Female Advice Preferred: Daily workout while on period

[Silvan]

Hey everyone,
since I usually work out every day, I don't take breaks when I'm on my period. It's sometimes hard for me, though, to keep doing the same intensive exercises. That's why I'd like to ask you: have you got any ideas for lighter exercises while on period?
Thank you very much in advance.
Have a wonderful day/night,
Sue

[Jess~]

Well, what kind of workouts do you do on a typical day? I can't give you lighter workout ideas unless I know how intense the workouts usually are.

I would suggest taking it down a notch, but only if you really need to. For example, if you do High Intensity Interval Training on a normal day, maybe just do regular cardio on a period day.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but working out is actually supposed to make your period shorter/lighter. It might not work for everyone, but it's a good thing to keep in mind when choosing workout intensity.

It's important to push yourself when working out, but you also have to be realistic with yourself and make good judgements about your own limitations. You've heard of good cop, bad cop, right? Well it's almost like you have to be the good coach and the bad coach, to yourself.
Again, I don't know what you do so I can only give examples, but lets say you do 50 pushups a day. If you really feel like you can't do that, do knee-pushups instead. Or do 25 regular pushups, 25 knee-pushups.

It's mostly up to you to just know your body and find what feels right for you. And it is more than okay to take a rest day, if you seriously don't feel up to it. On a rest day, you could still take a walk or something, just to get your body moving.
But yeah, just get really in tune with yourself and listen to your body. Change your workouts based on that, and hopefully that will help.

[Silvan]

@up
Oh well I didn't include my usual exercises. Sorry, my bad
Anyways, I don't do anything special and I don't have a strict plan that I stick to every day. What I do most od the time, though, include push ups, stretching, skipping rope, dumbbells and sit ups. The rest really depends on what I'm feeling like doing.
Thank you for advice anyway, Jess!

[Always *]

I've never stopped doing my usual workouts when I am on my period. In my opinion, unless you're one of those people who get really debilitating cramps or something, there is no reason to change your usual routine over a fact of life that's going to happen to you every few weeks for decades. And if you are one of those people who's period is do debilitating that it is affecting your ability to do your normal stuff, then you need to see a doctor. Hell, professional athletes keep going and I doubt most of us are pros, so therefore we can too.

If anything, it is important to stick to your regular workouts because exercise can help relax the muscles that cause cramping and the adrenaline from exercise can help boost your mood and by extension relieve any mood-related PMS symptoms you experience.

Personally, the only thing I don't do when I am on my period is swim, which isn't part of my regular routine any how, because I find tampons sooooo uncomfortable to get out afterwards. I like doing yoga, cardio and circuit training (e.g. a mix of cardio and weight lifting), which is what I do any how.

[Thurineth]

Hey

I usually stick to my normal exercise routine (weights) but if I am feeling a bit icky, i sometimes swap that with a spin class since its sitting down (mainly) but very intense.

[Clarent]

Take a break every other day. Excercise - break - excercise - break etc. Working out every day isn't good, since your muscles don't have the time to regenerate properly.