Navigating Fitness With Endo, PCOS & Women's Health Challenges | E16

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Hello, team, and welcome back to Train Like a Girl. My name is Abby, and I am an online women's health and fitness coach. And every week I bring you a new episode. And this week is something that is really close to my heart. I think I say that every bloody week, but this one is especially. Although today I'm not going to speak about my personal experience really, but I'm going to use my personal experience to give you the a little bit of, I don't know if it's education, but just some tidbits around how it might how you might be able to navigate your training. So it's all about women's health. And I'm stoked to be talking about this. I'm actually pre-recording this, um, but with my own journey without getting into the depths of it, maybe I'll do an episode in more detail about my experience, but I'm actually booked in for surgery. So by the time this gets released, I may have actually already had surgery, but we'll see. Anyway, I'm being very shady, aren't I? In today's chat, I would love to talk through ways in which we can still kick ass with our goals in the face of women's health issues. Now, obviously, it goes without saying that there are a plethora of women's health issues, and each of us will have very different experiences as completely unique individuals. And before I get into this, I also must stress that I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nurse, I'm not even a women's health professional really. I'm a PT who simply has a passion and empathy for all things women's health. Because, like most of you listening, if you've, you know, clicked on this, I assume, I have I have my own extensive story. But although I do have my own story with endometriosis and PCOS, I must really stress that my experience could be very different from yours. So today's episode is not, you know, about telling you how to fix it or come up with some magic pill for you. If you are having trouble, I would of course highly re recommend seeking professional medical help. But for the purpose of today's episode, I want to talk about this from a fitness angle, a health and fitness angle, because you know, unlike men, our hormonal fluctuations across the month can be far more pronounced and can impact things like energy, like hunger, recovery, mood, and training tolerance. And some of us might be experiencing things like, if you're anything like me, heightened hunger, heightened stress, anxiety, cravings, even PMDD. Some of us might even find it impossible to train due to pain, or some might have excessive fatigue or struggle with tremendous bloating. So again, I'm not here to diagnose you or even suggest that you have a medical issue. But just generally speaking, if you in any way struggle with motivation or energy or fatigue or any other like mental barrier with getting yourself to the gym or staying on your plan due to a woman's health str a women's health problem or struggle, I would love for you to stick around for this podcast. And, you know, please feel free to take pieces from this that resonate, but maybe leave bits out that don't, because you know, and this leads me nicely on to ultimately, we're all here because we have goals and we want to get strong, and some of us might want to lose weight, we might want to get stronger, whatever the goal is, though. Often, and I'm speaking from my experience here, it can feel like we've just been dealt a really difficult hand, and it can just be so tough to stay on track. So, in today's chat, I'm gonna discuss ways that have helped both me and you know, clients to navigate training around health issues like this. So you may have, I want to start this chat by bringing up something that has been floating around on Instagram, maybe less so in recent months, but certainly it was like booming last year, and that is cycle syncing. My take on this is I don't agree. And the reason I don't agree with this, and the re and I will give you like my preference and alternative, is because all of us experience different symptoms, and so cycle syncing, you know, is often very unhelpful for those. So for those of you that don't know, cycle syncing is this idea or this like structure that suggests that you do strength training at certain time of the month, yoga at another time of the month, you know, like less intense forms of exercise, some parts of the month, maybe hit and all of that. So it's it's about rotating through a bunch of different exercise modalities, okay? Which I understand where that has come from, but what I prefer is self-monitoring. So let's talk about the two. Because we are all very different people and we all have different, you know, as we've discussed in the intro there, we might all be battling different symptoms or different women's health issues. Based on that, or some of us have like really irregular cycles. Based on that, if we were to follow a guide of self-sink self uh of cycle sinking, we might really be shooting ourselves in our foot. It might actually be leaving us in a worse spot. And in fact, just generally speaking, guys, I would say it will leave you in a worse spot just by the just by base by looking at a cycle syncing program, I know straight away that a person following that cycle is not gonna get the results of somebody that is being consistent with their training because consistency and repeating the same program week after week is what gets you results ultimately. So even just like as a standard, changing your workouts every week is not gonna be a good thing, it's not gonna leave you in a good spot. And whilst I understand that it's it might be backed with good intentions, it's like, oh, we need to be softer on ourselves sometimes in the month and stuff. I get that. So although it's potentially good well-intentioned, it could be leaving you in a worse spot. Because as I said, ultimately we're all very different. And what if actually, when you're told to do yoga, you might be waking up feeling super pumped and energized that day? You could be leaving some seriously good progression on the table. So whilst I'm not suggesting suggesting that you go and sort of kick ass every single session, what I am suggesting is this idea of self-monitoring. And what that is all about is checking in with your body and learning what's best for it. And I think I I think when I say listening to your body, I want to be really clear about what that actually means because I know that that can sound a bit vague or a bit woo-woo, but it's not that. It's not sitting there waiting for some perfect intuitive answer or trying to decode what your body's telling you in some mystical way. It's actually really, really practical. So this is what I like to do. It's more like asking yourself, will this session make me feel better or worse after I've done it? Or it's saying, Am I avoiding this because I genuinely feel unwell? Or because I'm just a bit tired and I can't be bothered today. And if I do something lighter, is there still a version of training that would actually support me today instead of me doing just nothing? Right? So it's about asking yourself truthfully what is best for me in this moment on this day with these symptoms that I'm experiencing. It's honestly just about building awareness with your body over time. So that is self-monitoring. So instead of having, you know, the cycle sinking, which is like forcing yourself to do certain things at certain times of the month when you might not even have a regular cycle, it's more about, no, actually, let me take an approach, let me have my program that is consistent and the same every week, because if you've listened to any of my other podcasts, you'll know that that is the key to growth and strength gaining and all of the good things. So it's about sticking with that regular program. But then on days that you feel off, it's about checking in with yourself. So it's by that logic, it's way more individualized, right? Because we're then looking at, we're noticing, we're building awareness over time. We're really learning that tool of checking in with ourselves, which I know, again, sounds woo-woo, but it's a really good tool because it's like noticing things like, okay, well, when I go for a walk on days like this, I actually feel better. You know, my period started. I feel rubbish, for example. I know, though, that if I stay on the sofa all day and completely stop moving, I'm actually going to feel worse mentally and physically. This isn't me saying that that is the case for everyone, by the way, I'm just giving you examples. So it's less about rules and more about collecting data on yourself instead of just following this rigid, you know, cycle-sinking pattern that doesn't actually account for how unpredictable your body and how unique your body is and can be. And I say all of this as somebody that definitely has those moments where I can fully convince myself that I should just skip training because my period is coming, or if I feel a little bit off. When actually, if I'm honest, I'm just a bit tired and looking for an out. So in these moments, I ask myself, would this actually make me feel better or worse today? And usually that gives me a pretty honest answer. Another way of doing this is by thinking, if my friend was experiencing the pain or the fatigue or the bloating or whatever symptom today, would I tell them they're okay to train or not? So self-monitoring, not cycle sinking. To get a little bit more detailed here, we can also talk about the intensity of the workout. So most of us know the difference between pushing in a tough session versus really actually genuinely not feeling well through a session. And for some of us, if symptoms are mild, training and movement can often bring a welcome distraction or even sometimes pain relief, honestly. But if you are somebody that strength trains, which if you don't, why not? And go listen to some more episodes. Um, but if you are strength training, you'll know that, you know, most programs, if you're on a good program, you will be probably trying to improve on last week's numbers. You'll be trying to get stronger over the weeks, right? I just want, I just want to talk more on that because I want to talk about the intensity of your workouts when you're not feeling great. So if you've got, you know, mild symptoms, you might think uh you might look at your program and think, oh gosh, I've got leg day today planned in, uh, I actually I can't do it today, there's no way, because I've got like mild symptoms or whatever. Here's what here is a good example of where I'd love you to use self-monitoring. Because if you if you sit if you see your program and you think, realistically, that's not gonna happen for me today, it doesn't mean that you can't go at all. This is where imperfect action really comes into play. Sometimes it's about just getting to the gym and going through the motions at a lower intensity, or sometimes it's about using 50% of the weight or half the amount of sets or just body weight, or it could even be a totally different session. So, although I say to most of my clients, let's try and do the same workout every week, sometimes some something over nothing is better, right? And that's not me saying you need to push through really bad symptoms, but sometimes movement can be a welcome distraction, like I said. So it's about really checking in with yourself and thinking, right, can I move today? Yes or no? Will it make me feel better today? Yes or no? And if the answer is yes, movement will make me feel better, but then you look at your training program and you're like, oh my god, absolutely no way. It's about then being flexible enough to adapt. Because something will always be better than nothing. And if the alternative is sort of vegetating on the sofa, maybe it is about giving yourself exactly what you truly need in that day. So this is this is true self-monitoring because your goals and your fitness and your strength and the way you feel every day, ultimately it's for you. So although you might have a program, that doesn't mean that you're gonna, you know, that doesn't mean that like you have to get it perfect every single week. It's reminding yourself, this is for me. So although pushing and trying to apply progressive overload, etc., is like valuable and you know, great, sometimes, like some weeks, some days, it might just look like well, it could look like doing a yoga class instead of lifting, rather than doing nothing at all, and that might be progress, but it might also be actually I've decided I don't want to work out today, it's not gonna make me feel better, and having grace around that as well. So, this is what self-monitoring is all about. To use myself as an example, and I'm gonna steer a little bit away from strength training here and draw upon an experience that I had when I used to be a long distance runner. On my own program, I would typically have five, four or five sessions a week. And for a long time, when I'd get an endo flare-up or bad bloating, I would skip the running altogether. But in place of that, I would sort of, as I said earlier, veg out on the sofa. And don't get me wrong here at all, there were and still are plenty of days across my cycle that I literally need to just vegetate on the sofa. But crucially, this is my point, there are some days that I choose, there were some days that I would choose to do to do that simply because simply because running was too much. But the crucial learning for me was that plenty of those times, getting out in fresh air, if I'm honest with myself, and just doing some steps would have actually benefited me far more than just sitting. So it's not about prescribing yourself an exact protocol, but again, about monitoring your symptoms and perhaps trialing some stuff. Some people find that swimming is absolutely incredible for easing endosymptoms, for example. So monitoring your symptoms in line with the exercise or the no exercise of choice will be super helpful. And also worth mentioning, we do know that resistance training can be hugely beneficial for overall health, for insulin sensitivity, for my PCOS gals, for strength, for mood, for confidence, for long-term well-being just generally. So, in theory, applying this to your life is a super positive thing. But again, if you find that your training that way at certain times is causing a negative knock-on effect, journal that or like remember that, write that down for next time. Because, you know, even more than just like self-monitoring, I guess this brings me on to this topic of black and white thinking. Because if you're anything like me and you've got big goals, but you've also got some contraindications with your health that sometimes make you feel like giving up and make it feel harder to stay consistent, what this can sometimes lead to is this real black and white thinking. Because when you're on a program and feeling really fired up for it, but some weeks you get totally knocked off track with like poor mental health or pain or any symptoms that you're up against, it can, sadly, and I can I can uh attest to this, it can perpetuate this real on and off feeling, making you want to be like perfect when you're capable, and maybe beating yourself up then when you can't, and doing nothing, like vegetating on the sofa when actually a walk might might do you good, might. Again, I'm not prescribing specific things, I'm talking about doing what's best for you. But we know that the last thing we want is for you to be pushing through flare-ups or serious symptoms through guilt, but we also, on the flip side, don't want you to feel guilty or feel like giving up when it's essential that you take rest. So let's discuss it. Let's discuss this all or nothing thinking. It all or nothing thinking makes complete sense when you're battling these external factors because binary thinking is so much easier, isn't it? If we've got hard and rigid rules, like I gym four days a week, I eat these meals, I train in this exact manner, it's easier because it leaves no room for decision fatigue. It's black and white. It's a bit like eating the same meals on repeat for fat loss, because that gives you a clear guideline, which is just much easier to stick to rather than changing things up all the time. But unfortunately, with conditions like PCOS, adenomiosis, and other life-altering conditions, we don't have the luxury of consistent days and consistent weeks and consistent months. Therefore, we need to be adaptable. We need to live in the grey area, not in the black and white. And that means truly tuning into what's best for us day to day in line with our goals rather than expecting ourselves to be perfect year-round. So, how do we do this? Number one, check your standards in line with your real life. Do they live up to your real life? Women's health condition or not, none of us live in a vacuum where we can perfectly hit every gram of protein or get perfect workouts every single week. So it's about adjusting your own expectations to match your reality. And I know that sounds super obvious, but in practice it's actually really hard, especially in the world of social media when we're constantly seeing the top-performing athletes and the strongest people globally. But we're not athletes. We are normal women trying to better ourselves. So having a real honest chat with yourself about your expectations is a really great place to start. And this could look like okay, I aim to do three weight sessions per week, but if my symptoms are horrendous and I need to adjust, I will do. And actually having that flexibility might mean that I choose to swim or walk for some of my sessions instead of, I don't know, sprinting or lifting weights. But sometimes that might look like chilling out and doing nothing. You know? So it's not about being perfect, it's about being adaptable. You could think of it as a scale. If 100% is ticking every single box perfectly, but you have a flare-up or what whatever, is 0% better for the rest of the month, or is maybe 20% like a walk with a friend or adjusting some of my sessions, is that better? And this all leads me on to you need to be on your own team and accept that you are your own best friend. You only have one body, so treat it well. This circles us back to the idea of really tuning into your cues and what your body needs. And again, I know this sounds airy-fairy, but it's very useful. If your friend was going through the same, what advice would you offer to them? Learning how to choose the best option for you in that moment and accepting that that is the best outcome for you, be that a hard session or no session at all. I think there's also something really important to say here that we don't always talk about enough, enough, and that is that sometimes the hardest part isn't even the training or the symptoms, it's the comparison. It's seeing other people train consistently or look like they're always progressing or feeling like, why can't I just do that? And honestly, sometimes that really does feel very unfair, and it's because it is unfair. Your body isn't always giving you the same consistency as everyone else, but that doesn't mean that you're doing anything wrong. It just means that your version of consistency is going to look a bit different. But, and this is the crucial bit, choosing to stay in your lane here will be the difference between getting caught in that sort of paralysis analysis and comparison where we just think, well, I can't do that, so I'll do nothing at all. Is the difference. Between that and actually taking action that suits us, imperfect action. Because this is your fitness journey. And although that you've been dealt, you may have been dealt a rough hand with your health, you can either throw in the towel because it is rubbish, or you can be on your own team and do what's best for your body in the moment. And what I'll finish on here is that imperfect action compounds. When we live with conditions like endo, like PCOS, it can be so tough to navigate and it can feel like we're the only ones going through it. But firstly, I promise you you're not. And secondly, maybe you could get a coach that you could discuss these things with openly so that they can help you living in this grey area. They can help you thrive in the great area. Hint hint. No, but seriously, it doesn't even mean getting a coach. It means being on your own team. Imperfect action will always trump no action at all. And it is about working with your body because ultimately your progress, your progress can look ugly, but ugly progress is better than no progress at all. So rather than trying to nail everything perfectly, in spite of not living in a perfect world or with perfect hormones or symptoms, you're much better off taking the correct action for you than taking no action at all, right? So, team, that is a wrap today. If you take anything from today's episode, I would love it to be this. Okay, let's do a little list. You're not behind, you're not failing, you're not broken, you are just learning how to work with your body instead of constantly fighting against it. And that takes time, but you're allowed to do it imperfectly. So check in with your standards in line with the stuff that's going on for you. I hope that helped in some way. I know I'm not a doctor, but I am a very empathetic PT with her own experience with endometriosis. So I hope you feel heard if you've listened to this and if you want some assistance with your fitness around navigating these tough issues, then please see the show notes for details on how you might be able to work with me. And for now, team, that is it. I will speak to you again next week.