The Nutritional Institute

Ladies, athletes, sportswomen – have you ever wondered how your menstrual cycle affects sports training and race performance?

Think back to your training and racing. You know that feeling when you have a really K*K race and you have trained right, eaten right, done everything right, and you think, “Then WHY did I perform so badly?” Or, have you ever gone out for a training session and felt like you are the most useless athlete on the planet, but then two weeks later you feel like superwoman?

Well did you know that the hormones at different times of your menstrual cycle play an integral part in training and racing performance? These hormones can determine the difference between an incredible training session where you feel like you have conquered the world or where it feels like your session conquered you!

How do I know this? Because, as the only Justisse Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner in South Africa and as an athlete myself, I have tested this. I have taken my masters degree in Sports Psychology, added it to my knowledge of women’s menstrual cycles, and tested it.

Women have such highly developed bodies that let us GO-GO-GO for (roughly) two weeks of our cycle. This is followed by ovulation where our sporting capabilities are off the charts. After this incredible high you hit the low where you just need time out.

Now think of it logically. Most training programmes are designed three weeks hard, and one week off. The key is getting your three weeks where you feel great to fit in correctly with your menstrual cycle. This is what periodisation really means – when you create your training programme around your menstrual cycle, your performance will be at its best.

How do you do this? You learn how to chart your menstrual cycle. Charting your menstrual cycle using the Justisse Method of Fertility Awareness will give you such a deep understanding of your body; you’ll see how it’s performing from the inside so you know what to make it do on the outside. Once you have this understanding of your body, you will truly wonder how you lived without it.

When you have grasped the method of charting your cycle, you can fine tune your training programme so that your cycle dictates your training programme and you only schedule hard intervals during the times where you feel like superwoman. The key is to LISTEN to your body and when you are in the ‘low’ phase to take the signs from your body and rather do long, slow, easy sessions that don’t put so much stress on your body. Once you have learnt this, you will never feel guilty for missing a training session because you wanted to sleep in. You will realise that the sleeping in was actually more beneficial than any training session that you could have done.

If this sounds like it’s just what you are looking for contact me, Claudia Slattery, at info@claudiaslattery.co.za for further information on how to periodise your training programme according to your menstrual cycle.