Part 3: "Exercise: Your Secret Weapon Against Menopause Symptoms."

A Three-part Series on Powering Through Menopause

As we have discussed in both Parts 1 and 2, menopause leads to a decline in estrogen.  One of the issues this causes is an acceleration of muscle loss and a decrease in our metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight and strength. Not only do we lose muscle faster post-menopause, but we also tend to gain more fat. Oh, the joy! Exercise, especially  strength training, is our secret (ok, not so secret) weapon against this.  Research has shown that lifting weights during and after menopause is highly beneficial for maintaining muscle mass, boosting metabolism, and improving bone density, which can help counteract age-related declines.  Resistance training AKA strength training,  is the best way to generate the muscle-making cells and lifting heavy weight provides the strength-building stimulus women need as estrogen declines. It literally tells your brain that it needs to amp up for your bones and muscles.  Even if you have never exercised before, the benefits are there. You just have to start slow and seek help from an instructor or trainer to learn proper form. 

You may have heard that muscle weighs more than fat.  Fake news! A pound of muscle is the same weight as a pound of fat.  The difference is that muscle takes up less room, so you look leaner even if the scale doesn’t change much.  Increased muscle mass has the added benefit or boosting your metabolism so you can eat a bit more and not gain because you burn more calories even at rest.  But I love non-scale victories like being able to pick up and carry grandchildren, being able to lift that heavy bag of pet food, being able to hike or move without pain.  As much as we want it to be, it’s not all about losing weight.

The decrease/loss of estrogen increases our risk of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, joint pain etc. (We were made this way, why?!) Exercise can help with that risk as well.  Strength training stimulates bone growth and can help increase bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis. It can also improve cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of heart disease. While steady cardio has heart and vascular benefits, it doesn’t provide us with the same benefits that strength training does.  Resistance training improves insulin sensitivity, lowers blood pressure, reduces visceral (deep belly) fat, and improves immunity.  Lifting heavy provides us  the best benefits, but you will need to work up to that slowly.

I may not be telling you much you didn’t already know.  I’m sure you’ve heard for years that you need to exercise.  And now I’m telling you you should lift HEAVY.   If you are like most who don’t exercise regularly, you may fear getting too bulky, you don’t want to look like a man, it’s too hard, you don’t have time etc.  I promise you that you will not look like a man or get too bulky even once you have worked up to heavy lifting.  And I would remind you dealing with menopausal symptoms is hard.  Having heart disease is hard.  Feeling fat and fluffy is hard.  So choose your hard!

When exercising, it’s a good idea to incorporate functional movement patterns that mimic what we do in our daily lives.  The five basic movement patterns are Push, Pull, Hinge, Squat and Carry.  Pushing like pushing a vacuum cleaner or lawn mower; Pulling like getting clothes out of the washer; Squatting like getting up and down out of a chair or off the toilet; Hinging like when we lean over to pick something off the floor and Carry like carrying in groceries or carrying our children/grandchildren.  And please don’t tell me you can’t lunge.  Walking is a variation of a lunge and going up stairs is a definite lunge!

If I have convinced you to incorporate strength training into your life, here are some tips:

·         Aim for 2-3 strength training sessions per week

·         Focus on exercises that target major muscle groups, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows and push-ups as improvement in these muscle groups are very functional and will translate to our daily life.

·         Start with lighter weights. Then gradually increase the weight as you get stronger.

·         Prioritize proper form (a few sessions with a trainer can help) to reduce the risk of injury.  If you have health, joint, bone issues, a good trainer can help you modify so you get the benefit without injuring yourself.

·         Heavy lifting, once you have built up to it and have proper form really spreads out the force across many muscles, connective tissues and joints.  So, lift heavy when you can.

·         The higher the weight, the lower the rep count.

So, invest in you so you have healthy longevity.  You’re worth it!

Gaye B. Vance,  Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist, Personal Trainer, Menopause Coaching Specialist