5 Menopause Workout Tips from Recent Exercise Studies

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function.

And I find I sleep great unless I have a migraine.

And I've had more than my fair share since perimenopause all the way through postmenopause. My secret weapon was Blue Sky CBD sleep gels. Each gel contains 25mg of CBD and 25mg CBN for deep restorative sleep. Something about it helps to reduce inflammation, which I believe for me was key in helping me get to sleep. But the biggest thing is so many of the over-the-counter solutions, whether for sleep or migraines, can ruin gut health, and liver health. Neither one of those did I want to be problematic for me. So this option is recommended by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by thousands of happy customers, many of whom come from our Flipping 50 community. There is zero THC, so it's non-habit-forming. It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50.

That's FLIPPING50.

Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites.

What are you waiting for? Good night. Let's dive into the science, shall we? Before we dive into the workout, before we just say, oh, I've got time, I'm going to the gym, or I gotta work on that something something— the arms, the belly, the hips, the whatever— and just dive into, I gotta do an exercise for this, we really look at the science and what is most important. Because let's face it, in midlife more than ever, we have a limited amount of time and energy. We may have ample money or more than we have enjoyed before. And then again, maybe for some of you, not so true. Well, we then have to be careful with all of those resources, but most of all, time and energy. Because if we overdo it, we number one, aren't getting the results that we are intentionally trying to get. And number two, we may dig ourselves into a hole. So this is based on a recent share that I did with our, uh, email subscribers. So our real community, the VIPs, they get the behind-the-scenes stuff first, long before I share it with anybody else. And this is also in part from a 20-research-study presentation that I did and have done for both you exercisers in midlife but also for fitness professionals. So I am a medical exercise specialist, uh, certified strength and conditioning coach, but for 25 years I've presented internationally to some of the most prestigious agencies that certify and train, educate fitness and health professionals. And so in that endeavor, I have recently been in front of hundreds, group of hundreds, because this is such, such a nightmare for them. They don't know how to get results for women in menopause, and they're still searching for why don't the position statements and guidelines that I studied in my textbook and my certification, why don't they work? Well, it's because they're outdated. So we need to really be working on up-to-date science and understand the physiology of menopause, the physiology of exercise. And I'm going to give you a small dose of that right here. So here's what's going to happen. Not only am I going to share with you 5 recent research studies— so when I say recent, we always say if we're publishing, say, a book, I mean, they would never— they blow me out of the water if I was using anything from more than 10 years ago. But, you know, often it's so much better to— can we look at what's been published in the last 5 years? So that is primarily what we have. There is one that is included that is from 2016, and yet I, I looked at it hard and I thought, do I still share this? And I think I need to, because as it's tied to the rest of them, it becomes much more relevant. It is still kind of layering on this And that's what we want from science. We want science that has used a lot of citations prior to it to develop what's the protocol we're gonna test based on what we already know from these other studies. So that's how that one fits in. But let's dive into this. I'm gonna give you the, the name or the title of the study. I'm gonna give you here's what happened, but what does this mean to you? How do you overcome that? And if you want to come over to the show notes, that'll be at flipping50.com/5, the number, menopause workout. Workout tips. We put dashes between each one of those, so 5 menopause workout tips, and you will be able to go dig into the science yourself if you want to do that. If you're a science girl and you're like, I'll prove it to me, or you are also a lurking health and fitness pro— and by the way, we make a podcast just for you called She Means Fitness Business. All right, let's dive in. By the way, I'm Debra Atkinson, you're listening to Flipping 50, and I so appreciate that you do. One favor I'd like to ask is that you share this with one or more friends who also want good results. They want longevity, but really may not be sure that what they're doing to get it is really going to work. There are 3 things so crucial to us, and that's going to be bone and muscle and brain health in terms of longevity. We want to get it now because we want the Saturday night I look good for the reunion or the wedding or the date or the Just feeling good on the weekend in my jeans. Got it. Me too. But we also want, you know, what happens in 10 or 20 years when you've got tons of grandchildren and you still want to be cooking Thanksgiving dinner? You know, I don't know, but that was one thing that remained important. And it was a pivotal moment for our family, I think, when it was the last Thanksgiving that my mom booked that she really couldn't tolerate standing in the kitchen as much as she loved planning it and doing it and getting it ready and organized and serving her family. She just, you know, had a backache and she was overly tired, you know, after doing it. And that first Thanksgiving when it wasn't at my mom's, you know, that's a tough one for the baby of the family. So I think it makes you and I think a little bit more about it. So you, if you are listening to this and then seeing the post on Facebook or Instagram, message me if that's you too. And you feel that, that like a, an arrow right to the heart, right? So let's start with this right here. We share what to eat, how to move, and how to change your mindset. So today we're going to work on a couple of those, really how to move, but it may also be a mindset shift for you if you're doing this, but you do deserve the energy and vitality that you want. And so let's go get it. Number 1, the first menopause workout tip is this. Keep it in mind: estrogen loss directly correlates to muscle protein synthesis loss. We use this term a lot, these 3 words strewn together— muscle protein synthesis. This means you're getting a lift in the ability to gain and maintain your lean muscles. So in order, maintain, and then the goal would be to to gain lean muscle and/or strength. In order to do that, we have to have this muscle protein synthesis, meaning we can get into an anabolic state, we can gain lean muscle, and generally that's going to be a boost in the ability to use protein that we take into the good of our muscle. We need that to happen in order to gain muscle. But when we drop in estrogen levels, so that pivotal point in menopause transition when it's just like, hit that cliff, like those sound effects. And when it's the most significant, there really has to be an increased external stimulus like lifting weights and protein compared to before menopause transition. So the words that you often, dear listener, describe as a problem are also describing why you have the problem. When you say nothing I used to do that worked works anymore. You're absolutely right, and it never will again because you will never have those hormones, that hormone profile that you did. That doesn't mean something can't work. It means the same thing won't work. So let's flip the switch and enter the new room that you're in and do the different workout for the hormone profile that you have now. You've got gaps. You no longer have the boost of the estrogen, so it's gone. What has to has to happen. The stimulus you get from strength training has to be greater. The stimulus you get from protein has to be greater because those are now your two stool legs left for you to balance on, and they have to give you an increased muscle protein synthesis. So you're looking for a higher quality dose of high-quality protein, getting it throughout the day, and you're looking for lifting heavier or with more volume. If you can't go heavier, that That is not, by the way, frequency. Adding frequency— and I'll come back to this a bit later, if not today. I have 20 studies, only giving you 5 today, but I'll be back. We're gonna visit this all month because as we go into this holiday or Christmas season, I think this is really important. Not that it's not no matter when you might be listening. So if you got your flip-flops on and you're under some cabana with a— yeah, the cabana boy, love that. But order me something. But it's important all the time. So you really want to make sure you're getting more protein compared to what you got before. If there's a plate of salmon sitting on it, on it, on the table, and you are with your spouse and maybe a teenager, college-age son, you better be stabbing that bigger piece of protein. You need it more than either one of them. That college-age son, he's at peak muscle mass. He, he, he could look at it and gain lean muscle, right? Your spouse still, you know, he's going to go through Androproz, but it does not decrease his muscle protein synthesis as much as yours does with estrogen. You need it more. How about that? Okay, next study, number 2. Menopause workout tip 2 is the greatest loss of lean muscle tissue occurs during the phase from early perimenopause to late perimenopause. There's a 20, 27 7% difference between early to late. Now here's the caveat: many of us don't know, or didn't know— you may be looking back in the past, and I certainly didn't in my early 40s. I didn't think I was in perimenopause. I mean, I had no signs or symptoms. I recall now, and it's like, hello, hello, intelligent person who studied exercise physiology and the body for decades, uh, you know, when it's happening to you, you're like, huh, you know, I think I had a little night sweat going on. I had a couple of them, and I mean, they were blips on the screen. It was nothing big, but that was probably in my mid-40s, like 45, 46, and then they were gone. I mean, nothing— it wasn't consistent. It was just like, huh, so that happened. And all I remember is just that, you know, it was less like— I didn't talk to anybody about it and tell anybody about it because it wasn't a nuisance. It didn't keep me up. It didn't get me up. It just was like, huh, you know, like my jammies are damp all over. And you know, if you don't know, you're in it a little harder. But here's the caveat: we know probably early 40s to late 40s, that is the point where almost all of us are in perimenopause. And definitely there's other things that can happen. There's early menopause, could happen in your 30s. There's a— it doesn't happen until you're in your 50s. If you're not on oral birth control, it's easier to tell. But if you are and you've got something regulating or overriding your system, it's harder to tell. So through that, you've got this highest loss. These losses continue in early postmenopause and late postmenopause, and they are also high numbers. However, those could be mitigated and smaller if we prevented this first major dramatic drop. So if you didn't start lifting in perimenopause, start now. If you're way beyond it, it doesn't matter. Start now. So know it or not, in your 40s, you want to start offsetting this muscle loss and start boosting muscle protein synthesis now. Talk to your daughters, your daughter-in-laws, those younger women that you're addressing. Make sure they're exercising correctly in order to get that muscle or keep it. Number 3 in terms of menopause workout tips is greater volume during a session as opposed to greater volume and frequency. And I alluded to this earlier. This is one huge mistake that I've seen made since the '80s when I first got into this in the early '80s. You want to provide greater muscle mass, strength, and endurance from greater volume during a session. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean taking it to 2 hours if it was a 1-hour workout, but it does mean potentially adding 1 more set if you were doing 3 to 4. And not every time— there are other studies I'll be sharing that actually talk about doing 6 as opposed to 3. However, you never ever ever want to say, well, I'm now always doing 6, because you're going to get yourself into, uh, overuse, wear and tear. You're going to overstress and never, you know, have an undulating up and down rebound so you can recover, you can work, you can build, and then recover again. You need to have that. We call it periodization when we're strength and conditioning coaches. It's very much like having a cycle as a female, and we'll talk a little bit more about that as well. So during your session, you want that volume, like another set that provides greater muscle mass, strength, and endurance. And this is really an important concept to consider. When volume is identical, say comparing this, so 3 times a week workouts with just 2 sets of strength versus 2 times a week workouts with 3 sets of strength, the latter, less frequent but greater volume in the sessions, is far more beneficial. Now here's another thing to remember. This doesn't mean that your workouts have to get longer again. So You could do a 10-minute workout, but you know that some people, if they were doing 10 minutes, would probably do a lot of variety of exercises. I never ever do that. I choose 3 exercises, major muscle groups: push, pull, legs. Push, pull, legs. Compound exercises that move multiple joints, therefore multiple muscles. And I will do them 3 or 4 times if I have 10 or 15 minutes instead of also doing an arm exercise. It's a small limb, smaller muscle group, not the impact on your muscle protein synthesis that really boosting your metabolism is going to have. So I get into this situation frequently. In fact, it happened last week. I had a conference, I had a new puppy, I had a puppy nanny, and I had to commute across town to get there. Fortunately, that's all there was. So good first world problems for us to have, by the way. But you know, Everything, I don't know if you've realized this, if you're thinking about getting a new puppy, call me first. Okay. But everything takes 5 times longer. So, you know, there's no way, even though I get up plenty early, that I could have gotten a full workout in had it been me, but it's no longer, it's now life with Moses. So Moses is running the show and, you know, I got 10 minutes. 10 minutes. So I got a little warm-up by walking him around. We do some intervals, and, and then, you know, I come inside and I'm doing a squat and I'm doing a chest press and I'm doing a bent-over row. By the way, I happen to do it on my Power Plate so that not only am I paying attention to volume and getting 3 sets— is all I had time for. I wish I would have had time for the 4th and I would have done it, but I did them on the Power Plate where I'm recruiting 138% more muscle. So more fiber in numbers, bigger fiber sizes, that's going to have an impact on my total energy expenditure from the workout, but really from the results of the workout and the impact of that on my metabolism. If you want more information about Power point, you can go to the show notes and I'll include that. But I scored you a sweet deal of 20% off using Flipping 50 if you go to the right link, and I'll provide that for you. It's a game changer, not just for muscle but for bone, for balance, for recovery, for helping to heal. I've had people write in as I'm talking about it now because mine is new and snuggle, and I'm still, you know, using it and loving it after 2 months. It's like every day for at least 5 minutes but I've got people writing in saying, this saved me, helped me heal from my back injury, and I love it. And I have doctors saying, I love mine, I love that freaking thing, I'm on it every day, to quote unquote. So it's widely used, it's widely researched. Enough, enough about that. All right, so I want you to realize, please don't think if I add another day 'Or if I add another 30 minutes is the way to go.' If you can do anything, add another set, then maybe reduce the days. Get volume from it. But even in 10 minutes, choose volume within that. That means volume of the few exercises that you do, not a lot of exercises. Good clarifying point. Okay, that research is from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which is one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. So I am a certified strength conditioning coach. That means I could be a Division 1, you know, strength and conditioning coach for football, but I choose to be here with you instead. All right, so let's look at this number 4 menopause workout tip. Still ovulating— for those of you who still do have a cycle, maybe irregular, but you're still having one— there is a time to lift heavy and a time to do agility moves and a time not to. So I want you to plan your exercise with your cycle if you can, or you're missing an opportunity that is right there for you to make better fitness gains, better strength gains, and decrease your risk of injury. So I want you to— or, or increase it depending on how which way you go. During week 2, or ovulation, and in just in case, that's 10 to 14 days after your cycle starts. So you start bleeding on day 1. Then about day 10 to 14, your estrogen levels are back up. They're on the rise. That's the best time to lift heavy during the month. So you're probably going to get maybe a week of, you know, you've got 2 different workouts that you'll probably get where you stand to really— this is the time for you to lift heavy. However, it's the worst time to do agility and rapid directional changes of movement. Who would have guessed, right? So sometimes people tend to think or hear selectively that it's a great time to do intense exercise. That means all kinds of intense exercise, but it's not true. And, and here's why. You know, women begin often reporting greater injury or repeat injuries occurring during perimenopause, and there's no proof, but I do suspect that not honoring the cycle, the cycle of ovulation and what's going on with your hormones could be a contributing factor. And then once you've got a weak link, you, you did get an injury or sustain one, and whether you are or aren't aware of it, you could be repeating the stress without cycling your workout stimulus and making it worse. So if you're in menopause, of course estrogen is overall, it's down, but cycling or periodization is still a good idea. And I alluded to what that is earlier. It means like you, you still would have, you know, a week where you're— this is really heavy. You might have a week where it's more endurance and it's more repetitions, a little bit lighter weight. You might have a, a week where it's a build on top of a prior week, but then that fourth week ideally is also just a little more recovery and much lighter. So let me go back to this again. Your best time to get strength and heavy work and make gains is that 10 to 14 days after a bleed. And what happens with your ligaments is that they get lax, and that's why you're much more prone to sprain an ankle moving laterally side to side and doing those agility ladders. Reaction skills, probably not your thing. If you must do— like, mentally you must do your intervals— get on a bike do something safe where there's, you know, no reaction skills to it. You're not moving laterally, you're not moving with quick direction changes. What else is happening, just so that you know, it is the tendons also get stiffer. So that's good when we're talking about now you've got a strong foundation for building the strength. However, it's also bad if you're doing those quick directional changes, you've got lax ligaments, and, and if something snaps, it's going to be much more devastating. Anybody ever heard of someone having a an Achilles tendon rupture, you know, that would be the time when that would happen if you're stressing it in the wrong way at the wrong time of the month. And fifth and final menopause workout tip is there are 3 solutions for overcoming sarcopenia, which is significant muscle loss or anabolic resistance. I, I used that term earlier, so throwing it out there again, you can sound really smart at your holiday cocktail parties. But anabolic resistance is something that happens to women starting in their 30s I know a lot of people think, "Oh, that happens to old people." Honey, no, no, it's happening to you right now unless you're doing something about it. So you need to understand that, yes, by the time somebody gets to 70 and 80 and 90, they've had anabolic resistance for decades and that's why they're frail. It didn't start then. It starts at 30. So let's get on top of this and realize, yeah, you take responsibility. But there are 3 things muscle protein synthesis is cheap mechanism for maintaining and gaining lean muscle. Estrogen's positive influence on muscle is removed, right, or it's reduced during menopause. So what's left? These things: resistance training, high-quality protein at regular intervals throughout the day. High quality includes sources with adequate essential amino acids, particularly leucine, which is important to older adults significantly in the research and related to their lean muscle maintenance ability. And the third of these is supplementation. So dietary goals, dietary protein goals first. If those are not achieved, then there's lots of reasons, really. So not to be disrespectful, disrespectful, or contradictory or condescending, But if you're not willing to get in adequate protein intake, you know, which is hitting at least a 30-gram minimum of high-quality protein per meal. So if you get 30 grams of protein but it's low quality, meaning it's collagen only, that's not going to help you. If it's only beans, that may not help you as much either. So you look at the essential amino acid profile of cup of beans or a serving of beans and a serving of beef, your essential amino acid profile, it goes skyrocketing when you're talking beef compared to beans. So it's what are you eating and how high is that. But if you can't get it because you're committed to being vegan or vegetarian, then— or, or won't eat it and looking for ways to dodge the bullet, you know, remember that it's not just about the calories or the essential amino acids, but it's about the other micronutrients that you're getting from these foods. And you don't get other micronutrients when you supplement in capsules or pills alone. So it's important to consider that. But dietary protein, if that's just not an answer, doing protein powder, you might consider that part of your supplement. I, I kind of put that in a gap between dietary protein intake. And, you know, so clearly we're not talking scallops or shrimp or pork or burgers or, or salmon. When we're talking about protein powder, but I only use protein powder in the instance where I'm going to use it maybe as a quick snack. I might stir it into some yogurt, so I would have to confess to that as a pre-workout something so I'm not empty when I walk out the door. But also, you know, I, I create a smoothie or smoothie bowl that is a meal. So I create it with greens or cucumber or cauliflower, riced cauliflower, you know. So I've got veggies in there, I've got fruit, not a lot of fruit because I don't want a lot of sugar, and I've got healthy fats in there and I've got other sources of fiber in there. It's a meal just like you would sit down to a plate of food. I'm creating or recreating it, but I'm doing it in a way that takes me 2 minutes. I have no excuses for not doing it. So that's why I say it's— for me, it's kind of a gap food. No question it comes with a label, so of course it's processed, but minimal processing. If you read the label, you know, for Flipping 50 products, it's 5 ingredients or fewer, or each one of them. We're expanding a little bit, so as I get some formulation done, you know, there may be a few more ingredients, but all of them things that you understand and understand why would I put that in there for you. But other things that you might want to look at would be taking essential amino acids in capsules. You can also take that in a powder, but essential amino acids, by the way, don't taste good. So, you know, when they're masked in food, you know, that's different. But when you're taking it just as a powder and they've been extracted you know, it's got a bite to it. It's not a yummy kind of a thing. So I prefer taking mine in capsules. I know nobody loves to swallow more pills, but that's one of the best ways to— for me to get it down. Creatine is another one that's a staple on my shelf. And if you don't eat animal protein, again, if you're not eating beef or red meat, that's one of the best sources of it, you're not getting enough creatine. And that helps muscle and bone. We're reading more and more and more about it for older adults right now, and no negative side effects. Then after after that, branched-chain amino acids might be something for you to look at, but it's not the first thing. So if you're going right for that thinking that's what bodybuilders do, I'm going to do that— they're also eating lots of protein. You have to do that first. Eat it, eat it first. Then if you're not eating enough, you need to get all the essential amino acids, not just to select 3. So go for the amino acids. I'll link to the resource that I have, flipping50.com/resources, for Body Health Essential Amino Acids. It's the only one, and I only share things with you that I've used, that I have on my shelf, that I take with me. And most often I say take with me because I don't use them at home. I get adequate protein in my diet every day. But if I'm traveling, I find it is tricky to, to get it all in. So there you have it. But let me recap on this last one. There is resistance training, high-quality protein at regular intervals throughout the day, and then supplementation. And the three of them really are very supportive in helping you overcome sarcopenia or anabolic resistance. The greatest of these is resistance training. So if you can't get adequate dietary protein in and can't look supplementation, maybe for budgetary reasons, resistance training still will help you gain strength even if you can't gain lean muscle mass, because you got to work a little bit harder and probably have a little bit more support to get your lean muscle mass increase, which is going to increase your metabolism overall. There you have it. So just a repeat, the show notes will be at flipping50.com/ 5, the number, menopause workout tips. And I will put the resources— we talked a little bit more about the amino acids that I use. I will put the link to Power Plate and to the code. I'll put an image or two in here as well so you can see literally what you're looking at and all of the links to science, or the documented science, and where it came from so that you can look it up. You'll have enough to, to go knowing the title. All right, I hope you got some changes, not just, okay, here's a tip, but if I were gonna say to you, here's the summary, how would you change your workout today? If you have workouts planned for today or tomorrow, add one more set. Just do that. When you're doing your leg press, do one more set instead of 3, do 4. Likewise with your chest press or your row Oh, that's one way to apply something we said today. Make sure that at your meal today, your next meal, you've got 30 or more grams of high-quality protein. Are you getting it? Are you getting your needs met every day, all day, and evenly distributing protein at each and every meal? Where are you with your intake of animal protein? If you're not getting enough, do you want to look at supporting yourself with essential amino acids or with creatine and look it just doing your due diligence. You know, sometimes it may take a little, little while to explore and to consider pros and cons of doing or not doing both. But there's something, some action that you can take from today, and that means that we both got the best of our time today. What are you waiting for? Let's start Flipping 50 today. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.