Schedule your cycle: Women’s bodies work differently than men’s, so it’s important to know how to exercise in a way that will help based on their cycle

Males and females are inherently different. 

Sexes are distinct for a reason. From muscle and chemical buildup to daily hormonal cycles, the difference in physical build is naturally opposing, and prevalent. 

A woman’s bodily movement when exercising needs to change week to week based on the phase of the menstrual cycle in order to accommodate ever-changing chemical composition and somewhat miserable emotional turmoil. 

Being intentional about movement is a must-do as your hormone levels take a roller-coaster ride. Increasing dopamine through exercise will always be beneficial, but listening to your body is too. There’s no reason to overwork your body in phases where regular activity already feels like an losing battle.

A woman’s menstrual cycle is 28 days long — unlike a man’s 24 hour cycle, which makes up the energetic and emotional highs and lows that a woman feels over a month’s span, shortened into a day. A male’s cycle resets each day, while a female’s resets every 28 days. Men and women aren’t equal when it comes to exercise. 

A woman’s 28-day cycle consists of four phases. There’s menstruation — better known as the period — the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase. 

During menstruation, exercising can alleviate menstrual symptoms, but it’s best to do low-impact movements. Women can experience cramping, fatigue and mood swings, which are a bad foundation for a high-intesity workout, so its best to do low impact exercises.

For light strength training, weights should be light enough that you can complete 12 -15 repetitions. Gentle stretching can be found by searching on YouTube, or by simply listening to your body and moving as you see fit. While the “grindset” might be trending, menstruation is the time to chill out. 

In the follicular phase, estrogen rises which increases energy. Estrogen tells your body when to begin and end sexual and reproductive cycles, causing important bodily changes. At this point, you’ll be feeling ready to conquer the world. 

This phase is a good time to increase the intensity of your exercise. Try High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), heavier strength training and more intense cardio like running or boxing. HIIT is made up of exercises that raise your heart rate and make you feel like death — but in a good way. 

During ovulation, energy levels will have you feeling over the moon, similarly to the follicular phase, because estrogen levels will be high. Weights will feel feather-light and you’ll likely feel more be ready to check off everything on your to-do list. 

The luteal phase is the longest of the cycles, lasting roughly two weeks. Energy will start to decrease in the later half as progesterone increases. This means that weights may feel life-ending, and you may feel more inclined to couch-potato. 

While it’s possible to maintain higher impact exercise, it’s wiser to focus on lower impact exercises like yoga or swimming in addition to focusing on recovery by resting and fueling your body as fatigue takes over.

Unfortunately, this scheduling might not work for athletes involved in organized sports where workouts are preplanned. For female athletes, the best solution may be spending more time focused on recovery during the luteal and menstrual phases of the cycle. But for those who can, being aware of the differences in bodily makeup makes it possible to get the most out of fitness.

By syncing my physical activity with my cycle, I’ve been able to reap the benefits of my hard work. 

This suggests that the type of exercise women are doing should correlate with where they are in their menstrual cycle. While it might be entirely possible for a woman to follow a bodybuilder’s split — and there are plenty of people who do — for regular people who simply want to be fit, it’s best to work with your body instead of against it. 

Just like men wouldn’t want to follow a woman’s monthly cycle, women shouldn’t follow a man’s.

This is a key factor that females need to consider when deciding how to exercise. In the media, it’s incredibly easy to misconceive how women should be working out in order to benefit their bodies. Just because a bodybuilder split works for a fully grown middle-aged man, doesn’t mean it’ll work for women.

At the end of the day, the goal of working out is finding what works for you and how you’re able to help yourself. You can’t do that if you’re imitating someone with an entirely different genetic and hormonal build.