Ladies, the hot 6 Tips to Train for Your Hormone Cycle

by Samah Elomari,  Women's health physiotherapist 

We women, with our moods and energy levels will often find ourselves blaming our menstrual cycle for most things! At the same time, driving our housemates or partners mad!

Ladies, let's turn it all around and use our changing hormone levels every month for the better! Here are women's health physiotherapist Samah's top 6 tips for exercising and training throughout your month.

Tip 1. At the end of your period and the week after, you are building more and faster muscle mass. This is due to the rise in oestrogen. Use these weeks to work on your strength training and lifting.

Tip 2. Around ovulation, your testosterone levels go up. Testosterone makes you feel competitive, powerful and energetic. This is perfect for competition day and running. At this time, you also have better coordination and faster reaction times – great for if you’re trying to learn dance or gymnastics routines. Book those dance classes and attend  Zumba classes at this time i the middle of your cycle. Find your feet if you are usually tripping over them!

Tip 3.If looking to lose fat, you’ll burn up to 30% more fat during aerobic exercise in those 7 days after ovulation. This is due to the rising combination of estrogen and progesterone, which fires up your body’s ability to burn fat.

Tip 4. If you exercise according to heart rate zones, expect higher heart rates to be more of a challenge to reach during your period. Try shorter workouts or shorter runs and swims during this time too, because you’re more likely to experience a drop in endurance. Leave you endurance workouts alone during your period.

 Tip 5.When training at higher intensities, you might experience more of a challenge during those 7-10 days after ovulation. Your heart is working slightly harder than normal, especially if you’re training in hotter climates…so you’ll reach a higher heart rate more quickly. Go back to those  dance and Zumba classes perhaps!

Tip 6. Here is comes, the most important tip.  Listen to your body and please  be kind to yourself. Only you know how your body is feeling. If you’re experiencing premenstrual syndrome (PMS) – that irritability, fatigue and a down mood – maybe what you need is some R&R, meditation and Yoga. Leave that big weights session or run to another day.

Another great reason to strengthen those muscles!

What a great read about yet another benefit of resistance exercise in us all. We can easily find many a research paper or magazine article  about the health benefits of regular exercise- cardio vascular health, mental health, even the steering away from cancers, dementia and decreasing bone density.

How about the added effects of stronger muscles and greater muscle bulk? Did you know that:

• healthy muscle mass is involved in the production of greater reserves of amino acids used in the immune system? The bigger the muscle, the more of these in your muscle cells and the better you can quickly fight infection and disease! 
• muscles keep low level inflammatory responses that we all posses at a lower controlled level? This in turn decreases the risks of many chronic diseases that arise from ongoing mild inflammations present in our bodies.
• the quality of exercised muscle may prevent some cancers? The fatty deposits found in a weak unused muscle look to be a cancer risk for some cancers.
• exercise and fitness actually improves the effectiveness of vaccinations? It has been shown that exercising immediately before or after a jab helpds boost the immune system to develop immunity for the disease you were being vaccinated for.

So, get ready for that hopeful arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine! Get those muscles challenged and stronger to boost your immunity.

Read more at https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-muscle-helps-to-build-a-healthy-immune-system-20200706-p559ec.html

How will returning back to the gym stay safe for all?

How do you feel about returning to the gym, as the restrictions across Australia start to lift and gyms can begin to open their doors? OK, there will be a few strict rules around numbers allowed in the gym space, and cleaning of all surfaces, but do you feel it will be enough?

By nature, gyms are germy places. From gym goers in close proximity sweating and breathing heavily, to the handling of equipment and equipment like weights quite difficult to clean thoroughly due to all the nooks and crannies. There will definitely need to be an acceptance that some risk lies with returning to the gym. However for some, this risk should be weighed up against the huge physical, mental and social benefits in retruning back to gym-based exercise. 

This New York Times article from this week is a great positive read on how to make your return to the gym as risk free as possible. It encourages you to get back to enjoy your favourite workouts again. To borrow from the author, at the gym, live by the mantra:

Wash. Spray. Wait. Wipe. Repeat

• plan to sanitise yourself and the equipment very frequently.

• make sure your gym offers contactless gym sign in procedures.

• use your own wattle bottle and avoid the drinking fountains.

• give the sanitiser and other sprays at least a minute to kill the bacteria on the equipment. Wait this time before wiping.

• clean the equipment BEFORE you use it to negate any poor or rushed cleaning from the last person.

• exercise with 2 towels each time, saving one to mop your face and body sweat and the other to lay on the benches and mats for your workouts.

• ask your gym to increase it's flow through ventilation system to refresh the air. This can be through fancy air conditioners, or simply to have a cross flow of ventilation with windows open to keep air and its particles moving from inside to outside the gym.

• exercising with masks may have limited benefits although should depend on the type of mask. Due to sweat and moisture, may masks would be quickly reduce their antibacterial defence barrier.

Perhaps you can't wait to rejoin your gym, or perhaps you would prefer to give it a miss at this moment - this will really come down to personal feelings and values. If you are looking forward to the group fitness classes and weight sessions that home has not being able to bring during this pandemic, making educated decision will mitigate the risks and allow you to safely jump back on in.