riverside_ep.113__ oct 20, 2025 001_wild_and well colle
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Sheree Beaumont: [00:00:00] We certainly should not be doing HIIT during our bleeding. It is far too much impact and it can actually negate. The gains that you are getting. And by gains, I'm not talking about you getting really bulky. I'm talking about you putting on your metabolic muscle.
That's really, really gonna serve you. But you can actually turn catabolic, which is meaning your body's almost eating it. And eating all of those, that hard work that you've been putting in at the gym, if you're overstressing and over training during that time.
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Sheree Beaumont: Welcome back to another episode of the Wild and Wild Collective. Today we're diving into a topic that we get asked about so often, and so we thought, why not make a really valuable resource for you to plug and play and start to be [00:01:00] able to apply it to your life? So if you're a female, this is gonna be relevant.
If you are someone who is in their menstruating years, this is gonna be super relevant. And even if you're not, you can actually still. Cycle sink through menopause and beyond if you are wanting to link it. Just in relation to, and we'll dive into how to do that with the moon. I'm excited to dive into this because we can look at cycle syncing from a training perspective, from a business perspective or how you operate in product, in terms of productivity and all of that sort of thing.
But today we're really gonna niche down on the training side to give you a beautiful resource to really come back to
Christa Elza: actually love. Learning about this because I was not aware of really. I think a lot of people are not aware of their cycle. Now, obviously, if you're on a birth control pill or something that's kind of stopping your natural cycling you don't have, you're not as symptomatic symptomatic, not in a bad way, just saying like, you know, the fluctuations and noticing the ebbs and flows of your hormones.
And the more I've learned about it. It is really [00:02:00] empowering to understand that we're literally not the same. We are not made to have the same energy levels every single day of the month. Men typically have a higher testosterone in the morning, and then it slips down during the day, you know, lowest in the evenings, and women are very dynamic.
That changes throughout the entire month, and so it can be really confusing sometimes too. Hey, why do I feel like totally sluggish right now? And, but a week ago I felt amazing. So let's break it down week by week, and I'll kind of start with week one, even clarifying what week one is. So week one, day one is actually the day that you start.
Your bleed. So like the day that you need to use something like a tampon, a pad, whatever that's actually day one of your cycle. So we gotta be clear on that so that that'll kind of like give you the pathway of the rest of the cycle. So week one, day one that [00:03:00] day really our hormones are at their lowest.
I mean, that's just like, whew. Estrogen is low progesterone's, low testosterone, everything is pretty low on that day. And I would say for me personally, about day three or four is when I start to feel like, okay, I've got more energy. And that's because our follicle stimulating hormone from the brain is telling the ovary like, Hey, let's start this cycle all over again.
So usually day three, like you might still be on your period, but you really do start to feel better. And I think it's funny that people, those memes that say like. I didn't know what was wrong. I was a complete psycho. And then I started my period and I was like, oh, I feel better. And that's what it was. And the reason you feel better is because those hormones are starting to rev up again and they're starting the cycle all over again.
So week one, generally as a general rule energy is not great, but it's not as bad as it might have been a few days prior. This is when you still want to kind of take it easy with workouts, like, you know, if you feel great and you have to train. You [00:04:00] can go ahead and train hard, but this is, for the most part, if you're really trying to stick to your cycle, this is when you still wanna do more flowy things like yoga and longer walks, especially if you are one that has cramps and things like that.
So, and also when you think about weightlifting, we have to have those anabolic hormones. And so if you don't have high estrogen at this week, your impact of resistance training is gonna be higher the following week.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I always like to break this down so we can make it super simple in the sense that each phase is we break it into a week.
And again, not everyone's cycle is gonna look exactly the same, but we're just gonna break it down as if everything was a week long. And so menstruation, which is I like to call you in a winter. That is the time when you think about what would you wanna do in the wintertime, you kinda wanna snuggle under the purple blankets.
You might wanna watch a movie. You're not really in the mood to go out and push yourself and really go hard. That being said, I see a lot of it being taught not to go to the gym and it's fine to just do the walks in the yoga. [00:05:00] We're gonna be wrong. That is completely fine. But also don't let that deter you.
Like I still go and I still hit the gym. But I just taper the volume in terms of the training load that I'm putting on my body. I listen to how I'm feeling. Do I feel like doing squats with a barbell? Absolutely not. In fact, I don't normally like doing during ovulation anyway, but like, do you know what I mean?
You start to listen to your body go, okay, I might do like a easier workout. Maybe it's more machine based. Maybe it's less rips. Maybe I taper the load down. And you know, when I was studying sports science, we learned to periodize training. That's exactly what we do for athletes. And to be able to use your cycle almost like that and break it into these four phases for the weeks, it can make it so simple and so much less overwhelming.
And to Chris's point, like I get a lot of clients who will be like, this is why that hit training sucks so much. And my advice is during this time, you do not do any HIIT training. You don't have what your body needs to support you during this time. Your [00:06:00] estrogen starts to rise around that day three, which is also why you start to feel better.
And you may start to lift a little bit heavier then, but outside of that, really, really listening to your body. Now, once we graduate from the. Winter, which is our menstrual phase, we move into our spring and that is your follicular. So you're really gonna notice your energy pick up here, right? Like this is again, if you're someone who's got a natural cycle going on.
And so this is the time I always say, if you're gonna trial a new training program, put it in. Now you brain is actually far more able to comprehend all the new. Information, you know, all of the agility that you might need. Like the stability is a lot more on point. Like everything new should go here.
And that includes if you're trying something new, if you're trying a dance class, if you're trying to, you know, a new skillset. Like in terms of. I dunno, I'm trying to think of something other than dancing, but I love dancing. Or if you know, you're giving something new a go in terms of at the gym, this is the perfect time to do it.
It's also the perfect time if you are lifting weights to slowly start [00:07:00] to ramp things up. Increasing your volume, increasing your load, because your energy's gonna match it.
Christa Elza: Yeah, I mean, now that I am more in tune with this, I can completely feel it. Like day eight to 10 I'm like, oh, I'm back to life. I'm not as cranky.
I feel more social even. And that's because those hormones are revving up or the estrogen is starting to rise. We have to have the estrogen to push luteinizing hormone, and that is ultimately what causes us to ovulate. At the end of week two. So week two is actually a really great week to yeah, like you said, start to lift weights maybe plan more social events at work.
We tend to be more in that active phase, we have a bit more energy. So all of that is kind of like, whew, I'm coming back to life again. And it's just interesting to recognize that so that you're not beating yourself up about why was I such a sack of, you know, what the week before? Well, because your hormones were a lot lower.
So, it's good to [00:08:00] recognize that. Okay. And then typically at the end of two, at the end of week two, not everybody's on the exact 28 day cycle, but most commonly around day 14 or 15 is when you'll ovulate. And at that point, that's where you're like the estrogen has peaked, luteinizing hormone has peaked, and hopefully you've popped out an egg if you're ovulating and you have normal cycles and you're not on birth control, and that action creates progesterone and.
Progesterone generally as a general rule, helps us feel literally our skin is more glowy. We're more likely to say yes to social events and actually enjoy our time out. Our sex drive is typically highest here. We typically feel prettier. We feel like we look better because you kind of do, and it's also a great time to lift your heaviest.
I will say, and you can kind of comment on this too, Shari, this is kind of the time too that you don't wanna do a lot of. You know, [00:09:00] hit in terms of box jumps or anything that really stress stresses the ligaments, just because the estrogen is highest at this point, right before ovulation, and so you can be a little bit more predisposed to ligament injury right here.
So, not that you can't do hi, you just don't wanna do a lot of like jumps and things like that.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah. I mean. So this is your inner summer. Just to keep the theme of the seasons going and to, to avoid any confusion. A lot of times people will go, oh, well, ovulation ISS only one day, and that's absolutely accurate.
But your ovulatory phase and the effects you're going to feel around this internal summer, typically last five to six days. So you'll notice that a couple days before you ovulate and a couple days afterwards, and like Krista said, this is the time for the pbs if you're running, like if you're a runner.
Not that I, but like a lot of people are like, your follicular phase is perfect. Then you're in internal, I guess you're in a summer is also a great time to really push the limits. Your HIT training is really should go between your follicular phase and your summer phase. The key is. [00:10:00] To do the stability work around it and prep and warm up your body and just being aware that like if you are running, you are more likely to have more flexibility in your joints.
It's a time, I actually don't recommend people do a lot of yoga because you can overstretch and overdo it with that sort of thing. So, you know, it's really finding that balance. But. When I do HIIT and where I tell my clients to do HIIT in the gym, it is very focused on your follicular phase and your estro sorry, your high estrogen phase, which is your ovulation.
So, yes. I can hear you on the ligament thing, but it's actually totally fine to do it as long as you do a proper warmup. If you just go in and do a whole lot of jumping you are gonna be potentially putting your body under a little bit more impact than it can handle. So it is being mindful, but don't let that put you off.
This is the time your body can handle maximum load, whether that's under a barbell, whether that's doing the head or whether that's going the distance with your running.
Christa Elza: Yeah. And this is a time that you're gonna gain. You know, those anabolic hormones, which estrogen is an anabolic hormone, is gonna be higher here. So lifting [00:11:00] heavier, you're gonna have more of that hormonal support behind it to say, cool, I can like tear down this muscle and regrow it easier than you could at different phases.
So definitely take advantage of that. And generally people sleep pretty good around week three because of the progesterone effects, because progesterone. For most people, I will say that there is some outliers. I would say maybe 10% of women don't feel great here because of that progesterone. It really just depends genetically on your GABA receptors in the brain.
If you don't feel great here, it can, and because that's that big high estrogen push, some women can create, you know, have a little bit of PMSE feeling mid cycle because of that. And if your brain, if you're part of that 10% club. You might feel a little bit more irritable, or you may have more anxiety around this time, but for the general population, most women feel.
Better because those GABA receptors are responsive to that progesterone. So we [00:12:00] sleep better. We tend to be more calm. We're kind of like, okay, I've got this at work. I can be productive, I can knock things out because your estrogen is still fairly high. It's on its way down, but it's fairly high. Now you've got this shoot of progesterone and generally week three is like a great week to work out well, and your mood is generally more social.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I a hundred percent agree. And like the, like you talked about with the kind of coming down in the luteal phase, which is what we move into after our internal summer, we go into, in our autumn or in a win in a fall, whatever you call it, depending on which hemisphere you're in. But this is the time, again, like if you think about, okay, what do I wanna do, you know, fall's kind of the time that you're.
Winding things down, closing the tabs, I like to say. And so it's again, not a time that you have to just stop weight training because most people's luteal phases are 10 to 14 days. Imagine if you stopped training for 10 to 14 days. You are going to lose all of your gains, and that's why we do not recommend that you still wanna be pushing the.[00:13:00]
Metal, you still wanna be lifting and creating muscle. It's not going to be as effective as during your ovulation and your a follicular phase. But it is not like I look at this like your maintenance. So follicular is like your challenge week, your ovulation is your peak week, and then you've got your maintenance phase for the next two weeks.
Now during your luteal phase, you are gonna get a second little surge of estrogen, and sometimes people feel like it's a second ovulation. I've had those months where I'm like, damn, my hormones feels. So good. I'm almost feeling like I'm getting like a second little ovulation riding the wave. And so this is a time, like, if you are feeling amazing, can you keep that momentum going?
So the, maybe the five days, the first five days after your ovulation is finished, you're probably still gonna feel really good, still have all those beautiful effects of ovulation, keep the energy going, keep consistent. If you've just hit a PB in the weights, can you maintain that in that following week?
Can you keep that body like your body at that peak level? And then when you start to get to the week prior to your period, because those hormones start to taper [00:14:00] off, that's when you'll notice that your tiredness or the fatigue might start to come in and you might feel like you wanna hit snooze on your alarm instead of getting up and going to the gym.
And that's okay, but don't. Skip the gym turn, skip your movement. Your body needs the movement. Can you go an hour later? Can you take it onto the end of your day instead and give your body that extra time to sleep? Is it a matter of, like we talked about earlier, during a menstrual phase, slowing things down or reducing the volume?
Because we do need to be mindful that we ca we should not be doing HIIT during this time. We certainly should not be doing HIIT during our bleeding. It is far too much impact and it can actually negate. The gains that you are getting. And by gains, I'm not talking about you getting really bulky. I'm talking about you putting on your metabolic muscle.
That's really, really gonna serve you. But it can, but it, you can actually turn catabolic, which is meaning your body's almost eating it. And eating all of those, that hard work that you've been putting in at the gym, if you're overstressing and over training during that time.
Christa Elza: Yeah, I think the biggest, [00:15:00] you know, just mind just ah, is this last week where.
You are like, well, what? I'm not on my period. Why do I not have good energy? Why am I a bit more cranky? And so this is where being really aware of your body, being really aware of where you are in your cycle can be helpful psychologically to just understand like, it's okay, like this is just where I'm at.
And so I'm gonna adjust my workouts. Like you said, there's a little hump of estrogen, like a little bump about three days, four days before we actually start our period. And so yes, some months, and not every month is the same either. I mean, sometimes one cycle is completely different from the next, and that has to do with just the symphony of our hormones and how stressed sometimes one month can adjust.
And there's so many just different factors. But you know, generally towards the end of the week four, which means at the end of that week, you're gonna start your period tend to be less social. This is also a really good time to start focusing on work. If you're thinking, ugh, I just do not [00:16:00] have the energy to.
Go out and talk and be on a stage or just go to this party or, you know, connect with other people. This is the time to take advantage of that need and that desire to kind of plan. And so you can still be productive. It's just in a different way. This is kind of where you wanna be cozied up and planning for the next couple of weeks, not necessarily in action.
And I find like, yes, workouts sometimes can shift a little bit where I don't feel as great or. You know, I do the Peloton a lot, so I can see if I'm repeating a ride, I can see like. Oh gosh. I'm like totally sucking compared to how well I did the last time I took it. And then it's interesting, if I look at the dates, I can figure out like, oh, well I did amazing and I prd this particular ride because of the week I was in.
So it's kind of interesting to see it and to acknowledge and recognize like, this literally feels harder this week than it did last month when I did it on a different week of my cycle, which I find really fascinating.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that we've [00:17:00] mentioned is, is really this permission slip and getting you to be in tune with your cycle.
The amount of women that I speak to and I'm like, oh, well where are you in your cycle? And they're like, I don't know. Like, I'm like, do you know what day you're on? And they have absolutely no idea. And that's not that I'm making this. Wrong. Like, you're wrong. But use this information, use this as an opportunity to start to get to know your body.
Like it's called body literacy. And the more you understand it's not about nitpicking or making the perfect workout routine, it is really just about how can I listen to my body? Because there will be, there'll be people that feel really good when they're on their period. There'll be people that feel like crap.
And there'll be times that you feel good on your period, and there'll be times during ovulation. You're like, oh damn, this is supposed to be PB week. And I don't feel it like, because there might have been a whole lot of other stresses going on, and maybe the quality of your ovulation isn't there, or maybe you're having in an ovulatory cycle, so you're not getting the beautiful surge of your hormones.
So it is just really important to understand that where you are at is gonna dictate your energy and everything cyclically [00:18:00] and. Also, this is probably the only part aside from like the productivity that Krista has mentioned a little bit. That I'd actually focus on with cycle sinking. I think the food aspects of it can get really, really overwhelming and it's one of the biggest things I say to my clients like, don't even worry about that.
Yes, you can have certain nutrients you're meant to have at certain times, but we're already busy enough and overwhelmed enough trying to just eat clean and avoid a lot of toxic crap that they put enough food. I'm not gonna try and tell you that you should have. Seven during ovulation week and no other time of the month.
Like let's just take some of the pressure and stress off ourselves there as well. I think that's just a really important thing to mention because sometimes you can hear this and be like, I'm not doing anything right. And then it's like, it's actually just information. Take from it what you want and if you wanna apply it.
Christa Elza: Yeah, I agree. Definitely with the food thing, it can get really, really overwhelming. I think. Seed cycling is a whole other topic. We won't go into it, but some people find that that can be helpful. But for the most part, people just feel really overwhelmed with eating differently. The one thing I'll point out with that is that [00:19:00] generally we're gonna be a little bit more crazy around ovulation, and that's because your body really is needing that.
So, you know, just pay attention to your body and. You know, take into account maybe don't plan like longer fasting or all of that around, you know, week towards the end of week two, that is a time that you don't really wanna be depriving your body because your body's trying to ovulate. It's trying to, you know, you need nutrients to support that process.
Sheree Beaumont: I actually recommend the opposite.
Christa Elza: You.
Sheree Beaumont: Well, you don't want it right, right before, but you, so you need to know when you're ovulating, but you should be. Mm-hmm. Like if you're going to fast, you never fast after ovulation. So maybe like if you're doing a two day fast, you and I and you follow, maybe if you're doing a two day fast and you ovulate on day 14, then you wouldn't do it on day 12 and 13, but anytime prior to that is totally fine.
And that's what a lot of the literature will support. So. It is really important that you're not fasting afterwards because you [00:20:00] aren't as insulin sensitive. Your body can go into like a stressed out situation being in your luteal phase, and I often find it becomes far more overwhelming for the nervous system to do it then.
So it is better to do it after day three 'cause your ES oxygen is starting to rise. Mm-hmm. And then at least two days before your population should be finished.
Christa Elza: Good point. Progesterone definitely can make you more insulin resistant. And so, you know, that's something that we have to take into account too with hormone replacement too is that we wanna balance it out and not to, not to deter you from using progesterone, but we do tend to be a little bit more insulin resistant with high amounts of progesterone.
So yes, to your point, the second half, we tend to be a little bit more insulin resistant for that. When it comes to people on birth control pills where you're not having normal cycles or if you're menopausal, you really can follow the same trajectory if you prefer. And you know. [00:21:00] We kind of always recommend the moon just because the moon is pretty much in sync and it's gonna be, you know, it follows the calendar.
So if you wanted to kind of cycle everything, you could definitely do that. I don't know that it's gonna have the same amount of impact that it would in really flowing with your body, because, I mean, if you wanna just do it, to me, I don't know. I feel like women don't necessarily have to follow. What we've talked about, because the hormones are pretty steady.
When you're on a birth control pill, you're essentially shutting down your natural process of hormone fluctuations. It's essentially the same every day. And then when you're postmenopausal, you know, if you're not doing hormone therapy, if you are, it's pretty much stable and unless you're doing pulsing hormone replacement, but I find most women don't do that.
Most women just take hormone replacement the same. And so essentially you're the same hormonally every single day. So I think you would reap most of these benefits when you are naturally cycling.
Sheree Beaumont: Oh yeah, definitely. Like I know that people don't quite often like it being said, but if you're on birth control or your postmenopausal, your hormones are like a man. It's kind of [00:22:00] how it's, you know, you, you have a lot lit. You don't have your estrogen and progesterone doing what they need to be doing, and so.
And so might be a like a hard, hard fact to face. But if clients come to me, they're like, I want a cycle sink, and I'm on the pill. I'm like, you, like you can with the moon, because the full moon was normally when most women will ovulate. And the new moon is when most women will bleed. Like literally look at the moon cycle next time.
You do have a noble cycle, but. And it can be fun to do it like from the perspective of periodizing your training so that you know you're constantly in progressive state. That's generally the only time I would advise you do it. But because you're not getting those hormonal fluctuations, you're not gonna really feel the difference or the benefit of it.
You are just like males do when they show up to training, have the same expectation of yourself every day. 'cause you've natural, like you've shut off your natural home and production.
Christa Elza: Yeah, so I hope you guys have found this helpful. I think it's been really, really insightful to understand.
The ebbs and flows of hormones and takes a little bit out of the confusion out of it. So if you're taking quick jotted notes, you don't have to know all of the science, you don't have to know which hormone [00:23:00] is peaked when or whatever if you don't want to. But being in tune with your body and what weak you're in and your cycle can be really, really helpful in not being too hard on yourself.
Taking advantage of the best times to do the best types of workout. Knowing when you should give yourself some grace with being tired and wanting to sleep a little bit more. Knowing when to like, Hey, I've got a, you know, the green lights, the red lights in life. Like, Hey, I've got, you know, these next 10 days, I know I'm probably gonna feel pretty good.
This is when I'm gonna book social events and maybe something on your calendar for work. And then these weeks I know, hey, if you have the flexibility and the ability to say, Hey, I'm not gonna be as public here. I'm gonna be planning. It's just a cool way to kind of go with your natural ebbs and flows because it can be challenging.
I mean, our society is not set up in that way, and so you kind of have to advocate for yourself. If you're self-employed you can definitely schedule it like that. And if you have the capability to work around your cycle, then you're just gonna be kind of in more, in the flow and less like resistance to where you are.[00:24:00]
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I love that. And I used to cycle sync the business, like to the nth degree and it's great, but you know, it does take a lot and then sometimes you, it comes up and you got a speaking event or you've got a thing and so, or you know, I've worked with a lot of athletes and they're like, Shere, my big event is on the day of my bleed.
Right, and so it's just learning that this is not necessarily saying it's what you have to do. It's we can set your body up for the absolute utmost success. And chances are if you were ovulating, you probably would perform better. You will speak more clearly, more eloquently, et cetera, or you'll be able to run a bit faster at the track meet, like whatever it is.
It's just, at the end of the day, the more you know about the body, the more you can prepare. And so if you break it down into those four simple seasons, I find that most people can link and start to really understand. So, you know. Just to recap, you've got your menstrual phase, which is your inner winter.
Then we move into your inner spring, which is your follicular phase where things start to pick up. Think about what spring really represents the planting of new seeds. That's that challenge week. Then you move into your inner summer, which [00:25:00] is where you're vibrant and you're flourishing, and everything's feeling amazing.
That's your peak week, and then you start to taper things down as you go into your inner fall or your inner autumn and really listening to your body and your energy needs there so thank you for tuning in and. We'll see you next time.
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