blood sugar but also as a potential ally against the challenges of menopause. We'll talk about the significance of workout form, injury prevention, and the importance of incorporating self-care routines, like yoga and sauna visits, into your regimen. It's time to embrace a holistic view of fitness that celebrates the hormonal shifts that make us uniquely ourselves and utilize them to fuel a healthier, more attuned lifestyle.

In short, you'll hear about:
- Recommended exercises for each of the four phases
- What time of day to work out depending on your phase
- Which phase you're most likely to face injury (focus on form!)
- The most important rule: do what feels best for you and your body

Free downloadable, Five Common Signs of Hormone Imbalance

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Chapters

• 0:07 Optimizing Exercise Throughout Menstrual Cycle
• 5:14 Exercise and Menstrual Cycle Phases
• 12:27 Optimizing Exercise Routine Throughout Menstrual Cycle

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unrelief menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey there, welcome back to I'm Hormonal. If this is your first time listening, then welcome, and I am so glad that you found me. If you've been here before, then welcome back and thank you for listening.

Speaker 1: 0:56

I started this podcast last year because, after many years of studying and learning about my own body, I was just shocked, time after time, about the juicy goodness that I was learning, and shocked because why had we never learned this before? Why isn't this common knowledge for more women? And so that's what I'm here to do I hope to share information, education so that you can understand your body a little bit better and so that you can feel better in your body as well. So let's do it. I'm Hormonal has its name, too, because it's important to change the stigma that currently exists around hormones and around periods and women's health in general. So I'm Hormonal, you're Hormonal, we're all Hormonal, and that's the best way to be, because otherwise, I'm pretty sure we would just be zombies. I haven't seen a lot of zombie movies lately, but I don't think that's on my agenda. What is on the agenda, though, is a conversation about exercising and how you may want to adapt your exercise or workout routines throughout the month and throughout your cycle. We know that throughout the menstrual cycle, our hormones are changing. There are four distinct phases, and that's natural. That's normal right, but we should just take that into consideration, and if you are trying to overcome or trying to balance hormones, if you're experiencing an imbalance, then this will be especially important and interesting for you. I would definitely recommend that you consider how can you make some tweaks? Are you doing hard workouts every day of the month? Because maybe we want to take a little step back from that. Also, if you're doing hard workouts every day of the month and you feel great and you love it, then do it.

Speaker 1: 2:49

This is, I guess, not a one size fits all. It's the opposite. It's listening to your body, taking in the information that I share with you today about how your hormones change throughout your cycles, what exercises are well suited for that? But, most of all, listen to your body, do what makes you happy, do what makes you feel good, and I think that's a great recipe. Before we get into the juicy stuff, let me just remind you that the information that I share with you today is for educational purposes only. Please, it should not be used as a replacement for any sort of one-on-one support from a certified practitioner. That being said, if you are looking for one-on-one support, then you can reach out to me, click on the link in the show notes and we can set up a call and talk about what coaching one-on-one would look like.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Without further ado, let's go ahead and dive in A lot of what is out there about workout culture. Exercise culture runs on the masculine framework of exercise doing the same thing every day, having the capacity to do the same thing every day, but let me remind you again that the menstrual cycle is monthly and not daily. What changes throughout that month are, yes, are literal, like quantifiable hormone levels, but also are energy levels and what we feel like doing or what we don't feel like doing, and that's important and is worth being considered. There have certainly been times in my life when I was really strict with my exercise routine and where I was over exercising essentially, and now that I'm saying that I for a lot of that time I was using hormonal birth control so I didn't have all these same hormonal fluctuations, but even once I was off, I would still force myself to work out, force myself to go to the yoga class or the spin class that I had signed up for. Of course, there's value in following through with the things that you sign up for, but I just want to like put an exclamation mark one more time at doing what feels right for your body at the time that you're about to do the exercise. Work smarter, not harder, work with your body and it will, overall, throughout your whole cycle, throughout the month, be what feels right for you.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Let's get into the specifics now, and I'm going to start through with the first day of your cycle. We'll go through each of the four phases. I'll remind you approximately which number of the days in your cycle like cycle days one through cycle day five, for example this will pertain to. I'll give you the rundown of which exercises you might want to do during that phase and any elaboration needed. So that's what you can expect for the next couple of minutes. So we're kicking it off with, of course, day one of the menstrual cycle, in your menstrual phase and you know how long your period normally lasts for but let's say that this is days one through day five of your cycle.

Speaker 1: 5:58

During this time, your hormones are at their lowest levels, so I'm talking about estrogen and progesterone primarily. They're at their lowest points, and so I mean you don't need me to tell you that, like you probably want to rest during this time, doing things that are not exhaustive, that are more restorative, is what will probably be best suiting you while you're on your period. So, for me, I like to go for walks, I like to go to a sleepy time yoga class, or, as my boyfriend would call it, couch yoga, where you hold the positions for like six minutes and you're just laying on the cushions. So, though, swimming, stretching, because don't forget that stretching is like an exercise and that's important for our bodies too. Or, you know, if your workout for the day is a nap, then, my dude, I support you and that sounds amazing, and please tell me about it so that I can like celebrate you for taking a nap for your workout, but that's really what it's all about.

Speaker 1: 7:03

This one is pretty straightforward while you're on your bleed because it is it can be exhausting, your energy levels may be low and so, really listening to what feels best, what can you do and just meet that goal or meet yourself where you're at. Maybe it's a better way to say that, once you're done with your bleed, you move into the follicular phase of your cycle. So this is approximately cycle day six through cycle day 12. Adjust that, tweak that to whatever your experience is. But during this part of your cycle, your estrogen levels are climbing up. Right, that's what happens in the follicular phase. Estrogen levels are growing and that is because you are preparing for ovulation. So you probably already know that as you get a little bit into your cycle, as those hormone levels are going up, that you have more energy to get on, do stuff. Maybe it's feeling like much better time to try new things.

Speaker 1: 8:07

So, specifically during this phase, if you are a runner, you want to get out there for a jog, if there's any other form of cardio that you like, or dance or a group fitness class, if you're a Zumba gal or I don't know. If you're a body pump gal, then this would be a great time in your follicular phase to go out and do those things. It's also worth mentioning that during the first half of your cycle you might notice that doing workouts in the morning like suits you better. You have more energy, you're up, you're up with the sun and moving, and so doing morning workouts for the first half of your cycle up through ovulation might be a good fit for you. Then, after ovulation, switching over to an evening or afternoon workout might best suit you. Give it a try, do a little science fair, experiment on yourself and see what feels good for you.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Let's move on to the ovulatory phase. So this phase of your cycle is approximately days 13 through 16. So three or four days surrounding your ovulation, and at this point in your cycle estrogen and testosterone levels are at their peak and so you're probably going to have the most energy. So this is a time when doing a hip workout, doing sprints, boxing any of these really high intensity workouts could be a really good fit for you. You have so much power in your body and you are so strong and get out there and show it off. You know, ovulatory phase. That's what she's here for.

Speaker 1: 9:44

At the same time, one small word of warning, because this time in your cycle is the time when you are more likely to get injured than other points in your cycle. What I mean by that is at this time in your cycle when your luteinizing hormone levels are high, because that's the hormone that also goes up with estrogen in preparation for ovulation. But that luteinizing hormone is what helps the egg to escape from your ovaries, for you know yeah, that's a good point explanation, right it's helping it burst out of that ovary tissue or through those cells, and so some studies have shown that you know you're more likely to tear an ACL or other sort of ligament like that. So during your ovulatory phase, just be a little bit more conscious than you know maybe other points in your cycle about. Are you using good form? Are you lifting something that that's a weight that you truly can lift and that you can do safely?

Speaker 1: 10:48

Let's look at the last of the four phases, which is your luteal phase, and so this is the time after ovulation and before your next bleed begins, which could be approximately cycle days 17 to 28, if you have a 28 day cycle. So this phase is a little bit more complex than the others because it's actually divided kind of into two halves, because what's happening throughout this phase is that your progesterone levels are growing up and then in the second half of the phase they are going down, and then it all starts again, just like I mentioned at the top here, where once your hormone levels are at their lowest, that's when your cycle begins. So anyway, let's look at the first half of your luteal phase first. Something like strength training is really good to consider during this phase of your cycle because you still have a little bit more energy, you have that strength, less risk of injury. Then, when you're moving on into the second half of your luteal phase, really slowing down, understanding, like looking inside to see how much energy do you have, and maybe switching towards something slower, calmer, like yoga, pilates or bar, would be good For me too. I love to make sure that while I'm at the gym not that this is exactly a workout, but I always go to the sauna, especially in the second half of my luteal phase, because I know that it helps me to get out some of those extra estrogen metabolites, and who doesn't love a sauna? So keep that in mind in your luteal phase.

Speaker 1: 12:27

One thing that I want to come back to is weightlifting. So weightlifting is so important, like the buildup of lean muscle mass in our bodies is really important for our overall health. When you look at blood sugar stabilization, it's critical. Because why? Because when I eat, when I go eat Swedish fish does anybody out there love Swedish fish? When I eat Swedish fish, then my body is turning those tasty chemicals into glucose. What uses up glucose? My muscles are gonna use up the glucose, but when there's too much glucose, there's too much sugar in my blood running around. Then that's a problem. Well, if I have more muscles, then you're having a better ability to absorb that blood, or that sugar rather, and so that's, overall going to be supportive of a healthy metabolic function. Having more muscle mass will, of course, protect our bodies from falls as we get older and other injuries like that. It'll also do things like help you have a better posture, which can have second and third order effects like improved mood, or just you're gonna be avoiding having neck problems or something else that may pop up down the line.

Speaker 1: 13:49

One thing, though, that is particularly important, interesting and relevant to our cycles, and I'll read this directly. It's from data from the study of women's health across the nation, and this study found that higher levels of lean body mass during the menopause transition may protect against development of disruptive menopausal symptoms. So if you're somebody who's wanting to prepare for that stage of life, then keep in mind that building up muscle lean muscle mass in the meantime could be helpful for that transition into menopause. Let's go ahead and take a super short break, but when we get back I'll walk you guys through what's my normal exercise routine throughout my cycle so you can get a more practical idea of like what's realistic for an actual human being on planet Earth. Now I wanna tell you about one of I'm Hormonal's sponsors, which is actually my own Hormone Reset Coaching Package. Did you know that you can work with me to do one-on-one coaching? If you are currently facing fertility concerns, if you have period pain or missing periods or regular periods or otherwise, then I'm talking to you, my friend. The Hormone Reset Coaching Package is designed to renew your confidence in your body and to get you wherever you wanna be to your hormone goals. We can walk through Dutch testing and put together a protocol that will help you understand what diet and lifestyle tweaks that you need to make to get you where you wanna be. If this is something that you think you're ready for, then you can go to BridgetWaltoncom slash coaching to learn more and you can schedule a free call with me to talk more about how we can get you to where you wanna be. All right, gang, welcome back from that mini break.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Let me walk you through, as promised, what is my normal exercise routine throughout my month and how it changes. When I'm on my period I definitely take it easy. I do still workout because my workout routine is that three times a week I will go to the gym and lift. So if I'm on my period and that's my Monday, wednesday or Friday when I'm at the gym, I'll definitely choose lower weights. I'm not trying to like do any, you know, have any personal records or anything like that, so I'll take it a little bit easy or take the day off if I'm just not feeling up for it. Certainly, all month long I am walking. If anybody else who lives in a scenic spot lives by the coast somewhere, you know we're on the same page because I'm always out walking somewhere by the coast. So that's all month long for me, especially emphasized during my menstrual phase, when I'm moving on into my luteal phase, or even sometimes in the second half of my bleed, I do feel like I have a lot more energy.

Speaker 1: 16:40

So I will sign up for group fitness classes For me. I really like to do a yoga class once in a while, I like to do Pilates, and so that's what I'll get into. But when I'm at the gym doing my normal lifting thing, I will lift heavier. I will spend maybe more time in my warmup, you know, instead of just like literally 10 minutes to just warm up, I will stay a little bit longer for 20, 30 minutes to do a bit more cardio, and then I will lift a bit heavier when I get into my ovulatory phase. I think you probably see where I'm going with this. I'm still lifting, so I lift heavier, but, like I mentioned earlier, I really focus on form and doing things slowly, smart and not, you know, mitigating risk, because I don't want to get injured.

Speaker 1: 17:34

I do really like to try out new gyms or new studios and kind of meet new people. So one thing that I do separate from exercising is I always put a little reminder on my calendar for when is my expected day of ovulation and I put that there so that in part I can think ahead and plan for myself. And so I will plan to go to a new gym, like in the couple of days surrounding my expected ovulation. There's a gym in Encinitas here called Base Camp Fitness that'll actually be doing a pop-up, like an in-studio pop-up and workshop in March 2024. So I'm really looking forward to that.

Speaker 1: 18:16

But I'm mentioning this because what the kind of workout that's done? There is a hip workout where you alternate between cardio and between weightlifting, so it's like really intense and for me, perfect for around my ovulatory phase. So when I move into my alludial phase, I again take it a lot easier. I'm always scheduling some sleepy time, yoga classes. During the later part of this I like to go to the sauna, as I mentioned, and I definitely try to find time to stretch and emphasize self-care, which I guess self-care is not an exercise in and of itself, but for me it all goes into the same bucket. This schedule or this workout, these types of workouts, rather, that's what works for me and that's what I like for now. It might change. It surely will change actually and I'm saying this all to say that there's no one perfect workout routine. What works for me and what is quote unquote perfect for me is going to be different than what's best for you, and that's great, and about listening to your body and the moment. So we're just about to wrap up here.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Let's talk about a couple of specifics, of next steps for what you can do to start being aware of your cycle and syncing that with your exercise and your workout routines. So the first step there that kind of goes without saying is becoming aware of your cycle. If you're not sure when you ovulate or if you're not sure what day of your cycle you're on, don't worry, that happens. We all have to start somewhere. But I would recommend looking into a method of cycle tracking that works best for you, be it through an app on your journal, marking something on your calendar, whatever works for you. But that'll be step one so that you can identify where you're at and when you are in each of the four phases that I mentioned earlier. So once you've got that, you make a plan. You are on your way to exercise and cycle syncing success.

Speaker 1: 20:32

If you've already got a workout buddy, then maybe you want to let them know where you're at in your cycle so that, of course, as you guys are planning your workouts together, that they're up to speed and you're able to accommodate each other's cycles or at least you know if your partner's male then accommodate where you're at in your cycle and just give yourself grace for when you need something different in your workout routine that day. The other thing I want to mention here is you know, make sure that you're aware of how long are you working out for. A 30 minute workout can be great, a 60 minute workout can be great, but just what is it that you have the energy for that day? And also super important I cannot believe that I haven't mentioned it so far, but you got to remember to be properly nourishing yourself like all month long, all lifelong, but also after you're working out and especially if you're changing workout or changing what your goals for your workout are. I hope you found this conversation to be helpful and something that you can really apply in your own life in the future. If you are somebody who is going through a healing journey, if you're trying to understand how to balance your hormones, then I would really encourage you to consider some of these adaptations just again, especially while you're trying to kind of rebalance and normalize things out there. Now, if you're somebody who is trying to understand what your hormones are doing but you're not quite sure, then you can always download my guide that overviews what are the common symptoms of hormone imbalance, and you can find that by going to BridgetWaltoncom slash common symptoms and it'll give you the rundown of the most common symptoms of hormone imbalance and give you some clues about what they mean and what you can do to address them.

Speaker 1: 22:22

Okay, friend, don't forget to subscribe to I'm Hormonal if you're interested in having this episode to show up in your feed right away each week. You can follow me on Instagram at BridgetWalton. Shoot me a DM if you have any questions. I respond to all of the DMs that I get. And, last but not least, if you're wondering if one-on-one coaching with me would be a good fit for you, then click on the link in the show notes to set up a free discovery call. I am so grateful for you listening and especially for those of you who have made it all the way to the end here. So thank you so much and I will see you again next week. I want to tell you about one of I'm Hormonal's sponsors, which is actually my own hormone reset coaching package. Did you know that you can duke? I'm benefiting from this now so that hopefully, in 50 years from now I don't have any other problems. I don't have neck problems or a little hunchback what is the technical term for a hunchback? I'm under.