312 – SYNCPodcast_NewResearch

[00:00:00] Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today I’m sharing with you some exciting new research on the topic of cycle syncing for women. Now, yes, this is the first time we’ve covered official research on the topic of cycle syncing. This podcast is called Sync Your Life. My digital course is called Sync.

[00:01:15] I am all about cycle syncing and helping women better understand their female physiology. and really train and fuel and alignment with their hormone highs and lows. But my friends, we finally have research being done on women in this regard. So I’m going to make sure that I link up for you in the show notes, the direct research from science direct so that you can go in detail if you’d like, if you want to read more specifics, but we’re going to dive into the study today.

[00:01:37] We’re going to take a look at exactly what these researchers looked at. We’re also going to talk about what I think the study did well and what we can take from this. Like, how can we really take this into our lives and apply this So that we can get better results in our health and fitness. So let’s dive in.

[00:01:52] This study looked at whether we as menstruating women should tailor our exercise regimen to our menstrual cycles. They compared two different groups. One regimen was catered to the menstrual cycle, and one was just a four week program, not tailored to the cycle. They compared these two groups of women and they looked at any changes in fat free mass and body composition changes after eight weeks.

[00:02:13] So it would basically be like taking two different groups of women, Now, both were already athletic women, they were already training, they were already in exercise programs of some sort, so they were not beginners to fitness, which I think is important to note, but they took one group and said, okay, you’re going to follow your menstrual cycle, right?

[00:02:28] They even did tests on LH surges to track ovulation. They, they tracked their cycle very specifically and they catered their training to their hormone highs and lows, right? Resting when they were low, pushing a little bit harder when they were high. Now, for the other group of women, it was just a calendar, right?

[00:02:44] Follow this workout program for 30 days, day one through 30, paying no particular attention to your menstrual cycle. So for those of us who come from the home fitness world, this is a lot like that, right? Being handed a calendar and a program for 21 days or 90 days, right? Does it really work? Well, we’re going to find out.

[00:03:01] We’re going to find out which works better and what this research really shows. So let’s recognize first and foremost that our bodies as women are different from men. Okay. And as we know, 99 percent of exercise regimens that are out there have been designed for the male body, for steady state hormones.

[00:03:17] We don’t have the same energy every single day as a man does, so it’s important that we finally take this into consideration. As someone who is very in tune with my cycle and my energy ebbs and flows, I can tell you that cycle syncing is a way of life. And once you do it, you’ll never go back to a basic program made for men.

[00:03:35] Dr. Stacey Sims is known for her viral TED talk, Women Are Not Small Men. In it, she talks about the fact that women are understudied in research when it comes to fitness and diet regimens. She also says, in health care in general, simply because researchers find us too complex due to our hormones. So this, my friends, is proof that the research is happening and it’s coming.

[00:03:54] Because women spending 25 percent of our lives in poor health is screaming that more research needs to be done. We’re finally starting to see connections to hormone decline with Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis. Now, we’re finally studying the menstruating female. This is really exciting stuff.

[00:04:12] So let’s start by talking about the menstrual period. Now, in this study, the researchers granted rest days to the women in the cycle syncing group, given the fact that their energy is predictably lower and restoration is needed at this time. They also utilized progressive overload for the style of training for both groups, which is beautiful because this is precisely what women need.

[00:04:33] Menstruating females are not. In order to build muscle, we need progressive overload. Muscle is the key to longevity. So let’s take a look at the study itself. Well, it was a smaller study, but actually I looked at all the details and I personally believe it was done really well. They studied women who were already participating in a training regimen of some kind.

[00:04:52] So they were not new to exercise. They wanted women with regular 28 day menstrual cycles, and they weeded out the women who were in any state of overtraining, or who had irregular cycles. I think this was a smart move, because then you’re comparing apples to apples. They were looking for a very specific group of women so that they could jump into this regimen and see how the women were building muscle.

[00:05:12] They also ruled out any steroid use, which of course is crucial. So there were 14 women who started the study and 10 finished. Five women followed the basic four week program with no attention to their cycles, right? Just the calendar. And the remainder did the cycle syncing method. Another cool factor of this study is that researchers were also tracking the LH surge for these women.

[00:05:32] Like I mentioned, that means their ovulatory window for those of you who are unfamiliar. So that they could track this and they could appropriately cycle sync. See, when you understand ovulation, you know that it’s your fifth vital sign. And so if we are ovulating as women, we can divide our, our cycles into two halves.

[00:05:48] Follicular phase and luteal phase. One where estrogen is more dominant and one where progesterone is more dominant. And then we can cater our exercise training. So, for those of you who have taken my course, you know that ovulation, again, is your fifth vital sign, and if you’re truly looking to cycle sync, this is a huge benchmark that you need to know in order to do it appropriately.

[00:06:08] So, in this study, they tracked LH to know when to switch up the regimen from follicular to luteal. And when estrogen is clean in the first half, like I said, we’re more able to lift heavy. And when progesterone is clean in the second half, we burn fat better, and we work on our mobility.

[00:06:21] That way we’re a little less prone to injury. So perhaps my favorite aspect of this study was the attention paid to nutrition and proper fueling for these women. They made sure that these women were consuming adequate amounts of all three macronutrients. Protein, fat, and carbohydrates. And if I haven’t said it in a while, i’ll say it now.

[00:06:38] We need all three macronutrients to thrive. They hired a sports nutritionist who worked with both groups of women to ensure that they were fueling enough. And I love this about this study. In order to avoid low energy state and undereating, they prescribed 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which by the way, the recommended daily intake is 1. 7, so they prescribed 2, and 1 gram of fat per kilogram of body weight.

[00:07:03] Granted, these women are active women, so you can see that they erred on the side of almost overfueling, if there even is such a word, to prevent LEA, Low Energy Availability. One thing I’ve seen is this identity as an athlete issue. So there’s so many women out there who are training at home, or maybe they’re doing CrossFit, or they’re working out in their basement, or maybe they’re even going to the gym four to five days a week, yet they don’t see themselves as a female athlete, when in fact, they are.

[00:07:29] If it’s you listening, you are, you are a female athlete. We have to get out of the diet culture mentality and instead embrace a proper fueling stance when it comes to training smart. So the study period of this study was eight weeks long, so they followed the same regimen of four weeks twice, obviously with one group following their cycles and adjusting accordingly with the rest on their periods and changing up their follicular and luteal exercise and the other groups simply following the same workouts, but more of a day one through 28 method.

[00:07:56] paying no attention to their cycles. The women were scanned for body composition before and after the eight week period. Again, these women were exercisers before the study. So what were their results? Well, I can’t wait to share. Both groups saw an increase in muscle mass, fat free mass, which goes to prove that following a progressive overload program is the key for women building muscle and strength.

[00:08:19] But the cycle syncing group actually saw improvements in two specific areas, the bench press and the counter movement jump. Now, they go into details in the study if you want to read more on those particular athletic movements, but they did see statistically significant improvements in both of these two areas.

[00:08:37] So what we can take from this are a few things. Number one, progressive overload is the way. The women in both groups saw significant fat free muscle mass improvement. And number two, if you have a regular cycle and you are able to take it up a level with cycle syncing, it can only help you. For years, we haven’t taken into account our cyclical nature as women.

[00:08:58] We just follow what men have created and what men do, a day one through 90 program, paying no attention to our periods or our energy. I’m here to give you permission to rest on your period or when your energy is way low. The number of times I have pushed myself through a migraine or low energy in order to follow a calendar is absolute insanity, and I know hundreds of women who have done the same.

[00:09:20] I would beg to argue that doing so taxes our adrenals even more, contributing to cortisol imbalance and potential metabolic dysfunction. When we can pay attention to the highs and lows of our cycles, and this goes for both exercise and nutrition, as well as our productivity and everything else, we can feel so much more in alignment with our energy.

[00:09:39] And that is what this podcast is all about. This is what my course is all about. This is what our fitness program caters to. Finally, we’re starting to see research on women that is showing us that our cycles can be an ergogenic aid. And when we can tap into our energy there, we can achieve maximum energy and strength.

[00:09:55] I am all about this research, my friends. It just goes to show that what we’ve been experiencing as women, who those of us who are very in tune with our cycles is true. Turns out that female intuition is strong, by the way, as I mentioned last week on the podcast, we have an all new SYNC 2.

[00:10:10] 0 launch happening where you can be part of this yourself, complete with digital course and hormone health education, fitness and nutrition program, and the ability to go deeper with our resident functional doctor. We have so much where this came from. I’ll make sure that I link all of it up for you in the show notes.

[00:10:24] It’s time that we finally do the research on the menstruating female. Women suffer from more health ailments than men. We struggle following fad diets that men don’t struggle with, and we are starting to see why. Because we are not small men, and we deserve our own approach. Thank you so much as always for tuning in, my friends.

[00:10:42] Until next time, we’ll talk soon. Bye bye.