Understanding Fitness for Menopause: Your Top Questions Answered

You blow my mind I don't know if you know. Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is the be where you are today podcast, where we connect with professionals in the fitness and nutrition space so we can help you wherever you are in your journey. Today I am joined again by Vivian Skemper, our registered dietitian nutritionist. She works with us. She is part of our small but mighty team of three. She is our resident nutrition expert in all things body fit by Amy, but specifically in the Body Fit Athletic Club. And we recently did a podcast where I asked questions to Vivian, and these were all of the common nutrition questions that she gets. And I get around nutrition in the perimenopause and menopause and postmenopause phases of life. This is something we've been talking about a lot, especially as we're preparing to launch the second part of our unpause focus group over in the Body Fit Athletic Club. And just something that we're getting from many of you in this community who, like me, maybe you're in your 40s, late 30s, 50s, or beyond, and are experiencing a lot of the symptoms and changes of perimenopause or menopause. We decided to split this podcast into two. If you missed the one that we did about nutrition, it is linked below. Please check that out. And today I'm going to be tackling common fitness questions surrounding menopause and perimenopause and beyond. So Vivian is here. She is going to be the interviewer. We're flipping sides and will be asking me some of the common fitness questions that I get. So welcome, Vivian.

Thank you for having me. I am very excited to be the one that gets to ask the hard, big, important questions today. Are you ready?

I think so. I'm ready.

Okay.

All right, let's do it.

So let's. Let's kick it off with why does the body change so much during menopause? Or why do we gain weight? Why is weight loss harder?

Okay, this is probably, I would say for both of us, the number one question that we get, why do I experience weight gain? Why does my body composition seem to change? Why am I doing all of the things that I have been doing? Maybe you're somebody who has consistently worked out and feels you're on top of your nutrition. And all of a sudden our bodies start to change, even though our lifestyle is not really changing. And this is due to hormonal shifts and mostly as hormones are declining. So we're seeing a shift in those ratios. And then as we get closer to menopause and all those years leading up, we start to see a decline in things like estrogen, progesterone, even testosterone. And we see some fluctuations in things like cortisol. So it really is hormone levels, especially the estrogen and progesterone, that are changing that are causing these shifts or changes in our body. So a lot of people, something that I have heard a lot as a trainer is, oh, it's like I hit 40 and all of a sudden I was gaining weight, or I'm in my mid-40s, late-40s into my 50s, and I'm seeing so much more fat around my belly that I didn't have before. What is changing, and that is because of these hormones. So when we think about estrogen and we. We talked about this in the podcast I just did with Vivian on nutrition. But menopause, by definition, is that one day when you've got a full year without a period. So menopause is really just that one day. We talk about it very broadly. Postmenopause is everything after that. And perimenopause is seven to 10 years before that. So I'm 44, I'm 30. Right. In that range, the last couple years, I've experienced a lot of these shifts. And it can be very different depending on where you are and how your body is changing. But the biggest thing we're seeing is estrogen, which is produced by the ovaries that. And also regulates our menstrual cycle. It also is what supports our bone health and supports our lean muscle mass. Right. It's what helps regulate our insulin. So as we're starting to lose that, we're going to see a change. We're going to see less of that lean muscle, we're going to see a little bit more of that accumulated body fat. They start to fluctuate, and then they start to gradually decline. We're seeing the same thing with progesterone. As that happens. We're seeing, you know, it's. Our metabolism is slowing a bit. Right. So all of these things are things that we can address in our fitness journey, but we do need to get specific about it. So I think the main thing that I want to say one is that we're going to be talking about all of this very specifically in our unpause focus group that's coming up in the Body Fit athletic club, really diving deep into the hormonal changes and what we can be doing with our workouts. But also, I think it's also Recognizing that, I know many of us have been told this is part of being a woman, or there is a subset of trainers going around the Internet that primarily men, I'll just point out, but have the sort of work harder. You can't blame it on your hormones. You can't. You know, maybe you just need to be doing more in your workouts. Maybe you need to be. That drives me crazy because one, it is hormones. It is what's happening in our bodies. This is not coming out of nowhere. And it's certainly not because you are sitting around being lazy. Even if you're not someone who works out or feels like you could make some lifestyle changes, there is a real hormonal component that is happening. So I, I think one of the things that we focus on, Vivian and I in the Body Fit Athletic Club, but here at Body Fit, by Amy in general, is not making it about the extremes, not making it about, you have to do this and never do this. You have to eat only this and never do this. We want to give you the tools to make it fit into your lifestyle, make it attainable, sustainable, accessible, and allow you to have a really good quality of life. So there are certainly a lot of things we could do on the fitness side for that. But recognizing that it is the hormone fluctuations, the ratio is changing, the hormones declining, is a really big part of, of addressing perimenopause and menopause.

Wow, that was an amazing response. And as you were talking, it got me thinking about, so this weight gain phenomenon, right? And I also love those trainers. They're so much fun when they're just like, you just got to try harder. And it's not your hormones, it is a hormones. But it got me thinking about there's also a subset of women, it seems like, that are doing all of the things, but they are using the scale at home as the measure. So let's say somebody is being very proactive about this perimenopause business. And they're like, hey, I'm doing the strength training. I'm focused on my fiber, I'm focused on my protein, I am doing all of the things. And yet that number is going up. I'm stepping on the scale at home and that number is going up. Could there be a situation here where this person or this subset of women, could they be experiencing body recomposition, which I would think is something we want to see? And also, would you ever then recommend a different type of, like a DEXA scan or another type of body composition analysis to see what is actually happening? Is it truly physically fat gain that's happening?

Yes. This is a great question because I, I think first and foremost this is something that Vivian and I both say, ditch the scale, throw away the scale. It is not a good measurement of your progress, but even of what's happening in your body. We as women have been taught to use the scale. From the time we're little, we learn that it's about a certain number, it's about a certain size. And, you know, a lot has changed in the fitness and nutrition, you know, worlds on how we approach body image and size as a metric versus, you know, healthy behaviors. But ultimately the scale is not going to give you an accurate reading of what is happening in your body. One, because it can fluctuate so much according to water weight, you know, sodium intake, according to what time of day you worked out when you just ate. Things like that. There are so many things. But also, I think we're not counting on the fact that as we gain muscle, everybody's heard this by now that, you know, muscle weighs more than fat, which is, you know, a pound is a pound, but they're going to look very, very different because of density. So it is a good idea if you want something to go by. I love a DEXA scan. There are more ways to do this than there used to be, I think especially with the rise of weight loss medications because obviously muscle mass is something that is so important when you're on these medications. So there are more ways than you know. It used to be you had to go to a special lab or it was harder to get, but now you can schedule one. You may even be able to have your doctor order it. But it's a great way to really look at what's happening in your body and you may be surprised that you know, you're doing all the right things and you are getting stronger and you also something that I've done over the years with clients, my in person and clients is measurements and body fat testing. It's not my favorite thing anymore because I think as a trainer I've evolved away from just using any size as a metric. I would rather us just focus on how we feel and what we're doing in our workouts. However, it has always been a more accurate way to track progress. And I've had clients, you know, see the number go up on the scale but see their measurements go down, see their body fat go down. So if you're someone who really wants to, you know, against these professionals, advice, be focused, focused on how Things are changing. Certainly a DEXA scan or getting body fat testing or even just good old fashioned measurements are a better way to do it. I think it also, the DEXA scans are really good at really telling you what's going on. So. And sometimes it's a good indicator of again, things that we're talking about, and I'll be talking about very specifically with perimenopause and menopause, is that you may be lifting heavy or doing the workouts that you have been doing or challenging yourself. But, but your body is maybe not just not responding in the same way and we need to change something. And sometimes that's in your strength training, sometimes that's in your cardio, sometimes that's in your nutrition, in your diet. But it may not be a matter of you're not working hard enough. It may just be getting more specific or changing a variable. So those scans can be great. I love them. If you have the opportunity. It's a good metric. And I also just encourage you, we both encourage you to try to ditch the scale, to try to get away from the numbers as hard as it is, because it's been ingrained in US Diet culture has taught us that's the important thing. It's not, it's not the important thing. So there's so many other metrics that are a better indicator of, of our fitness, of our overall health, and those are different things that we're going to be talking about in Unpause. So great question. Please throw away your scale.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Amazing. So you kind of hinted at it a little bit when you talked about the DEXA scan specifically with. Maybe it can be helpful to tell us something about the types of exercise routines that we're following and do we need to change something? Which brings us to our next question. What types of exercise are best for perimenopause and menopause?

Right. This is, this is the other magic question that we get a lot. Certainly moving your body, moving your body is important no matter what stage you're in. And if you know me, which you know, a lot of people in this community have been around for a long time, you know that I support any and all movement, right? And I want you to find joy in your movement. I want you to find things that you, that you like, that you don't hate. So all movement is good movement. I want to start with that because I think again, what we see in the social media world of menopause and perimenopause, there are a lot of extremes. There are a lot of never do this, always do this. And that's not my style. If you know me, you know that. But there are some very specific things that we want to focus on as we age. And especially in perimenopause and menopause, as we just talked about, when estrogen and progesterone are declining, we can't rely on that, which, those are the things and testosterone that are our primary, you know, muscle builders, right? That's what is helping us put on lean mass, maintain lean mass, as well as bone density, things like that. Things are starting to go down. We have to remind our body that we're still working hard and we want to create change, right? So strength training, if you're not already doing it, you know, again, if you're here, if you've been with me a while, you probably are. But if you're not already doing it, you absolutely should start doing it. And again, there are many ways to do it. It does not mean you have to join a gym. It does not mean that you have to, you know, go to a class that you hate. There can be a lot of ways to get it in, but we need to prioritize strength training, resistance training, and we need to go heavy. So those, you know, there's a place for all types of movement. But those Pilates classes with our three pound weights, Zumba, things that we love, that are super fun, that's not going to create the same stimulus, the same change that we get from heavy lifting. So if you are someone who has been pretty comfortable with your five or ten pound weights or, you know, you really love body weight workouts and you're, you're feeling challenged, it may be time to step it up. So, you know, it's that thing of, again, all movement is good movement. But if you're coming to me and asking my advice as a trainer and saying, well, I'm seeing these body composition changes, I'm seeing, you know, my clothes not feel the same way, I'm seeing that I'm not feeling as good, I'm not feeling as strong. We need to change something, right? And strength training for sure needs to be the priority and we need to go heavy. Now, having said that, something that we've been talking about in the Body Fit Athletic Club, we're currently in a program called Flex. We did a program called Stronger every week. And every week of those programs, as it will be with our unpause, is focused on a different way of getting progressive overload. You can, you can go heavier with, without actually Having to go heavier, you can increase the demand on your muscles without having to buy a whole gym's worth of weight. So those are things that we're going to talk about. There's time under tension, there's isometrics, there's different formats and ways to train that will get that heavy effect. But you do need to be challenging your body in a heavy way. Along with that, we also need cardiovascular training, we need endurance training. We need to be putting stress, intentional stress, the good stress on our heart, on our lungs. And we need to be specific about what and how we do that. So one of you know, a lot of people, I think it's very common right now and I love this. I used to teach a lot of these classes are used to sort of the hour long or the 45 minute hit class. That's maybe a combination of strength and cardio and I love those. As we get into perimenopause and in menopause, that's not the most effective thing for us. It will be getting more specific, but less is more quality over quantity. So our strength training sessions, you know, thoughtfully designed, getting all of our major muscle groups and our principal movement patterns, the things that we're doing in everyday life, going heavy with it. And then when it comes to our cardio getting high intensity interval training, something that's called sprint interval training, sit. So hit and sit. But in short bouts, I think, you know, again, diet culture has taught us we need 45 minute runs on the treadmill or we need that, you know, 60 minute cycling ride. And, and that stuff is just not going to be as effective in this time of life. And really it's just going to put us in a chronic state of fatigue. It's going to make recovery harder. And as we'll talk about, recovery is already harder as we're starting to see those declines in certain hormones. So getting specific about our cardio training, shorter bouts, but higher intensity, even some sprint interval, longer recovery, which is something I think a lot of us get a little uncomfortable with because again, we've been taught like always be burning calories, always keep your heart rate up. That's just not going to cut it at this phase. Really a lot of that is shifting in general when it comes to how we approach recovery and rest intervals and rest days, things like that. But especially as our hormones are changing, we need a polarizing effect. We need highs and lows, peaks and valleys. We need it to be intense, but not super long bouts. So when it comes to strength training, going heavy, progressive, overload when it comes to cardio, getting high intensity interval training and sprint interval training, there is a place for, you know, your endurance cardio if you are someone who loves to take long walks or go for jogs. But we want to be specific on how we're approaching that and the, the duration of that. And then, of course, mobility would be the last thing. I think, you know, mobility, again, is important for everybody. But as we're seeing those changes in hormones, we're going to see we're going to feel more of that joint stiffness, right? We're going to feel a little achier. There are certain things that we're going to be talking about in the unpause group. You know, frozen shoulder is super common in, in perimenopause and menopause. And we're at a little higher risk for injury because we're losing estrogen, which directly affects our bone growth and our bone density. So really prioritizing mobility can be really helpful for that. It's just going to help us move well, and that's also going to aid in our strength training and our cardio. And then the last thing I would add is, of course, recovery. You know, maybe you're like me and you had that no days off mentality for a long time, or you feel like, oh, rest is unproductive. Rest is absolutely productive. And when it comes to how our body is recovering from those heavy strength training sessions or high intensity cardio sessions, we need the recovery to make them effective. We need recovery to stimulate that muscle growth and that bone growth. So making sure that you're getting recovery, and that's both within the workouts and within your weeks and your months.

So actually, there's a few things there that you mentioned that got me thinking. And as you talked about HIIT and the no days off and strength training, I feel as a dietitian, I hear it kind of from. From the side of my clients and the Body fit community, right? And they're like, ah, there's so much noise. And there's the do hit. No, don't do hiit. Cortisol, you know, do cardio. No, don't do cardio. It's bad for you. Stress. Okay, don't do it. Strength training, but Pilates. And so there's. There's so much noise around that. And I think you did an amazing job of just kind of breaking it down. And really what I heard there is just sort of like the core basics, right? Let's focus on that mobility, on that recovery and on, on lifting Heavy. Which I think is something that we just need to hear over and over again. Because I certainly didn't hear that for most of my life. Probably not until really maybe the last 10 years if that. But for the, for the most part, right, it's like, oh no, don't lift anything too heavy or you'll get too bulky. So such an important point there. But there is something that we just hear about all the time. I feel like I hear it all the time and I'm just like, what is this Zone two cardio? What is the deal with the zone two cardio? And actually one of one of our members asked this. Should I be focusing on low impact zone 2 cardio or HIIT or both? What is the answer? What is this?

I know. So Zone two cardio, when we talk about, just to kind of define it, when we talk about heart rate training zones. So a lot of us have our smart watches and some of them have a five heart rate training zone. So five zones, zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Sometimes it's broken down to 1, 2 and 3. Sometimes we describe them by color. The green zone is that one and two. So we hear about green zone cardio or. And we're getting up into orange and red. So it's depending on where you're looking. It's defined in a lot of different ways, but I think zone two is probably the most common and that is a. Usually a lower intensity, lower impact cardio. So think a walk or a cycling ride, but not getting your heart rate up too high. Keeping your heart rate in a zone that you can, you can carry on a conversation that it feels slightly challenging but not overly challenging. Right. In the social media world, there's a lot of talk about this and a lot of people who were, you know, getting way more clicks and views than I am because they're, you know, the, the tagline of their video is I stopped doing HIIT and started doing this. And you know, then you click on it and it's. I started doing zone two cardio and everything changes in perimenopause. No more HIIT and perimenopause. No more Zone two. We have to have hit. So there's a lot of back and forth. What I would say is there is certainly a place for both. Something that we talk about is, you know, again, that polarizing effect having the highs be high and the lows below. Right. The in between is where our body gets a little confused, where we tend to see, you know, getting overly fatigued. And that's Both within the workout, you know, again those hour long hit classes and being, you know, just not really getting the most out of the high intensity intervals because we're not getting the recovery right. So having a place for both where again they can be their own thing. So not having our body be in a constant state of that fight or flight, you know, when we talk about adrenaline and those hormones having again the highs, we really feel it, our body recognizes it. That is that external stimulus that we need to tell our body to respond when we can't rely on the hormones to do it. And then having the lows be exactly that. Be your additional cardio. We talk all the time in the Body Fit Athletic Club, both with Vivian and I, about neat non exercise activity thermogenesis. So all of your activity that you're getting aside from your intentional workouts, really, really beneficial. When we talk about sort of your overall health and your overall energy expenditure. But we don't want our body to be confused on which is which. Right. So making sure that your workouts are not too hard to be easy and too easy to be hard, if that makes sense. Right. So we want those strength training sessions. We want to go heavy, we want to be intentional. We want enough recovery in between our circuits and our sets that we can go heavy the next time around. Because I'm sure everybody's experienced this. I know you and I have in a class where you're pushing, you're pushing, you're pushing, but by the time you get to that third set, because you've been going, going, going, you don't have the gas in the tank to lift those 20s, so you're going to have to drop down. What's more effective is maybe to have a longer recovery, maybe to only do two sets, but focus on going heavy. Maybe we're not aiming for our regular 12 reps and we go for six or eight, but we're able to go heavy. So finding the balance in that. But when it comes to, to bring it back around to zone two, now I'm talking about strength training, but that zone two cardio absolutely is beneficial. But you need to think of it as your, your active recovery days. Right. And you certainly don't need to abandon hit or sit. And I think that is, that's the, the thing that I see a lot on social media is people are like, I'm not supposed to do hit. It's going to raise my cortisol. I'm going to talk really in depth about cortisol. And so, so is Vivian in Our unpause focus group, because it is such a buzzword, there is so much confusion around it. And I think when it comes to exercise, people think about, well, exercise raises our cortisol level. Yes, absolutely. It is stress. We are putting intentional stress in our body with exercise, but it is short term and it is to get our body to respond. When we talk about cortisol increasing belly fat or having long term health effects, it's that sustained cortisol level. It's being overly stressed, not getting enough sleep, having stress in our everyday life. And it is, it can happen from exercise if again, we're in that high state for long, long periods of time and our body really doesn't know, am I going hard, am I resting, am I, you know what's happening. But in general, cortisol is not a bad thing when it comes to exercise. It gets such a bad rap. But we want to put stress on our bodies in order to get our bodies to respond. The important thing about how we approach cortisol and exercise is one, making sure we're getting enough recovery and one, making sure they're shorter, very specific intervals. So zone two cardio absolutely has its place. I love it. I love going for a long walk. I love getting, you know, some type of cardio that is not going to be, feel super stressful or, you know, make me be sweating like a, like I am in a lot of other workouts. And we also need some higher intensity, shorter intervals and some sprint intervals to stimulate that other part of our body, those short intervals to really create that adaptive change through the stress. So both are good, both are important, both have their place. But I know there's a lot of kind of confusion. You don't have to abandon one for the other or vice versa. They both have a place. We just want to be specific about it.

Amazing. So that brings me to the last question that we received. And it's also connected, right? There's so much. Is it the Zone 2 cardio? Is it the strength training? Is it the hit, no hit, yes hit. It's the cortisol. And then something that has definitely sprung up. And I see it everywhere now. I am at the grocery store, I am out for a walk, and it is the weighted vests. I have seen women walking with their little, their little packet. And what is the deal? They are everywhere. It's blowing up. I mean, do you want, do I need to go get one right now?

Yeah.

What is the deal and what is it for? Is it for bone density? Is it for gaining muscle Is it for. For what exactly?

Yeah, it. So the weighted vest is very trendy right now. Everybody is promoting it. Everybody has a discount code. I probably get daily emails from some company wanting, you know, me to promote theirs. Don't get me wrong, Like I said, all movement is good movement. And especially for someone, you know, there is a, a certain set of the population who didn't grow up with strength training. You know, our moms, our grandmothers who didn't grow up with strength training is the norm. And they're a little, you know, apprehensive one, because as much as we tell them you're not going to get bulky, it's very different for them. They. And again, our moms and our grandmas learned as exercise was about being thin. Right. What's the other benefit? And now we know so much more. There's so many other benefits that should be the last reason to exercise. Right? But if it gets people of that age or of that set who, you know, maybe have been a little resistant to. Pun intended. I know you love a good pun. A little resistant to resistance training, I think it's a good thing. And it cannot replace regular strength training. So the main claim about weighted vest. And again, this is one of my main topics we do in the BodyFit Athletic Club, we do nutrition. Tuesday, Vivian covers the topic. Workout Wednesday, I cover a topic and then we're talking about things throughout the week. This is one of my main topics and I'm going to really break it down in terms of the weighted vest. But the main claim is that it improves your bone density. I will say the research is, you know, not super strong on that of the weighted vest on its own. So it cannot replace your regular strength training. The other thing that I worry about is if you were someone who is deconditioned, if you were someone who hasn't exercised or done strength training, regularly strapping on something and some people are ordering, you know, 30, 40 pounds right off the bat, strapping on something onto your body that isn't used to strength training and then going out and walking, that can affect your gait, that can affect how it is putting pressure on your spine. If you don't have already some core control or some core strength, it can put a little pressure on our posture. So just things to think about if you're going to get one, certainly start low weight, especially if you've never done any strength training and know that you need to be doing regular traditional strength training. The other big thing about walking is it is in the sagittal plane, it's walking, it is one direction. We have to be training in multi directional movements. Right. We have to be training in all planes of movement, all planes of motion. Because we move in all planes of motion in life. So if you're counting on just a walk with a weighted vest to improve your bone density, that's not going to help you when you're accidentally pushed to the side and you, you know, have a knee injury or a hip injury or you have to reach down and pick something up on the diagonal and the transverse plane. Right. So, so I know I'm using a lot of like trainer words, planes of motion, things like that. But it's so, so important that we get the strength training, the resistance training in all the different ways, in all the different movement patterns, our hinges, our squats, our pulls, our pushes. It can't be just about the weighted vests. Again, it's a topic that I'm going to cover in depth because it is so trendy. I think they can be very helpful in a lot of ways. So please don't get me wrong on that. I'm not anti weighted vest. I just think it can't be the only thing you can do and expect your bone density or your muscle fiber to change. We have to be strength training. We have to be doing the other things. And if you're newer to exercise, you want to be a little bit careful on how you start with a weighted vest again. Start low, start slow and make sure you're doing the other exercise to support your body wearing that weighted vest. But great question. So trendy. Yeah.

So as you're talking, I'm also, so I college student here for many years, a couple degrees later. Right. But I have my fair years of carrying really heavy backpacks. Is that essentially what I waited best? Like can I just grab a backpack and put some school textbooks and you absolutely could.

I know, I think about all that. All, you know, my kids are about to start school and I think about all the time when you see these kids with these huge backpacks. Right. And that again, you were a student for many, many years of your life. We all were. Right. But yes, that is one thing that you can do. And that is, that is a trick that, you know, people who train for endurance races and the Ironman and things like that, they'll put chains in a backpack. And it's the, the benefit to the weighted vest is that it's evenly distributed so you're not just having it on your back pulling you back, which could create something we Talk about a lot. With core rib flare, it could create, you know, a change in your spine. Either an anterior posterior pelvic tilt, you know, either arching your back or rolling forward to carry it. So it's not my first recommendation, but it is. It is a hack, right? It is like, you know, instead of spending the money, you could just put some things in a backpack. Again, you want to make sure that you have the core strength and support and the upper body strength, posture, alignment, things like that, to support that added weight. So, you know, that is. I think that's the big selling point of the weighted vest, is it's evenly distributed. They're a little bit easier to put on. It doesn't feel like you're carrying something heavy on your back. But when you think about it, we all had a lot of years of a weighted vest on our back. Right. As students.

Yeah. All right, and then to wrap it up. So last question and probably one of the top questions. What about the dreaded meadow belly? What exercises can you do to target belly fat?

Yes. Something you and I both get right, because people ask, what can I be eating? What exercises can I be doing? 1. I don't love that term. We're certainly using it. And, like, because there's another one that's called menno pot. I hate terms like that. But, yes, belly fat, specifically visceral fat, is super common. As you know, we get into perimenopause and then specifically menopause. That's probably the main complaint I hear as a trainer of, like, all of a sudden I have an extra layer around my. Around my belly, and I don't know where it came from. So visceral fat does tend to accumulate a little bit more, and that's just because we're more sensitive to the insulin changes. Again, cortisol, which, again, not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be if it's, you know, long term and then again, just losing estrogen, losing testosterone. So we do see more of that. It's something you and I are going to be talking about a lot in the unpause focus group, because, again, fiber is super important. Protein is really important in terms of exercise, and it is not. I think most people are aware by now that you can't spot train, because most of us trainers say that. So it's not doing a whole bunch of crunches or doing a bunch of planks. It's certainly also not overdoing the cardio and really restricting calories, like, really, you know, cutting out things, going very low calorie Very high cardio. That again, is just going to exhaust your body and not have the intended effect. Overall, strength training is what's going to do it. So yes, a lot of core strength training and we just, you know, we've, we tend to do a lot of that in the Body Fit Athletic club. We had our whole hardcore. If you've known me for a while, you know, I love core training. So that deep core training, all of those things are still going to be as important. But overall strength training and like we talked about, going heavy is what is going to help with that visceral fat. And that is because of the hormones that are released. So strength training, we're getting growth hormone is probably the biggest one that's released in intense training. So again, those big muscles working hard, those compound movements that we do, squats or deadlifts or rows or, you know, push and pull, we're going to release more of that growth hormone which is going to mobilize the fat from fat cells. It's going to help us use that for energy. It increases the lipolysis, which is actually our breakdown of fat. And again, that visceral fat that we talk about, you know, it's often referred to as being more dangerous because it's around the organs. It's not just targeting that. It's going to be the overall muscle fiber that you're developing through the hormones that are released during strength training. So growth hormone, epinephrine, norepinephrine. So epinephrine is our adrenaline, something that we also talk about a lot of. And then again, that cortisol, right. I know we talk about it as it, as it pertains to increasing belly fat again long term, you know, over high levels from stress, from a lot of things. But when it comes to exercise, we're getting those short bursts, right? Those, you know, are temporary increase in cortisol that is also going to help with the overall fat burning process. So energy mobilization, the things that we talk about, our systems. So overall strength training is going to be your best defense against belly fat. Certainly nutrition also plays a big role when it comes to that visceral fat. And that again is something that Vivian is going to be addressing in unpause. But I think what I see is a lot of people thinking it's about really going for it on the cardio or just really restricting their diet. And really it's a combination of nutrition, it's a combination of, yes, getting that cardiovascular vascular training, but also recognizing that strength training is not just about building muscle or maintaining lean muscle. It's not even just about, you know, what we know, which is that more muscle equals better metabolic health. It's also about the fact that as we're strength training, we are releasing hormones that are also going to be really, really helpful in targeting that visceral fat.

So something that you always do when you have guests is you ask them about where they are. So where are you today in your own journey?

Great question, because I am right there with many in this community. I just turned 44, and as I talked about the last couple years, I feel like I have experienced some of those changes of perimenopause kind of creeping in, certainly feeling like I don't recover as well and I can't put on muscle as easily as I used to. I don't think anything drastic on the physical side, but I'm starting to really notice. And I'm just. It has been a journey for me as I've gotten more education and, you know, connected with so many people in this community here in this same phase of recognizing one that again, I've clearly. I've been working out for years. It's been my job for 20 years, and I've loved it. But I do have to make some of my own changes. So I am trying to go heavier, which is, you know, sometimes I tend to go a little lighter, keep it heavy, but in the medium range for workout videos because I'm always a little bit worried about, oh, what if it gets too heavy? What if I have to drop down in the middle of the set? But I think I found from our BAC members that they really appreciate the realness of that of I'm just right there with them. I'm trying to go heavier, and maybe halfway through the set or maybe on the second set, I might have to drop down. But this is what it's about, creating that external stimulus because my body is. Can't rely on the hormones like it used to. And that will continue to change as I get closer to menopause. So going heavier also, you know, I did used to be somebody who loved those long cardio sessions of, you know, hit or running or cycling or things like that, and focusing more on hit and sit, but shorter intervals. And the one that probably is hardest for me is prioritizing recovery. Certainly there are some days that a workout or, you know, even like an active recovery doesn't fit into my schedule. But the intentional, like, oh, I worked out really hard yesterday. I can. I need this rest day because I know it means I'm going to come back stronger and I'll be more effective in my workout tomorrow or the next day. That's hard for me because, again, I'm used to going, going, going all the time, and I really enjoy working out. But I'm definitely rethinking and reprioritizing my recovery. So that's where I am today. Thank you for that question.

I love it. I love it. Amazing. Well, thank you for letting me host.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, since I do not post this podcast all the time, I am not going to be the one to close it. So I am going to give the microphone to you.

Oh, well, thank you so much for being here. I like, I like having you as a host.

Great.

Well, thanks, everybody. Thank you all for being here. And I'm Amy, reminding you to show up, keep moving, and be where you are today.