Menstrual cycle hormones and phases: what changes for training

Menstrual cycle hormones follow a fairly predictable pattern: estrogen and progesterone both start low at your period, estrogen climbs to a peak just before ovulation, and progesterone takes over after ovulation before both drop again. Those swings genuinely change a few things you can measure, like resting heart rate, heart rate variability and body temperature. What they don't reliably change, on current evidence, is how well you can train.

This post walks through the hormones of the menstrual cycle phase by phase, what each phase does to your body in ways that show up in training, and what the research says about performance. Plan around it yourself or let a coach that rewrites your plan every week absorb the bad days; either way, the science points the same direction.

For the practical side of training through your cycle, start with the hub guide on training with your menstrual cycle. This post is the physiology underneath it.

One ground rule: this is about training, not medicine. If your periods are very painful, very heavy, irregular or have stopped, see a doctor. That's not a programming question.

The hormones of the menstrual cycle, phase by phase

Sport scientists split the cycle into phases defined by hormone levels, not by calendar days. A widely cited methods paper for research on women (Elliott-Sale et al., 2021) describes four phases worth testing in a natural cycle:

LH, luteinizing hormone, is what ovulation test kits detect. Its surge comes just before ovulation.

The paper deliberately numbers the phases rather than leaning on names, to cut down on mislabeling. That's a hint about the main problem in this field: plenty of studies guessed phases by counting days, without confirming ovulation or measuring hormones (Elliott-Sale et al., 2021).

Whatever you're training for, the fundamentals don't change across these phases: lift heavy, progress gradually, run mostly easy. A lifting plan for women with running built in has room to move a session on a rough day without the whole week falling over.

What a menstrual cycle hormones graph shows

If you've seen a menstrual cycle graph of hormones, it's usually two wavy lines over an idealized 28 days. Read left to right, the table above becomes this:

• ›Days 1–5: both lines sit low. This is your period.
• ›The rest of the follicular phase: the estrogen line climbs to a sharp peak just before ovulation. Progesterone stays flat.
• ›Ovulation: estrogen dips from its peak.
• ›The luteal phase: progesterone rises into a broad hump about a week after ovulation, and estrogen makes a second, smaller rise.
• ›Before your next period: both fall, and the cycle starts again.

The graph is a cartoon of an average. Real cycles vary in length and in when ovulation happens, so day counting is a rough guide at best. Hormonal profiles also shift in the first years after your first period and in the time approaching menopause (Elliott-Sale et al., 2021). If you're in that second group, a guide to strength training for women over 40 covers the training side.

Hormonal contraception changes the picture

Oral contraceptive pills lower your own estrogen and progesterone and supply synthetic hormones on pill-taking days, so the phases above don't apply in the same way. A 2020 meta-analysis of 42 studies found any performance difference between pill users and naturally menstruating women was most likely trivial, that performance was consistent across the pill cycle, and that the evidence doesn't warrant general guidance either way. Contraception is a decision for you and your doctor, not your coach.

What changes across the cycle (that you can actually notice)

These are the changes with decent evidence behind them. None of them is a reason to stop training.

Resting heart rate rises after ovulation

In a study of 91 women wearing wrist sensors during sleep, with ovulation day estimated by urine tests, pulse rate in the mid-luteal phase was on average 3.8 beats per minute higher than during the menstrual phase. It was also higher in the fertile window than during menstruation.

HRV tends to dip in the luteal phase

A meta-analysis of 37 studies found a significant decrease in cardiac vagal activity, the parasympathetic side of heart rate variability, from the follicular to the luteal phase. In a large app dataset, morning RMSSD changed by about 3.2% between the follicular and luteal phases (Altini & Plews, 2021). Small, but enough to show up on a watch.

If you track HRV, that's worth knowing before you panic at a luteal dip. The answer to whats a normal hrv for women is mostly your own baseline, not a universal number. And menstrual cycle, heart rate and HRV changes are a bigger topic than one section can hold.

Body temperature is higher in the luteal phase

A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise in the heat found higher internal body temperature in the luteal phase before exercise, and that the difference was maintained through and after exercise, with no observed effect on sweat rate. It was based on only nine studies and 83 participants, so read it as a likely pattern rather than a rule. Practically: hot races in your luteal phase may feel a bit warmer, so pace by effort on hot days.

Sleep can get worse, for some

A 2022 review of the menstrual cycle and sleep says self-reported sleep quality worsens in some, but not all, women when premenstrual symptoms appear. Bad sleep hurts training more reliably than any hormone does, so it's worth noticing.

Symptoms are the real story

In a survey of 6,812 exercising women not using combined hormonal contraception, the most common cycle symptoms were mood changes or anxiety (90.6%), tiredness or fatigue (86.2%), stomach cramps (84.2%) and breast pain or tenderness (83.1%). More frequent symptoms were associated with a greater likelihood of missing or changing training.

That's the practical takeaway. Most of the time, a bad session around your period is about cramps, fatigue or sleep, not a hormone-driven drop in strength. Working out on your period comes down to the same rule as any rough day: adjust the session, don't abandon the plan.

Do menstrual cycle hormones change performance?

This is where the confident Instagram carousel and the research part ways.

Performance overall. The biggest review so far, a 2020 meta-analysis of 78 studies by McNulty and colleagues, found exercise performance might be trivially reduced in the early follicular phase compared with other phases. The quality of evidence was mostly low, variation between studies was large, and the authors concluded general guidelines can't be formed. Their recommendation was a personalized approach.

Strength. A 2023 umbrella review by Colenso-Semple and colleagues found highly variable findings and poor, inconsistent methods for confirming cycle phase. Its conclusion: it's premature to say short-term hormone fluctuations appreciably affect acute strength performance or longer-term strength and muscle gains.

Cycle-syncing. Rearranging your whole training calendar around phases is well ahead of the evidence. The same umbrella review judged the research too inconsistent to say hormone fluctuations meaningfully change training adaptations. A few small studies with imperfect phase checks don't add up to a rule.

Endurance and fitness ceilings. Questions like do women have more endurance than men are separate from the cycle, and so is where you sit on a vo2 max by age female chart.

So the evidence is mixed and mostly weak. The honest summary: on average, the effects are small; individuals vary a lot; and your own pattern matters more than a generic chart.

How to use this in training

1. ›Log day one of your period each cycle. It's your anchor.
2. ›Rate each session quickly: effort, how you felt, any symptoms.
3. ›Note sleep and stress. A bad session after a short night isn't a cycle problem.
4. ›Expect a higher resting heart rate and a slightly lower HRV after ovulation. Compare this cycle with your previous cycles, not with last week. That's also how to read readiness scores without overreacting.
5. ›Review after three or four cycles. If a heavy session always feels awful on the same day, move it. If nothing shows up, carry on.

The 2023 umbrella review specifically notes that documenting menstrual symptoms helps when reviewing long-term progress and adjusting a program. It takes less than a minute a day.

How exrsz handles this

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, with running and lifting balanced in one plan. It adapts each week to how you actually trained and reshuffles missed sessions, so a rough few days lead to a sensible next week instead of a guilt trip.

FAQ

What are the main menstrual cycle hormones?

Estrogen and progesterone, with luteinizing hormone (LH) surging just before ovulation. Estrogen and progesterone are both low at your period, estrogen peaks before ovulation, and progesterone peaks in the mid-luteal phase (Elliott-Sale et al., 2021).

Do hormones of the menstrual cycle affect strength?

Not by much on average. A 2023 umbrella review concluded it's premature to say cycle phase appreciably affects strength performance or gains, though individual women may notice their own patterns.

Which phase of the menstrual cycle is best for training?

There's no reliably best phase. A 2020 meta-analysis found only a possible trivial dip in the early follicular phase, from mostly low-quality evidence, and recommended a personalized approach.

Why is my resting heart rate higher before my period?

It tends to rise after ovulation. In a study of 91 women, sleeping pulse rate was on average 3.8 beats per minute higher in the mid-luteal phase than during menstruation.

Does HRV change with the menstrual cycle?

Yes, it tends to dip in the luteal phase. A meta-analysis of 37 studies found a significant decrease in vagally mediated HRV from the follicular to the luteal phase.