Women's Performance & Hormones: Training With Intent and Creating Autonomy Over Your Body

Hey,

I'm Coach Bel. I've been coaching women for the past five years, and women's health and performance is an area of the fitness industry I'm incredibly passionate about.

My mission is simple: help women better understand their bodies so they can train, perform, and live in a way that feels strong, powerful, and sustainable.

As an active woman, performance can mean a lot of different things. It might be having the energy to get through a busy week, building strength in the gym, feeling resilient under pressure, or simply showing up and doing the things you said you were going to do.

Performance isn't one-size-fits-all. It's nuanced, personal, and influenced by the stage of life you're in. That's why understanding how your physiology impacts the way you feel, recover, and perform can be one of the most powerful tools in your health and fitness journey.

Understanding how your hormones influence your performance isn't about finding hacks or chasing quick fixes.

It's about building self-awareness, confidence, and the knowledge to take ownership of your body and the way you train.

Because here's the reality:

We are not just little men.

Our symptoms matter.

Our recovery matters.

Our physiology matters.

Throughout the month, fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone can influence everything from strength and recovery to energy levels, sleep quality, mood, and cravings.

Learning to recognise these shifts and respond to them with awareness rather than frustration takes time. But when you understand what's happening inside your body and adapt your training accordingly, you create consistency, reduce the risk of burnout, and unlock long-term progress.

This isn't about putting your training into a box or creating rigid rules around what you should and shouldn't do.

It's about learning to work with your body, not against it.

For women, training with intent means recognising how hormonal fluctuations may influence performance and making informed decisions based on what your body is telling you.

Across the menstrual cycle, hormones shift, and with them can come changes in energy, recovery, strength, sleep, motivation, and appetite.

Understanding these phases gives you context, not limitations.

The important thing to understand is that hormones don't automatically determine how you'll perform on any given day.

They simply provide context.

We've all had sessions where we expected to feel great and didn't.

We've also all surprised ourselves with incredible performances on days we expected to struggle.

The goal isn't to let your cycle dictate your training.

The goal is to understand the variables that may be influencing how you're feeling so you can make informed decisions and train with greater awareness.

Before we dive in, it's important to remember that not every menstrual cycle looks the same.

While I'll reference a typical 28-day cycle to help explain the different phases, your cycle may be shorter, longer, or vary from month to month and that's completely normal.

The goal isn't to fit yourself into a perfect timeline.

It's to start recognising your own patterns, understanding how your body responds throughout your cycle, and using that awareness to make informed decisions about your training, recovery, and performance.

Ignoring your body's signals often leads to frustration, inconsistency, and feeling like you're constantly pushing uphill.

Too often women blame themselves for fluctuations in performance.

They think they're lazy.

They think they've lost fitness.

They think they're doing something wrong.

In reality, there may be physiological reasons why training feels different at different points throughout the month.

Understanding that can remove a huge amount of frustration and allow you to approach training with more confidence.

When you align your training with your physiology, you can:

• Recover more effectively
• Build strength more consistently
• Improve training quality
• Reduce the likelihood of burnout
• Train with purpose instead of guesswork

Because progress isn't about fighting your body.

It's about understanding it, respecting it, and using that knowledge to perform without limits.

During this phase, both oestrogen and progesterone are at their lowest levels.

You may notice:

• Lower energy
• Increased fatigue
• Reduced motivation
• A greater need for recovery

Focus on:

• Movement quality
• Recovery
• Aerobic work
• Listening to your body's cues

Remember: consistency will always outperform intensity when your body is asking for a slower pace.

As oestrogen begins to rise and progesterone remains low, many women notice improvements in energy, recovery, and training capacity.

You may notice:

• Increased motivation
• Better recovery
• Higher training output
• Improved strength potential

Focus on:

• Strength training
• Progressive overload
• Skill development
• Challenging sessions

This is often a great window to push performance and chase progress.

Oestrogen reaches its peak, and many women feel strong, powerful, and energetic.

You may notice:

• Peak strength
• Increased power and speed
• Higher confidence and motivation

However, it's also worth noting that some women may experience slightly reduced joint stability during this phase, so while performance can feel great, it's important not to skip your warm-ups and recovery work.

Focus on:

• Performance
• Strength
• Power output

Push performance when it feels good, but continue to prioritise movement quality, preparation, and recovery.

Progesterone becomes the dominant hormone during this phase.

You may notice:

• Increased body temperature
• Changes in appetite and cravings
• Reduced recovery capacity
• Energy fluctuations
• Lower motivation on some days

Focus on:

• Managing recovery
• Prioritising sleep
• Supporting performance through nutrition
• Adjusting training intensity when needed

This doesn't mean you stop training.

It simply means being willing to adapt.

One of the biggest reasons we built SHAPE wasn't just to provide great training.

It was to create an environment where women could learn, ask questions, and build confidence in their training alongside other women doing exactly the same thing.

The fitness industry can be a noisy place. There is no shortage of conflicting advice around hormones, training, nutrition, and performance.

SHAPE gives you a place to cut through that noise.

A place where education sits alongside training.

A place where women can share experiences, celebrate progress, ask questions, and learn more about their bodies without judgement.

Because whilst understanding your physiology is powerful, having a community of like-minded women around you who are learning and progressing alongside you can make that journey even more impactful.

Understanding your hormones isn't about creating excuses or limitations.

It's about creating awareness.

The more awareness you build, the more confidence you'll have in your training decisions, your recovery, and your ability to stay consistent long term.

If there's one thing I'd encourage you to do after reading this article, it's to start paying attention.

Track your cycle.

Make notes on your energy, sleep, recovery, cravings, motivation, and training performance.

Over time you'll begin to spot patterns.

Those patterns become knowledge.

And knowledge creates autonomy.

The more you understand your body, the more confidence you'll have in your training decisions.

Learning the ebbs and flows of your cycle takes time, patience, and compassion. But understanding how your body responds throughout the month may be one of the most powerful steps you can take towards improving your health, performance, and overall wellbeing.

Train with intent.

Listen to your body.

Build autonomy.

And remember: your physiology isn't something to fight against—it's something to understand and work with.

Annabel Murphy 

Senior Coach 
Marchon Harpenden