I remember the exact weekend I realized my hormones were impacting my training, my perception of effort and my overall energy—because it happened during a CrossFit competition.
I was 40 years old, and it was September. I was at a partner event and had been feeling very fit heading into the competition. I had prepared and trained hard for the weekend, and I was ready to crush the workouts. I had tested them, and everything had gone really well. I could not wait to throw down with my partner and the other women!
The first event was a disaster for me, and it didn’t really improve after that.
I felt weak and completely out of breath. The panic this caused made things worse and worse as the workout progressed. When we finished, I felt like I had been hit by a Mac truck.
The same thing happened in the rest of the events that day. At one point during a rowing and deadlift event—a very strong couplet for me—I felt like someone was sitting on my chest, and I just could not find the gear I needed to push the way I knew I could.
It wasn’t until the last event on the second day that I felt somewhat normal. But by then I was so exhausted and distraught that I barely cared about the shift. I chalked it all up to stress and left feeling super disappointed.
Up until that point, I knew that my cycle could impact my training a bit, but nothing too extreme. I had experienced some menstrual migraines and overall lower energy right before I started menstruating, but my cycle had never really stopped me in the gym.
What happened at that event was significantly different.
Three days after the competition, I started my period. It stopped me in my tracks because I realized really bad PMS could have been the issue.
The following month, and the month after that, I noticed the same thing was happening. I tracked my cycle regularly, marking which day I was on in my training log. As the weeks and months progressed, I started to notice the patterns.
Downshifts in strength and energy, joint pain, and pelvic-floor issues all showed up at similar times each month.
There was a pattern I couldn’t ignore.
Cycle Syncing
Eventually, I realized other women were saying the same things as me online—and there was quite the buzz about it.
All of a sudden, you could hear a lot of chatter and get a ton of recommendations as to how this could be managed.
“During your luteal phase, just do gentle movement. In your follicular phase, just do weights.” Of course, others said, “Don’t do any weights in your follicular phase.”
It was a bit overwhelming, but I wanted to try making some changes.
As it turned out, changing it up wasn’t a realistic approach for me for a variety of reasons.
First, my work and family schedule are demanding. I prefer to structure my workouts based on what is sustainable and what works with my goals and my business. For me, this means more training on the weekend and just three days of training during the week.
I couldn’t guarantee that my cycle was going to sync with my work schedule. I found it way too difficult to manage. Taking more days off isn’t an option for me; I have goals and I like to keep moving.
Also, my symptoms have some variance month to month. Some days when I “should” be feeling great, I just don’t. Other days that “should” be crappy aren’t! Instead of feeling empowered and ready to crush my training on my “best” days, I would often feel discouraged and scattered. In fact, I’d wake up anxious about whether it was a “good” day to lift, and it’s hard to lift well when you’re anxious.
In reality, I found most days are good days to lift some weight.
Self-Regulating
I decided to use the data I had collected regarding my symptoms and just reference them throughout the month as I trained according to my plan.
If I was planning to hit some heavy squats, I hit them. But if my body gave me feedback that I had to adjust the loads, I did, and I did not stress about it.
It was so helpful to know where I was in my cycle, especially on the days that were very low energy, or when my joints were really aching. Instead of wondering, “What is wrong with me?” I just adapted the loads, movements and intensity and did my best for that day. It totally changed my experience with training as I navigated the hormonal shifts that were occurring.
The more notes I kept, the better it went. I started to understand why some days were rough, and that made me stop questioning my fitness or commitment.
I found out my experience was very similar to that of other women, and the feedback I got from them was reassuring. I wasn’t getting weaker or less fit, and I wasn’t falling apart. Knowing what to expect and when to expect it made the training experience so much more manageable. I didn’t try to push through movements or specific percentages on days that I just couldn’t. I kept moving, but I made adjustments as needed.
For example, I noticed that during a certain time each month, my pelvic-floor muscles are just weaker. Certain movements and very heavy loads cause leaking. This does not happen every time I train, but around ovulation it does. Instead of soaking my tights, I adjust the exercise now. A week later, I come back to that movement and—voila!—no leaking.
This kind of knowledge is something you can harness and use to make workouts much more enjoyable.
If I have a recommendation for you, it’s to track your cycle so you can look for clues and patterns. Everything might be different for you, so use a calendar or an app and keep track.
You Do You
These days, you’ll hear so much messaging about what you should and should not do with training and your hormones.
Ultimately, I think women need to explore what works best for them and do more of that.
And if something is not working, be open to changing your mind and changing your methods.
