Exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?

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Caters
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Exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?

Post by Caters »

This is 1 question that has always been in head ever since I started trying to go from fat and obese to muscular and healthy weight. If abs are sore or down and outright in pain, I will not do abdominal exercises. I sometimes will do sit ups to relieve gas if having a bowel movement isn't helping. In rare cases that I have both intestinal and stomach gas, sometimes if I have a bowel movement and torso is at a 45 degree angle from the pelvis the extra abdominal pressure pushes the gas out of both ends.

But there is 1 thing that I have every month that makes me want to stop exercising abs until it is gone. That is menstrual cramps. Ovulation pain I get late at night in combination with nausea and that is long after any abdominal exercises so ovulation doesn't stop me.

But menstrual cramps can occur at any time of day and any reasonable time relative to the start of period. This is why I don't exercise while I am on period(or at least while I have the cramps).

And here is reasoning as to why I shouldn't exercise when I have menstrual cramps:

The uterus is a muscle and like any muscle, it contracts. Prostaglandins make the uterus contract more forcefully and this causes the endometrium to get ischemic which ultimately leads to your period.

These uterine contractions I can sometimes feel on top of the cramps and I know when I have a contraction when the pain gets worse for a few seconds.

If I exercise abs while uterus is contracting, it could cause me to have more uterine pain which would make me stop the exercise because the external pressure the abdominal muscles put on the uterus will make it contract more during the exercise than before or after. Exercising abs when I am not on period can actually decrease the amount of pain I feel from the uterus to the point that in just a few months, periods could be painless or at least not so painful that I can feel contractions. I guess you could say that it tones uterus.

So I don't think I should exercise abs when I have menstrual cramps. But is this actually true, is reasoning right?
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Boss Man
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Re: Exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?

Post by Boss Man »

Well I won't profess to be an expert on such things, but I would say if the abdominal exercises are making you feel cramps in that area when you do them, then avoid them for a few days, as you clearly have enough experience of such things now to know how many days, roughly, you get this issue before it subsides, so you could avoid such exercises during those few days.

If you're doing things like squats, deadlifts and olympic style lifts for example, you're engaging your core anyway, so you should be fine not doing any direct work on the abs for a few days until you know it's okay to do them again, without feeling excessive or indeed any discomfort.
Fitafter50
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Re: Exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?

Post by Fitafter50 »

If you feel uncomfortable doing ab exercise during your period, maybe just do cardio on those days. I know a lot of women find that cardio actually helps ease cramps. I never had a problem strength training on those days. (I know some say you should avoid yoga inversions while menstruating.) I don't think there's any scientific reason to avoid ab work, but if your body says, "don't," then I'd listen.
XxJassyxX
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Re: Exercise through menstrual cramps or stop?

Post by XxJassyxX »

I agree with doing cardio instead! It's what works best for me and I really do feel better afterwards! :wave:
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