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How to Exercise for Your Hormones | The Right Type, Intensity and Timing for Every Stage of Life
42 Plays22 days ago
If you are doing all the right things, hitting the gym, staying consistent, pushing hard but still feeling exhausted, stuck, and not seeing results, this episode might be the missing piece you have been looking for.
In this episode of The Bean Talk, Riannon and Jeremy break down the relationship between exercise and hormones, and why more is not always better when it comes to moving your body.
The type of exercise you do, the intensity, the timing, and your current hormonal state all matter far more than the calories you are burning.
In this episode, we cover:
- How exercise and hormones are directly connected including cortisol, insulin, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid and testosterone
- Why over exercising can stall fat loss, suppress ovulation and worsen hormonal acne
- Strength training for women.
- The hormonal benefits of resistance training and who it is best for
- Low intensity exercise and walking for hormone health and why daily walking is one of the most underrated hormone regulators
- Pilates and yoga for hormone balance, cortisol reduction and nervous system regulation
- HIIT and hormones, when high intensity training helps and when it hurts
- Endurance training and the hormonal risks including cycle loss and reduced progesterone
- Cycle syncing exercise. How to match your training intensity to each phase of your menstrual cycle
- Best exercise for postpartum and breastfeeding recovery
- Exercise and perimenopause. Why resistance training and walking are essential for bone density and hormonal health
- Exercise and PCOS and insulin resistance.
- Which training styles support blood sugar and hormone balance
- How to exercise for hormone health without burning out or going backwards
If your training is leaving you exhausted, wired but tired, missing periods or stuck it is not a discipline problem. It is a hormone mismatch. And this episode will show you exactly what to do instead.
Connect with us:
Mungbean: Instagram & TikTok: @mungbean_health Website: www.mungbeanhealth.com
Sproutling Supplements: Instagram: @sproutling_supplements
Website: https://sproutlingsupplements.com.au/
The Bean Talk Instagram: @thebeantalk_ https://mungbeanhealth.com/pages/podcast
The information shared in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner before starting, changing, or stopping any supplements, medications, or health protocols to ensure they are appropriate for your individual needs.
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Transcript
Introduction and Roles
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mungbean Health, Jeremy. Here at Mungbean Health, we're on a mission to unlock the secrets of fertility and natural wellbeing one episode at time.
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of The Bean Talk with Rhiannon and Jeremy.
Sproutling End of Financial Year Sale
00:00:27
Speaker
Hi guys and welcome back. We have had a very big week. It is EFS. You will listen to this. Yeah, you'll probably listen to this next week. So hopefully we've survived it. EFS sale.
00:00:39
Speaker
That is end of financial year sale for anyone living under a rock. And it is our first sale for Sproutling. So... If you're ready to take your preconception seriously, you want to balance your hormones, your hubby wants to feel better, have better testosterone levels, anti-aging, two capsules a day.
00:00:59
Speaker
Made with love, formulated after years of experience. It's so easy to do. so They're actually so good. We take them every day and they're so good. at Postpartum, preconception, perimenopause as well. There's a shatavari in there, the herb. And same for men. Great for any age. You guys don't go through any pregnancy or anything. So every age. And when you are your most fertile, you are your most healthy. So...
00:01:24
Speaker
Go and check it out. www.sproutlingsupplements.com.au Made proudly in Australia. And owned. Yes. So that aside, that is... That's a lot going on over there. But go check it out because we've got free gifts and a great 30% off sitewide. It's been chaos. Our little beans and big beans have been suffering immensely.
00:01:48
Speaker
We haven't been doing much for ourselves, guys. going to be honest with you. We've been taking care of our business babies. Yes, seriously. And our living babies, but putting ourselves last, okay? So it's naughty. We have been taking our sprouting though, so that
Market vs Supermarket: Fresh Produce Debate
00:02:01
Speaker
counts.
00:02:01
Speaker
The other thing we've been doing, which I guess this is pretty big because it's a lot to haul all the kids down there. We've been going to our local growers market. I love my dimples. I love ordering that. I think it's fabulous. Great for meat. They do one tray meals and they do all fruits and vegetables, but I suck with the planning side of things. I'm the type to figure out dinner.
00:02:21
Speaker
when it's three o'clock in the afternoon for that night. I have tried to get better at planning and I love to do the slow cooker because then I know we've got a couple of days worth of it. We can do some lunches, we can do some dinners and it makes it a bit easier because I know in the morning I just got to get up and chuck it on.
00:02:38
Speaker
And so we'll go to the butcher, which actually we need to go down this afternoon. It's to get some slow cooker. meat gonna get some also book i make a slow cooker and then i'll do one or two days ahead anyway i'm really waffling on here but the main point of this is we've been going the growers market getting out fresh produce yes so fresh so good and really affordable literally go into pearls or woolies by i don't know if you can hear them. There's dogs in the background. There's dogs howling right now.
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Of course, it's when we try to record, which is like every day. Went in, bought two punnets of strawberries. Sorry, two punnets of tomatoes, little tomatoes, cherry tomatoes. Punnets of strawberries and blueberries. It was four things and it cost me $30.
00:03:26
Speaker
It was like $32. What the helly. Yeah. And then we got from the growers market. We probably spent about 80 in total, but that was like a huge part of a double. Double. and the Blueberries. Blackberries. Blackberries. Strawberries. Actually, we didn't get blackberries. We got raspberries. Oh, raspberries. got three. And then we got a full big of one of them.
00:03:45
Speaker
Coles. Yeah, like the isolated bags. The isolated, what's it called? Insulated, the big, giant insulated ones and pretty much filled that with like to the brim with broccoli.
00:03:56
Speaker
Carrots, corn. What else did we get? We got so much stuff. Last week I got turmeric and ginger, fresh turmeric ginger, beetroots. Be true. We got lemons last week.
00:04:08
Speaker
Gosh, we've got so much stuff. Yeah. Oh, we forgot we got two pawpaws as well. Oh, we got two pawpaws which should be ready now. And what else was And we got a whole bag of apples and pears. Pears, apples and pears. And it was seriously like $80 all up. And yet orange and mandarins. But our tree, our orange tree is blooming. They're coming. And they're like seed-free, which is so good.
00:04:27
Speaker
They're awesome. they're not seed-free. Oh, yeah, there's a couple of seeds. There's minimal seeds. I swear so many people that have their home yes gardens are full of seeds. And that is so annoying, especially with the kids because every two seconds they spit them on the floor or they're like, ah, like complaining, like there's seeds in here. So I know it's a first-world problem, but it's so much easier to just dig into yeah a bit of fruit that doesn't have – isn't full of seeds.
00:04:50
Speaker
So, yeah, so that's actually like a big thing that we've been – Really trying. it does It's on a Sunday morning. Jeremy doesn't like getting up early, but it is what it It's it. Doing the things for our health and for our bank account, essentially, because getting fresh produce for way less price. like I just cannot stand the... crap that's in the supermarkets and then you're paying so much for it. It's like, what? It's not even cheaper. Yeah, $5 to $8 with some sour blueberries or sour strawberries that have no flavour. I know.
00:05:15
Speaker
The kids ate all the strawberries there. that Yeah, pun it on the way home. was like two punnets and they just ate or didn't even have time to wash them. But I feel better about that there than the supermarket ones. But when I get home, I do actually wash them in the Eco Pure, Koala eka Eco, the fruit and veggie wash. Get them all ready, put them in the fridge and, like, they go. they go so well. Leave that big bean done.
00:05:36
Speaker
That's seriously, that's all we've got for you guys today. Anyway, that's it. See you later. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
Impact of Exercise on Hormones
00:05:42
Speaker
No, we actually want to talk a little bit more about exercise because I guess that is something that is on our mind. We've started to get back into it a little bit postpartum, but it's definitely not...
00:05:53
Speaker
where we want to be. But this episode is absolutely perfect for anybody who feels like they are doing everything right, but essentially not seeing the results that they want to be seeing. But here's the truth that most people aren't told. And it's that more exercise is not always better. So I guess that's something that you want to know can exercise can either benefit you or hinder.
00:06:23
Speaker
It can be beautifully supporting your hormones or it can be quietly sabotaging them. Like excessive exercise is not good because you feel sore, you feel tired. And who wants to feel like that? I know. Feel like run down. Yes. And think of all the athletes. Like we see so many beautiful athletes in clinic and in my clinical experience I have and they lose their period.
00:06:42
Speaker
Hormones. Stress. Yeah, the body knows it's like it's too either like real low body fat. And there's lots of hormonal conditions that around that. Now, don't get too excited. We're not here to tell you that it's not important and you don't need to exercise. or Exercise is very important. It is super important.
00:07:00
Speaker
But the type, the intensity, the timing, and your current hormonal state all matter far more than the calories you're burning. So it's good to look at it as a whole picture, and this is why we do this with our clients in clinic.
00:07:15
Speaker
So in this episode, we're going to break them down and break it down a little bit for you where we can talk about how exercise influences hormones the pros and the cons of different training styles, who each type of exercise is best for. So essentially you can move your body in a way that works for your hormones, not against them.
00:07:36
Speaker
It's all about making sure that you're not spending this extra time doing this exercise and not benefiting yourself and your health. Like how annoying. Get up, you do all the right things, do the exercise, and then it's actually taking you backwards. Yeah. Not cool. remember of our friends like, oh, I'm not feeling well. I'm real run down. I'm just going to go for a 10-kilometer jog and sweat it out. Don't do that. And then just comes back and just, oh, I'm not feeling well. You need to rest. It doesn't matter what you tell some people, though, but you definitely need to rest. So let's talk about how exercise can impact your hormones.
00:08:09
Speaker
So exercise directly influences our cortisol, stress hormone, insulin. Blood sugar. Yeah, that blood sugar regulation. Estrogen and progesterone.
00:08:22
Speaker
thyroid hormones, yeah testosterone and growth hormones. Big time, yes. And also leptin and ghrelin, which are the hunger. And I can never pronounce this word probably, but the word where it's like satiety.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's like where you feel full. Oh, okay. It's like satisfied. all right Yes. I remember learning it actually in, i think it was year nine or 10 and we had a whole class on it and I still can't pronounce it. i tu That's just where you feel satisfied. Is it satiety?
00:08:55
Speaker
Anyway, you guys know what I mean, right? ah In the right dose, movement is amazing. So you're, It can actually support your insulin sensitivity, can reduce inflammation, whereas when you're doing too much of it, it can increase insulate inflammation, supports our ovulation and cycle regulation and improves mood and sleep, not because you're exhausted but because all those endorphins are doing their thing.
00:09:23
Speaker
In the wrong dose of exercise, what can it do? it can in women, it can suppress ovulation. Yes. raises cortisol that stress hormone worsened fatigue anxiety and hormonal acne yeah it is it can really flare that up so if you've got skin issues you might not be thinking but it can absolutely play a role can store fat loss despite doing everything right so you can store more fat Yeah, because you stress what is holding on to that cortisol. Yes. Now let's break this down a little bit more about the different types of exercises. So resistance training or weight training, strength training, using weights or resistant bands or body weight. That all is all in one big umbrella. Pros for your hormones.
00:10:10
Speaker
Improves insulin sensitivity. This is my favorite type of exercising, not only for ourselves, but also to recommend to clients. Also increases lean muscle, which stabilizes our blood sugar, supports testosterone and growth hormone, helps lower excess estrogen and better your metabolism as well. Protective for bone density, especially postpartum, which I'd need. And also peri- and postmenopausal because they're very similar hormone profiles.
00:10:39
Speaker
Cons of this type of weight training exercise or where it can backfire. What do you reckon? Excessing volume of training to fail. You can elevate cortisol. Yeah.
00:10:51
Speaker
Undereating plus heavy training equals hormone suppression. Yeah. It's not good. stuff Poor recovery can stress the thyroid. Yeah, which is not good. And especially if you're trying to conceive, which obviously we see so many clients in clinic that are trying to conceive, it's not good. And that's why people lose their period when they're doing too much. yeah So this type of exercise is actually best for individuals with insulin resistance, PCOS,
00:11:15
Speaker
perimenopause, postpartum, especially progressively. So when you're starting off slow and working up the strength, don't go all in crazy all at once. And anyone in anyone wanting metabolic health and longevity support.
00:11:31
Speaker
Super important. With the postpartum exercise, it's good to go see a women's health physio and get signed off basically to make sure that your pelvic floor is ready for you to start doing body training or weightlifting. Exactly. Because you could do more damage than... Exactly. It's not good if you do too much, right? Yeah. And also you always say to my clients that you want to be... It's not about now necessarily. It's about when you're older. So when you're like 40...
00:12:00
Speaker
I want you to be like, I've got a strong pelvic floor, not, oh, my God, I weaved myself today when I was laughing too hard. yeah So it's not even about just now. Obviously, it's good now when you're younger and you're 30s, but it's like when you're 40 plus. It's all that longevity, right? Exactly. When you're 60 and you're like, I want to work out in the gym. But, i yeah, I keep weeing myself or you have prolapse or whatever. So it's it's really important to do those things now. And everybody's pelvic floor is different. That's why a women's health physio,
00:12:26
Speaker
or pelvic floor physio is going to tell you what's the right exercises for you. Which, yeah, really good tip there. Essentially a hormone friendly tip for you, especially if you are doing weight training is three to four sessions a week. You want to be doing compound movements and avoid maxing out in every session. You don't need to be getting your personal best every time. Okay.
00:12:49
Speaker
Low intensity, steady state. L-I-S-S? Yeah, Liss Exercises. It's a low, yeah, low intensity, like slow. Yeah, I know what low intensity is, but I've never heard that, like L-I-S-S.
00:13:01
Speaker
Everyone's learning today. So examples of this are just like walking. We do a lot of this. Yes, gentle cycling, light swimming, Jeremy in the baby class but with Rome, and easy hiking.
00:13:15
Speaker
love that do not with the kids yeah we've done it we yeah us too yeah we have this really nice walk i think we might have spoken about it before called crack neck not too far from us it's not a good name but it's a beautiful walk and like it is i'd say that's easy hiking yeah it's all carved out there's stairs and stuff and they've made it even nicer now kids did it like the kids yeah true the older kids so pros for our hormones for all this exercise is like it lowers our cortisol improves lymphatic drainage, supports parasympathetic nervous system, enhances fat metabolism without the stress, And it's safe during healing phases, pregnancy, and also adrenal burnout. And it would be good to, after like, you've had an operation, like i remember when I had my leg, like getting moving is the best thing for it. I didn't even have to do any physio like, cause like you got perfect mobility. It's like my dad just had his hip replacement and like they literally get them up and out the next day. It's crazy, get him but it's like, you need to get moving. Yeah. yeah you definite sees up Also the cons of this type of exercise.
00:14:16
Speaker
and Not enough stimulus alone for muscle or bone health. Yeah, it doesn't really put enough pressure on for that. Excessive long sessions without nutrition can store or suppress hormones. Yeah, it's not good. So this is best for adrenal fatigue, hypothalamic amenorrhea, postpartum and breastfeeding, high stress or inflammatory conditions.
00:14:40
Speaker
Like your broken leg. Yep. Daily walking is one of the most underrated hormone regulators we have, which is so good. Walking is like our number one. We love a good walk. Absolutely. Absolutely. It is so important. So making sure that we're moving our body, especially after you eat, it's so nice to get things moving. Really good for your digestion.
00:15:00
Speaker
We've always been walkers. Yeah, we have. with Especially other kids. We do a late 9.30, 10 o'clock walk. am i Yeah, and we had Charlie as well. We just walk around the park in Sydney. So we've got Pilates and yoga.
00:15:11
Speaker
This is very common, obviously. Improves our core and pelvic floor function as a pro. Enhances insulin sensitivity. Reduces our stress hormone cortisol. And excellent for postpartum and nervous system regulation.
00:15:26
Speaker
The cons, which is doing that, is limited muscle building if that's your sole form of training. Yeah, if you're not doing other exercises, it's not going to be the best, but it's whole bit about a combination, isn't it? Yeah. Yoga itself, the pros would be powerful cortisol lowering effects, improves your vagal tone and also supports cycle regulation and sleep.
00:15:51
Speaker
Cons, heated or power yoga can act more like a hit for stressed bodies. Yeah, you want to be mindful of that. Best for cycle regulation, postpartum recovery, high cortisol, anxiety, and burnout.
00:16:06
Speaker
So talking on that HIIT or high-intensity interval training, this is exercises like sprints or circuit training, boot camps, CrossFit-style workouts. i do not like it. It's not for me, and it's not for a lot of people, although some people really thrive with it. that's why you've got find what works for you and your hormones. The pros for your hormones is it does improve insulin sensitivity quickly.
00:16:30
Speaker
Time efficient because you can get in, get out. Boosts growth hormone and testosterone short-term. Cardiovascular benefits as well. Gets the blood pumping. Cons, strong cortisol response, can suppress ovulation in overuse, increases inflammation if recovery is poor, often worsens hormonal acne and cycling regularity in women. Yeah, it's not good in many ways for your hormones, but...
00:16:59
Speaker
If done short and sweet, it can be all right, like just to give your body a bit of a shock almost. But you don't want to be doing it like long term. It's more of a short term for me or mixed where you do like one session, not when you're doing it like five times a week. yeah But obviously, if you're training for a marathon or something like you need to be doing.
00:17:17
Speaker
something like this but again short term it's best for metabolically healthy individuals short term fat loss phases as i was just saying it's like to trigger the body into that yeah state so someone's really overweight sometimes it can help to just kick start everything get it started and then move into it more but it's really hard if you're not used to it like it's hard it's hard for anybody i know gosh can't imagine doing boot camp right now makes me tired just thinking about it I'm sleepy. I just know that we're going to be up tonight with kids.
00:17:48
Speaker
People sleeping well, eating in enough food and cycling regularly, it can be really good for, but remember, short term, okay? Some people disagree because they love it, and that's okay if it's working for you. You can handle it because everyone's so different.
00:18:04
Speaker
Hormone rule, one to two sessions per week max for most women, if at all. Yep. endurance training, long distance running, cycling or triathlon training. Yeah, this one's hectic. Pros, cardiovascular fitness and mental resilience.
00:18:23
Speaker
And then cons, we've got high cortisol output, suppressed thyroid function, low energy availability because you're tired. loss of menstrual cycle, big time here, reduced progesterone production, which remember we need progesterone for our hormones and now we want to make a baby and keep it.
00:18:44
Speaker
So yes, be mindful that. Best for well-fueled, well-recovered athletes only. not ideal for hormone healing phases don't be doing it if you're trying to have a baby please it's not good but if you're an athlete well yeah we'll make it work how we can it's just like you've got to support yourself with supplementation yeah nutrition and um don't be doing like an up phase where you're like trying to go further like just slow it down a bit yeah i did hear this old saying i don't know how true it is but there's no such thing as overworking out which we all know there is it's only not getting the nutritional value back. Yeah. I can understand the nutritional value, but I feel like it's more than that. Yeah.
00:19:25
Speaker
You know what i mean? Yes. You get energy from food, but then what they're recommending like an energy bar. Make sure you have six V's a day and you can do it. be that night Like, you know, I know. I'll sleep. date stuff yeah and It's like all your balance. And also it depends on the type of person and how they're doing it. And if you're not trying to have a baby and you don't give a damn about your hormones, you're Go for it. Perfect for you. Yeah. But if you care about how you feel, don't do it. Another thing you can do for your cycle is exercise. So remember that we want to be supporting our different cycles. Okay. So follicular and ovulation phases. So that first half of the cycle and ovulation, thinking about strength training, higher intensity in that time is ideal. And then the luteal phase, which is after we ovulate until we bleed, lower intensity, more recovery, walking, and Pilates in that time. So slow it down.
00:20:21
Speaker
And for wider stages of your hormones, like postpartum and breastfeeding, think walking, Pilates, and gentle strength exercises. slowly progressing weights if that's what you decide to do. And then perimenopause, very similar, but you wanna prioritize resistant training and walking because we want that bone density support.
00:20:43
Speaker
So the final sort of takeaway from all of this is exercise should be supporting blood sugar, lowering your inflammation, building muscle, calming the nervous system and not hindering all of those things. And if your training is leaving you exhausted, wide, but tired, missing periods, craving sugar and stuck with that belly fat.
00:21:07
Speaker
It's not good. Yeah. It's not a discipline problem. It's a hormone mismatch that's happening. Your body doesn't need to be punished. It needs the right stimulus at the right time throughout your cycle.
00:21:24
Speaker
So just know that there is so much that we can do. And just because are your girlfriend or your boyfriend, your friends or your partner is doing a certain type of exercise doesn't mean you have to. yeah And if you can make it work, like if you can both be like, okay, we're going to go walking together or hiking or go in the gym and do some weights, go for it, make it work. But if old mates doing a bloody endurance training, training for a marathon, And your postpartum, please don't. Yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker
Just don't do it. If you need support with your hormones or you want to know a bit more about exercise and how that's best for you, please reach out to us at mungbean, www.mungbeanhealth.com. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok, mungbean underscore health.
00:22:11
Speaker
And if you're looking for an easy supplement to take, Sproutling Supplements? Actually amazing for, both of them are amazing. The men's one though, we have actually thought more about getting that into the gym sort of space because it is so beautiful for men that are wanting that sort of support because it's got that beautiful herb tribulus, which is amazing for testosterone.
00:22:32
Speaker
Really good, obviously, for the nutrients that are in there as well for that sperm production, but the testosterone point and everyone in the gym is looking for more testosterone. Because they want to build that muscle and you can do it naturally.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah. And it's got ah heaps of antioxidants in there. Which is great for everything. Everything. That is the anti-aging hack. Yeah. I know I want to feel like I'm, and it's more about how you feel than you look, but I want to feel 20 years younger. Yeah. When I'm 60, I want to feel 40. I'm sure everyone at 60 wants to feel like they did when they were 40. Yeah, like they all think back then, wow, I had so much energy. time Like at the time, you're like, oh, I'm so depleted. And then you get to there and you're like, wow. Well, I didn't even, I wasn't even close. Yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
And you can find that, as I said in the start, www.sproutlingsupplements.com. So it's Sproutling, S-P-R-O-U-T-L-I-N-G.
00:23:26
Speaker
supplements.com.au and we can't wait to help thanks for listening see
00:23:36
Speaker
and that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness i'm Rhiannon your fertility fairy godmother thank you for joining us stay connected with us on instagram at mungbin underscore health