How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Workouts | Science vs Myths with Dr Hazel Wallace | Be Well Moments

Can your menstrual cycle really change how you train, recover, and build strength - or is that just fitness hype? In this clip, we dive deep into the latest research on exercise and the menstrual cycle. While some studies suggest a small dip in performance during your period and more strength potential around ovulation, the evidence is mixed and often misunderstood. The real takeaway? Every woman’s body responds differently. This conversation explores how athletes and everyday women can use cycle awareness as a guide - not a strict rulebook - when it comes to training, recovery, and performance. Whether you’re running marathons, lifting weights, or fitting workouts around work and family, this discussion will help you understand what’s fact, what’s myth, and how to tune into your own body.Hazel Wallace

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If you enjoyed this episode you might also like:

What Men AND Women Must Know About Women’s Hormones, Periods & Fertility | Dr Hazel Wallacehttps://youtu.be/C--vYFyHAEw

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to live Well Be well, a show to help high performers
improve their health and well-being.
I've seen you talk about it a lot on the on the show.
We've had doctor Stacey Sims on here a lot speaking about the
importance of, you know, resistance exercise and training

(00:20):
for Women's Health. But what do you think about
training during your menstrual cycle?
Because there's a lot of different conversations around
this now on, you know, you should ramp it up for the two
weeks when like pre ovulation and then once you've ovulated,
you should be slowing it down. What's your because you're also
really into your training. So what do you do and what does
the research say in that, in that kind of sector?

(00:42):
So the research is definitely growing in this space, but
there's not a huge amount of studies there on training around
the menstrual cycle or recovery around the renstrial cycle or
muscle building potential aroundthe menstrual cycle.
And of the ones that we have, there is a lot of conflicting
evidence or inconclusive results.

(01:06):
From the systematic reviews where we pool all the research
together, it seems that there may be a small dip in
performance during your period. And I think for a lot of people
that is not really a surprise, but it's such a small dip, like
very insignificant, that some women won't experience it.
The other caveat to that is there's other studies that find

(01:27):
found otherwise. And when I was writing this
book, I really wanted to pull this apart because I find
personally the that my cycle really impacts my energy, my
motivation to train, and also how strong I feel.
And I wanted to find out if thatwas a real perceived effect like

(01:48):
from objective measures. And there was an interesting
study done on athletes. I think they were female
footballers and they perceived that they performed worse during
the period. But actually when they did
objective measures of how they performed, their reaction times
and other measures were better. So they actually performed
better during that time. And I think what this tells us

(02:12):
is it's not that it's all in your head that you're having a
terrible day or having a hard period, but we can still perform
well during our period and during different parts of our
cycle. And I found that actually really
empowering. At the time I was writing the
book, I was doing Paris Marathonand it was day three of my
cycle. And so having that knowledge of

(02:32):
my brain, yes, it might practically be really annoying,
but I'm still going to do well. I'm still going to perform well.
I think is is an important message to tell yourself.
So kind of what does the research say?
Maybe a small dip around your period and maybe kind of in that
late luteal phase potentially there's more muscle building

(02:54):
potential around ovulation in that kind of like pre ovulatory
phase when estrogen's high because estrogen is known to
really prime us for strength, motivation, enduring straining.
So you might feel stronger during that time if you do
amazing. And there's been a handful of
studies, I think 5 now where they've compared basing most of

(03:16):
your training in that follicularphase.
So the first part of your UMM cycle versus the luteal phase or
versus spreading it out across the entire cycle.
And they found that maybe there's a benefit of actually
front loading your training in the follicular phase.
There may be some benefits there.
But I think for most women who are not athletes who kind of are

(03:40):
trying to go to the gym around their, you know, working
schedule, maybe picking the kidsup from school, it's not
practical to swap and change their workouts around based on
their cycle. And I don't think the benefits
are great enough to make that big shift.
So I think for most women, use your cycle as a guide, but it
shouldn't dictate whether you rest or move.

(04:03):
It can't like use it to influence how you train in a in
the sense of like take each day as it comes.
So if you wake up during your period and you feel really
uncomfortable, then maybe today's not the day to put a
barbell across your hips and do hip thrusts, but maybe doing a
math Pilates class actually feels really good for you.
So it's just about taking, I think what the conclusion I've

(04:26):
come to is while we're waiting to gather more research, you are
your best piece of evidence. So start tracking your cycles,
start feeling how you feel across your training, your
cycle, and your training programand see how you need to change
things. For me personally, as I said,
like I feel the effects of my cycle on my training, but I

(04:47):
don't follow a cookie cutter approach and say during my
lethal Phase I only do low intensity exercise.
Like I'm still doing my long runs, I'm still doing my higher
intensity speed work and things like that.
But if I wake up on a day and I don't feel like I'm up for doing
a long run because it's day one of my cycle and it's quite
heavy, I will just move it to the next day.

(05:08):
And it's just about kind of giving your body that grace when
it needs it. 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in this
nutrient that so many of you guys might not be aware of.
And women, if you're listening, you are more at risk of being
deficient in this nutrient. So I'm going to first of all
explain what the physical symptoms are.
If you have cold hands and feet,pale skin, extreme lack of

(05:32):
energy or fatigue, then you might be suffering with iron
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Secondly, please explore a good iron supplement.
Many people that come to me are worried about taking iron
supplementation because it can cause Constipation or GI

(05:52):
distress. That's why I'm so incredibly
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That means it's much more gentleon your stomach.

(06:13):
There's no harsh tablets, it's just one naturally sourced
ingredient that works very well.You can pick it up in Boots or
buy online at Amazon, but pleasedo not ignore this.
It is. Really critical to make sure
your iron levels are in check. I think it's about becoming
attuned to your body. Yeah.
You know, I think there's so many and I don't, I try to not

(06:37):
become obsessed with variables and talk about it as like the
only inclusion point to have in your data.
But it is a great one to be ableto see.
And I know HIV is kind of, again, a very invariable
measure, but allowing yourself to start actually connecting to
where you are as opposed to the noise online telling you what
you should be, because then you're trying to fit into a
cookie cutter that isn't you. And your body might be in a
completely different phase. And I think about how many women

(07:00):
are listening to this and hopefully men.
It'd be great if men were listening to this episode, but
at all different life phases. And if this was Hazel listening
to this episode 6 years ago, you'd have had a completely
different outlook to where you are today.
And I think that's what's reallyimportant with Women's Health
and the menstrual cycle. It's about like tracking and

(07:20):
trusting yourself to know when is the rest and when you can
push. And using that data is really
important as opposed to trying to fit yourself into a puzzle
that you think should be working.
Yeah. I completely agree with you.
And I think if I think back to when I first stepped into the
space and the research space, which was probably about six

(07:41):
years ago, my perception was everyone needs to understand how
training around the menstrual cycle is going to benefit them.
And as I've gained more knowledge and more research has
come out, my opinions changed. I don't think that we need to
have that cookie cutter approach.
And I think that's OK because things will evolve.

(08:02):
But I, I'm not confident to sit here and say the menstrual cycle
has no impact on how we train and perform because that is just
not true for me. And you know, you mentioned
wearables. I find that with my heart rate
data, it starts to climb just asmy lateral face comes in and it
climbs, climbs, climbs. Once my period comes, it drops

(08:24):
and the same which my HRV, it improves and it recovers.
And that is a real objective measure for me.
And of course that's going to impact how I train.
But also what the research doesn't always look at is how
our symptoms and our psychology impact that.
So if you are, I don't know, a footballer and you're wearing

(08:46):
white shorts and it's during your period, of course your
brain is going to be thinking about, well, I really hope I
don't leak right now. Umm, or if you're running a
marathon and you have to stop halfway because you need to
change your period product. All of those things impact us in
on some level, so I think it's really important that we
continue to have have these conversations and help women

(09:09):
perform at their best regardlessof what phase of their cycle
they're in. I agree in so many ways.
I think, you know, allowing ourselves to feel more supported
in those films especially, you know, if you're running a
marathon and you're terrified about, well, when's the next
loose stop? All of those things play a
massive mental load. Thanks so much for listening to

(09:32):
hear the full episode. There's link in the description.