I realize every woman has a different experience on her menstrual cycle. Mine is horribly painful, to say the least, and on top of that I become so drained of energy. I sleep 9+ hours just to be able to get out of bed and then I can still hardly focus.

It's also difficult for me to exercise. If it's not hurting it's messy and I have to be careful about chafing due to the pads. With tampons I'm always afraid it'll leak, even if I'm using a sports tampon.

I just feel bad not exercising for 3-5 each month! I feel my best bet is to walk as long as I can before I get weary and also do some gentler yoga, without inversions. Anything that compresses my midsection is unpleasant during my period. I don't believe inversions would kill me, but I don't enjoy them on my period. I enjoy things like warrior poses, and side bends. Things that open up my torso area and stretch everything out.

In any case I'm taking today off, since it's the first day of my cycle and that's always the worst day for me.

Do you continue your regular workout routine on your period? Do you take the heaviest days off and pick up again? Do you suck it up and just deal? Do you have a gentler routine as back-up?

I'm lucky in the fact that I rarely get cramps...and when I do, it happens right before I start. I excerise on the lighter days and take the heavy days off...Day 1 workout, Days 2-3 Rest, Day 4 Workout again... because it has the possiblity of getting messy on those two days...and its just uncomfortable

I normally take one day off a week, so its not to bad to have an extra day off once a month...

Since its painful for you those 3-5 days, maybe just stick to something light like you suggested...Walking and biking, and your yoga

i think you are making the right choice for yourself and your own TOM and pain levels...everyone is different in that way

my TOMs vary from extremely light (one spot on one day) to a heavier flow for 3-5 days...sometimes i get pretty bad cramps, sometimes not...i find that exercise (running) helps with the cramps etc and that i can do that even on my heaviest flow days

however what i consider "heavy" isn't at all compared to what other women experience....and if i was in your shoes with what you describe, i would also choose to listen to my body and do something more gentle like you said

i'm a big believer in "doing something is better than doing nothing" even if the something isn't hard-core running

Yes. Last night I could hardly sleep due to cramps. I also wake up about once an hour to go to the bathroom, which is annoying at best.

I skipped yoga this morning simply because of the lack of sleep. I just wanted to get in the shower and get my day going.

Tomorrow I'm going to try walking for at least 20 minutes after work, just to keep myself motivated for when I do get off my period.

I find I am missing the yoga very much though, so I doubt it will be an issue getting myself to do it. If it was a really difficult exercise I might be worried that I wouldn't get back to my regular schedule but I think I will.

I also used to have a little area in the garage to hula hoop dance in, and I quite liked it with the music blaring. With school I kind of set my hoops aside and haven't used them much since winter. I think I'll carve out a space for myself and get back to dancing 15-20 minutes in the evenings so I can take breaks from walking.

Walking is peaceful, but often boring. Plus there are still some hoop tricks I haven't learned.

Yoga holds my attention for some reason, though it's peaceful. Probably the lack of repetition is what does it.

I'm feeling much better about everything since yesterday. I always feel guilty skipping workouts, but as long as I'm good the rest of the month I can't see a few days being that bad, especially if I try to walk and hoop when I can during TOM.

Thank you guys!

I skipped yoga twice this week due to my period. I do hot yoga and couldn't fathom the thought of having excruciating cramps, heavy clotty period and being super sweaty doing yoga and being anxious about leakage, etc.

So the answer is - I usually skip exercise on day 1 and 2 of my period. The rest of the days are fine.

It depends how bad my cramps are. Sometimes they're horrendous and I can barely get out of bed, so working out is a no go. Sometimes I feel like I got hit by a truck.

On the other hand, sometimes I feel really high energy and like I need to release some of that. I feel really high strung. It just depends.

If you're worried about leakage could you do a workout at home? At least you'd be close to a bathroom in case you needed to "check".

Although I have pretty heavy periods and used to have them way heavier and I always felt like I was leaking but almost always was not.

The only thing that makes me feel better when I am cramping (which is at least 2 days of my cycle) is yoga. I'm also in the middle of doing the Insanity workout and am dedicated to doing all 60 days without taking a day off (well, besides the rest days on the schedule). So I also had to do that, just last week, and I think the only thing that got me through it was that I had done yoga earlier that day.

My periods aren't overly heavy, so I guess I'm lucky, but I do always put in a new tampon at the very beginning (like, 5 minutes before class) and pretty much right afterwards... I can't imagine trying to wear a pad during yoga, although I don't know that I've ever worn one really.

Anyways, like others have said, you can only do what's best for you. And taking a break for a day or two during your heaviest won't hurt, especially not in the long run.

I find that exercise actually helps me with my cramps.

The thing that helped most with my cramps was taking a daily calcium/magnesium supplement - it helps to prevent cramping.

Mine are usually so terrible I cannot move for the first 3 days. But a few times I will MAKE MYSELF GO to the gym and it actually helps with my cramps believe it or not!