Cycle affects fitness: Former national player gives tips on when you should do which sport
Created: 05/17/2022, 09:46 am
By: Juliane Gutmann
Depending on the phase of your cycle, do you feel extremely fit - or do you reach your limits after a short time?
Read here how women train in line with their cycle.
It's like bewitched: on one weekend the hiking tour feels like a walk, a few days later a similar sports unit reminds you of a forced march.
The female cycle could bring the explanation.
Because depending on whether you are in the menstrual phase, follicular phase, in the ovulation phase or afterwards, this can have an enormous impact on physical performance.
The interplay of the hormones estrogen and progesterone can therefore impair fitness levels.
But when is a woman the most productive?
Prof. Dr.
Petra Platen, former national handball player and head of the department for sports medicine and sports nutrition at the Ruhr University in Bochum, gives
tips on how cycle-phase-oriented training could look like.
"Strength training during the first half of the cycle and around ovulation is particularly effective"
In an interview with the AOK, Platen explains: “Strength training during the first half of the cycle and around ovulation is particularly effective.
That means: Strength training* that emphasizes the follicle phase achieves a slightly higher increase in performance.
The reason is the estrogens, which increase during this phase.
They have a more anabolic effect, so they have a constructive effect."
In the second half of the cycle, which begins after ovulation, the messenger substance progesterone would be released more frequently.
"
This hormone has a catabolic effect, i.e. it breaks down muscles," says physician Petra Platen.
Do you feel really fit?
The female menstrual cycle also has an influence on physical performance.
© Manuel Ringlstetter/www.imago-images.de
With regard to endurance training, she advises putting intensive endurance units in the first half of the cycle and taking it slower in the second half of the cycle.
The reason for this is the already slightly increased body temperature of women in the second half of the cycle.
According to Platen, this increases by about 0.5 degrees.
Extensive endurance training means that the body produces even more heat.
As a result, more blood is pumped into the skin to regulate temperature to produce sweat, which has a cooling effect.
"
The muscles then lack this blood, which is why endurance performance is somewhat poorer in this phase,
" says Platen.
Based on a 28-day cycle, the former national handball player Platen recommends the following
training
plan according to the AOK :
Period (1st to 5th day of the cycle)
: Light exercise loosens the muscles and can relieve abdominal pain.
You should listen to yourself: if you don't feel very fit, you can try going for a walk, if you have energy, you can do your usual training.
“Overall, the movement and sport during the period is quite good.
It may not necessarily have to be strength training, but a walk or stretching exercises can help a lot," gynecologist Maggie Banys Paluchowsky is quoted as saying by the
deutschlandfunknova.de
portal .
Follicular phase (6th to 12th day of the cycle)
: “Now is the perfect time to really step on the gas with sport.
Great training effects can be achieved in muscle building in the follicular phase.
Climbing, spinning or weight training are particularly good.
Intensive endurance units should also take place now,” says Platen.
Ovulation phase (13th to 16th day of the cycle)
: This is when intensive strength training is particularly effective.
Endurance sports such as jogging are also easier for many women in this phase.
Luteal phase (17th to 28th day of the cycle)
: “As progesterone rises, our energy levels drop.
Cycling (advertising link)** or light weight training are good for us.
Endurance training should be reduced to a relaxed level,” Platens recommends.
How does the birth control pill affect cycle-dependent fitness?
"In one of my studies, we were unable to identify any cycle-dependent effects
when taking the 'pill'
- neither with regard to endurance training nor muscle building," says Platen.
According to her, however, further studies are needed that look at the effect of birth control pills in a differentiated way.
(jg) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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