The best (and worst) time to exercise during your cycle.

If you're anything like us, exercising is the absolute last thing you want to do when you're on your period.

Sit on the sofa and eat tasty things? Yes. Watch comfy TV shows you've seen 322 times? Big yes. Smash out a HIIT class? Hard no.

Not once have we ever connected monthly bleeding to anything else other than uncomfy, just-gotta-get-through-it feelings.

But here's the thing: Not only can exercising during your period help ease annoying symptoms (hey stabby period pain), but it could also actually help you score that PB. No, seriously!

According to science, women are stronger, more motivated, and more of a bad a$$ when they're menstruating.

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But exactly how does your period affect your physical endeavours? And why isn't this something we didn't already know?

All good questions.

We spoke to a doctor, a personal trainer, and a sports nutritionist and asked them everything we need to know about the way our menstrual cycle affects our energy levels, and how we can use it to our advantage.

The relationship between exercise and your period.

Up until now, there's pretty much been a gaping lack of evidence in relation to menstruation and physical exercise. In fact, menstruation, in general, is still quite an understudied area.

"For a very long time, women were actually excluded from a lot of research, because we were too dangerous — for example, in case we're pregnant and it hurts the fetus. We're so dynamic because of our hormones, so it's a lot harder to do clinical testing," said naturopath and sports nutritionist Kira Sutherland from Uberhealth.

"We are kind of three or four different people, depending on when you're testing during the month. You can have different results when you test a female a week into her cycle versus three weeks into her cycle," said Sutherland.

While there's currently not that much research in this field, what's coming out is really interesting. So, the more and more we talk about it, the more this type of research will be funded.

When it comes to the research that is out there, earlier this year the Apple Women's Health study team at Harvard released first-of-its-kind research — preliminary scientific data on menstrual symptoms of over 10,000 participants.

Speaking to The Cut, Dr Shruthi Mahalingaish, one of the study's investigators, said this knowledge would not only impact gynecologic decisions but overall health.

"It will be really interesting to really understand how the phases of the menstrual cycle might underlie patterns on sports and activity.

"The relationship between our menstrual cycle and how we can absorb, adapt and recover from training is extremely intertwined," Lydia O'Donnell, who founded Femmi, a coaching program that focuses purely on coaching female athletes to their menstrual cycles, adapting the training to work with the athletes.

"Throughout the menstrual cycle, our hormones are constantly changing. With these hormonal fluctuations, our body goes through different phases of energy levels which can affect our performance when exercising as well as the adaptations we make to our training," she said.

While this is all new information to most of us (hello!), it turns out that using your menstrual cycle to tap into your physical goals isn't exactly a new phenomenon. In fact, it's pretty common.

Take the Brisbane Lions Women's team, for example — who structured training around their cycles to optimise players' recovery in a bid to help them secure a premiership title.

They used a similar method to what was used by the USA women's soccer team, who tracked player's periods in the lead-up to the 2019 Women's World Cup.

In the UK, the Chelsea Women's Football club also uses an app to track their player's periods.

"Professional athletes have to be able to perform at all stages of the menstrual cycle and it is well documented that moderate amounts of aerobic exercise may help with psychological and physical premenstrual symptoms such as bloating, breast tenderness, and mood swings," said Associate Professor Gino Pecoraro, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Brisbane.

The menstrual calendar is fascinating and complex. There's a phase driven by enthusiasm and motivation, perfect for high-intensity movement. There's a phase for endurance training. There's even one for rest and recovery.

"As far as the whole cycle goes, there are now theories around when you could be doing different forms of training in relation to your cycle. What you might not know is that you utilise the stored fuels of your body differently between the rest of the cycle," said Sutherland.

The way in which our menstrual cycle impacts our bodies is forever shifting and changing, calling for us to tune into our bodies and, well... listen.

How your menstrual cycle impacts your physical energy.

Okay, let's go back to health class, shall we?

A textbook menstrual cycle is 28 days (keeping in mind everyone is different, so don't panic if this ain't you!).

There are two phases in a menstrual cycle: the follicular phase and the luteal phase. Ovulation is usually smack bang in between these two phases — generally landing on day 14 for people (again, everyone is different).

Throughout your cycle, the main hormones that will have an impact are estrogen and progestogen.

"In the first half of the menstrual cycle (the follicular phase), the ovaries produce more oestrogen than progesterone. Its role is to make the endometrial lining thicker and receptive should a fertilised embryo need to implant. The rising oestrogen levels are also important to prime the ovaries to ovulate or release an egg," explains Professor Pecoraro.

So, at the very start of the early follicular phase, which is when you have your period (usually day one to day five), you have low estrogen and progesterone, and you'll also have typical PMS symptoms like pain, sore boobs, tiredness, etc.

According to research, during this time most women will experience reduced motivation, and a decreased willingness to train.

*Raises hand*

It's also important to note here, that your period is an inflammatory process, which means your body is pretty stressed out around this time — so you're going to recover slowly if you are training. It's kind of your body's way of telling you to back off on the heavy stuff.

Around this time, if you feel well enough, most experts would actually recommend a bit of movement because moderate-intensity exercise can actually improve menstrual symptoms.

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"The moods within PMS — like anger and sadness — there's a lot of research that proves exercise can improve those moods, at least for a few hours. So, exercising with PMS is one of my big prescriptions for people," said Sutherland.

So, if it feels good for you and you're not curled up in a fetal position with a hot water bottle, some gentle exercise can have its benefits. But yeah — this is not a good time to go all in. Just do what feels right for your body.

"Menstrual cramps are not pleasant and can make training feel a lot harder and not enjoyable. Forcing yourself to train when you are facing severe cramping will not be fun and could put you in a position of creating a negative relationship with exercise," said O'Donnell.

"If this is you, then it would be wise to focus more on mobility and stretching through this time. Breathing exercises and meditation can help some women," she adds.

As you reach ovulation, your estrogen level will spike. During this time you'll find that your motivation and energy levels are up.

"Exercise often can feel easier around this stage because it's considered a lower hormone phase, and we often feel like we can train harder," explains Sutherland. "We access our storage of carbohydrates in our bodies more easily. And again, it's probably why exercise feel a bit easier."

It's also important to note that estrogen is anabolic — meaning it helps build muscle. So, most experts say that now is the right time to start working on your strength, lifting those weights, and doing high-intensity exercise.

"During the ovulatory phase, oestrogen peaks alongside testosterone, we are able to recover quicker and therefore can push our training and exercise a lot harder," said O'Donnell.

Most research shows that focusing all of your energy on training during this phase (the follicular phase) seems to be more beneficial rather than saving it for the second phase.

So, this continues around ovulation — until your estrogen begins to drop.

Feature image: Getty.