Working Out While Bleeding

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 weren't smooshed against a pad anymore (they were), but because it was enough protection for me while 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.