Should I Change My Training and Diet around my Menstrual Cycle?

There was a recent meta analysis and systematic review by the journal of sports medicine where they looked at the impacts of menstrual cycle on exercise performance including endurance, strength, psychological impacts and other markers. The greatest impact was shown in the early follicular phase, that’s the first couple days of the period when we have cramps and are bleeding the heaviest. Not surprising, this is often an uncomfortable time for many of us, however, in this study this trend applied to just a small proportion of the women in the study group.

This is the first study of its kind, so it is clear that this is a highly under studied area and more research needs to be done. What we can determine so far though, is that we cannot prescribe any kind of blanket programming for women and what is needed is a highly individualised approach.

It is really important to be aware of the cultural psychological conditioning surrounding your menstrual cycle and try not to set up an expectation that you’ll struggle, because then, you probably will.

The best thing to do is to track your own cycle, there are so many apps out there now. I use CLUE, and it really helps me modulate my training around the fluctuations of my cycle, which change month to month.
If I am feeling really exhausted then I might practice yoga instead of heavy weights, and eat a little more.
Hormonal hunger is definitely a thing, no I don’t have a study, this is anecdotal based on coaching around 150 women, but even that has wide variants. Some women are ravenous and others mildly hungry, so again we come back to an individualised approach.

One thing is clear, you don’t necessarily NEED to adjust your diet or training around your menstrual cycle, and it is really very important not to use this time as an excuse to eat more and totally come off your program, or train less, simply because you think you should. It is really important to be aware of the cultural psychological conditioning surrounding your menstrual cycle and try not to set up an expectation that you’ll struggle, because then, you probably will. Meet it as it comes month to month, get to know your patterns and fluctuations and stay flexible minded, your body is not a static creature.