The ‚Cycle‘

I have always been a very active child. I loved being outside, running, playing sports and dancing. I have felt free and simply strong within my own body whenever I would move. Unfortunately, things changed when I started working out excessively in order to loose weight, instead of simply focusing on how alive it made me feel.

For years and years I went to the gym daily and all I did was cardio. I either ran on the treadmill, went to cycling and boxing classes or did HIIT workouts. I thought that the more I would sweat and the more I would get my heart rate up, the fitter I would become and the closer I would get to the body of my dreams. Interestingly enough, I barely lost weight and instead, my cortisol (stress hormone) was through the roof. I spent so much time working on my health and making the right food choices to support my cycle, but never even thought of contemplating the effects intense sports had on my body. There were some people who have told me that intense workouts could cause the body immense stress. Primarily women, who are struggling with hormonal imbalances and irregular periods, should take it easy when it comes to high intensity training to avoid increased levels of cortisol.

The thing is, I have always loved working out, it has always made me feel alive, which is probably why I have become so addicted to it. If you are a runner, you have probably felt the runner’s high before and know what it’s like to constantly thrive to feeling it. The release of dopamine and endorphins aka happy hormones in our bodies, is one of the reasons why we feel happy and alive during and after a workout. Exercise was my drug, which is most likely the reason why I didn’t want to listen to what others were saying and blamed my struggles on anything else.

This is why it has taken me much time to take other people’s advice into consideration and to convince myself to try something new. Thankfully, I was frequently exposed to psychology and mental health, due to my studies, which lead me to become more aware of my body. Also, with the help of meditation and journaling I have become much more mindful about the mind & body connection. I realized that I wanted to work together with my body as a team, instead of constantly fighting against it. To do so, I started incorporating diverse workouts into my routine, instead of relying on high intensity cardio only. First off, I started lifting weights and focused on targeting different muscle groups to gain strength. I immediately fell in love with it. My body started changing within a short period of time and I felt much stronger and more empowered than ever before.

With time I also decided to start adapting my workouts to my cycle, in order to support my body a bit more. This means that I now choose my workouts depending on the phase I am in to optimize my overall performance. I have written about the infradian rhythm in my last instagram post, feel free to go check it out or to message me for additional information. I use the cycle syncing method, which consists of adapting my workouts, my lifestyle and nutrition to my cycle to feel my absolute best. I’m using the ‘MyFlo’ App by hormone expert Alisa Vitti.

Since I have much energy to burn in the beginning of the month, meaning within the first two phases, I tend to focus on weight lifting and occasional HIITs and cardio. Later on, towards the end of my cycle, I focus on winding down, which is why I utilize low impact workouts, such as yoga and pilates. I fell in love with pilates a while ago and it has truly helped me to connect to my body on a much deeper level. Ever since then, my relationship to sport has completely shifted and my health has very much improved.

Nowadays, I do exactly what I am in the mood for and what makes me feel good. I love intense challenges, but I also love calm and mindful yoga, it truly depends on the day. So sometimes I do a HIIT, go for a jog, lift weights, do pilates or I simply go on walks. The difference is, that I now pay much more attention to things that are very important for me. For example, I make sure that I have had enough sleep the night before an intense workout and that I feel energetic. I focus on my nutrition and on whether or not I have had enough to eat to fuel myself and my workout.

Sport is incredibly important for us but too much of anything is never any good.

Exercising depends a lot on bioindividuality, which is why it can also often be confusing and frustrating. Particularly for us women, being aware of our cycle and hormones is truly important, in order to use sport as support to our health. In the end, it is all about what makes you feel good. Not only mentally or physically, but entirely.

If you are struggling with finding the right workouts, if you’re over- exercising or interested in starting to move more, but don’t know how to, please feel free to reach out to me for a free consultation. Together we will work on finding exercises that feel good to you and that assist you in reaching your goals, no matter what they might be. It is time for you to fall in love with your body, to honor it and to support it in being as healthy, strong and fit as possible.

Are you ready to feel radiant, glowing and empowered? Contact me! I cannot wait to hear from you and to start working towards your goals.