Research

Hormonal

Menstrual cycle phase has a trivial effect on exercise performance in eumenorrheic women, with no evidence supporting general guidelines for modulating training across phases.

Stop tracking your menstrual cycle to schedule workouts. The science shows that performance differences across phases are trivial and inconsistent. Instead of trying to align your training with your hormones, focus on consistent training habits. If you notice a personal pattern where you feel weaker or stronger in a specific phase, adjust your expectations for that specific session, but do not change your overall training plan based on the calendar.

LimitedRefutesLOW confidence
The results from this systematic review and meta-analysis indicate that exercise performance might be trivially reduced during the early follicular phase of the MC, compared to all other phases. Due to the trivial effect size, the large between-study variation and the number of poor-quality studies included in this review, general guidelines on exercise performance across the MC cannot be formed; rather, it is recommended that a personalised approach should be taken based on each individual’s response to exercise performance across the MC.
Kelly L. McNulty et al. · Sports Medicine · 2020

Why this rating

The review itself is high quality (systematic/meta-analysis), but the underlying evidence base is rated 'low' due to methodological issues in primary studies.

Source

The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Exercise Performance in Eumenorrheic Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Kelly L. McNulty et al. · Sports Medicine · 2020

DOI 10.1007/s40279-020-01319-3

Meta-analysis · 78 studiesCited 732×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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