It’s a truth universally acknowledged (in the wellness realm, at least) that tailoring your training to the phases of your menstrual cycle will help you to become fitter, faster and stronger. But while we’ve been buying into the theory, experts have been busy unravelling the research – and their findings make for disruptive reading. Let’s take a deep dive...
Once upon a time, Sarah’s pre-workout planning comprised of making sure she had a clean pair of leggings to grab, eating a banana an hour or so before and ensuring she filled up her water bottle. But for the past two years, since downloading a hormone-tracking app on her phone, she’s added checking her menstrual phase to her planning process. Before blocking out time in her diary and packing her gym bag, she looks at the levels of her reproductive hormones and uses this intel to decide, on any given day or week, if her body is best primed to push for new strength PBs, focus on cardio or conserve energy via low-intensity mobility and stretching. Sarah is far from alone. The concept of cycle syncing – where women work with their fluctuating hormones to align workouts with the phases of their menstrual cycles to boost their fitness and reduce risk of injury – has soared in recent years.
Day 5 Your strength is low; avoid running and HIIT.
This magazine first reported on the concept in 2020, when it was originally the preserve of elite athletes. In 2022, ahead of the Women’s Euros, Lioness Nikita Parris told us how cycle syncing was integral to the team’s training.
‘We’ve been tracking our menstrual cycle as an England team for two years. Before then, I probably wouldn’t have [thought to] align my cycle with the fatigue or tiredness I would feel,’ she said.
‘Tracking helped me understand why I felt how I felt, and how to adapt my training to suit that. We work with an expert who gives us tips on what’s best to eat and drink, and how to train for each phase.’
Now, in a recent straw poll of Women’s Health’s Instagram followers asking whether they synced their workouts to their menstrual cycles (this is how we learned of Sarah’s story), 87% of respondents answered yes. In response to public demand, cycle syncing has become a common filter and theme on leading workout apps, some of which offer phase-specific exercise plans.
And yet, while the idea of cycle syncing has become increasingly popular among everyday exercisers, research to support the theory has instead raised more questions than answers. Could it be, as growing numbers of fitness experts and thought leaders are arguing, that planning your workouts with menstrual phases in mind is more hype than hard science?
Just a phase
There are two main phases of the menstrual cycle,
