Estrogen impacts everything from your endurance, muscles, and joints, to your mental health. Here’s what estrogen does for athletic performance, and how you can make the most of your hormone power.
Like so many other functions in our bodies, athletic performance is partly regulated by hormones.
Estrogen, one of the main reproductive hormones, affects everything from endurance and cardio to muscles and strength, from ligaments and joints to mental health.
Read on to learn more about what estrogen does for physical performance, plus how changes in estrogen levels during your menstrual cycle and in perimenopause and menopause can impact exercise.
What does estrogen do for athletic performance? Sports science in women is a developing field. More research is needed to better understand how hormones may cause women’s bodies to react differently to different forms of exercise, both throughout the menstrual cycle and with age.
Still, if you’re wondering how estrogen affects athletic performance, the answer is: a whole lot!
Though research continues to develop, we know that estrogen is intricately involved in the ways our bodies move and stay strong and healthy. Here’s how.
Estrogen athletic performance: endurance and cardio Estrogen plays a role in endurance and cardio, helping you build up strength and exercise harder and longer.
For example, estrogen appears to influence oxygen intake and circulation. Take VO2 max, a measurement of how much oxygen your body is able to take in and use during exercise. Research suggests that when estrogen levels are higher (like around ovulation), VO2 max is higher and your body circulates oxygen more effectively. Inversely, when estrogen is lower (like during the early follicular phase ), VO2 max is lower and oxygen circulation is less effective.
How does this relate to endurance and cardio? When your VO2 max is higher, your body can consume more oxygen and generate more energy—and that means you’re better able to handle high-intensity aerobic exercise like running, swimming, cycling, and other types of cardio.
Estrogen may also help with shorter, high-intensity workouts. Studies even suggest that your anaerobic capacity is strongest when estrogen levels peak—that is, in the late follicular phase around ovulation.
In other words, higher estrogen seems to give your endurance and cardio levels a boost.
Estrogen athletic performance: muscle strength
Estrogen is closely involved in regulating muscle, helping to improve strength and increase muscle mass.
Research indicates that estrogen:
Increases sensitivity to training Makes workouts more impactful Reduces workout-related muscle damage Improves recovery time On the flipside, long-term estrogen deficiency can result in a decrease in strength and muscle mass.
Some variation even occurs across a given menstrual cycle. When estrogen levels are low, as in the early follicular phase during your period, muscles may feel weaker while working out, feel sorer post-workout, and take longer to recover.
Then, when estrogen peaks during the late follicular phase around ovulation, muscles may be at their strongest. In fact, this ovulatory phase may be the ideal moment for resistance training aimed at boosting strength and muscle mass.
>>MORE: 12 Best Follicular Phase Exercises for Better Cycle Syncing
Estrogen athletic performance: Bone and joint health Estrogen plays a major role in the musculoskeletal system, regulating the health, structure, and function of:
Bones Muscles Tendons Ligaments Joints With bone and muscle, estrogen helps to strengthen and improve function. Some studies suggest that higher estrogen levels help reduce muscle damage and soreness from exercise, and shorten recovery time after workouts. On the flipside, low estrogen and estrogen deficiencies are associated with bone loss and an increased risk of fractures.
With tendons and ligaments, on the other hand, higher estrogen may negatively impact function. Higher estrogen reduces tendon and ligament stiffness. This increases flexibility (also called “laxity”), making tendons and ligaments more likely to rupture.
Knee injuries such as ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears are one of the prime examples of this estrogen-induced hyperflexibility. Numerous studies have found a higher risk of ACL tears right before and during ovulation, when estrogen is highest. Plus, ACL tears occur two to eight times more often in women (who tend to have higher estrogen) than in men (who tend to have lower estrogen).
Still, more research is needed to better understand the effect of estrogen on tendon and ligament flexibility. Much research has been focused on knee tendons and the Achilles tendon, but estrogen doesn’t necessarily impact all tendons and ligaments equally.
Estrogen athletic performance: Mental health Exercise and sport are mental just as much as they’re physical. When you’re feeling your best mentally, you may find that your athletic performance is better, too.
To that end, estrogen has a significant impact on mood and emotion regulation.
Dips in estrogen before your period, for example, are partly to blame for mood swings and other premenstrual mood symptoms. At other moments in your cycle, when estrogen levels are higher, you may feel more emotionally balanced and your mood may improve.
Plus, estrogen plays a role in energy levels. Higher estrogen helps to boost energy and increase motivation, while moments of lower estrogen may leave you feeling tired and drained.
How does estrogen impact athletic performance cycle to cycle? Estrogen, like other reproductive hormones, fluctuates throughout the menstrual cycle.
The late follicular phase , ovulation, and the mid-luteal phase are marked by higher estrogen levels. Generally speaking, higher estrogen in these cycle phases may give you a burst of energy perfect for endurance training, cardio, and building muscle mass.
>>MORE: 12 Best Luteal Phase Exercises for Better Cycle Syncing
However, these higher estrogen phases may also increase your risk of muscle pulls or tears, meaning warming up pre-workout, cooling down post-workout, and stretching are crucial.
During the early follicular phase and your period, estrogen levels are lower. Phases of lower estrogen may be more well adapted to lower-impact and lower-intensity exercises.
Of course, it’s not quite so simple as high estrogen equals this and low estrogen equals that . Many other factors outside of hormones influence athletic performance, including age, fitness level, diet, genetics, and type and intensity of exercise.
Still, if you’re interested in optimizing your training, cycle syncing your workouts may enable you to make the most of your estrogen and hormone power. At-home hormone tests like the Oova kit can help you better understand your unique cycle and sync your workouts to your body.
How does estrogen impact athletic performance during perimenopause and menopause? During perimenopause , estrogen and other hormone levels fluctuate and decline. With the official start of menopause, your body’s natural estrogen production reaches its lowest point.
>>MORE: Perimenopause vs. Menopause: What’s the Difference?
This drop in estrogen comes with physical changes, including some that may impact energy and exercise, such as:
Regular exercise, strength training, and a nutritious diet may help counteract the loss of muscle mass and strength that occurs with perimenopause and menopause.
Any workout that gets your heart rate up and your body moving is good, including:
Walking Biking Jogging Swimming Yoga Fitness classes, like Pilates, Zumba, or spin classes Some research suggests that supplementing lifestyle and dietary measures with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) , where appropriate, may offer extra help with improving muscle mass and function and with increasing the impact of working out. Your doctor can help you determine if HRT could be right for you.
Estrogen and athletic performance: the bottom line Estrogen is a major player in how our bodies move and stay healthy. Estrogen helps boost endurance and cardio, build muscle, regulate energy and mood, and more.
Natural estrogen fluctuations throughout monthly menstrual cycles and aging can impact your athletic performance and what types of exercise are most well adapted to your body’s needs. Listening to your body and tracking your hormones are just one step on the path toward optimizing your estrogen power and feeling your best.
