Unlock Your Athletic Potential with Menstrual Cycle Training

Pre menopausal women; trans men; and non binary & agender people with a uterus, we have our own seasons of cycling oestrogen and progesterone. We menstruate. We are stronger at different points in our cycle and we are more prone to injury at others. If you are an athlete - or a performance athlete - it makes sense to understand where you are in your cycle and train accordingly. In a study of two groups of menstruators, those who lifted heavy weights every third day for a month had a 13% increase in strength. Those who lifted once a week during the high progesterone and oestrogen phases of their cycle and every other day when their hormones were low - had a 32% increase in strength. 

In 2015 Chelsea Football Club started using periodised training based on each athlete’s menstrual cycle, they attribute this approach to a reduction in injuries and in better overall performance.  If you are a person that menstruates then it might be worth implementing. 
Stacy Sims has based her entire career around helping people understand how to do this. Most of  the following information comes from her book ROAR.

To oversimplify things we have a low hormone phase at the start of our cycle, we have rising
oestrogen, before ovulation we have another low hormone phase after ovulation and then a rise in progesterone and oestrogen in the week before we bleed again. This can be seen in this picture from Clue - the period tracker app.    

In the low hormone start of the cycle our exercise physiology is the most like a typical biological male’s. Paula Radcliffe famously earned her world record marathon time in 2002 despite period cramps. Uta Pippig won the Boston Marathon in 1996 with blood pouring down her leg as she crossed the finish line. Menstruators have greater strength gains and produce more force in the first half of their cycle, they also have higher pain thresholds and recover faster. This is the time of the month to lift heavy weights and go hard on your conditioning.
 
During the high oestrogen part of the cycle the body’s capacity for muscle glycogen turnover (accessing and using our stored carbohydrates) is down. This slows recovery as all bodies need available carbs to recover quickly. If those muscle glycogen stores aren’t replenished through eating adequate carbohydrates then subsequent exercise capacity will drop considerably. 
People are afraid of carbohydrates but they are fuel. We need them to train at our best. This article has some really tasty carbohydrate  snack ideas.
This is the time of the month to work through skills that you already know but need tidying up, drill them until they are sharp. 

The second half of the cycle is when things get hard if we don’t have the right support in place. 
High progesterone increases the fluid in our cells which decreases blood plasma volume, this in turn affects our capacity to sweat and results in sodium loss. To stay on top of hydration you might want to drink sodium rich fluids like miso soup before training. Caffeine an hour before training stimulates the release of fatty acids so the body will use fat as a fuel which means that we won’t burn through our carb stores as quickly.
High progesterone also makes it difficult to rebuild and repair muscles and this is the time when central nervous system fatigue can set in. You are not imagining things, training is harder right now. On top of this, there is a decrease in reaction times, neuromuscular coordination and manual dexterity. To support all of this, Sims recommends eating protein high in leucine - a muscle building amino acid - 30 minutes before and after exercise. This might be a peanut butter sandwich; an egg, a protein ball with hemp and pumpkin seeds in it, yoghurt, cheese - there are multiple options. To help the central nervous system you will also need to boost magnesium, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids, these all help fight the lack of mojo. Foods that are naturally rich in magnesium are leafy greens, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, zinc is found in cashews, seeds, beef, egg yolks, whole grains, dairy, and chocolate, omega-3 fatty acids are found in salmon, chia seed, flax seed and edamame. Lastly, a casein rich bedtime snack such as yoghurt or cottage cheese provides slow release proteins to support muscle repair.
In this second half of your cycle your choreography can be perfected; you can work on active flexibility drills; improve your technique; perfect your transitions; and work on your musicality. For a much more in-depth explanation of all this magical stuff I really do recommend Stacy Sim’s book ROAR, the updated edition has just been released.