For a female, the menstrual cycle is a window into her health. Within a year or two of starting your initial menses it is healthy to have a consistent cycle without missing periods or experiencing significant fluctuations in the timing of your cycle. It is NOT normal as an athlete to miss your period. This is a sign that you are over stressing you body and leaves you in a state of low-energy availability and down regulates hormone production. This can backfire on your performance, ability gain strength, and capacity to heal when injured, and even increase your potential for injury. For females looking to maximize their training and performance it is helpful to track your cycle so you can identify changes or irregularities and maximize the times where hormone levels are optimal for strength gains or fat burring and knowing when it is normal to feel tired and ok to get extra rest.
Most females have menstrual cycles that last 21 to 36 days. Day one is the first day of menses (bleeding). Hormone levels continually change through your 3-5 week cycle. Below is an outline of when you to optimize your training and when be cautious throughout the female cycle without influence of synthetic hormones (oral contraceptives).
1. Menses or the bleeding phase
The details: This phase lasts for 4-7 days with many women experiencing cramping, fatigue, bloating, and even increase pain in initial days of bleeding or just prior to bleeding.
How does this impact training: During this time, light exercise can help manage pain and cramping. However, high intensity performance at this time may give your lack luster results due to fatigue. However, once you start the bleeding your estrogen begins to increase and you enter the Follicular phase of your cycle. Once you are past any discomfort or fatigue consider yourself in the follicular phase and read on.
2. Follicular phase (overlaps with menses, day 1-9 of cycle):
The details: This phase lasts from day one of menstruation to ovulation. Hormone levels are low at the start of this phase, but estrogen rises leading up to ovulation.
How does this impact training: The follicular phase is when physical performance is likely to peak. This phase is linked to lower RPE (relative perceived exertion) and increased pain threshold. High estrogen triggers a greater output of pain-masking endorphins in the brain. Your body is in a good place to focus on strength and high-intensity training. Studies have shown women build muscle faster and may have shorter recovery times due to the role of estrogen in building muscle. You are more coordinated and have faster reaction times, your verbal skills peak and you’ve got a sharper memory. Some women experience anxiety or greater stress during time due to high estrogen triggering excessive arousal in the brain.
As you get closer to ovulation Testosterone starts to peak which may make you feel more competitiveand make you feel impulsive and daring then at other times of the month.
BE AWARE:
Some studies have found that just prior to ovulation, females may be at increase risk for collagen injury due to higher estrogen levels and its effect on increasing connective tissue laxity. Most of the studies to date have focused on ACL injuries and have found increase in ACL rupture for females during this time of their cycle.
It is a good idea to check in with your body and heed warring signs of over fatigue. Mange your sleep, recovery time, and nutrition to maximize your potential for output. Ovoid pushing you body to preform harder when already starting to notice discomfort, strain, or fatigue.
3. Ovulatory phase: around day 14 of a 28-day cycle (may vary).
This phase ushers in a drop in estrogen levels and may cause a less intense version of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) that can include irritability, fatigue and a low mood. Estrogen soon rises again reducing these symptoms.
4. Luteal phase: after ovulation to menses roughly day 15-28.
The details: Progesterone rises and, as it does, it slows you down and you may find you are most fatigued and a little foggy during this time of your cycle. This is because progesterone is a sedating hormone.
How does this effect training: Progesterone may increase cravings for foods that are high in fat and calories. Your appetite is also greater and you’re hungrier more often. The female body does this because you might have gotten pregnant during ovulation and so it is prepping to support a fetus.
Be aware of fueling during this phase, If you eat too little during this cycle phase, you run the risk of experiencing a mood shifts or drop in performance due to drops in blood sugar by progesterone’s effect on metabolism.
Consuming carbohydrates before training helps improve glucose availability and energy during training and has been found to negate this difference in relative carbohydrate and lipid oxidation during prolonged exercise. Protein intake during this phase may be important to help improve recovery. During this time you are burning up to 30% more fat when you exercise due to the combination of estrogen and progesterone making your body more efficient at using fat for fuel.
Late Luteal phase: In the final phase of your cycle Estorgen and progesterone plunge. The drop in Estrogen is to blame if you experience PMS symptoms that can include changes in mood, energy level, bloating.
There is still not a full consensus on how the female hormone cycle effects sports performance, for every article that suggests a correlation there are other studies that conclude performance does not vary between menstrual cycle phases. The best way to approach your training and performance is to track your cycle and take notes on your symptoms and performance. Draw conclusions and modify your training based on your individual outcomes. Be sure to note quality of sleep and nutritional considerations such as alcohol consumption. Our bodies are impacted by many variables and no one variable will make all the difference but several together may make a significant impact.
References:

Sima Forouzandeh Shahraki, Hooman Minoonejad, Yousef Moghadas Tabrizi,
Comparison of some intrinsic risk factors of shoulder injury in three phases of menstrual cycle in collegiate female athletes, Physical Therapy in Sport,Volume 43, 2020,Pages 195-203,ISSN 1466-853X,
Effect of Estrogen on Musculoskeletal Performance and Injury Risk, by Nkechinyere Chidi-Ogbolu and Keith Baar, published in Frontiers in Physiology (2018). The majority of the research investigates ACL injury in female soccer players,
“The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Exercise Performance in Eumenorrheic Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” by Kelly Lee McNulty et al, published in Sports Medicine (2020).
“Effects on Power, Strength and Lean Body Mass of Menstrual Cycle/OC Based Resistance Training” by L. Wikstrom-Frisen, Carl Boraxbekk, and Karin Henriksson-Larson in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness (2017).
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