Men Are Solar. Women Are Lunar. Here's What That Actually Means for Your Training. -Ep.45

After 18 years as a coach, I finally sat down with the research on female hormonal cycles and training — and I'll be honest, it changed how I think about coaching entirely.

In this episode of Pursuit of Balance, I break down why men and women operate on fundamentally different biological clocks, what the four phases of a woman's cycle actually mean for training and nutrition, and why the "just push through it" approach might be working against you.

What we cover:

• Why men have a 24-hour hormonal cycle and women have a 28-day one
• The hormones that are the same across both sexes (and the ones that aren't)
• A phase-by-phase breakdown — menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal — and how to train and eat in each
• Why estrogen and progesterone affect your ability to access stored glycogen
• Why calorie restriction and high-intensity training hit differently depending on where you are in your cycle
• How this changes how I coach female clients at Functional Lifestyles

This isn't a perfect episode — I'll be the first to say I'd love to bring in a specialist to go deeper. But it's a conversation worth starting.

Drop your thoughts in the comments — especially if you have corrections or additions. I want to get this right.