is it okay to do weight training during periods

https://youtu.be/zn2uPJd8Agg This blog post is going to review period biology, the do’s and the don'ts for training and nutrition to support both athletic performance and one's needs during their period.

 This is one of my students, Daniella who after getting certified through the confident menstrual cycle coach academy, she is approaching her consults with more confidence. Now that she knows how to work with her client's cycle, she can be way more specified. So if you are curious about how to become a personal trainer certified through the confident menstrual cycle coach academy, so you can help your clients with hormone optimization and serve more women more effectively. Use the link to schedule an application interview.

Now let's dive into the lesson why you are here today. So first we'll discuss period biology. And what exactly happens when we're on our period. Firstly, the lining of the uterus is shedding and releasing that, which the body no longer needs. That's the tissue inside of the uterus. And like we'll discuss in the last point of the video. This is coupled with a loss of nutrients as well. So because of the loss of nutrients, somebody might, somebody bleeding might feel more sluggish and lethargic. And also this is coupled by the lowest hormones in the cycle, but what's more important to recognize when we're talking about the period is that every person is different. Although hormones are low across the board, everyone's different. And after working with dozens of people fly, I know that no two people have the same group of symptoms or excuse me, the same type of period experience.

One of the more common symptoms of the period is cramping. So cramping affects 80% of the menstruating population. That's a lot. And although this is common, it is not normal. It is not normal. So cramping is actually caused by too much prostaglandins, which are at the root cause of painful contractions. So prostaglandins are a product of having too much estrogen. And if you wanna know more about how to reduce cramping in general, you can watch this video, which I will link to in the description below. I'm not gonna go into it now, cuz that's not what this video is about. The good news is that working out can actually help most symptoms of period discomfort, including minor and more universal feelings of lethargy, bloating and cramping for lethargy and bloating. Lightweight training works to increase endorphins and gastric motility and for cramping, endorphins ease the comfort depending on what sort of workout you do. It can also assist with blood flow. So now let's talk about bleed phase workout physiology. This article by Romero Parra tells us that we are more likely to have delayed onset muscle soreness during our period that's in the early follicular phase. And this goes back to what I was saying before about low overall levels of hormones.

If you're like me and enjoy when you find scientific articles that help explain the menstrual cycle, give this video alike, cuz I do too. So since we have less of an opportunity to heal and grow muscle tissue because of those hormone levels that are so low, what type of exercise do you think is a no go during this phase? Take a guess. You got it. Prolonged workouts without rest periods. I'm looking at you hit am ramp high intensity workouts, high impact workouts. I'm looking at you and on this list, I'm actually not including PRS because I know in many cases where my students or people that I know have actually set PRS on their period. But the same thing is true. Your physiology doesn't support the recovery process of hitting a PR. I hate to break it to you, but if you or your client wants to go for it, go for it.

It's your body. You got one life to live. So the dos for exercise include things like do take longer rest periods between exercises. One of the exercise recommendations, the authors given the in the Romero Parra article that I just mentioned is longer rest periods between exercises. The longer rest periods could help reduce the overall delayed onset muscle soreness that we could potentially experience with exercise during our period. The other things you could do in lieu of weight training. So if you don't wanna do weight training is low intensity cardio. You could take resting. I know that's a novel idea, uh, yoga, which helps with blood flow and certain yoga poses even help with cramping. And if you wanna know more about what those yoga poses are, I will attach this video in the description box below where I take you through a step by step. Anyway, finally, let's talk about nutrition to help you and your clients have the best energy while you are on your period.

As most of y'all already guessed, we lose a lot of iron during our period. And for that reason, getting extra iron through food or via supplementation is an excellent idea. And personally, I'm more of the food route to getting my nutrition and everyone's different, right? There's no one right way to get good nutrition. This study entitled the impact of nutrition based interventions on athletic performance, menstrual cycle phases, a review, gosh, that's a mouthful showed that iron supplementation increased VO two max and decreased energy expenditure with extra exercise showing us that when we have an abundance of iron, we actually have to work less and keep in mind that this study was done with iron supplementation. Okay? But iron also becomes more bio available with vitamin C in the mix. This study by James D. Cook showed us that dietary iron becomes more available in the presence of vitamin C.

So sources of iron include the obvious red meat. You can do bone broth, eggs, spinach, black beans, and lentils. All great sources. Sources of vitamin C include raw sweet bell peppers, strawberries, kale, parsley, collards, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and citrus fruit. So keep in mind also that vitamin C is destroyed by heat. So eat those vitamin C rich foods fresh. Now you have a strategy for fitness and nutrition when it comes to weight, training and general exercise that as it applies to the period. So if you want to become confident in helping your clients optimize their hormones so that you can empower your clients to feel their best in their bodies, all cycle long, apply for the confident menstrual cycle coach academy. And you'll find the application interview link here.