I held on to the bar, trying to keep my heels together in first position, but my legs were shaking. This wasn't supposed to be that difficult, especially for someone like me who exercises regularly, but it felt like a total accomplishment.
The Barrelates class in FOLMA new studio opening in September 2025 in Melrose Hill, it combines barre and Pilates in a slow flow designed for low-energy days. I was a few days away from my period and even getting off the couch seemed like overkill. Two other women moved silently next to me, no one spoke, we all seemed to be exhausted. Upon entering, he had seen women in the renovation room chatting animatedly while packing their bags. Even that seemed exhausting.
At my old gym, a Muay Thai place that has since closed, the trainers saw me on my best and worst days. Some weeks he would come in and destroy everyone in sparring. Other weeks I couldn't do a knee bend. The trainers didn't know the difference (which, fair enough, I wasn't updating them on my cycle); They just yelled at me to be harder. I kept going, wondering why I was so lazy, so inconsistent, so weak.
It wasn't until my 30s, after I changed my birth control and started having regular periods for the first time in years, that I started paying close attention to my body's signals. The week I wanted a hamburger, I bought the hamburger. The day I felt too exhausted to do kickboxing, I went for a walk. I stopped fighting my body and started listening to it.
Malloy Moseley relaxes inside FOLM's infrared sauna.
FOLM is based on this idea. The name means follicular, ovulation, luteal and menstrual (the four phases of the menstrual cycle) and the class schedule offers different intensities throughout the day so that women can choose according to their hormonal situation. Circuit training and power reformer for high energy days. Barrelates and classic Pilates for when you are left with nothing.
Two weeks later, I returned for reformer class. This time, the room seemed like a party. I'm kind of a Pilates connoisseur, and the class played all familiar, challenging and satisfying rhythms. Afterward, two women made plans to go to a farmers market and drink coffee. Three others headed straight for the infrared sauna. I checked my phone and remembered that I had a full day ahead of me and the energy to face it. The training felt almost incidental.
The cycle synchronization trend is increasing. But is it backed by science?
FOLM is part of a growing conversation about “cycle synchronization,” the practice of adapting exercise, diet, and lifestyle to the hormonal changes of the menstrual cycle. On social media, the concept has exploded and the language of hormonal phases has entered everyday conversation. However, the science is still catching up.
Instructor and co-founder Cindy Gomez, center, leads a reformer-based class. FOLM student, above. Micaela Ricca, weight room studio workouts designed with a combination of barbell, mat, and circuit training, below.
“Women of reproductive age, from puberty to menopause, have significant cyclical changes in their sex hormones over the course of their menstrual cycle,” says Dr. Kacey M. Hamilton, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. These hormonal changes affect more than just the reproductive system: they influence mood, digestion, and potential risk of injury. hamilton points research female athletes which found higher rates of ligament injuries at certain points in the cycle, likely related to the effects of progesterone and estrogen on connective tissue.
But Hamilton stops short of endorsing cycling-based fitness programs. “There's never been literature that says, hey, women who follow cyclical thinking have better strength results or have more energy,” she says. “None of them have outcomes data to support this so far.”
Your concern is about complications. “Lifestyle changes and healthy lifestyle choices are difficult for all of us,” he says. Hamilton worries that if a woman believes she should rest two weeks a month, she could miss out on resistance training crucial for bone health and longevity.
Co-founders Anna Collins, left, and Cindy Gomez at the FOLM gym.
A “recovery uterus,” hormone-balancing snacks, and lots of hormone talk
FOLM founders Anna Collins, 30, and Cindy Gomez, 35, say they don't ask anyone to skip workouts. They both became cycle-synchronized through experience. Collins noticed that her ballet pirouettes suffered during her luteal phase; Gómez saw women working hard in heated Pilates classes until they almost fainted. “After class, we'd ask, 'When was your last period?'” Gomez said. “And they'd say, 'Oh yeah, I'm supposed to have it tomorrow.' It's like, okay, maybe you shouldn't do HIIT in 100 degree heat.”
The studio also offers what the founders call “the womb of recovery.” An infrared sauna with capacity for five people and with 20-minute sessions. Unlike traditional saunas, infrared saunas warm you from the inside, and the founders recommend entering after class when you're already warm to sweat more effectively. (Although they suggest skipping it when you're actually bleeding, since you're already exhausted.)
There is also a vibrating platform that Collins and Gomez say can help with lymphatic drainage before or after class. There's bone broth and seed cycle cookies, both made in-house by Gomez, who is a certified nutritional health coach, with seeds meant to support hormonal balance in different phases. In January, a cycling coach joins the team to lead workshops on how to synchronize not only training but also nutrition, creativity and even finances with the menstrual cycle.
At FOLM nothing is mandatory. “We want our clients to listen to what their body is telling them,” Gomez says. “Even during the luteal phase, if you take the lighter class, you're still challenging yourself.”
Hamilton sees value in this bodily awareness. “What I like most about today's online conversation is that it allows people to become familiar with their cycle,” she says. A few years ago, your patients rarely knew the difference between the follicular and luteal phases. Now they talk about hormones fluently. “Information is very powerful.”
FOLM is also women-only and welcomes anyone who identifies as female or non-binary. The founders expected a pullback, but they say it hasn't happened. “I've been teaching for years and I see a big difference in how women feel here,” Collins says.
Whether this approach delivers measurable fitness results has yet to be proven. But that Barrelates class, hard but not too hard, was exactly what I needed on a day when I almost didn't show up. The idea behind the Barrelates class, Collins says, is that you're never still, so the flow keeps your mind on the physical rather than what's happening emotionally. After the reform class two weeks later, I had plenty of energy. Next time, maybe I'll try Barrelates when both my body and mind are on display.
