The Balance with Britt Podcast · Holistic Britt Nutrition

Exercising Based on Menstrual Cycles & The Moon with Jenn Pike

·55 min·3 clips

Jen Pike maps strength work to cycle phases, from heavy lifting in follicular to walking on days two and three of her period.

1. The Balance with Britt Podcast focuses on exercising based on menstrual cycles and the moon with Jenn Pike. 2. Brittany Nicholson hosts the episode, and Jenn Pike appears as a medical exercise specialist and functionally integrative diagnostic nutritionist specializing in women's health and hormones. 3. The episode asks how women can train and recover in line with the four phases of the menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle. 4. Jenn Pike says she began as a strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer before working more closely with women. 5. She describes noticing performance decline around age 37, including poorer recovery, inflammation, sleep that was not restful, and new alcohol intolerance. 6. Pike says she had tracked her cycle since age 17 after reading Tony Weichler's 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility.' 7. She says her own training journal showed a clear pattern: the week before her period was her weakest point, and her energy returned after bleeding ended. 8. In 2017, she created a beta version of Synced and began matching reps and sets to menstrual phases. 9. Pike says she tested the approach with 10 women over 10 consecutive cycles and began seeing changes in about three months. 10. She says her December 2019 fitness show prep was trained for nine months entirely by cycle, and she won both divisions while keeping her period. 11. Pike explains the follicular phase as the post-period window when estrogen, testosterone, FSH, and LH rise. 12. She says ovulation is the shortest phase, usually a 24-hour event inside a two-to-four-day window with changes like cervical mucus, temperature increases, bloating, and breast tenderness. 13. Pike describes the luteal phase as the longest phase, usually 10 to 14 days, when progesterone rises and energy often pulls inward. 14. She says PMS should not be confused with symptoms that last an entire phase, and she points listeners with severe post-ovulation crashes toward PMDD. 15. Pike maps the follicular phase to the waxing moon, ovulation to the full moon, the luteal phase to the waning moon, and the bleed to the new moon. 16. She also links those phases to spring, summer, fall, and winter, saying the body follows a repeated pattern of building, peak, withdrawal, and rest. 17. The conversation stays conversational and instructional, with Brittany Nicholson asking examples from her own life and Pike answering in extended explanations. 18. Pike uses vivid comparisons, including men's '24 hour rhythm' and women's bodies being more cyclical, to make the model easier to picture. 19. Women curious about cycle syncing, hormone-aware training, or lunar metaphors for fitness would likely benefit from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a tightly scripted interview or a non-health topic may skip it.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how the menstrual cycle can change training, recovery, and energy.

Jen Pike and Brittany Nicholson spend the episode on a simple idea that lands cleanly: women are not small men, and training, recovery, and energy can shift across the menstrual cycle.

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Why you'd press play

When your workouts keep feeling mismatched, this gives you a clearer way to understand how your body changes across the cycle.

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