According to the CDC and save.org, someone dies by suicide every 11 minutes in the USA. That's more than 45,000 people. The wild thing is that, while high up on a global list, the United States isn't even one of the top 10 countries whose population is lost to suicide. Countries like Guyana, South Korea, and Latvia have a higher suicide rate. Suicides in China alone account for 1/4 of the global total. When referring back to these overall numbers, let's not forget about a couple numbers we don't have, which should be just as concerning. For one, all those who are ashamed to take their life and succeed in framing it as an accident. And secondly, what is the overall number of suicide attempts? The CDC says, "people who have experienced violence, including child abuse, bullying, or sexual violence have a higher suicide risk." This isn't the only cause of suicide, but avoiding these behaviours in order to reduce risk should be a priority. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among Americans. Less people die each year from drug overdoses or nutritional deficiencies than by suicide. But when it comes to youth between the ages of 15-19 years old, suicide is one of the top THREE causes of death. This all being said, suicide can happen for a variety of reasons. For someone having suicidal ideations, the solution isn't always as simple as seeing a therapist, exercising, eating clean, religious practices, or nurturing/building relationships. The one thing that matters above all else is faith... in oneself. Call it self-love, self-care, or anything else. But it's not about what you call it-- it's about understanding what it means to have faith in oneself and not getting lost in the noise that calls it selfish or narcissistic. Nobody who truly believes they have can do or achieve anything kills themself. I would like to leave you with something valuable beyond a summary of numerical facts and redundant anti-suicide statements. So through interactions with actual professionals, text, group conversations, and personal reflection, here are some recurring thoughts and self-determined words of wisdom.
Let's focus more on our own development, spend time with those who seem to give us purpose, and aim to be 1% more empathetic today. LINKS https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/adolescent-health.htm https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death
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Can anyone actually explain why?
The number one reason you hear soy is bad for you will be along the lines of soy having estrogen in it, or increasing your estrogen level. And while it's disturbing how often we hear this coming from the mouths of doctors, nutritionists, and fitness experts, it's the male bodybuilders you hear it from the most: soy gives you manboobs. First things first, does soy have estrogen in it? No. It's an oversimplified statement that isn't only oversimplified, but also untrue. Soy has phytoestrogen in it, which is not estrogen. Phytoestrogens are plant-based compounds which it is said the body treats like estrogen when consumed. However, it has been shown again and again that soy neither increases your estrogen level, nor decreases your testosterone. While testosterone can fluctuate for a variety of reasons, in some situations, the research actually shows an increase in testosterone. Soybean isoflavone exposure does not have feminizing effects on men: a critical examination of the clinical evidence 2010 Meta analysis indicates both isoflavone supplements and isoflavone-rich soy had no impact on men's testosterone or estrogen levels. Sperm/semen was unaffected and there was no link to erectile dysfunction. Bodybuilder Brian Turner also made a video experimenting with the consumption of greater than 1lb of soy per day for a month and his blood work showed an increase in testosterone. Not only does phytoestrogen not harm our hormonal levels, it actually protects our bodies. This only makes sense considering how rich plant-based diets are in phytoestrogen. Where are we told to turn in order to get all our micronutrients and keep ourselves healthy from diseases? Lots of plants. Protective Effects of Dietary Phytoestrogens in Chronic Renal Disease How phytoestrogens protect us against kidney disease. The poor rats >_< Phytoestrogens and Cardiovascular Disease This is self-explanatory. A Commentary on Phytoestrogens and Disease A quick google search on phytoestrogen will tell you it's good for you. The bias in anti-soy articles talking about phytoestrogen is too often so heavy that I'm surprised people take it seriously. In their lists of phytoestrogen containing foods, they will list multiple types of soy products even though they already have a legumes/beans category and don't feel the need to specify any others. Plant-based diets are rich in phytoestrogen: grains, commonly consumed fruits and vegetables (potatoes, carrots, apples), and coffee (yes! Coffee). If phytoestrogen were seriously messing with our hormones, don't you think a vast number of people would be dealing with hormonal imbalances despite avoiding soy? All the arguments made to perpetuate the myth of soy being bad for you actually have virtually nothing to do with soy. The three most common issues with soy: 1. It messes with your hormones. We've already addressed this above. 2. Soy products are heavily processed. So are many other foods. Soybeans on their own are a whole food. 3. Tofu is genetically modified. Just like other organics and non-gmo products, it's possible to buy non-gmo tofu. Again, it's a processed soy product, not soy. So next time you hear someone say soy is bad or that it messes with your hormones, call them out on it. Whether they're a nutritionist, doctor, fitness expert, challenge their statement using the points listed above. If an individual chooses to modify their body proportions to a form which cannot be attained naturally, are they to blame for creating unrealistic beauty standards? Technology in 2021 provides more access to both educational and recreational resources than ever before. The variety of creative platforms we have the ability to tap into with this technological era has made beauty standards more inclusive than ever before. We see a trend of exaggerated curves with television stars, social media influencers with sculpted muscular bodies advocating fitspo, overweight YouTube celebrities celebrating their bodies, amputee runway models on large scale fashion shows, and popular makeup lines dedicated to people of colour. It’s not simply being created, this is all highly consumed content. With the ease of digital creation and curation also comes the ease of engagement and criticism. Accompanying body positivity and the celebration of all body types comes body shaming. Common examples of body shaming include telling someone they should lose weight to look prettier, calling a body gross because it has hair beneath the eyes, and telling a woman that her muscular build makes her look manly. What does the term body shaming actually mean and encompass though? Here’s the merriam-webster definition. body shaming (n) (also body-shaming) the act or practice of subjecting someone to criticism or mockery for supposed bodily faults or imperfections We are going to be looking primarily from the perspective of femme bodies since they are the ones that undergo the most scrutiny and tend to be the central focus with shifts in beauty standards and its nuances. When referring to unrealistic beauty standards, the following are the most frequently criticized and also the ones that I find myself in the middle of draining debates because of: a false representation of oneself through digital manipulation, an exaggerated hourglass figure, and lip injections. This is the framework that will be used going forward when referring to unrealistic beauty standards. WHAT IS BEAUTY AND WHO IS IT FOR? If these bodies are to be blamed for creating unrealistic beauty standards, will removing them alleviate the desirability or fetishization of the exaggerated attributes? Weren't big lips and hourglass figures lusted even before the Kardashians presented them with new meaning for the word "big?" Would removing these bodies neutralize the situation of unfair beauty standards or simply shift power? It is important to take a look at who is creating these standards, and who they are for. Standards of beauty are arbitrary and when we criticize these unrealistic body types as being the ones creating unfair beauty standards, we need to be aware that we are referring to bodies that are hypersexualized. This is not the only type of beauty that exists, but it is the one that gives power to the male gaze when we choose it to be the one that matters. Criticizing bodies which have been manipulated and are now hypersexualized for upsetting a beauty standards only suggests a greater need for male attention and validation. That being said, to assume any person who makes a similar edit to their physical being is doing it exclusively to impact how they are sexualized is also unfair. ACCESS TO BEAUTY There are too many inconsistencies in the argument made for these unrealistic bodies. When referring to unrealistic, is that because that body is unattainable naturally or otherwise inaccessible to the average person-- perhaps too expensive? Whichever case, the argument still falters. When it comes to what is achievable naturally, we are born with the genetics we are born with. Whoever birthed us does have some control over this when choosing who they pair their own genetics with, but that still leaves the exact outcome out of their control, and there is no choice made by the actual offspring. We can play around with exercise and nutrition to make some changes "naturally." Everyone throws around the word "natural" nowadays like it’s a good thing, but what does it actually even mean? Natural remedies, natural food, natural bodies, natural birth… all of these phrases are vague and even problematic. Do skin care products that use chemicals create an unrealistic body standard? Do widely accepted body modifications such as tattoos and piercings create an unrealistic beauty standard? Plastic surgery is expensive. But laser hair removal, dental, and Lasik are also procedures that many people have to save up for. The hypocrisy runs deep. What I cannot stand is the individuals who sit somewhere in the middle because they're criticizing just to criticize. And again, this needs to be addressed because it is disturbingly common when it comes to plastic surgery discussions. "I'm okay with someone getting something done if they broke their nose, had cancer, went through an accident." Basically, if the person who is choosing to make cosmetic changes evokes enough sympathy from their subjective audience providing their unsolicited opinion, then it's acceptable. Flipping the script toward an average person to tackle what is natural and accessible, the logic being used to criticize unrealistic body standards could be used on me. Presently, I am rocking vibrant red-orange hair. My natural hair pigment is the darkest shade of brown, so I had to bleach my curls to achieve its current colour. Bleach damages your hair irreversibly. But I get far more head turns that I used to get before. I suddenly become a "badass" the moment I roll up my sleeves to reveal tattooed skin. I get sexualized for my body that I spend an hour every day to work out-- time most people claim not to have. We could argue that my natural gym body is also inaccessible due to the time required. I get more attention from men than I've ever gotten in my life. Am I creating an unrealistic beauty standard? INCLUSIVITY I’m at a loss why at a time when there is such diverse exposure, the mindset is not more capacious. What it really boils down to is whether you believe a every person should have the freedom to present their body however they wish or not. This could manifest into their clothing, their extravagant makeup looks, commonplace body mods like tattoos/piercings, or breast implants. Regardless of whether a person's appearance is for the purpose of conforming to a beauty ideal or not, no one should have to qualify their personal choice for you. If we want to use mental health to make a point, especially when talking about impressionable youngsters, then we must also acknowledge it in the counter: MARGINALIZED BODIES AND PRIVILEGE The movement for natural bodies is an exclusive one and what those advocating for it fail to see is that it uses ableist, transphobic, and elitist language as it dismisses marginalized bodies. While it has already been alluded to why this movement is anti-feminist in who it's serving, it is also racist when considering that many body modifications are rooted within cultural history. We act as though this is a more inclusive movement, but we fail to see that it has turned celebration into shaming and returns to initially presented idea of a power shift. Those who naturally fit the most desired beauty standards are the only ones allowed access to it. If we are to criticize the elitist nature of beauty standards as they are being tied to financial access, this scenario doesn't provide any agency to an individual. You can feel however you feel about "unrealistic beauty standards." But speaking out against plastic surgery and body mods is a targeted attack that puts already vulnerable bodies in a more vulnerable position. While having financial access to a boob job solely to look sexier is privilege, fitting beauty norms by default is also privilege. Even us as minorities forget our privilege as cis, heterosexual, able-bodied individuals. We do. If we were more aware of it as an entirely, this would not be a debate among progressives. INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN It is reasonable to worry about our kids partaking in things that are unsafe. Not only should a health concern be addressed as a health concern rather than a beauty standard, but the world is a dangerous place in general and it is unfair to place your autonomy and mental health over someone else's. - The Catfishing Argument - Many use online platforms to portray what is a "false" representation of themselves. This topic is a little bit more touchy because it gets into ethics when we start talking different platforms and creative freedom. At the end of the day, an online presence is not reality and individuals are responsible for their own actions. It is up to us to educate our children on what is harmful for them, and what real bodies actually look like if that understanding is what we think will protect them. We do this the same way we teach our children to respect consent. HOW TO ALTER BEAUTY STANDARDS WITHOUT BEING OPPRESSIVE
Lead by example rather than perpetuating the issue. How does alleviating particular bodies encourage inclusivity? Your experience and identity is valid without invalidating someone else's. If you don't want your children comparing their bodies to Instagram influencers, then stop giving power to it and doing it yourself. Celebrate the videos people make showing their body in a variety of flattering and "unflattering" poses-- "bodies that look like this... also look like this." Another reason I'm such a big fan of online presences like Stephanie Buttermore and Jeff Nippard is that they're able to deliver a message, create meaning, and state real facts without tearing anyone else down. They both have large followings and positively impact an abundance of people without needed to step on top of others. If you made it this far the question that's probably on your mind now is, does that mean I can’t ask if a person's butt or boobs are real? Of course you can ask. But why are you asking? Not exclusively to this post: Educate yourself. Ask questions if needed. The moment your brain sees something and thinks, “I wouldn’t do that," understand not just your own intention behind verbalizing that thought, but the impact that doing so will have. Getting to the gym on a daily basis regardless of how tired I am from the day has been a regular part of my life over the last couple years. Well you know, lockdown aside. Still, I make it a point to get myself moving. Yet, despite working to increase my strength and overall activity, my hips remain an obstacle. With all of the time and effort placed into focused mobility along with addressing muscle imbalances, I would call it a travesty.
Is it better than it was when I started? Yes. But the real question I have is, why? The first few times I heard it said that “tight hips are caused by sitting too much,” or something along those lines, I accepted that and tried to make adjustments. And while I did spend a large chunk of my life sitting, it’s been years since I lived that way. Now every time I hear a mentor or colleague repeat the same redundant thing stated in every foundational personal training course about hip tightness being a result of sitting all day, I work extra hard to tame my microexpressions. From the later years of university to present day, I have made it a point to stand as much as possible, especially in work environments. Often, to the point of hurting my feet. I didn’t even learn until last year that people roll out their feet for relief. That experience was life-changing. You know how people walk for a longer distance or duration than usual, they’ll often complain about their legs hurting? That was never me. I suffered from aching feet and sore shins. Honestly, all the standing on exhausted feet probably had more of a negative impact on my hips than sitting. One of my latest Netflix obsessions is Tiny Pretty Things. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a drama centered around teenage dancers at a ballet academy. Given that theme, the body and physicality are a dominant focus within the series. In the second last episode before the season finale, the school physician is taking a look at Madame Dubois’ bothersome hip. Renfrew: “When I can’t alleviate a symptom, I think it’s because I’m not addressing the root cause. Emotional flare-ups can cause physical flare-ups.” Dubois: “What are you saying? My hip hurts because daddy never loved me?” Renfrew: “Something like that. A lot of women carry trauma in their hips.” Okay, I’m not a dancer. In fact, the furthest thing from. I cannot dance to save my life. However, it made me think of something my boss said to me when I started at my new gym in Windsor just over a year ago. “You carry your stress in your hips.” It was strange to hear, but also made sense to me. While I now know hips are one of the most common areas that people hold stress, at the time I was more informed on neck and shoulders as the primary. The point is, I was inspired to do some research. Can trauma actually get stuck in the body? Debi Silber, a holistic psychologist, says we “manifest all kinds of illnesses… trapped trauma gets stuck in the body and shows itself as symptoms, illnesses, conditions, and disease. That’s why it’s called ‘dis-ease.’ That’s also why many study participants and members of our programs find somatic therapies helpful.”[1] The body/mind connection is a bit of a grey area when it comes to guidance because our physical and mental health are typically accessed via separate resources. While there is an undoubted link, the research and conversation around the topic provides limited and broad explanation in terms of maximizing progress and minimizing discomfort. Not only is the relationship fuzzy, even muscle tightness is confusing. “Issues in muscle tightness management include a lack of clarity as to what constitutes this phenomenon… Neurogenic symptoms such as spasticity are also termed muscle tightness, making it a challenge to discriminate between spasticity, s symptom with neurogenic origin, and muscle tightness, a condition of muscle fascia.”[2] This is why some of the sources used in this post are blog posts. With the unclear scientific explanations, their theories seem just as valid to me. Yoga teacher and owner of Empower Healing, Lindsay Simmons, suggests that there are 6 things tight hips say about your emotional health: you fear the future, you fear relationships, you have emotional/physical traumas, a blocked second chakra, an inability to love yourself, and you hold onto the past.[3] While these are a bunch of generic statements that I feel most people could relate to, reading the article and its relevance to my life freaked the shit out of me. I think she might be onto something. Apparently this is a yoga thing because Cara McDonald, aka Yoga Mama Bear, oh so eloquently echoes the same ideas in her post about our emotional storage space. “Hips don't lie — they bury.”[4] The strange thing is, there will be days when it seems like I’m doing everything right in terms of sleeping, the right exercises, eating well, etc. and yet, I feel tighter than usual. On the other hand, there will be days where I am exhausted, I feel like I’m doing everything wrong and I’m moving better than expected. While my hips are a pretty consistent issue, the intensity fluctuates. Prior to the above research, I had made the joke that tight hips don’t seem to be an issue when it comes to sex. And while I was speaking truthfully (in addition to being funny), I figured that my pain was simply not a central focus at the time. However, as I’m starting to see how much of it could be attributed to a mental state of being, it’s becoming clear that there may actually be truth to the fact that there is less tightness. Oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine are released during foreplay and sex. At first I thought it might be antagonist hormones, and thought to address it similarly to muscle weakness-- the sex induced hormones oppose stress hormones. The research didn’t really validate that theory. Adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol (stress hormones) aren’t produced in the same area as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. Thinking back to the blog posts talking about trauma, it dawned upon me that low levels of serotonin are associated with depression and then it started to make a whole lot of sense. “Serotonin helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood and inhibits pain. Research supports the idea that some depressed people have reduced serotonin transmission. Low levels of a serotonin byproduct have been linked to a higher risk for suicide.”[5] My body and the research has me convinced that the solution is more than the exercises I have been provided with to fix tight hips. “When we have a negative reaction to an experience and then don’t process and release emotions we are feeling, they can become lodged in the body. This can happen whether an experience seemed big and traumatic or like almost nothing. Either way, we end up with the same result: a whole lot of emotional energy stuck in a place where it shouldn’t be-- in us.”[6] I suppose the next step is to explore the methods used to release the possible trauma and figure out how the hell to get it out. 1. Silber, Debi. “Trust Again: Overcoming Betrayal and Regaining Health, Confidence, and Happiness.” Publishers Weekly 31 Aug. 2020, p 109. Print. 2. Bhimani, Gaugler. “Consensus Definition of Muscle Tightness From Multidisciplinary Perspectives.” Nursing research (New York) 69.2 (2020): p. 110. Web. 3. "The Remarkable Link Between Tight Hips and Your Emotions ...." 23 Nov. 2020, https://www.organicauthority.com/energetic-health/tight-hips-and-emotional-health. Accessed 3 Jan. 2021. 4. "Why your hips are keeping you sad (and what to do about it ...." 13 Nov. 2014, http://yogamamabear.com/downward-facing-blog/why-your-hips-are-keeping-you-sad-and-what-to-do-about-it. Accessed 3 Jan. 2021. 5. "What causes depression? - Harvard Health." 24 Jun. 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-causes-depression. Accessed 3 Jan. 2021. 6. Scher, Amy B. How to Heal Yourself from Anxiety When No One Else Can. Minnesota. Llewellyn Publications, 2019. Should you?
I've seen this topic come up a lot over the years. It's not something I asked for the answer to, so I imagine it's pretty common knowledge that working out when on your period is a good thing. That being said, I want to cover more of the how. We've gotten to a point where we can say the word and acknowledge periods exist. But how do periods really affect a person's training ability and how does one train comfortably? I'm going to cover 3 areas today. 1. Benefits 2. Training a Client 3. Sanitary Products & Clothing To begin, let's cover what I thought was common knowledge. Again, I'm not saying this to be an asshole. I genuinely thought that everyone, including people who do not menstruate, knew this. Regardless, the information is easily accessible via a quick google search, so I'm going to run through it with my first anecdote. BENEFITS A while back, I had a client try to cancel a session because she was on her period. Given that this individual was closer to menopause than puberty, someone with "normal" cycles would have gone through many, many periods by this point in their life. Upon my trying to understand why she wanted to cancel, she asked whether or not she should be working out on her period. In honesty, I was a little taken aback by the question. Assuming you did a half decent job at skimming the post thus far, you already know that I thought it was common knowledge in this day and age that one should work out on their period. I asked her a few questions to make sure she was okay, including if she was in a lot of pain, was bleeding an unusual amount, if there was any other cause for concern. She told me nothing was out of the ordinary and that she was simply on her period. Encouraging her to work out was basically the end of that conversation and she was perfectly fine doing it. Whether you are someone who menstruates or trains people who do, here is a really simple reason to work out on your period: there is no scientific reason as to why you shouldn't. But all the benefits of you working out in general, still apply. So if you feel more moody or sluggish than usual, all the more reason to do something that makes you feel better. TRAINING A CLIENT Do I teach people how to train? No. Is this something I regularly write about? No. This is me doing a public service because I think it's a large gap in discussion-- training people on their period. One of the reasons I like training with men (and I'm a little ashamed to admit) is that they'll baby me with things they don't understand. While I think it's important for men to understand periods, this section is for everyone. It's for trainers, clients, anyone who works out, and those who make excuses not to. It's also for people who menstruate just as much as it is for those who don't. Because of the taboo that we all know still exists, there's a valid fear of making your clients uncomfortable (especially for men training anyone who isn't a man). I'm just going to casually point out that for people who are menstruating, a "normal" cycle is up to a week long of bleeding and lasts 4 weeks. That's up to a quarter of the time that you spend with them, on their period. Might be a good idea to understand how it works and be willing to talk about it. Kayla Lee is a great resource for understanding all things pertaining to training women. In her Applied Women's Physiology & Training Course, she talks about especially weight lifting in a gym being a controlled environment and fairly safe way for one to train avoiding injury. If you're being smart and moving correctly, there's no real risk here. In fact, it's why a trainer is so beneficial. Having a trainer while on your period is (well, it should be) an ideal scenario. Address the symptoms, not the period. Be sympathetic and resourceful to feelings of sluggishness, emotional behaviour, and cravings through dialogue and modifying workouts where necessary. Kayla Lee also talks about pain inhibition during PMS and the first few days of one's period. I can personally speak to aching hips and low back aches. So this is good to be aware of when training as well. If someone says they can't train because they're on their period, it's usually an excuse. I don't mean that they're lying about feeling like shit. I mean them saying they can't work out is bullshit (obviously, I'm generalizing). Not only are difficulty and incapability different, the exercise is neither creating nor adding to period pain (it shouldn't be), so it's therefore irrelevant. This is where a trainer's job as an external motivator comes in. It's literally their job. Please, please, if you are a male reading this, I'm asking for knowledge and awareness rather than explaining to menstruating individuals how their body works. I would suggest not being that person. SANITARY PRODUCTS & CLOTHING This is going to be a fun one. Let's start with a fun story about pads. When I first got my period, I was taught to use pads. So I used pads. I had all sorts of issues with irregular and overflowing periods in high school. We didn't get enough time in between classes to run to the washroom, I (as well as the majority) felt like I had to hide my sanitary products when pulling them out of my bag, and on too many occasions, my pad often didn't last the entirety of a class. This all sucked, but the worst period story from high school was when I got home unable to sit comfortably because my labia was so swollen. Even if a pad absorbs blood, you're still making contact with the moisture. And remember how I mentioned I was frequently bleeding heavily? All of that in fitted jeans. I remember sleeping naked with a towel underneath me that night with my legs up because it hurt to lay with my legs flat. My older sister sat there on her laptop all night with my vagina in her face to make sure no one walked in to see my lower half in full view, naked in the bed. And we had guests over at the time. Haha. Bless her. A lot of us in the gym wear tights. Imagine that situation above. Now add tights to the equation, and also sweat. Doesn't sound fun. So, what are the alternatives? Moving in to university, I discovered how to use tampons. This was great not just because my vaginal lips were smooshed against a pad, but because I was bleeding so heavily. I found that wearing both a tampon and pad got me through more of the day without having to deal with an overflow situation. In university, I drastically changed my eating habits and started doing obsessive amounts of cardio which did reduce the bleeding and period pain by at least half. I can go into details about that in a different post if desired. So, this was much easier to manage. But I still had to carry around tampons. Less embarrassed by this point to be seen with one, it still sucked if you forgot product or had a surprise period. Last year, I started experimenting with a Saalt diva cup. If you followed me on IG at the time, you would have seen my really long review of it getting stuck and being late to my GLPTI class in the morning. Haha. However, as I've gotten used to them, these are definitely the best for workouts. It's awesome that diva cups are less harmful to the environment, but the real win is how much more comfortable they are. They're way less obstructive feeling than a tampon, safer in your body, and you don't have to carry around replacements. PLEASE, clean them well. Use soap. Alcohol. Sanitize in boiling water. For the love of all things, don't store them dirty. A lot of us who wear tights to the gym also wear thongs. Some things to consider on your period, swap them out for panties with more coverage. I'm able to get a thin liner over my thong, which I use for extra protection, if you still want to wear tights. If you're worried about panty lines showing, swap out your bottoms for joggers or something else looser than tights. These clothing swaps seem obvious, but sometimes there are little details that may be causing discomfort. If I forgot anything, feel free to shoot me a DM or email. I always respond. ALSO. Cotton underwear (whatever kind) is always the best. Let your body breathe. TLDR: "I'm on my period" alone isn't reason enough to bail on a workout. |
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October 2022
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