Period Cramps & Exercise

So… Some of you are perhaps thinking, is she really about to talk about periods… and then equate it with exercise? Will this really about periods, or is she kidding? OMG PERIODS!! NO..GROSS.. I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR OR LEARN ABOUT FEMALE PERIODS. Let me break the ice by saying, this is less about periods and more about how to exercise/what exercises one should do on their periods when experiencing cramps. Now my answers are not 100% because we all experience different periods, some are longer, some are shorter, some have no cramping, some have a lot of cramping, some have heavy flow and some have light flow, some have angry bitch face and some have happy smiles, some have take 10 pills make it go away, some have 2 Ibuprofens and we are good, some have birth control, others do not, some have 1 pad, some have 2- or more, some have tampons that need replaced in minutes, some have tampons that need replaced in hours, some say sex helps, others do not, some have just recently hit puberty and some have hit menopause, some are young, some are older, some are vomit, some do not, some take showers during this time and some do not! lol.. okay but seriously, everyone gets the point, our periods are all different. This is why I am going to speak from my own experience & then also give some advice that others have shared with me. 

Periods. Periods. Periods. Periods. Periods. Periods. Periods. Say it all together now. PERIODS! I did this exercise in hopes that as adults we can get past the fact we will be discussing the female vagina excreting blood and ways to stay fit while doing so. If this seems like something you cannot handle, feel free to skip to my blog post where it shows me doing the side-lying leg raise where periods will not be present. Men, this information could be helpful for your spouse, girlfriend, bestfriend, mom, so please don’t dismiss it. 

Class is now in session…For starters, I have issues. Not the type of issues that send me to the mental ward, but the kind that physically tears me down and makes me hate my life once a month. I have for one have endometriosis, secondly have I have cyst in my ovaries (that are not cancerous but Dr’s won’t remove because of my age), I have another dysfunction dysmenorrhea. I will explain these terms so you are that much smarter:

I have had both of these issues since the very first day of having a period, but wasn’t diagnosed until my late teens, early adult hood. I have been on medicines since then. I have had to go through so many medications that naming them all would take some time and I don’t have that. I will make mention that birth control pills do not help me, I gained weight and stopped taking them. I have had to up my doses in meds because I get immune to them fairly quickly. I currently am taking a different medicine and one pill is 800mg but I believe it is no longer strong enough for me, so I will either take more than one pill . or have my Dr. up my dose or try me on something different. I will soon need to make an appointment with my GYNO Dr, to see if anything else is up with my body. I have thought about surgery since I do not want kids, but that is out of the question because of my age. Anywho long story short I am okay and healthy! thanks for the concern, but when my monster comes around each month.. well.. people will know.. because well… my moods. In my particular situation, I don’t find that exercise is comfortable on my first day of my period (because that is when all HELL breaks lose for me) – so instead, I will workout the days leading after that, thankfully mine only last 4 days, so it flies by fairly fast. For others, exercise is not an option & that is fine. We will drop you off at this stop. 

Next stop… Exercise is bound to be odd on your period (for those that do exercise when on their period), you may feel gross, uncomfortable and will most likely not want to participate in any high intensity exercises. This is how I feel.

What do we do…  

1. Walk. Walking gets you moving without injury or danger, light walking, nothing too fast
2. Runners have said it helps to do light jogs, maybe for you this is true, not for me
3. Yoga. Choose a Yoga class that doesn’t require anything that would cause you to be uncomfortable while on your period
4. Planks- planks are easy to do while on your period.
5. Swimming- it can be relaxing because of the water hitting our tummies just right

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xxxx