How to exercise correctly during menstruation, and whether hormones can be tricked, you will learn from this article. The content of the article:
- Phases of the hormonal cycle
- Exercising during the menstrual cycle
- The benefits of hormones
- Changes in the body
Menstruation is a natural condition for any healthy woman. At this time, hormones are in a special state, so mood changes and fatigue appears. The entire monthly hormonal cycle is divided into three main phases. Any athlete asks the question: when is it better to do training, and at what time is it worth stopping?
Phases of the hormonal cycle
When choosing a healthy lifestyle, you cannot be negligent about natural monthly changes. Sometimes one gets the impression that a woman was as if changed during this period: she becomes too irritable or, conversely, too calm. Hormones affect the entire body, and this vigorous activity must be used wisely. During a certain phase, the body is tuned to work in different ways.
- Follicular phase of the hormonal cycle … During this period, you can get tangible progress. Endurance and pain tolerance are at their highest. Therefore, you can exercise more intensely and reap the benefits.
- Ovulatory phase of the hormonal cycle … It has a period of no more than three days. During this time, insulin sensitivity increases, and carbohydrates are sent to muscle mass. But during this period, the body is prone to depression and injury. This is due to an increase in estrogen levels.
- Luteal phase of the hormonal cycle … This period is characterized by the fact that fats are used as a source of energy.
Women, like men, are dependent on hormonal balance in their bodies. In the gym, there is often such a picture when a girl tortures herself with strength training for a long period, but does not feel the result. The fact is that estrogen prevents muscles from growing to the desired level. Each person is hostage to their own hormones, but that can be changed.
Exercising during the menstrual cycle
In order for training to give visible results, it is necessary to study the menstrual cycle from start to finish. Regular stress in the form of bleeding is given to every woman with special losses and emotional stress. Regularly, the body goes through three stages, which in a special way affect the entire female body.
Once every female athlete learns to understand the intricacies of natural changes, training will reach the next level. You need to be able to adapt to your own hormones if you want positive changes in body structure. It is worth noting that this article is adapted for women who are not in menopause. Also, the information will be useless for girls who have chosen oral contraceptives as protection.
To plan your workouts, you need to understand when each phase of the hormonal cycle begins. The follicular stage begins immediately after the end of menstruation. It lasts no more than two weeks. During this period, the body temperature is kept at a natural level (36, 6–36, 8), and the level of estrogen does not exceed the permissible values.
On the fifteenth day of the hormonal cycle, the ovulatory phase begins. At this time, women may feel that it has become warmer around. Some of them even notice fever, despite the fact that the body temperature remains unchanged. The estrogen level is elevated. Within three days, ovulation occurs, the female germ cells are ripe and ready for fertilization.
Then the luteal stage begins, it lasts up to 28 days of the entire cycle. Estrogen becomes less, body temperature rises to 37.5 degrees. After the menstruation comes, after which the cycle repeats.
The benefits of hormones
Progress will be noticeable if you train intensively in the first two stages. Endurance at this time becomes especially noticeable. Women can do strength training without feeling tired quickly. Nutrition cannot be ignored. You need to eat high-carbohydrate foods and convert energy into muscle mass.
With the hormonal cycle, the body does not feel the effects of female hormones, and is freely amenable to training. The growth of muscle mass will be noticeable if you do not forget about healthy carbohydrates. It is recommended to use additional sources of carbohydrates, which can be obtained from shakes and sports supplements.
Ovulation is also used to set your own sports records. During this period, strength endurance is in its prime. But we must not forget about our own safety. Getting hurt or overtrained is easy. Overweight can play a cruel joke if you train thoughtlessly. Strength training requires every woman to have the right technique. Do not forget about the accumulation of fatigue in certain muscle groups.
Most of the fairer sex is hungry in the last stage of the hormonal cycle. You need to be careful with your diet, choosing only healthy foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins. For some, it is especially difficult to control appetite - hormones begin to manipulate the body.
In the luteal phase of the hormonal cycle, it is worth reducing the intensity of strength loads, the emphasis is on burning fat. Every second athlete claims that training is especially difficult during the hormonal cycle. The body seems to resist stress and does not want to progress. During this period, the body temperature rises, therefore, the cardiovascular system works in a more active rhythm. These actions require special reserves of energy, hence the rapid fatigability. Sometimes you can notice that the body has become more voluminous, and the scales show extra pounds. This is due to the accumulation of fluid in the body.
In order not to create carbohydrate starvation, the body draws energy from subcutaneous fat. Trainers recommend that it is during this phase of the hormonal cycle that you think about burning excess fat reserves. Strength training is minimized and the emphasis is on cardio exercise. If fatigue prevails over will, then you should take a closer look at yoga. Finding a balance with hormonal disruption is more important than torturing the body with violent training.
More calories are burned during this period, due to this, an increase in temperature is felt. The metabolic rate at different hormonal cycles is increased eightfold. Low serotonin levels make your mood worse. This signals the brain that a woman needs a high-carb diet.
Such a provocation will not give positive results for the body, since the power loads are reduced. Someone is trying to burn carbohydrates with strength exercises, but endurance is absent due to a decrease in insulin. The athlete falls into a vicious circle, so it is easier not to eat carbohydrates in large quantities, and not to exhaust the body with training in the last phase of the hormonal cycle.
As for serotonin, it doesn't need to be extracted from sugary foods. Better to include pumpkin seeds, turkey meat, or soybeans at the dinner table. Such products will not harm the figure, and the brain will be deceived.
Menstrual cycle: changes in the body
As soon as menstruation begins, hormones cease to control the situation. The body temperature drops to a natural level, the mood improves, and most importantly, endurance returns. You can start training hard again. The metabolic rate becomes lower, but the amount of insulin increases. Hence, additional attraction of calories is required. Carbohydrates reappear in nutrition mode.
As soon as the follicular phase begins, it is worth increasing the amount of carbohydrates consumed. At the same time, the intensity of training also increases, the muscles are ready to work again at full power.
Hormones can work in perfect tandem with every woman. One has only to understand how the state of the body changes at each phase of the cycle. If menstruation is ignored, serious health problems can arise.
Strength training decreases only during the luteal phase of the hormonal cycle. During this, you can not eat an immense amount of carbohydrates and set sports records. Hormonal changes occur every month, so they need to be studied and adjusted to your diet and training level. Otherwise, you can go to the gym for years without feeling the result.
In this regard, men are a little easier. The activity of their hormones is aimed at increasing muscle mass and increasing strength. Although this is sometimes not enough to achieve the desired results. Sports supplements help to consolidate the results, as well as enrich the body with the necessary substances. Women can also use these foods. The main thing is to take them only in the first and second phases of the menstrual cycle.
Nature has thought out every moment to the smallest detail. And according to her rules, a woman should not have developed muscles. Modern supplements and intense training can help correct this inequity. But the hormones will not give in, and will create barriers. Their action must be studied thoroughly, and only then training will bring a woman's physical form to a new level.
Of course, if the female body has entered the phase of menopause, then this theoretical knowledge will be meaningless. It requires an individual approach and study of the level of the hormonal cycle. If a girl takes hormonal drugs, then it is almost impossible to predict the body's reaction - in such women, the boundaries of the menstrual phases are blurred. Again, an individual study of the organism is required. Otherwise, the natural hormonal cycle is controlled, and each athlete will get her desired result. Trainers recommend keeping calendars to keep track of the period when the body enters a certain phase.
Video about training in different phases of the menstrual cycle:
