Written by Tasha Stevens, Integrative Clinical Nutritionist, B.S., NASM CPT, STOTT Pilates Instructor, Founder Happy Hormone Health
Tasha photo by Jessica Feely
PART FIVE of a six-part series uncovering the root causes of conditions affecting women’s health, and learning how to manage them through lifestyle.
Timing is everything. While we’re easily tempted to blame a lack of commitment or progress with our physique goals on motivation, the reality is our hormones often drive what is happening.
It’s not a lack of motivation or commitment—it’s your hormone cycle.
You know you have a 28-day hormone cycle, but do you consider just how much the shift in hormones affects your mood and actions (or inaction)? Your cycle creates huge shifts in your body’s ability to burn fat and handle workout intensities. At certain times of your cycle, your body is energized and primed to burn fat and increase strength. At other times, your body demands rest and is stress-sensitive and fat-loss resistant.
Women have been told that in order to drop inches and get toned they need to work out harder to burn more calories—because the more you burn, the more you lose. So you live with the expectation that during each workout you need to push more weight or run faster—which is extremely unrealistic.
Working out in misalignment with your hormones can spike your cortisol response and lead to increases in muscle breakdown, fatigue, exhaustion, and weight gain—which is why we often start working out more. So to end up gaining weight and inches can be exponentially frustrating.
Cyclical Strength Training for Results
You can optimize your hormone cycle to burn more fat and get lean, all without exhausting yourself and losing motivation, with cyclical strength training and cardio. This is where you strategically time your progressive overloads and deloads to match your hormonal needs. Here’s how to approach each phase of your cycle in order to perform at your best during that time, and continue to feel as good as can be.
Menstrual Phase
Days 1-5
Hormones are at their lowest, and your strength potential is low. It is understandable to feel more tired. Your body is demanding a natural deload, which means it is perfectly acceptable to take more rest days.
Focus on low-intensity lifting and higher rep sets with a low RPE (rate of perceived exertion) and concentrating on quality contraction to get the most from your workout without burning out.
For Example: You could complete a bodybuilding-style workout with rep ranges of 15-20 and an RPE of no more than 5. Meaning that you are selecting weights that you could easily move for 15-20+ reps.
Cardio-wise, keep it low intensity. Focus on walking or gentle yoga.
Follicular Phase
Days 6-10
Hormones begin to rise and with them so does your energy and metabolic rate. In this phase, your body has a high endurance capacity and is extremely effective at burning fat. Capitalize on this by focusing on hypertrophy and endurance-type lifting.
Prioritize heavy weights (about 70-75% max) and medium reps with minimal rest periods since your hormone profile at this time increases recovery times.
For Example: One could perform 4 sets of 8 reps of compound exercises (e.g., bench press, deadlift, shoulder press, squat) with 75 seconds of rest between sets.
Cardio-wise, higher intensity cardio such as StairMaster, biking, or hiking supports fat burn.
"This is where you strategically time your progressive overloads and reloads to match your hormonal needs."
Ovulatory Phase
Days 11-15
Estrogen and testosterone peak at this time, which means your energy and strength capacity are through the roof. Your body is extremely willing to burn fat as a fuel source and is efficient at using carbs as a fuel source.
Prioritize max weight (85-100% capacity) workloads for strength training with low reps and minimal rest periods. This leverages the benefits of both testosterone and estrogen.
For Example: You could perform 5-10 sets of 1-3 reps for compound exercises with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Cardio-wise, this is the time to leverage the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Kickboxing classes, spin classes, or Tabata-style training are perfect.
Early Luteal Phase
Days 16-19
After ovulation, your body shifts from a burn mode to a protect mode. In response, during this time metabolic demand increases, insulin sensitivity decreases, and circulating cortisol levels increase. You will notice that your energy becomes more focused and your body is more sensitive to overtraining. You can still get results in this phase, but your performance expectations should shift.
You have the capacity to still train heavier (85-95% capacity) with low-medium reps and medium rest periods. Longer recovery times and increased metabolic rate means that recovery from these workouts is key.
For Example: You could complete 3 sets of 2-6 reps of compound exercises and 6-10 reps for accessory movements (e.g., lateral raise, rear delts, biceps) with 1 minute of rest between sets.
Cardio-wise, moderate intensity optimizes fat burn without adding stress. Think StairMaster, incline walking, biking.
Late Luteal Phase
Days 20-28
If conception did not occur, hormones begin to decline leading into your period. With this, your body’s ability to handle intensity diminishes, and there is a huge increase in stress sensitivity. Pushing too hard in this phase and not eating enough can lead to PMS, mood swings, and spikes in inflammation and weight gain.
Focus on lower strength capacity (55-70%) and higher reps with longer recovery periods.
For Example: Complete sets of 8-12 reps of both compound exercises and 10-15+ for accessory movements with 1 minute of rest between sets.
