May 28, 2021
Are you getting enough exercise in menopause? Are you wondering that too?
I’ve been following your advice focusing on strength 2x a week, typically Wednesday & Saturday for ample recovery time. My question is this. If I typically do 30 min lifting routines, focusing on whole body strength w/ 8-20 pound weights, is 30 min enough?
-Kate
Right Question?
What if the question you should ask is whether what you’re doing is too much?
In response to Kate’s question, to be clear I don’t think you’re doing too much or she’d have offered some other information.
When it comes to exercise you want Goldilocks amount. The sweet spot, the just right amount.
Too much exercise will cause you to gain weight and store fat.
Too little exercise will not help you optimize hormones.
- You want a nice dose of cortisol reduction.
- You want a dose of growth hormone and testosterone stimulation.
- You want to pick up where estrogen may have dumped you off with stimulus for muscle.
Enough Exercise in Menopause for You
You first determine whether those things are appropriate for you or if you’ve got signs that you have imbalance.
For instance:
- you can barely get up in the morning, you’re up but not fully functioning for hours…
- you have gained weight, doing the same thing you used to do and now can’t get it off and the more you try the worse it gets.
- You have mood swings and total brain fog
- You can’t sleep at night even though you’re exhausted
It’s not a matter of time. It’s a matter of what you do with that time. Do you reach muscular fatigue?
Let’s look at sets. In the most typical example of sets of exercise there might be 2 or 3 sets of a number of repetitions of exercise.
But there could also be just one set.
A single set of 3 to 6 repetitions to fatigue, or a set of 35 to fatigue are also documented as means for successfully gaining strength and muscle mass.
Fatigue is the Key
The point is reaching fatigue with 9 different exercises repeated for a total 27 sets could be done in 30 minutes. That’s quite a bit of successful muscle fatigue.
The question is whether the weights you’re using for the exercises and the sequence of those exercises is causing fatigue.
If you’re asking, I’m wondering if you might be ready to lift heavier weights, or have a different routine, so that you reach fatigue.
Resources mentioned on this episode:
10-Day Hot Not Bothered Challenge
Other Podcasts You Might Like:
Insulin Resistance in Midlife Belly Fat
Understanding the Role of Cortisol and Exercise in Menopause
Thanks to my friend Stu Schaffer for sharing his client’s story about too much exercise.