September 23, 2024 • 28 mins
Curious about how hormonal changes are impacting your exercise routine? Discover the secrets to maintaining health, strength, and energy through midlife as we delve into the effects of fluctuating estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. We'll share how progesterone can play a key role in managing anxiety and mood swings and offer practical tips for hormonal balance through cycle syncing. Learn how to adjust your strength training to avoid overexertion, reduce the frequency, and honor the need for longer recovery times while prioritizing self-care.
Understand how to manage cortisol levels with tailored workout routines that prevent muscle breakdown and fat storage. We emphasize the benefits of shorter, less intense workouts, with recommended sessions of 10 to 20 minutes, and highlight key strength training exercises like squats, lunges, and deadlifts to support metabolism and maintain muscle mass. Additionally, we offer tips for better sleep and stress management, and the importance of low-impact cardio for heart health during perimenopause and menopause. Join our community and take a step forward in your wellness journey with the Move Better bundle, designed to help you navigate midlife with confidence and support.
Head to www.movingthroughmidlife. com to learn more
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Courtney (00:01):
Today's episode, we are going to dive into a crucial
topic for midlife women, andthat is how hormonal changes are
impacting your exercise and theadjustments that you can make
so that you're staying healthy,strong and energized.
Many of you may have noticedsome of these shifts that are
occurring.
(00:21):
You may not feel as strong inthe gym.
You may also notice that yourmuscle tone is changing.
You may also notice anincreased weight around that
midsection and this lack ofenergy, almost as if there are
days where you just feel likeyou have hit a brick wall.
(00:43):
We are going to discuss thathow you can adapt your exercise
routine to meet these challengescoming up.
So let's dive in.
Welcome to Moving ThroughMidlife.
I am your host, courtney, apersonal trainer and movement
specialist who wants to help youmove through midlife with more
(01:06):
grace.
Each week we will discuss wayswe can show up better for
ourselves and our childrenwithout the burnout.
We will focus on overall healththrough habit stacking to help
increase energy, providemovement snacks to help you move
more throughout the day, whilealso moving your body more, and
(01:26):
learn from professionals onmoving through midlife with ease
so that you can feel confidentwith aging gracefully.
Grab your earbuds and join meon a leisurely walk while we
discuss moving through midlife.
It is important to firstunderstand the hormonal changes
(01:48):
we're going through.
In midlife, you're dealing withfluctuations in your estrogen,
progesterone and testosterone.
The biggest one that Ipersonally notice is the
decrease in progesterone and ifyou've heard me before, you'll
know that for me, I deal with alot of anxiety and progesterone
(02:11):
is that calming hormone.
Progesterone is also producedwhen you ovulate, so it is
obvious that we are losingprogesterone.
We are not going to beovulating as much in this
perimenopause, right?
We're going to start missingovulation cycles.
It is important that those ofyou who are in early stage of
(02:35):
perimenopause so anywhere fromwhat?
35 to 45 years old you need toreally work on supporting your
body during this time, becausethis is going to be the time you
want to try to hold on to theprogesterone as long as possible
.
And the ways you support thisis one through cycle syncing,
(02:56):
which I have an episode aboutthat had to go back into my
account to find out which one itwas Episode 41, supportinging
your Hormonal Cycles and that isgoing to provide you with
information on foods to eatduring your hormones, how you
should be exercising, things topay attention to in the way of
(03:19):
how you program your days andactivities going out with
friends and date nights anddifferent things like that.
All of those can be affected byyour hormone cycle and there
are times that you should liveinto that and then times where
you should kind of be more athome in a calming atmosphere.
So if you lean into thosethings during your hormonal
(03:44):
cycle each month, then you willbe able to hold on to that
progesterone longer, so you'reable to ovulate longer, which
will help you through this phasewhere you're starting to deal
with more anxiety.
Because as that starts to taperoff, as you start to lose that
progesterone, you will start todeal with more anxiety.
(04:07):
You will deal with more moodswings and things like that.
So we want to try to keep thatamount of time as short as
possible.
It's going to happen, but if wecan, you know, deal with it
maybe five years instead ofeight to 10 years, then we're
going to feel a lot better.
These changes are also going tobe affecting us from a fatigue
(04:30):
standpoint.
You are going to notice thatwhen you work out, it is going
to possibly take longer for youto recover.
You may not have as much energywhen you go work out, maybe
feeling weaker through theworkouts, maybe noticing, you
know, one of the things that Inoticed for myself I couldn't do
(04:52):
push-ups on my toes anymore,like I started having to drop
down to my knees.
I also noticed, started dealingwith wrist pain.
You'll notice little aches andpains in your body and then when
you recover, your recovery timeis not as good.
You're taking longer to recover.
So usually what I recommendwomen do is I used to recommend
(05:18):
three to four days of strengthtraining.
Now I recommend two to threedays of strength training and
there might be weeks.
If you're trying to go heavieror you're trying to max out or
anything like that, you may dropit down to one.
Obviously we want to try tovary the muscle groups that
we're working, but justunderstand that if your body is
(05:41):
tired you need to respect it andlean into that and support it
during that time.
I'll let you know that theother day I decided to do heavy
weights for, like my leg day, Iwent a lot heavier than normal.
I was doing kind of aprogressive overload situation
(06:03):
where I went heavier than what Inormally do just to kind of
test my body and my recovery.
I was spent.
I probably overdid it a littlebit, but I did not do.
I did, you know, maybe pushupsand stuff, but I did not do
strength training again.
(06:24):
The reason I'm telling you thisis it's okay to back off.
Don't think of being the personwho has to go hard or go home
right.
That mentality one should havenever been there, because it's
not designed for everybody.
Men can do that.
(06:45):
Women, we need to look at thingsdifferently and definitely in
this perimenopausal phase, youneed to be supporting your body
during this time.
I always find it interestingthat we look at the time when we
hit puberty.
If you have children and you'rewatching them go through
puberty, you have accepted thefact that, oh my goodness, they
(07:10):
are eating so much and then alsothey're sleeping a ton too,
like that is a natural thing andwe are not saying anything
about it.
We're like, yes, eat, eat more,support your body through this
time.
Same thing during pregnancy.
You know, we during pregnancy,we tend to eat more, you sleep
(07:32):
more, you rest more.
We are nourishing our bodyduring this time, during these
two times, but then yet we hitmenopause or perimenopause and
we feel like we have to depriveour body.
That doesn't seem fair, does itLike your body is still shifting
(07:53):
and changing hormonally?
You should still be supportingit, give it the sleep it needs,
give it the rest it needs.
You don't have to go hard allday long, you don't have to keep
yourself busy all day long.
Rest and then support it,nourish it.
Eat healthy foods, eatnourishing foods.
(08:16):
That's really what I want tosay when I say healthy, nourish,
nourish your body.
Eat those comforting foods.
Nourish, nourish your body.
Eat those comforting foods.
Maybe instead of grabbing thechips and the crackers and the
things like that, maybe look atyou know what were some foods
that you ate that kind ofnourished you as when you were
(08:37):
younger.
Are there soups that you couldeat that would provide you some
of the nourishment that yourbody needs?
That's where I would try tolean into with the comfort foods
, rather than thinking back tochildhood and wanting those
Twinkies baby's child.
But those of you who you know,looking at the nourishing foods
(09:02):
that you can eat to support youduring this time is imperative.
So with this comes hormonalchanges and the impact on
exercise, how they are affectingyour exercise programs.
So the first thing is you arestarting to deal with lower
estrogen levels, which are goingto decrease your bone density,
(09:24):
which is going to mean you needto strength train.
If you never thought you neededa strength train before, you
need to strength train now.
So it is figuring out what youcan lift.
Does it mean you need to be ina gym lifting weights?
Not particularly.
If you can find ways where youare picking up heavy things
(09:46):
throughout the day, then that isfine.
If your job is labor intensive,where you're having to pick up
heavy items, then that may beyour strength training.
It doesn't mean you have to dothings on top of that.
I would encourage you all tofind ways Now.
I'm not a big proponent of highintensity training during this
(10:09):
phase of life, but there aresome plyometrics that you should
be adding into your life,because so plyometrics is like
jumping movements, because thisis going to help increase bone
density.
Not always do we have to addstrength, but you can add maybe
like squat jumps or sit to standjumps, so you sit on a chair.
(10:34):
When you stand up, you jump up.
That is going to help buildthat bone density, as well as
lifting weights.
Okay, so understanding thatthere are some things that you
can do to help during this timeto increase your bone density.
(10:55):
You will also notice increasedcortisol.
I talk about this a lot.
You can go back through pastepisodes.
I have one specifically ondetermining what your cortisol
not what your cortisol levelsare, but how much you are at
risk of increased cortisol.
So we are naturally dealingwith higher cortisol during this
(11:19):
time and this can lead tomuscle breakdown and fat storage
.
And this can lead to musclebreakdown and fat storage If
your workouts are too intensefor you or too long.
That is why I usually recommend10 to 20 minutes is all you
really need with your workoutsessions anymore.
30 is okay, but make sureyou've got a good warm up and
(11:41):
cool down for that.
We don't need to be going hardwith our exercise.
Our cortisol levels are goingto be up there.
As it is.
We're dealing with lots ofstressors not just stressors in
life, but stressors hormonalstressors as well.
So we want to make sure that weare supporting ourselves.
(12:02):
That is one reason why, if youlisten to last week's episode
where I talked about creatine,that can help keep the muscle
breakdown from occurring.
So if you do I think I evenmentioned it in there if you
still like your high intensityworkouts, make sure to take
creatine right after.
(12:23):
That's going to help supportyour body so you won't get some
of those insulin spikes, thatstress response spike that
you're dealing with or that youmight deal with.
If you do a high intensityworkout.
It will also decrease thebreakdown of the muscle, like I
(12:43):
mentioned before.
Also, you're going to bedealing with slower recovery.
I saw it for myself just lastweek.
Listen to your body.
Don't beat yourself up if youhaven't done your two or three
days of strength that you hadwritten out.
This is really an opportunityfor you to hone in to you and
(13:09):
what you need and really listento what your body is asking for.
The other thing that occurs isbecause we're struggling with
sleep.
We're not getting as good ofsleep as we used to.
You're going to notice you'regoing to lack the motivation and
the energy to work out.
(13:29):
This is where I recommend takingthat 20-minute nap midday, if
you can, if there is anopportunity, or when you come
home from work, if there's anopportunity for you to just kind
of sit in silence.
That does not mean scrolling onyour phone.
Remember, when you're scrollingon your phone, you are creating
a response in your brain.
(13:50):
You may not think you are.
You may think, oh, I'm usingthis to zone out, but you're
getting that dopamine hit,you're getting that cortisol
response.
Just sit and do nothing forfive or 10 minutes on your lunch
break, right after you get homefrom school or, you know, from
work, sorry, maybe picking yourkids up from school, anything
(14:11):
like that.
Take five minutes, take 10minutes and just sit in your car
before you walk in through thedoor.
No one needs to know.
Just sit in your car for fiveminutes in silence, no radio, no
scrolling, no doom scrolling.
No, I just am going to do thisfor fun.
(14:32):
Scrolling Nothing, just sit andbe, and that will allow your
body to have a few minutes ofrest, which you may notice helps
you to sleep a little bitbetter at night.
Also, make sure that you goback to episode 25, how to get a
better night's sleep.
(14:52):
As a busy mom, I give a lot oftips in there on things that you
can do to help you get a betternight's sleep.
So what can we do for ourworkout routine?
We want to focus on strengthtraining.
That is, if you do nothing else, focus on strength training.
You want to do that, so ithelps keep that muscle on your
(15:17):
body and helps you to supportyour metabolism.
Helps you to support yourmetabolism.
So the more muscle you have,the more calories you burn At
rest doesn't even have to bedoing anything.
So at rest, the more muscle youhave, the more calories you'll
burn.
So that is a natural thing.
(15:40):
You want to increase musclemass on your body.
We do this through things likesquats, lunges, deadlifts, your
big body movements.
Not so worried about bicepcurls and things like that,
although I do love them and I dothink you still need to work
your upper body.
I'm just saying that when we'rethinking of strength training
and building muscle, we'relooking at those big movements,
(16:03):
those lunges, squats, hip hingeswhich deadlift.
All of those are going to buildbigger muscles, so leg muscles
and then work through some ofthe smaller muscles, maybe not
using as heavy of weights.
(16:23):
Don't worry as much about topbody weights being heavy,
because that's where you're atan increase of injury,
especially when you startworking into those shoulders.
You want to stay heavierweights on the bottom half and
then work on strength trainingthe upper half with whatever
weights feel comfortable.
Two times a week is what Iusually recommend.
(16:45):
Some of you can do three timesa week.
It just kind of depends.
Always, always, always, listento your body.
When we think of cardio.
We want to do low impact cardio, so walking, swimming, cycling,
gentle aerobics that's going tohelp with your heart health.
(17:06):
We want to think zone to cardio, so that steady state cardio.
You feel like you cancommunicate a little bit but
you're taking heavier breaths,having to breathe a little bit
more, not able to talk as well,but still can talk a little bit
to you know a neighbor if you'rewalking or something, but still
can talk a little bit to you,know a neighbor if you're
(17:27):
walking or something.
And we don't want to put addedstress on the joints during this
time.
These are all great for you todo.
Now one thing I will add inthere for your cardio, once or
twice a month, I do believe thatwe can test our heart.
It's like heart ratevariability or our VO2 max.
(17:49):
We want to look at which wouldbe your oxygen consumption.
We want to look at testing ourbody a little bit.
And that's where I might saylike a sprint drill.
Sprint drill does not have tobe done as a run.
It can be done on a bike, itcan be done on a rower,
something like that where you'rejust going all out for, say, 15
(18:15):
, anywhere from 10 to 20 secondsand then you give your body
ample, ample time to recover sothat the stress load doesn't
become too much.
But I would do a few of those,say three, maybe four, depending
on your fitness level, just torecover.
If you're new to this, you knowsprint does not mean everybody
(18:39):
has a different speed of sprint.
So it does not mean, like Isaid, first get out of your head
to run, because some peoplethink that's going to be too
extreme for them, but get on abike and ride the bike as fast
as you can.
Ride for 10, 15 seconds andthen recover.
That's going to challenge yourheart.
It's going to make you breathea lot heavier.
(19:00):
You can even do a run up anddown the stairs once or twice.
That would be plenty.
That's going to get your heartrate up a little bit, testing
your heart a little bit morethan that steady state cardio.
Okay, so we've done strength,we've done low impact cardio,
maybe twice a month doing somesprint drill Does not need to be
(19:21):
done on a weekly basis.
Mobility and flexibility Alwaysmake sure you're adding this.
You're going to feel a lotstiffer.
You're probably going to bedealing with a lot more aches
and pains as we deal with thesehormonal shifts.
So it's important toincorporate some yoga, some
Pilates, some stretching in yourlife.
If you have worked with mebefore, you will notice that I
(19:46):
try to incorporate some of thesebasic stretches into your daily
routine.
One thing you may have heard metalk about is the basic calf
stretch while you brush yourteeth.
These are things that you cando and incorporate into your day
.
You do not have to go take a45-minute yoga class.
You can find opportunities tomove your body and stretch in
(20:10):
different ways, even like why Imentioned sitting on the floor
and moving your hips around.
That's mobility.
So even little things like thatcan be incorporated into this.
We tend to think so much aboutgoing to a place for our
exercise routine or laying downa mat, getting our outfit on and
(20:36):
watching the screen for ourworkout.
But what if you just startedincorporating these things into
your day, into your work week,where you're not having to go
outside of the home to create it, you're not having to create a
specific routine with yourexercises?
Maybe I just do 10 countertoppush-ups when I walk by the
(20:59):
counter today because that feltgood.
These are the little thingsthat you can start to do to work
on strength, flexibility,mobility, all of those things
and then prioritize your restand recovery.
Be very mindful of overtraining.
You are going to be at anincreased risk at this age of
(21:23):
dealing with overtraining,straining muscles.
All of that it is moreimportant than the workout
itself.
So, taking that time, listen toyour body.
Make sure that if you are doingsome of these exercises that
I'm recommending, that you aresupporting your body with the
(21:45):
nutrition it needs, not proteinbars, protein shakes all day
long.
Give it nourishing foods,nutrients to help support you
during this time.
Protein is crucial.
I have many an episode where Italk about this.
It is imperative to help withyour muscle retention and
(22:07):
supporting you as you age,because remember that you know
as we get older we are thinkingabout.
Exercise now is to support ourbody as we age.
The stronger you are now, whenyou get into your 70s and 80s,
you will be weaker if you didn'tdo the strength training, if
(22:33):
you didn't do that, so weakeryou may deal with balance issues
, you may fall.
The stronger you are, thebetter able you are to handle
those situations.
So making sure that you arestrong for longevity and I know
if you are like myself, in thoseupper 40s, getting ready to hit
(22:57):
50, it comes like that lightbulb goes on Like, oh my gosh,
the last 30 years have flown by.
I'm going to be 80 before youknow it.
Gosh, whoa, that was scaryright there.
But yeah, that's like.
That is how fast it goes.
So we do need to.
(23:19):
You will hit this point whereyou're like, oh, oh, okay, I
really do need to do this for mylongevity because it's going to
come by quick.
Make sure you're balancing yourmacronutrients, so your fats,
your proteins, your complexcarbs.
Make sure you're also eatinglots of fruits and vegetables
(23:42):
for those micronutrients, forthose phytonutrients.
We want to make sure we'regetting all of that in us.
That is going to help with somany things.
Things Magnesium again anotherimportant one to ensure that for
(24:03):
heart health, making sure thatyou're getting enough magnesium.
If you deal with a lot ofstressors, if you've been one
who's kind of done thosehigh-intensity workouts, you are
probably depleting themagnesium in your body.
Drinking coffee, drinkingalcohol, eating sugar all of
these things deplete magnesium.
So making sure that you aresupplementing with some sort of
(24:24):
magnesium and then making surethat you're staying hydrated.
Again, I do like electrolytesfor you at this stage, but, you
know, make sure that you lookinto that for yourself.
If you are dealing with hotflashes and night sweats, you
know hydrating can help with alot of that.
(24:47):
Understand that you need to goabout thinking of this a little
bit differently at this stage oflife.
So, exercise we want to pullaway from how I'm going to
appear, how I want to look, andreally focus on how it will help
(25:09):
me feel.
If you focus on that, otherthings will come from it, but I
don't want you focusing on thewrong thing.
Exercise should not be aboutwhat you see in the mirror.
That is a side effect to it.
Exercise should be about how ithelps you mentally, how it
(25:34):
helps you live longer.
Heart health helps support yourheart, helps support everything,
the whole system, like thinkabout the lymphatic system, how
your nervous system.
It helps with all of that,helps build strong bones.
You want to think about it thatway, and then there's some
(25:55):
bonus side effects from it aswell.
So that is basically what youwant to make sure that you are
doing when you are hitting thisperimenopause menopausal phase
Just really supporting your body, listening to it, understanding
that this is definitely a timethat things are going to change.
(26:17):
You're not going to be able towork out like you used to, and
that is okay.
And, instead of being hard onyourself, be accepting and lean
into this time.
This is the time for you toremember that you should be
moving your body in a way thatfeels good for you, because
(26:42):
that's what matters most is howyou feel.
If you are ready to take thatnext step in your wellness
journey or you need help withyour exercise routine, I would
encourage you to reach out towork with me.
You can head tomovingthroughmidlifecom.
Click on the information aboutthe Move Better bundle.
(27:06):
That is where we will worktogether and I will help create
a program that is part of mybonus right now.
If you pay in full, you do getaccess to a 12-week workout
program, so if that is somethingyou're interested in, make sure
(27:27):
to check that out.
We do have also our communityover on Facebook, where I share
information, we talk throughthings, and you can use that to
help guide you and motivate you.
Keep you motivated along theway.
Hope you all have a wonderfulweek and, as always, make sure
to keep moving.
(27:48):
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand found something to take
away to help you practicehealthier habits, move more or
handle the midlife and agingwith grace.
If you enjoyed this episode,please share it with a friend or
leave us a review to help usreach more moms just like you.
Head to movingthroughmidlifecomto join the free community or
(28:13):
learn how you can move more andfeel better in your daily
lifecom to join the freecommunity or learn how you can
move more and feel better inyour daily life.
Today's episode, we are going to dive into a crucial
topic for midlife women, andthat is how hormonal changes are
impacting your exercise and theadjustments that you can make
so that you're staying healthy,strong and energized.
Many of you may have noticedsome of these shifts that are
occurring.
(00:21):
You may not feel as strong inthe gym.
You may also notice that yourmuscle tone is changing.
You may also notice anincreased weight around that
midsection and this lack ofenergy, almost as if there are
days where you just feel likeyou have hit a brick wall.
(00:43):
We are going to discuss thathow you can adapt your exercise
routine to meet these challengescoming up.
So let's dive in.
Welcome to Moving ThroughMidlife.
I am your host, courtney, apersonal trainer and movement
specialist who wants to help youmove through midlife with more
(01:06):
grace.
Each week we will discuss wayswe can show up better for
ourselves and our childrenwithout the burnout.
We will focus on overall healththrough habit stacking to help
increase energy, providemovement snacks to help you move
more throughout the day, whilealso moving your body more, and
(01:26):
learn from professionals onmoving through midlife with ease
so that you can feel confidentwith aging gracefully.
Grab your earbuds and join meon a leisurely walk while we
discuss moving through midlife.
It is important to firstunderstand the hormonal changes
(01:48):
we're going through.
In midlife, you're dealing withfluctuations in your estrogen,
progesterone and testosterone.
The biggest one that Ipersonally notice is the
decrease in progesterone and ifyou've heard me before, you'll
know that for me, I deal with alot of anxiety and progesterone
(02:11):
is that calming hormone.
Progesterone is also producedwhen you ovulate, so it is
obvious that we are losingprogesterone.
We are not going to beovulating as much in this
perimenopause, right?
We're going to start missingovulation cycles.
It is important that those ofyou who are in early stage of
(02:35):
perimenopause so anywhere fromwhat?
35 to 45 years old you need toreally work on supporting your
body during this time, becausethis is going to be the time you
want to try to hold on to theprogesterone as long as possible
.
And the ways you support thisis one through cycle syncing,
(02:56):
which I have an episode aboutthat had to go back into my
account to find out which one itwas Episode 41, supportinging
your Hormonal Cycles and that isgoing to provide you with
information on foods to eatduring your hormones, how you
should be exercising, things topay attention to in the way of
(03:19):
how you program your days andactivities going out with
friends and date nights anddifferent things like that.
All of those can be affected byyour hormone cycle and there
are times that you should liveinto that and then times where
you should kind of be more athome in a calming atmosphere.
So if you lean into thosethings during your hormonal
(03:44):
cycle each month, then you willbe able to hold on to that
progesterone longer, so you'reable to ovulate longer, which
will help you through this phasewhere you're starting to deal
with more anxiety.
Because as that starts to taperoff, as you start to lose that
progesterone, you will start todeal with more anxiety.
(04:07):
You will deal with more moodswings and things like that.
So we want to try to keep thatamount of time as short as
possible.
It's going to happen, but if wecan, you know, deal with it
maybe five years instead ofeight to 10 years, then we're
going to feel a lot better.
These changes are also going tobe affecting us from a fatigue
(04:30):
standpoint.
You are going to notice thatwhen you work out, it is going
to possibly take longer for youto recover.
You may not have as much energywhen you go work out, maybe
feeling weaker through theworkouts, maybe noticing, you
know, one of the things that Inoticed for myself I couldn't do
(04:52):
push-ups on my toes anymore,like I started having to drop
down to my knees.
I also noticed, started dealingwith wrist pain.
You'll notice little aches andpains in your body and then when
you recover, your recovery timeis not as good.
You're taking longer to recover.
So usually what I recommendwomen do is I used to recommend
(05:18):
three to four days of strengthtraining.
Now I recommend two to threedays of strength training and
there might be weeks.
If you're trying to go heavieror you're trying to max out or
anything like that, you may dropit down to one.
Obviously we want to try tovary the muscle groups that
we're working, but justunderstand that if your body is
(05:41):
tired you need to respect it andlean into that and support it
during that time.
I'll let you know that theother day I decided to do heavy
weights for, like my leg day, Iwent a lot heavier than normal.
I was doing kind of aprogressive overload situation
(06:03):
where I went heavier than what Inormally do just to kind of
test my body and my recovery.
I was spent.
I probably overdid it a littlebit, but I did not do.
I did, you know, maybe pushupsand stuff, but I did not do
strength training again.
(06:24):
The reason I'm telling you thisis it's okay to back off.
Don't think of being the personwho has to go hard or go home
right.
That mentality one should havenever been there, because it's
not designed for everybody.
Men can do that.
(06:45):
Women, we need to look at thingsdifferently and definitely in
this perimenopausal phase, youneed to be supporting your body
during this time.
I always find it interestingthat we look at the time when we
hit puberty.
If you have children and you'rewatching them go through
puberty, you have accepted thefact that, oh my goodness, they
(07:10):
are eating so much and then alsothey're sleeping a ton too,
like that is a natural thing andwe are not saying anything
about it.
We're like, yes, eat, eat more,support your body through this
time.
Same thing during pregnancy.
You know, we during pregnancy,we tend to eat more, you sleep
(07:32):
more, you rest more.
We are nourishing our bodyduring this time, during these
two times, but then yet we hitmenopause or perimenopause and
we feel like we have to depriveour body.
That doesn't seem fair, does itLike your body is still shifting
(07:53):
and changing hormonally?
You should still be supportingit, give it the sleep it needs,
give it the rest it needs.
You don't have to go hard allday long, you don't have to keep
yourself busy all day long.
Rest and then support it,nourish it.
Eat healthy foods, eatnourishing foods.
(08:16):
That's really what I want tosay when I say healthy, nourish,
nourish your body.
Eat those comforting foods.
Nourish, nourish your body.
Eat those comforting foods.
Maybe instead of grabbing thechips and the crackers and the
things like that, maybe look atyou know what were some foods
that you ate that kind ofnourished you as when you were
(08:37):
younger.
Are there soups that you couldeat that would provide you some
of the nourishment that yourbody needs?
That's where I would try tolean into with the comfort foods
, rather than thinking back tochildhood and wanting those
Twinkies baby's child.
But those of you who you know,looking at the nourishing foods
(09:02):
that you can eat to support youduring this time is imperative.
So with this comes hormonalchanges and the impact on
exercise, how they are affectingyour exercise programs.
So the first thing is you arestarting to deal with lower
estrogen levels, which are goingto decrease your bone density,
(09:24):
which is going to mean you needto strength train.
If you never thought you neededa strength train before, you
need to strength train now.
So it is figuring out what youcan lift.
Does it mean you need to be ina gym lifting weights?
Not particularly.
If you can find ways where youare picking up heavy things
(09:46):
throughout the day, then that isfine.
If your job is labor intensive,where you're having to pick up
heavy items, then that may beyour strength training.
It doesn't mean you have to dothings on top of that.
I would encourage you all tofind ways Now.
I'm not a big proponent of highintensity training during this
(10:09):
phase of life, but there aresome plyometrics that you should
be adding into your life,because so plyometrics is like
jumping movements, because thisis going to help increase bone
density.
Not always do we have to addstrength, but you can add maybe
like squat jumps or sit to standjumps, so you sit on a chair.
(10:34):
When you stand up, you jump up.
That is going to help buildthat bone density, as well as
lifting weights.
Okay, so understanding thatthere are some things that you
can do to help during this timeto increase your bone density.
(10:55):
You will also notice increasedcortisol.
I talk about this a lot.
You can go back through pastepisodes.
I have one specifically ondetermining what your cortisol
not what your cortisol levelsare, but how much you are at
risk of increased cortisol.
So we are naturally dealingwith higher cortisol during this
(11:19):
time and this can lead tomuscle breakdown and fat storage
.
And this can lead to musclebreakdown and fat storage If
your workouts are too intensefor you or too long.
That is why I usually recommend10 to 20 minutes is all you
really need with your workoutsessions anymore.
30 is okay, but make sureyou've got a good warm up and
(11:41):
cool down for that.
We don't need to be going hardwith our exercise.
Our cortisol levels are goingto be up there.
As it is.
We're dealing with lots ofstressors not just stressors in
life, but stressors hormonalstressors as well.
So we want to make sure that weare supporting ourselves.
(12:02):
That is one reason why, if youlisten to last week's episode
where I talked about creatine,that can help keep the muscle
breakdown from occurring.
So if you do I think I evenmentioned it in there if you
still like your high intensityworkouts, make sure to take
creatine right after.
(12:23):
That's going to help supportyour body so you won't get some
of those insulin spikes, thatstress response spike that
you're dealing with or that youmight deal with.
If you do a high intensityworkout.
It will also decrease thebreakdown of the muscle, like I
(12:43):
mentioned before.
Also, you're going to bedealing with slower recovery.
I saw it for myself just lastweek.
Listen to your body.
Don't beat yourself up if youhaven't done your two or three
days of strength that you hadwritten out.
This is really an opportunityfor you to hone in to you and
(13:09):
what you need and really listento what your body is asking for.
The other thing that occurs isbecause we're struggling with
sleep.
We're not getting as good ofsleep as we used to.
You're going to notice you'regoing to lack the motivation and
the energy to work out.
(13:29):
This is where I recommend takingthat 20-minute nap midday, if
you can, if there is anopportunity, or when you come
home from work, if there's anopportunity for you to just kind
of sit in silence.
That does not mean scrolling onyour phone.
Remember, when you're scrollingon your phone, you are creating
a response in your brain.
(13:50):
You may not think you are.
You may think, oh, I'm usingthis to zone out, but you're
getting that dopamine hit,you're getting that cortisol
response.
Just sit and do nothing forfive or 10 minutes on your lunch
break, right after you get homefrom school or, you know, from
work, sorry, maybe picking yourkids up from school, anything
(14:11):
like that.
Take five minutes, take 10minutes and just sit in your car
before you walk in through thedoor.
No one needs to know.
Just sit in your car for fiveminutes in silence, no radio, no
scrolling, no doom scrolling.
No, I just am going to do thisfor fun.
(14:32):
Scrolling Nothing, just sit andbe, and that will allow your
body to have a few minutes ofrest, which you may notice helps
you to sleep a little bitbetter at night.
Also, make sure that you goback to episode 25, how to get a
better night's sleep.
(14:52):
As a busy mom, I give a lot oftips in there on things that you
can do to help you get a betternight's sleep.
So what can we do for ourworkout routine?
We want to focus on strengthtraining.
That is, if you do nothing else, focus on strength training.
You want to do that, so ithelps keep that muscle on your
(15:17):
body and helps you to supportyour metabolism.
Helps you to support yourmetabolism.
So the more muscle you have,the more calories you burn At
rest doesn't even have to bedoing anything.
So at rest, the more muscle youhave, the more calories you'll
burn.
So that is a natural thing.
(15:40):
You want to increase musclemass on your body.
We do this through things likesquats, lunges, deadlifts, your
big body movements.
Not so worried about bicepcurls and things like that,
although I do love them and I dothink you still need to work
your upper body.
I'm just saying that when we'rethinking of strength training
and building muscle, we'relooking at those big movements,
(16:03):
those lunges, squats, hip hingeswhich deadlift.
All of those are going to buildbigger muscles, so leg muscles
and then work through some ofthe smaller muscles, maybe not
using as heavy of weights.
(16:23):
Don't worry as much about topbody weights being heavy,
because that's where you're atan increase of injury,
especially when you startworking into those shoulders.
You want to stay heavierweights on the bottom half and
then work on strength trainingthe upper half with whatever
weights feel comfortable.
Two times a week is what Iusually recommend.
(16:45):
Some of you can do three timesa week.
It just kind of depends.
Always, always, always, listento your body.
When we think of cardio.
We want to do low impact cardio, so walking, swimming, cycling,
gentle aerobics that's going tohelp with your heart health.
(17:06):
We want to think zone to cardio, so that steady state cardio.
You feel like you cancommunicate a little bit but
you're taking heavier breaths,having to breathe a little bit
more, not able to talk as well,but still can talk a little bit
to you know a neighbor if you'rewalking or something, but still
can talk a little bit to you,know a neighbor if you're
(17:27):
walking or something.
And we don't want to put addedstress on the joints during this
time.
These are all great for you todo.
Now one thing I will add inthere for your cardio, once or
twice a month, I do believe thatwe can test our heart.
It's like heart ratevariability or our VO2 max.
(17:49):
We want to look at which wouldbe your oxygen consumption.
We want to look at testing ourbody a little bit.
And that's where I might saylike a sprint drill.
Sprint drill does not have tobe done as a run.
It can be done on a bike, itcan be done on a rower,
something like that where you'rejust going all out for, say, 15
(18:15):
, anywhere from 10 to 20 secondsand then you give your body
ample, ample time to recover sothat the stress load doesn't
become too much.
But I would do a few of those,say three, maybe four, depending
on your fitness level, just torecover.
If you're new to this, you knowsprint does not mean everybody
(18:39):
has a different speed of sprint.
So it does not mean, like Isaid, first get out of your head
to run, because some peoplethink that's going to be too
extreme for them, but get on abike and ride the bike as fast
as you can.
Ride for 10, 15 seconds andthen recover.
That's going to challenge yourheart.
It's going to make you breathea lot heavier.
(19:00):
You can even do a run up anddown the stairs once or twice.
That would be plenty.
That's going to get your heartrate up a little bit, testing
your heart a little bit morethan that steady state cardio.
Okay, so we've done strength,we've done low impact cardio,
maybe twice a month doing somesprint drill Does not need to be
(19:21):
done on a weekly basis.
Mobility and flexibility Alwaysmake sure you're adding this.
You're going to feel a lotstiffer.
You're probably going to bedealing with a lot more aches
and pains as we deal with thesehormonal shifts.
So it's important toincorporate some yoga, some
Pilates, some stretching in yourlife.
If you have worked with mebefore, you will notice that I
(19:46):
try to incorporate some of thesebasic stretches into your daily
routine.
One thing you may have heard metalk about is the basic calf
stretch while you brush yourteeth.
These are things that you cando and incorporate into your day
.
You do not have to go take a45-minute yoga class.
You can find opportunities tomove your body and stretch in
(20:10):
different ways, even like why Imentioned sitting on the floor
and moving your hips around.
That's mobility.
So even little things like thatcan be incorporated into this.
We tend to think so much aboutgoing to a place for our
exercise routine or laying downa mat, getting our outfit on and
(20:36):
watching the screen for ourworkout.
But what if you just startedincorporating these things into
your day, into your work week,where you're not having to go
outside of the home to create it, you're not having to create a
specific routine with yourexercises?
Maybe I just do 10 countertoppush-ups when I walk by the
(20:59):
counter today because that feltgood.
These are the little thingsthat you can start to do to work
on strength, flexibility,mobility, all of those things
and then prioritize your restand recovery.
Be very mindful of overtraining.
You are going to be at anincreased risk at this age of
(21:23):
dealing with overtraining,straining muscles.
All of that it is moreimportant than the workout
itself.
So, taking that time, listen toyour body.
Make sure that if you are doingsome of these exercises that
I'm recommending, that you aresupporting your body with the
(21:45):
nutrition it needs, not proteinbars, protein shakes all day
long.
Give it nourishing foods,nutrients to help support you
during this time.
Protein is crucial.
I have many an episode where Italk about this.
It is imperative to help withyour muscle retention and
(22:07):
supporting you as you age,because remember that you know
as we get older we are thinkingabout.
Exercise now is to support ourbody as we age.
The stronger you are now, whenyou get into your 70s and 80s,
you will be weaker if you didn'tdo the strength training, if
(22:33):
you didn't do that, so weakeryou may deal with balance issues
, you may fall.
The stronger you are, thebetter able you are to handle
those situations.
So making sure that you arestrong for longevity and I know
if you are like myself, in thoseupper 40s, getting ready to hit
(22:57):
50, it comes like that lightbulb goes on Like, oh my gosh,
the last 30 years have flown by.
I'm going to be 80 before youknow it.
Gosh, whoa, that was scaryright there.
But yeah, that's like.
That is how fast it goes.
So we do need to.
(23:19):
You will hit this point whereyou're like, oh, oh, okay, I
really do need to do this for mylongevity because it's going to
come by quick.
Make sure you're balancing yourmacronutrients, so your fats,
your proteins, your complexcarbs.
Make sure you're also eatinglots of fruits and vegetables
(23:42):
for those micronutrients, forthose phytonutrients.
We want to make sure we'regetting all of that in us.
That is going to help with somany things.
Things Magnesium again anotherimportant one to ensure that for
(24:03):
heart health, making sure thatyou're getting enough magnesium.
If you deal with a lot ofstressors, if you've been one
who's kind of done thosehigh-intensity workouts, you are
probably depleting themagnesium in your body.
Drinking coffee, drinkingalcohol, eating sugar all of
these things deplete magnesium.
So making sure that you aresupplementing with some sort of
(24:24):
magnesium and then making surethat you're staying hydrated.
Again, I do like electrolytesfor you at this stage, but, you
know, make sure that you lookinto that for yourself.
If you are dealing with hotflashes and night sweats, you
know hydrating can help with alot of that.
(24:47):
Understand that you need to goabout thinking of this a little
bit differently at this stage oflife.
So, exercise we want to pullaway from how I'm going to
appear, how I want to look, andreally focus on how it will help
(25:09):
me feel.
If you focus on that, otherthings will come from it, but I
don't want you focusing on thewrong thing.
Exercise should not be aboutwhat you see in the mirror.
That is a side effect to it.
Exercise should be about how ithelps you mentally, how it
(25:34):
helps you live longer.
Heart health helps support yourheart, helps support everything,
the whole system, like thinkabout the lymphatic system, how
your nervous system.
It helps with all of that,helps build strong bones.
You want to think about it thatway, and then there's some
(25:55):
bonus side effects from it aswell.
So that is basically what youwant to make sure that you are
doing when you are hitting thisperimenopause menopausal phase
Just really supporting your body, listening to it, understanding
that this is definitely a timethat things are going to change.
(26:17):
You're not going to be able towork out like you used to, and
that is okay.
And, instead of being hard onyourself, be accepting and lean
into this time.
This is the time for you toremember that you should be
moving your body in a way thatfeels good for you, because
(26:42):
that's what matters most is howyou feel.
If you are ready to take thatnext step in your wellness
journey or you need help withyour exercise routine, I would
encourage you to reach out towork with me.
You can head tomovingthroughmidlifecom.
Click on the information aboutthe Move Better bundle.
(27:06):
That is where we will worktogether and I will help create
a program that is part of mybonus right now.
If you pay in full, you do getaccess to a 12-week workout
program, so if that is somethingyou're interested in, make sure
(27:27):
to check that out.
We do have also our communityover on Facebook, where I share
information, we talk throughthings, and you can use that to
help guide you and motivate you.
Keep you motivated along theway.
Hope you all have a wonderfulweek and, as always, make sure
to keep moving.
(27:48):
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand found something to take
away to help you practicehealthier habits, move more or
handle the midlife and agingwith grace.
If you enjoyed this episode,please share it with a friend or
leave us a review to help usreach more moms just like you.
Head to movingthroughmidlifecomto join the free community or
(28:13):
learn how you can move more andfeel better in your daily
lifecom to join the freecommunity or learn how you can
move more and feel better inyour daily life.
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