What happens when training harder starts to cost you your menstrual cycle?

In this episode, we explore the complex, and often overlooked, relationship between athletic performance, hormones, and menstrual health.

In a culture that glorifies pushing through pain, ignoring fatigue, and constantly chasing the next goal, many athletes lose touch with one of their most important health signals: their cycle. From irregular or missing periods to low energy availability, bone density loss, and fertility concerns, the impact of sport on menstrual health is real — and too often normalised.

We talk about the Female Athlete Triad, cycle syncing for athletes, and the delicate balance between training, nutrition, and recovery. We also unpack how contraception (including the copper IUD) can mask changes in your cycle, and why lighter or absent periods shouldn’t automatically be dismissed as “normal for athletes.”

This conversation challenges the idea that losing your period is a badge of honour, and asks a more important question: where do you draw the line between discipline and harm?

We cover:

🩸 What athletes should watch for in their menstrual cycle

🩸 The Female Athlete Triad: low energy availability, bone density loss, and irregular periods

🩸 How exercise can both disrupt and support cycle regulation

🩸 Cycle syncing for athletes — and how contraception fits into the picture

🩸 Whether lighter periods (or none at all) can be a hidden red flag

🩸 Why electrolytes and nutrition matter for hormonal balance

🩸 The link between menstrual health, performance, and long-term fertility

🩸 How to train sustainably in a culture that rewards overtraining

Whether you’re a recreational athlete, training competitively, or working with active women, this episode is an invitation to rethink performance — not as pushing harder, but as learning to listen better.

Find Virginia:

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