Female athletes of reddit; how, if at all, does your shark week affect your sporting performance?

Life_Fantastic · 11 months

It honestly depends on what side effects your period has and how serious they are. This is different from woman to woman and often from month to month for the same woman. It can range from horrible stomach cramps that make you want to curl up in bed to an increased appetite and less energy in the day to having no discernible effects at all.

Cerealcomma · 11 months

I'm a snowboarder, and it doesn't. Just stuff a Divacup up there and get on with my day. Extra long bathroom break every 8 hours.

el_zilcha · 11 months

Like Life_Fantastic said it varies both by woman and month to month for some women. My periods are highly variable. Sometimes fatigue will slow me down (it's like moving under water). Sometimes pain will leave me unable to function in even non-athletic ways. Sometimes they effect me very little except that they make me poop. Good grief, there's so much pooping when running and periods are combined.

subwayisaporno · 11 months

here's some extreme TMI for you: For some reason I find tampons extremely irritating to wear, especially when I'm active because my body puts out more blood when I'm more "excited" I guess, so I usually wear pads during my period.

I bike a lot and for a long time so I don't like to wear tampons, it gets blooded down and uncomfortable, feels like there's a god damnit log up my vagina.

So I'll wear a pad. Unfortunately, when I bike, the pad rubs against my butt something terrible so my butt, once a mouth, breaks out in these horrible irritation pimples.

Basically: I fucking hate doing the only exercise I enjoy on my period. Fucking period. okay end of grossness, bye.

marleyrae · 11 months

Unless it's a reeeeeeally bad one (which does happen from time to time), I usually just haul ass extra hard.

TheChickWithTheDrums · 11 months

Well, I'm in my school's marching band, and we wear white uniforms. So the most I worry about is bleeding through. I just stick a tampon in and hope for the best, because I've never really gotten cramps knock on wood, mostly just headaches.

TheRainbowConnection · 11 months

The biggest issue for me is that my fuller uterus presses on my bladder so I have to pee a lot. When I'm on my period I have to use the bathroom at least once mid-workout.

jalean11 · 11 months

Pre-birth control: Big problem. Cramps distracted me from my performance, I'd get "fake cramps" two weeks before my period during long runs, worried about bleeding through, etc etc. It was seven days long and heavy, not ideal for any of my sports. Post-birth control (and Diva Cup): I may as well have stopped having a period.

drumsandbass · 11 months

Mostly just discomfort like you ate too much or if on the first day then it can feel like a fever, but like always in sports you just put forth your best effort. Different for each woman though.

[deleted] · 11 months

I feel I have to drink a bit more water than usual, and I tend to be a bit more tired and lethargic which is annoying. I'd abhor an important meet/game during this time but there's never much I could do about it. Retaining water sometimes showed in the weight chart we kept for wrestling but I was only on JV so there was a lot of rounding up or down.

kittenswagga · 11 months

Honestly thanks to modern day medicine my time has never been a problem.

SwarlezBarkley · 11 months

Male here... did anyone else read this and think, "the fuck does the BEST WEEK ON TV have to do with female athletic performance..." I can't be the only one.

squinkie · 11 months

I'm a martial artist, and it's never affected me at all. I put a tampon in, and that's pretty much it.

ch4rbok · 11 months

TIL "shark week" is another term for when a woman is on her period. Damn I was confused.

fisheye32 · 11 months

One day of my period is horrible. Otherwise, I've recently learned to run through the other days. Having a menstrual cup helps a whole lot. Also, motrin.

logmaster430 · 11 months

What about swimming? I've swam for my whole life and girls rarely skipped a day. Ever. What goes on down there so that it doesn't look like a legit shark week in a pool and so that the whole pool doesn't get sucked up your hooha?

scarlettblythe · 11 months

I have endometriosis, which is basically a fancy way of saying that my uterus gets very very angry at me during my period.

When I was dancing 20+ hours a week (more when preparing for auditions or performances), I was essentially screwed for one week a month. I spent a couple of days in bed (still do), and the rest of the time just took everything very, very slowly, with lots of painkillers, lots of water, keeping warm (super important) and lots of gentle stretching. I worked on adage (basically slow, sustained movements) rather than allegro (quick movements, think jumping and fast turns), and tried not to do anything which would strain my core.

Most women don't have to go through that. It's not comfortable, but since the invention of tampons, if you're not in pain, you can do pretty much anything you want while on your period.

13eautiiful · 11 months

I'm a gymnast and luckily, I have almost no side affects from my Niagara Falls week. So it barely/doesn't affect my ability.

TOO_MUCH_SKOOMA · 11 months

I always take a day off the first day because I get physically sick, but the rest of the week I run to relieve the cramps because I can't get enough of that running high.

fiskek2 · 11 months

I"m a runner and did XC and track in high school, and for me, going for a run even though I had the worst cramps imaginable, somehow made my body feel better. It only worked for long runs though, sprinting workouts just killed me.

cecikierk · 11 months

I used to be a gymnast. It gets really weird doing anything involving splits. Blood dripping down your inner thigh is also a concern. Lots of my teammates are so thin that they don't have periods, but fortunately the coaches are more or less understanding if you are suffering from cramps. Let's just say I'm glad our uniform leotard is dark purple velvet.

raisinnn · 11 months

I played volleyball and it did effect my performance in that I I got tired faster and I felt weaker. I felt like I was going at 60% instead of 100 at least the first two days of it. I actually avoid working out when I'm on my period because I get it worse than most people.

alter-native · 11 months

Not an athelete but I do work out. For the first 3 days I can't actually walk properly, and that's on birth control to make it better. All I can do is take ridiculous amounts of painkillers, use a lot of energy heating my hot cushion, curl on the sofa/bed and cry. In fact, yesterday I tried to get back to the gym before I had fully finished and nearly collapsed, even though it was nowhere near my normal intensity. I envy women who don't get the awful side effects <=[

rem-dot · 11 months

Rock climber here. I barely menstruate anymore, so I'd say the impact is almost nothing. Mirena IUD FTW.

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