Exercise During Menopause - What should we do??

- Laura Lambe, Menopause Practitioner

We hear a LOT of do’s and don'ts when it comes to how we “should” exercise during menopause so let's break it down 

The below (like everything I do) is backed by science and has been proven in over 1800 menopausal women we have worked with 

Resistance training should be incorporated to our exercise pkan for many different reasons but mainly to aid the pretty rapid bone density decline women experience as they age as well as the muscle mass decline also seen in women over 40 

What STYLE of resistance training and HOW you should do it (ie the intensity, time etc) is determined via the below

 

Before we break down how to develop YOUR most effective exercise plan here are a few things everyone should read: 

 

1 - There is no single “right” way to exercise despite what social media makes us believe. What's “right” for one person will look different to someone else 

 

2 - It is correct that resistance training is beneficial for menopausal women however finding what YOU enjoy is the most effective way for YOU to incorporate resistance training: weight lifting, reformer pilates, class based workouts, bodyweight movements, yoga, HIIT..

3 - Cardio is not “bad” 

It is true that women over 40 have naturally higher cortisol levels but we actually need cortisol, its being demonized right now like carbs were for decades…

TOO MUCH cortisol is when we run into issues. So it's not a blanket statement that we should all avoid cardio or higher intensity workouts. It comes down to YOUR health

 

4 - ANYTHING is better than nothing 

We get so caught up with figuring out the “perfect” exercise that we end up doing nothing. We also forget that exercise can change, it doesn't need to look the exact same each day depending on your life. Some days you may have less time so you do a short workout - and thats fine. Some days your energy may be lower so you do a walk over a structured workout - and thats ok 

 

Consistency is NOT perfection 

Its committing to doing whatever is possible THAT day in YOUR life 

 

5 - You can’t outtrain a bad diet 

No matter what age you are, NUTRITION is still king. Our recovery between workouts changes as we age as our metabolism of minerals slows down (ie our body absorbs less nutrients meaning) - meaning more than ever its important to fuel our bodies correctly between workouts

 

To determine YOUR most effective way to exercise we use a 3 point system 

And yes, YOUR most effective way - there is no “one size fits all” that works for everyone. So whenever we hear someone make blanket statements like “cardio is bad” “you should not do HIIT over 40” etc AVOID THEM 

 

HEALTH 

Before we build a client's exercise (or nutrition) plan we will take them through a full health screening so we can get to know THEIR body and THEIR health. We look for a few things here but for menopausal women cortisol is one of the biggest things we are looking for. 

 

Remember lab work should NOT be done when diagnosing and treating menopausal women so we use the symptom screening diagnosis outlined by both the british and north american menopause societies when determining a woman's hormonal health over 40

 If after doing a full health screening we determined an individual was showing high cortisol then we would want to ease off on the intensity WHILE WE WORKED ON REGULATING. 

 

Yes, its not that you shouldn't do HIIT ever again but while you are working on reducing your cortisol levels then reducing high intensity exercise is a smart idea as this style of workout produces more cortisol. But this is not a blanket statement - not all menopausal women have high cortisol levels CONSISTENTLY (remember, your hormones fluctuate so at times you may have higher cortisol but if its consistent then you would want to do lower intensity) 

 

For example this client was showing levels of high cortisol so we kept her exercise quite low in intensity and involved some pilates/yoga to help reduce overall cortisol

 

This client wasn't showing high cortisol so we programmed hiit for her mainly because thats what she liked to do  

Pelvic health - especially when working with post menopausal women. 83% of postmenopausal women have pelvic health issues and are not aware.

This is pain when training, leaking urine, low libido, lower back pain etc

As pelvic health DOES decline with age for ALL women we would always build pelvic floor movements in to all our exercise plans. 



TIME 

Every single person has a different work schedule, different set of responsibilities - different TIME available 

So again, a copy paste workout plan will never be realistic 

We have clients who have 2 days a week they can workout and others who can workout 5 days 

We have clients who have 15mins a day and others who have 60mins a day 

So its all about understanding what time you DO have and learning how to use whatever time that is EFFECTIVELY 

For example this client just had 15mins a day to workout because of a very busy work and family life. So we just programmed full body higher intensity workouts that would be the best use of her time 

As a general rule of thumb: 

If you have more than 3 days you could split your workouts to upper body and lower body focused 

If you had 3 or less days you would find better results in doing full body workouts only 

If you had 30mins or less you would find it more effective to doing higher intensity workouts (the level of intensity your health allows) 

If you have more than 30mins then reducing the intensity and focusing on more strength based would be a good style of workouts 



The power of flexibility 

Does your life look the exact same every week? Does it even look the same every day??

 

If the answer is no then its pretty unrealistic that you will only ever be able to follow ONE exercise plan that looks the same every week 

This is where we see most women “failing” before working with us; not knowing how to eb and flow with life. So when something changes, work gets busier or something adhoc in life comes up then fall off track because they don't have time to do the same routine as always - that “all or nothing” as such 

Teaching our clients how to have multiple different exercise plans so if something changes they can default to plan b, plan c etc immediately instead of saying “ah life changed, cant do my usual exercise today so il do it again tomorrow” 

The below all had about 5 different versions of exercise because they had lives that changed quite a lot 

So instead of waiting for “time” - because thats never going to happen - you should learn how to eb and flow 

We have a handful of free consultation calls left over the next coming weeks if you would like a demo call on:

âś… How to set this up for yourself

✅ Perform a health screening wth a menopausal expert 

✅Have someone review YOUR time schedule to determine the style or exercise that will best suit that life 

âś…Have someone review your menopausal symptoms to clarify if inflammation, cortisol or gut is causing the most issues and so on

 

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