Anonymous: I had a serious question. How do you train or spar when it's that 'time of the month'?

majael95:

she-kicks-she-throws:

theflobear:

:

Pretty much the same.  I take painkillers for cramps if necessary, I wear a tampon, pad, or cup so I don’t bleed through. 

I’m having a hard time thinking of a time that I’d ever had to alter my behavior in any significant way for any athletic or close-contact activity, other than those measures above. 

(Actually, if it’s literally me you’re asking about - I have a contraceptive implant and so I barely bleed or cramp at all. I don’t change my behavior in the slightest. If I do use something, it’s a tampon because that feels more secure with all the movement. When I was a teenager, I suffered from dysmenorrhea and so my cramps took me out of everything for 18 hours. I treat that now with contraceptives.)

I hope that helps? Feel free to follow up.  

I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, Anon!  :D I really do! But people sometimes troll women with questions like these, and if not active trolling, the rampant misinformation about something as common as menstruation (by people who should absolutely know better) is both dangerous and degrading.  

So if this is a sincere question - here you go! Happy to alleviate any worries! Train and spar freely!

If you’re trying to be cute, well. Poo on you.

I personally seldom take painkillers unless it’s absolutely necessary, so I don’t go if it’s cramping too much. Take some extra time to make sure that you gently stretch the muscles around that area. It’s the squeezing of the uterus to get rid of the uterine lining that causes the cramping sensation, so i feel like keeping the whole area under as little tension as possible is a good idea. I try to bring warm water or warm tea with me to train, because it helps me relax and soothe the cramps. I also have really heavy flow in the first couple days so i use both a tampon and a pad, which is like a guarantee that you won’t leak. Once I used the most absorbent tampon ever and i still managed to stain my underwear through the tampon string, which then stained my gi :( if you’re training while on your period and the cramps hurt too much, it’s okay to tell ur instructor and take a break.

This is extremely helpful. <3

I too use both a pad and a tampon to be totally safe, even though I don’t really need it. if you’re ever nervous that’s what I recomend for you :) honestly, training on your period sounds like it should be a stressfull experience, but once I am in class all things that might otherwise be stressfull are forgotten or simply don’t matter. for pain I rarely have really bad cramps. the few times I do I might consider staying home, take some painkillers and sleep until it’s over, but so far I’ve never had to skip class because of it.

after I started karate I’ve actually found cramps a lot easier to deal with. spending a long time in deep stances has prepared me for that. I will focus on my breath and tell myself things like “I am stronger than the pain” :p it sounds silly, but I always find it strangely motivational and it usually works for me ;)

I usually wear at least 2 pads since I hate tampons. Sometimes when we stretch during class I alter my stretching just a bit so that I’m comfortable. I personally don’t get cramps but I do take some Advil before hand as it actually slows down the bleeding quite a lot. Hope this helps!

  1. thosefandomsdoe-blog reblogged this from majael95 and added:
    I usually wear at least 2 pads since I hate tampons. Sometimes when we stretch during class I alter my stretching just a...
  2. indielowercase said: i’m a really heavy bleeder so i double-up with a pad and a tampon during any workouts
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