Ovulatory & Follicular Phase Workout Program Design
Last week I posted a lesson on luteal phase workout program design and I wanted to follow it up before a video on ovulatory and follicular phase workout program design as well. In the first part of this lesson, we'll review how the hormone changes in the early to late follicular phase and the hormones in the ovulatory phase and how they impact exercise metabolism and recovery. Do not skip this section because understanding the whys behind exercise is going to help you implement high quality cyclical exercise program design that will get your clients the results while honoring their hormones. In the second half of this lesson, we'll go in program design based on hormonal variations, and at the end of this video I'll show you how to access a monthly hormone assessment PDF that you can use with each one of your cycling clients. Just like you would do any monthly fitness assessment. You can also use this as an initial assessment too.
If you don’t know me yet, I’m Omega and I founded the Confident Menstrual Cycle Coaching Academy where I empower fitness coaches to optimize & balance their own hormones and teach them how to do the exact same for their clients. The Academy is an invite only program, but if it seems like it would be a fit for you, go ahead and learn more here.
Now let’s get into the lesson. First we’ll review the hormones in the follicular and ovulatory phase because I want you to understand the “why’s” behind workout recommendations. Then in the second part of this lesson we’ll discuss how to implement this research into client workout program design.
Research study terminology:
Now when we talk about the follicular phase in research it covers everything from the bleed phase to ovulation. In the early follicular phase aka the bleed phase this Romero Parra et. al. Study shows us that we don’t recover muscle tissue as well in the early follicular phase (aka the bleed phase), so as we’ll discuss in the second half of this lesson, the recovery strategies we use for clients could use support in this phase.
In the late follicular phase (what most of us just refer to as “the follicular phase”), estrogen starts to rise, giving us energy and also impacting exercise metabolism. Estrogen promotes muscle healing, helps produce serotonin and this 2014 study by Sung and colleagues showed us that in the follicular we have greater muscle fiber size diameter and increased strength in the follicular phase. This 2021 study by Wohlgemuth et. al. shows us that we used stored muscle sugar / glycogen more efficiently up to ovulation as well.
As i’ll explain when we dive into workout programming, this means that we have a higher exercise capacity during this phase! And finally, in the 3-4 days of the ovulatory phase, this 2021 study by Carmichael and colleagues suggest that, thanks to estrogen and testosterone, we have an increase in force production. Not only that, many studies have suggested that motivation and confidence increases in this phase, potentially increasing your clients exercise performance.
Early-follicular phase workout programming:
In the beginning of this lesson, I mentioned this research article by Romero Parra et. al. and mentioned that when we talk about exercise recovery in the early follicular phase / bleed phase, we need to take recovery strategies into account because we have a greater propensity to have delayed onset muscle soreness in this phase. Here are some ideas to help your clients recover better from exercise in their early follicular / bleed phase:
-Extra hydration!
-Do a longer warm up
-Taking longer rest periods
-Practice mobility after workout
-Get a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein following exercise
The Carmichael et. al. study cited above shows us that strength performance is diminished in this phase, but aerobic performance gets a boost. Workout program design in this phase could look like lowering the weight and increasing the rep range, not going to failure and adding cardio activities that are also lower in intensity. For cardio, you can program in your low intensity long duration cardio. In your program design in this phase, remember to add in recovery strategies to help your client be recovered for the next day of exercise.
Now for the mid - late follicular phase workout program design
The same study tells us that while anaerobic performance is diminished we might just perform better with strength exercises in this phase. While you might want to not do all out sprints in this phase, doing strength conditioning in this phase and taking strength exercises to failure might be hormonally advantageous.
Workout program design in the 4-7 days of the follicular phase could look like:
Working in a strength rep range around 3-8 reps and 5-6 sets. Doing moderate interval cardio at a perceived exertion level of 5-6. Performing challenging yet familiar sports conditioning exercises (think familiar ladder drills, familiar kettle bell swings, etc…)
Ovulatory phase workout program design
We are very hormonally similar in the late follicular and ovulatory phase. But, like the Carmichael study showed, since we have an increase in force production in this phase, you could do those anaerobic workouts in the ovulatory phase that might have been more challenging in the follicular phase. Something to note, in this phase, Carmichael and colleagues showed that aerobic performance decreases. So while it may not be the best time for long duration cardio or longer lifting sessions, it would be a great time to program the following:
HIIT intervals, 1 rep max’s, sprint intervals, lower rep or strength workouts.
One thing I teach in the academy is to do client assessments in this phase - motivation is higher, we have a decreased caloric need and workout performance get’s a boost. Now I have a free hormone assessment document that you can use in your own assessments. It will not only help you track where your clients are in their cycle, it will help you design workouts that use the power of their natural hormones! You can download that free hormone assessment document using this link.