Once a month, I forget how to lift.
I can find myself failing with as little as 75% of my max. Along with that comes pain, instability, and a loss of coordination. Every tweak or injury that I have ever sustained has also occurred at this time.
It isn’t all bad, though. There is another point in the month where the weight suddenly feels light. I can hit massive PR’s out of nowhere.
Over time, these swings in performance became pronounced enough to overrun my perfectly penned programming.
Though I tried for years to find a link between these occurrences and whatever movements or methods I was using at the time, they proved to be completely unprovoked by anything other than the time of the month.
It’s like being a werewolf.
Natural Peaks and Valleys
Generally, women will feel stronger and more energetic in the first half of their cycle (the follicular phase), and more lethargic during the second half (the luteal phase).
This isn’t solely about feelings.
Research has shown that training in the first half of the menstrual cycle has a greater effect on strength and muscle mass. When the same level of work is performed in the latter half of the cycle, the benefits are measurably less.
Hormonal Shifts
This post is going to be less about science and research, and more about practicalities.
For the sake of background context, here is a quick rundown of what our bodies go through every month:
1. Follicular Phase
The follicular phase starts when your period starts, and continues for the first half of the menstrual cycle (roughly two weeks). Estrogen and progesterone are both low in the beginning of this phase, with estrogen steadily rising.
Though estrogen is probably most known for its unfavorable effects on men, it is actually anti-catabolic for women and makes us feel great in general.
Pain tolerance can be pretty high here. Work capacity and recovery are good as well. At this point, we typically feel crisp and coordinated.
Insulin sensitivity is high (that’s a good thing). Carbs are utilized well at this stage, and we are primed for building muscle.
2. Ovulation
Around ovulation time (the midway point – roughly day 14 in a 28 day cycle), hormonal fluctuations allow for a natural strength peak. Estrogen and testosterone both hit a high point.
Though this aids us in strength, injury risk also rises to between four and eight times higher than baseline.
3. Luteal Phase
After ovulation, estrogen plummets as progesterone dominates for the remainder of the cycle. By the end of this phase, both estrogen and progesterone are low.
Around now, we might notice things feeling heavier than normal, poor concentration, and that we aren’t recovering as well. Severe cramping, bloating, and impaired coordination can impede the body’s ability to safely stabilize weight and sense positioning, increasing the risk of injuries and accidents. There may also be some ligament laxity from elevated relaxin.
How You’d Periodize Around This
- Push hard for progress through the follicular phase.
- Figure out when you are ovulating. Schedule the most challenging day of the cycle around this time, if that is when you are consistently at your best. Since this also runs right into a time of elevated injury risk, be ready to dial back a bit if something doesn’t feel right.
- When the luteal phase begins, scale back on the amount of work being done. (Exactly how to do this and to what extent can vary.)
- During PMS week, deload and come up for air.
- Once the period begins, start ramping back up. (Energy tends to pick up a bit after you’ve been bleeding for a few days.)
SHOULD You Periodize Around This?
Well, let’s see..
Menstrual cycles vary from 23-35 days in length.
The same woman’s cycle can change monthly.
Not all women feel their strongest at ovulation. Quite a few report that the early follicular phase is where they shine.
Some actually feel their strongest just before their period arrives.
PMS symptoms are mild for some people. Others can’t get out of bed. This has less to do with a woman being stronger for not letting her period get in the way, and more to do with the varying intensities of hormonal fluctuations that women experience.
It’s probably fair to say that the majority would likely see more gains by proceeding with their plan as normal and not taking pre-determined downtimes for periods.
At the same time, many women have things going on outside of the norm, such as endometriosis, PMDD, or menorrhagia. These situations may prevent them from living a normal life, nevermind doing deadlifts.
Some people just don’t have very dominant menstrual cycles. This group probably won’t benefit quite as much from menstrual cycle periodization.
Women who are on (non-triphasic) hormonal birth control do not experience these hormonal shifts at all.
Any of these things can determine whether someone would periodize for their menstrual cycle or not.
What Does the Research Say?
The research on menstrual periodization is generally positive. Women have been shown to gain more muscle mass when the bulk of their training is done during the follicular phase. And it seems that incidence of injury can be curbed by taking extra precautions at certain times of the month.
On the flip side, some studies have shown that strength is NOT affected by menstrual phases. (There are many female athletes who disagree with that because they DO lose strength, power and coordination during certain phases. If it’s happening right in front of you, then it’s happening.)
Though studies can be helpful, research is not the be-all-end-all. Controlled studies are limited and form conclusions based on the average outcome. There are always outliers on either end.
One More Consideration – Competition
If the goal is simply general strength, there is probably no harm in allowing for PR attempts when feeling great and chilling out a bit when you don’t.
Unfortunately, sports do not have PMS divisions.
This does not mean that we need to succumb to failed lifts if the plan calls for an ambitious day at the wrong time. You can still stick closely to your plan, just adjusting for the bad days when and if they arise (whether period-related or not).
Programming Ideas
If you want to work with your cycle, the overarching theme is just to cluster most of the hard work into the first half of the cycle.
(Again, if you don’t need to do this, then don’t.)
As far as what to do for the second half of the cycle, it depends. For someone with real menstrual issues, maybe it’s just maintenance, or minimum effective dose mode.
Obviously, effort in this phase won’t be flushed down the drain, so work doesn’t need to be cut out if it is well-tolerated.
This is probably not a situation where you’d want to plan in excruciating detail for months in advance. Periods can be early or late, and each cycle might have some different quirks. Being flexible and reactive seems a better fit than having an overly rigid structure.
Lastly, you shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel when designing your program. It can probably blend seamlessly in an existing framework.
Here are a few examples:
Example 1: Percentage-Based Program
In a percentage-based program, you have a prescribed weight to hit for a set number of repetitions.
This format can really shine a spotlight on inconsistent performance.
To make this a little more adaptable for natural fluctuations, you could allow a margin of error on the prescribed weight. For example, give or take 5%-ish on all lifts (allowing more of a sway for weight decreases than increases).
You could autoregulate the luteal phase of your cycle while sticking closer to the script for your higher energy weeks.
You could also reduce the workload when needed by cutting down on the number of sets per session.
Here is an example of how a percentage-based template might be modified throughout the month:
Example 2: Undulating Periodization
An undulating scheme is a natural fit with a menstrual cycle. The intensity waves up and down over a period of days or weeks. You can easily synch the those waves to your own.
Here is an example of what this could look like:
Example 3: 5/3/1
5/3/1 is a popular system that allows for a bit of autoregulation with an amrap on the final set. Some might find that this is actually plenty to work with.
There is a world of other adjustments that can be made with more or fewer backdown sets, adding heavy singles after the main lift, performing multiple amraps/ skipping amraps, or changing the order of the weeks (3/5/1 is great).
None of this is anything new, as every fathomable possibility has been outlined in the 5/3/1 books.
You can see in the example below that the lifter opted out of an amrap on her 1+ week (early luteal phase). Instead, she did a respectable single, then went for controlled eccentrics on her down sets. Had she run into 1+ at a different time, her choices might have been different.
Example 4: Daily Autoregulated Training
For experienced lifters, a frequent Daily Max, or daily autoregulated type of system can be enlightening. (It does not mean going to an absolute max, and it does not have to be every single day.)
You do what you are capable of each day. In essence, just show up – and let things flow. By doing so, you can tap into your body’s natural periodization rhythm and fall into an organic pattern that is just right for you.
Many period-related woes can be diffused, desensitized, and demystified within a system like this.
Here is an example of how a month might end up looking:
Other Variables to Tinker With
Frequency
Cluster training days closer together in the follicular phase, and space them out during the luteal weeks, or whenever you feel particularly crappy.
Deloads
It is a luxury when scheduled deloads fall neatly inline with with PMS week.
But if the menstrual cycle falls out of synch with the program schedule, it’s nothing to stress over. You can adjust each week to your abilities, or just drop in/ push back a deload week where needed. Once the clouds pass, pick up where you left off.
Common sense would say not to deload in the follicular phase. However, there might be occasions where you’d like to have a better than typical performance on a specific day. In that case, maybe you DO deload in the follicular phase, so that your luteal phase PR attempt can be that much better.
Whenever you deload, expect to have a better than normal week when you return – whichever point in your cycle that may be.
Timing
Time to exhaustion decreases in the luteal phase. This means that we might hit the wall sooner and harder during a workout.
If you regularly find yourself beating a dead horse, you can try setting a timer. When it goes off, the session is terminated. This doesn’t need to turn into a ‘beat the clock’ circuit at the expense of strength, but a time restriction can limit junk volume and unnecessary drains on recovery.
For myself, a good session in the higher energy phase tends to last anywhere from an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. During a rough patch, anything that happens after the forty-five minute mark tends to be toilet-worthy.
Deadlifts
Switch to a less demanding deadlift variation (for example, blocks instead of floor pulls) if you feel beat up during the luteal phase. Deadlifts carry a lot of weight, so this alone can be a pretty impactful adjustment.
Lift Variations
Piggybacking off of the above, switching some standard lifts to slow tempos, pauses / multiple pauses (elevator lifts), partials, and tech-focused variations can help with positional awareness when you’re a little out of it. All of these things emphasize good technique and should carry over well when you’re feeling ok to push hard again.
BFR
Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) can be a nice tool to have in the toolbox. You get many of the benefits of heavy lifting, but with less stress. It can even help with recovery.
Personally, I love a heavy-ish placeholder lift, followed by some BFR work. Or, throwing in a light BFR recovery circuit during PMS week. Lots of room for experimentation.
How To Know When You’ve Entered the Luteal Phase
One method to determine if you have crossed over to the luteal realm is to track your temperature. When you ovulate, your body temperature rises slightly (around 0.5°F), and will remain slightly elevated in the latter half of the month. This could be your cue to dial things down a notch. When your period starts, that would be the signal to start working your way back up.
Simple calendar tracking can also be helpful. Or, you can use an app, like Period Tracker.
Or, just go by feels.
Period on Competition Day
A peaked state is special. It’s like when Pac-man eats one of those cherry things, gets immunity, and proceeds to destroy all the ghosts for a short while.
A little while later, he is vulnerable again. Timing is everything. This temporary, supercharged peaked state has the potential to overpower PMS, if that’s what nature has planned for the day.
If you actually GET your period on competition day, then kiss the stars. The typical period discomfort might be deceiving, but hormonally – you are lined up for some great lifts.
Final Thoughts
Menstrual cycle periodization may not be necessary for all, but for some, it can take a presumptuous blunder of a program and make it workable.
Keeping expectations in check, the objective isn’t to ensure that every workout is awesome. You do occasionally need to wade through some muck as part of the normal adaptation process (as well as just life in general), and can’t expect to feel crisp and refreshed all of the time. There are still daily ups and downs.
If you are firmly in the first half of your cycle and have an inclination to abandon lifting for a bubble bath… you might need to come correct.
But if you notice a pain that you don’t have normally, are experiencing extreme fatigue, or can’t seem to stabilize or coordinate your body effectively, it might be smart to dial things down a notch.
Being adaptive can help to get more quality work in, eliminate the extra stuff that might not be paying off, exploit strengths, alleviate frustration, and get the most out of strength training.
(All of this is based on the assumption that sleep, stress, nutrition, and technique are accounted for. Having these basics under control can help quite a bit, even if it is a menstrual cycle thing.)
Sources
Effects of follicular versus luteal phase-based strength training in young women
Menstrual cycle and knee joint position sense in healthy female athletes
Frequency variations of strength training sessions triggered by the phases of the menstrual cycle