For long (>35 days) or short cycles (<21 days), you can use the strategies for regular cycles and adjust the average length of each phase as needed. Try to get at least 3x strength days in each phase and you may repeat some of the workouts as appropriate.

If you are not ovulating regularly or you experience missed periods without pregnancy, you can approach the e-book strategies in two ways:

TWO-PHASE APPROACH: When energy levels are rising, jump into the follicular phase roadmap and use a two-phase workout cycle. Work hard for two weeks in performance mode (as you would in follicular and ovulatory phases) before shifting to lower intensity/recovery for two weeks in preservation mode (like luteal and menstrual).

MOVE BY THE MOON: Work with the moon cycle as a map where you build effort and intensity during the waxing phase from new moon to full moon. Then shift to lower-intensity workouts during the waning phase with rest or recovery practices around the new moon.

First, take a moment to celebrate yourself for being here. Taking care of your body and building strength is one of the most solid parenting decisions you can make.

When you purchase the e-book, you have the opportunity to add on the prenatal series for just $20 (normally $48).

The prenatal program is a stand alone workout series that gives you a comprehensive guide to safe and effective exercise during pregnancy. You’ll get 26 unique workouts to support you in all trimesters including daily pelvic floor & core practices, strength workouts, yoga and pilates, and stretch sessions.

You aren’t necessarily cycling, but your energy levels will ebb and flow and you can create your own movement rhythm accordingly.

Remember that your body is changing in wild and wonderful ways, please don’t hesitate to reach out and you’ll also be able to post to the community to get input from other mamas. As always, it’s best to err on the side of being cautious.

As long as your doc has given the green light for exercise and you’re 6-12 weeks postpartum, this program is for you…PLUS Laura will be sharing some extra special postpartum practices (hello, pelvic floor and core integration!) in the FB group to help you get started. Best of all you’ll have women working alongside you who have been there too.

Remember that pregnancy, labor & delivery represent some of the most intense physical work that a woman can do…this is why we suggest approaching any workout routine postpartum with a beginner mindset because exercise might feel very different after giving birth…take it slow and be ready to make any modifications your body needs.

Now is a perfect time to implement positive body composition change and more importantly, to do it with less stress. It becomes even more critical that you’re sending the signal to your body that, “Hey, girl. We got this. All is safe and secure. Let’s procreate!” As body composition improves, that signal gets louder because your body stays well-resourced and strong.

Less stress is at the root of every strategy outlined in the Better Body Comp E-book and these workouts are very challenging. Please be on the lookout for signs of excess stress because this is your body telling you to slow down and can impact your chances of conception.

If these start to creep up, know that you can hang out in the luteal phase all month, drop a set, or work with lighter weights to keep the intensity under control.

A note to anyone out there still waiting to be called, “mama.” We understand the heartache and we are here for YOU. Pregnancy does not always come easily and we want to be your pillar of support should you need one. Emails welcome.

Perimenopause is a prime time for muscle-building interventions that will support healthy body composition as you get closer to menopause. As you may already know, building muscle becomes increasingly more difficult when estrogen levels decline so you can set yourself up for greater longevity by starting with a healthy baseline of lean muscle mass while you’re still cycling. This is where the workouts in this program come in because they give you a solid strategy for developing muscle.

Perimenopause can generally be categorized in two stages:

STAGE I is when your period is regular, but it’s changing i.e. getting shorter or longer. You still experience predictable phase shifts with your menstrual cycle, but you may need to adjust the length of each phase to mirror your new personal rhythm. You can follow the strategies provided in in the e-book for each phase with added discretion around energy levels. For example, if you’re feeling sluggish in your follicular phase, there’s no shame in jumping into the luteal roadmap for a few days!

STAGE II is when your period becomes irregular or unpredictable as a result of high, fluctuating estrogen and decreasing progesterone. You’ll experience more anovulatory cycles and less reliable phase shifts. If you fall into this category, please use the guidance for “I don’t have a cycle” above.

We are over the moon that you are here because as you may already know, building muscle in support of body comp change gets exponentially harder when estrogen is out of the picture. You have to train harder to signal what your hormones used to for insulin sensitivity and anabolic (building) processes. In other words, you need to provide a serious stimulus to promote muscle development. The good news is, you’re in the right place because these workouts do just that.

Please follow the guidance for “I don’t have a cycle,” above.

The short answer is yes. However, you will not experience the same four phases that occur in a natural menstrual cycle.

Depending on the type of pill you’re using, you may have a very steady level of hormones during your active pill days containing either a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin or progestin only. Either way, you’re in a comparatively high-hormone state for the 3 weeks of your active pill followed by a high- to low-hormone transition in the non-active week.

During the first few days of active pills (as long as they follow a week off), you will have slightly lower hormones and this is similar to the early follicular phase. This is a time when you can enjoy heavy, high-intensity sessions with better stamina and recovery.

After the first few days though, hormone levels increase quickly and you’ll spend the remaining 3 weeks of active pills in a high-hormone state that resembles the mid-luteal phase.

In the last week of sugar pills, your hormone levels will decline quickly and initiate the withdrawal bleed (not a period). This speedy transition from a high- to low-hormone state can mimic the premenstrual and menstrual phases when your body benefits from a similar downshift in body comp strategy and training.

What’s missing with birth control is ovulation and you won’t experience an estrogen surge without progesterone. In other words, you don’t really experience a state that resembles the ovulatory phase.

Instead, you can approach your training as having a mini-low-hormone (follicular) phase in the first few days of active pills, a high-hormone (luteal) phase for most of the time, and then a transition phase in the week of non-active pills.

Remember, ovulation drives a lot of the metabolic shifts that happen in a natural cycle and without it, your body comp strategy won’t necessarily follow the e-book phase by phase because you aren’t cycling through a full performance arc each month. Additionally, the persistent high-hormone state can cause a somewhat blunted response to training and it may take a little longer to see results.

In summary, yes! This program can support women using hormonal birth control with a few modifications, but the specific strategies are geared toward those with ovulatory cycles.

First, let’s talk about the hormonal IUD. This one can be a little tricky because it ‘partially’ suppresses ovulation. It’s common to continue having ovulatory cycles after 8-12 months of use, but many women still have anovulatory cycles on the hormonal IUD.

Remember, it’s ovulation that initiates the metabolic shifts that happen throughout your cycle by way of egg release, collapse, and ultimately progesterone secretion. So no matter what, it’s important to track ovulation (with BBT or test strips) to see if/when it’s happening. Knowing when you ovulate will help you pinpoint your unique phase changes and implement the cyclical strategy in the e-book. Note: the IUD changes your cervical fluid so you’ll have to use other methods of tracking this mid-cycle event.

If you discover that you’re having anovulatory cycles on the hormonal IUD, we recommend using the irregular cycles approach outlined in the bonus section.

If you are using the copper IUD, you will still ovulate and by tracking when it happens, you can implement the body comp strategies in this e-book as you would for a regular cycle.