How to build strength, support hormonal health, and stay consistent

Originally published on December 18, 2025

Building strength while supporting hormonal health starts with a routine you can repeat, enough recovery to sustain it, and the self-awareness to notice when something feels off. In Episode 354 of the WHOOP Podcast, Kristen Holmes, Global Head of Human Performance, Principal Scientist at WHOOP, speaks with fitness entrepreneur and WeGlow and SEFI founder Stef Williams about exercise burnout, endometriosis, pregnancy, and the habits that helped Williams feel like herself again.

Their conversation lands on four practical ideas: choose movement you enjoy, use data to keep simple habits honest, take persistent symptoms seriously, and let pregnancy change how you read recovery rather than how you judge yourself.

To listen to episode 354 in full, head to the WHOOP Podcast on YouTube.

How do you build a training routine you can actually sustain?

A sustainable routine starts with what you will keep doing next month, not what looks impressive for one week. Williams argues that consistency improves when training matches your life, your current capacity, and the kind of movement you genuinely enjoy.

That idea came from experience. After years of field hockey and structured sport, Williams said stepping away from movement hit her mental health hard. When she started training again, she rebuilt her approach around feeling better, staying connected to her body, and helping other women do the same. That became the foundation for WeGlow, which now includes strength, Pilates, yoga, mindfulness, and cardio so people can adjust training without dropping the habit altogether.

The practical point is simple: a plan fails when it asks for more than your real schedule, recovery, or motivation can support. Williams said many women burn out by jumping straight into long sessions and high weekly frequency. A better starting point is a smaller plan you can repeat, then expand from there. That same mindset lines up with the principles behind building a strength training program and how strength training improves performance.

Williams puts that progression into concrete terms:

"Maybe do 2 weight session weeks which will be 40 minutes long, and maybe one [...] weighted Pilates class."

That recommendation also explains why hybrid training worked for her. On days when heavy lifting does not fit, another structured option can keep momentum alive. For WHOOP members, that same logic can pair well with watching daily strain against sleep and Recovery, especially when a lighter session keeps the habit going without digging a fatigue hole.

What you should take away

• A training plan is easier to keep when the weekly target fits your actual schedule and recovery capacity.
• Enjoyable movement can improve adherence because people are more likely to repeat training they do not dread.
• A lower starting dose, such as two lifting sessions and one shorter class, can be more useful than an ambitious plan that lasts one week.
• Variety can support consistency when it helps you swap sessions instead of skipping them.

If you want to hear Williams unpack how enjoyable training reduces burnout, listen to the full episode on Youtube.

Why does listening to your body matter more than chasing perfection?

Listening to your body gets easier when you stop treating perfection, aesthetics, or punishment as the goal. Williams said women often train better when they focus on feeling good, recovering well, and building habits that support energy.

Holmes pushed this point further by tying subjective feel to objective data. Internal markers such as resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep quality, and broader lab work can validate whether a routine is actually helping. Williams agreed, but her filter is intentionally basic: before adding more supplements, hacks, or rules, handle the fundamentals that support energy and resilience.

That means sleep, hydration, and regular strength work first. It also means being honest about the behaviors that quietly undermine recovery. Williams said many of her friends have been surprised by how clearly WHOOP shows the next-day effect of alcohol. She also mentioned caffeine as another habit that can move recovery in the wrong direction when it starts replacing rest. For people who are trying to stay on track with simple habits, that is the same behavior-change challenge explored in expert tips for sticking with your goal and in the workflow behind Strength Trainer.

Williams frames that decision-making process this way:

"I'm not a huge kind of like, what can I implement and add? I'm like, what can I physically do as a human and make myself thrive and feel my best."

That approach matters for busy founders too. Williams described running an app business, an apparel brand, and a public platform at the same time. Her answer was not doing everything alone. It was creating enough structure and support to keep showing up well. In performance terms, the body reads business stress, travel, and decision fatigue as load too. Recovery habits still count, even when the source of strain is not a workout.

What you should take away

• Training goals centered on feeling good and staying consistent can be easier to sustain than appearance-based goals.
• Sleep, hydration, and regular strength work are higher-value starting points than chasing more add-ons.
• WHOOP data can help connect habits such as alcohol or excess caffeine with the next day’s recovery markers.
• Work stress adds load, so recovery habits matter even when your hardest effort happened at a desk.

If you want to hear Williams go deeper on recovery habits and daily health decisions, listen to the full episode on Youtube.

What does endometriosis actually feel like, and when should you get checked?

Endometriosis can feel far bigger than severe period pain, and persistent symptoms deserve medical attention. Williams described pain that affected daily life, sex, energy, mood, bladder function, and her sense of self long before she had a clear diagnosis.

When Holmes asked her to define the condition directly, Williams gave a concise explanation:

"Endometriosis is a chronic condition where the tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows outside the uterus, most commonly in the pelvis."

From there, Williams made an important distinction. For her, the warning signs were not limited to her period. She described constant pain, episodes that made her curl up while walking, deep fatigue, skin issues, weight gain, pain during sex severe enough to cause vomiting or passing out, and frequent urination. Later, she also learned she had fibroids, which were adding pressure and pain. That combination is part of why she keeps urging women to trust the signal when something feels wrong.

Williams eventually had surgery for endometriosis and, years later, a second operation to remove fibroids. She also spoke about shifting back toward a whole-food diet, reducing processed products she felt did not help her symptoms, and using training styles that felt supportive instead of draining. Pilates became important enough in that process that she went on to qualify as an instructor. Williams was careful to describe her own experience, not a universal formula, but her larger point is clear: people should not accept severe symptoms as normal and should keep pushing for care if they are not being heard.

Holmes reinforced that last point. Women need clinicians who will take symptoms seriously, rather than dismiss them as ordinary cycle pain. Williams said support from her husband, family, and friends also mattered, especially during appointments and during periods when pain affected intimacy, energy, and confidence.

What you should take away

• Endometriosis symptoms can extend far beyond painful periods and may include daily pain, fatigue, painful sex, and bladder pressure.
• Persistent symptoms that disrupt normal life deserve medical evaluation, even if someone has previously minimized them.
• Williams’ experience shows that endometriosis and fibroids can overlap, which can complicate symptom patterns.
• Support from clinicians, partners, family, and friends can make diagnosis and treatment easier to navigate.

If you want to hear Williams unpack her endometriosis symptoms and diagnosis journey, listen to the full episode on Youtube.

How can pregnancy and recovery data change the way you read your body?

Pregnancy can change recovery signals fast, and a wearable can help you notice the shift without turning every change into a judgment. Williams said her first trimester came with nausea, headaches, fatigue, and a very different relationship with training, but the data gave her an early clue that something in her physiology had changed.

She told Holmes that WHOOP showed her a red recovery almost immediately after conception. Holmes then compared that reading with Williams’ usual baseline and explained why it stood out. Before pregnancy, Williams’ average HRV sat in an elite range for her age. When she became pregnant, the number dropped sharply.

Holmes spelled out the change in plain numbers:

"Your average HRV is about 110 milliseconds. [...] It was 78."

That kind of deviation is useful because it gives context to how you feel. Williams said she felt completely wiped out, and the data matched it. Holmes added that resting heart rate was likely elevated as well, which is a common pattern when the body is doing a large amount of internal work. Williams also said that after years of learning her own cycle, pain patterns, and recovery cues, she knew very early that she was pregnant because she was paying closer attention to her body in a constructive way.

The conversation then moved from metrics to mindset. Holmes told Williams to give herself grace, avoid rushing back after birth, and expect her experience of motherhood to be unique. That advice fits the broader pattern of this episode: body awareness works best when it informs decisions, not when it becomes another standard to chase. Pregnancy, like endometriosis, asks for adjustment rather than perfection.

Williams also shared a hopeful reproductive-health arc. After surgery, fibroid removal, and getting her cycle back after having a Mirena coil removed, she said her periods finally felt manageable and recognizable. When she and her husband started trying for a baby, she conceived right away. Williams connected that outcome, at least in part, to feeling healthier, less stressed, and more in tune with her body.

For people tracking their own patterns, mobility and injury prevention offers a useful parallel: better awareness of the body often starts with noticing small changes before they become major problems.

What you should take away

• Pregnancy can cause sharp deviations from personal recovery baselines, including lower HRV and higher resting heart rate.
• WHOOP can help validate how you feel when your physiology changes quickly.
• Cycle awareness can improve body literacy, which may make unusual changes easier to notice.
• Pregnancy recovery benefits from grace, flexible expectations, and less pressure to return immediately to a pre-pregnancy routine.

If you want to hear Williams go deeper on pregnancy, recovery changes, and body awareness, listen to the full episode on Youtube.

The bottom line

• A sustainable strength routine starts with a weekly plan you can repeat, not a perfect plan you abandon.
• Enjoyment is a real training variable because people are more likely to stay consistent with movement they like.
• Sleep, hydration, and regular strength work are the first habits to lock in before adding more health tactics.
• WHOOP metrics such as HRV, resting heart rate, sleep, and Recovery can help connect daily habits with how your body is responding.
• Endometriosis symptoms can include persistent pain, fatigue, painful sex, and bladder pressure, not only painful periods.
• Severe or disruptive cycle symptoms warrant medical attention and a clinician who takes those symptoms seriously.
• Pregnancy can shift recovery markers fast, so comparing daily data with your personal baseline is more useful than judging one number in isolation.
• Grace during pregnancy and postpartum can protect both recovery and long-term consistency.

Frequently asked questions about things discussed in this episode

How does WHOOP help you see whether a training plan is sustainable?

• WHOOP connects strain, sleep, and Recovery trends, which makes it easier to see whether a routine is building consistency or pushing you toward burnout.

What does WHOOP show if alcohol is hurting recovery?

• WHOOP surfaces the downstream effect in sleep, Recovery, resting heart rate, and HRV, which can make the next-day cost of drinking easier to see.

How can WHOOP support women who are trying to listen to their bodies better?

• WHOOP gives daily physiological context through metrics such as Recovery, HRV, resting heart rate, and sleep, which can help you compare how you feel with what your body is doing.

What does WHOOP do when your baseline suddenly changes during pregnancy?

• WHOOP compares daily readings with your established baseline, so a sharp deviation in HRV, resting heart rate, or Recovery is easier to spot.

How does WHOOP fit into strength training when your energy varies across the week?

• WHOOP helps you adjust effort based on recent sleep and Recovery, which can support a mix of hard sessions, lighter sessions, and active recovery without losing consistency.

What can WHOOP tell you about recovery when work stress is high?

• WHOOP reflects the total load on your system, so poor sleep, elevated resting heart rate, or lower recovery can show up even when the hardest part of your day was not a workout.

For women navigating training, cycle changes, or pregnancy, WHOOP can make body signals easier to spot before they turn into missed patterns or ignored symptoms.