Do Perimenopause and Menopause affect fitness? YES!
Does fitness help with the symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause? YES!
Is there a certain way I should train during this time? YES!
How soon should I start? Yesterday!
By Cheryl Coppa The symptoms of this stage in life can happen as early as 30! At the age of 30, we start to lose 1% of our muscle mass each year. After 40, this increases to 3% per year. Perimenopause symptoms can start in some women as early as 10 years before menopause. This is why it is so helpful to take on these small changes NOW! You will be so much better equipped getting this in place now, possibly avoiding many of the symptoms, or at least getting through them much easier. I’m right in the middle and so glad I have these techniques in place to help keep me healthy and thriving in the best half of my life. Yes, the best half! What Worked in Our 20s is Not Going to Work Anymore Healthy looks different on everyone and confidence looks amazing on everyone. We achieve this by working WITH our body and in return, we get the energy and vitality that we want and deserve. In order to work with our bodies, let’s understand what is happening. Over a period of years, our ovaries produce less and less estrogen and progesterone and eventually stop completely. During this transition, our body becomes chemically and physiologically different. This is why we will notice things like easy weight gain particularly belly fat, low energy, and hot flashes, just to name a few common struggles. Our bodies are different now. What worked in our 20s is not going to work anymore. So what do we do? We have to work WITH our bodies in this new state. We make a few changes in the way we do things. This is exactly what we do at Olakaola. How do we do this? Train like a WOMAN! This is an advantage, some simple training changes to accommodate what your body needs, and what your body will respond to. And you are going to LOVE it, these are all feel-good solutions! Problem: 👉🏽 Low energy 👉🏽 Loss of bone density 👉🏽 Feeling sluggish 👉🏽 Lack of confidence 👉🏽 Increase in belly fat 👉🏽 Sleep deprivation 👉🏽 Depression SOLUTIONS: 💪🏾 STRENGTH TRAINING - at least 2 times a week. We are losing muscle mass by the year. All of a sudden our body is becoming softer as we involuntarily switch out muscle for fat. The best way to combat this loss of muscle is to strength train. You can slow down and REVERSE this process by strength training. Muscle loss also contributes to low energy levels. This is contributing to why you are tired. You might be thinking ‘I’m too tired to even work out or do extra physical activity.’ Let’s restore this muscle loss through strength training because muscle gives you energy. Muscle also burns fat. This is why you want to build muscle to also help with fat loss. You can strength train in a variety of ways: You can use body weight, light weights, medium weights, and heavy weights, but we must strength train. In Ola Ka Ola, have a variety of styles of strength training to keep you challenged and wanting more or even learn, safely if you are a first-timer! A GREAT time to get started is NOW for longevity, energy, health, and vitality.
"All of a sudden our body is becoming softer as we involuntarily switch out muscle for fat. The best way to combat this loss of muscle is to strength train." Trainer Cheryl Coppa
💓 Aerobic (aka cardio or HIIT) - Adding 1 to 2 of these sessions is also important for cardiovascular and lung health. After the age of 40, heart disease is the number one fatality for women, so we must add this to the equation.
We also need this to reduce high blood pressure and lower cholesterol. You might read that too much cardio is counterproductive at this age (and this is true), but one or two 30-minute sessions a week are not even close to excessive! You will also find at Olakaola we are always including strength in these classes as well, now that’s productive!
🧘🏽♀️ YOGA - at least once a week. Yoga is most definitely a form of strength training if you want it to be. Yoga will also help you with flexibility, balance, calming, and getting in tune with your body.
A study in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research found that it can soothe hormonal symptoms in perimenopausal women by stimulating the glands responsible for regulating hormones.
🌺 PILATES - This can also be a form of strength training, flexibility, and balance.
🙌🏼 STRETCH - The stretch class is slow and relaxing. It’s not yoga (a good precursor to yoga, simply stretching and sometimes balance work incorporated in there. Keeping your muscles lengthened and releasing the tension, which is important for stress management. We carry stress in our bodies and this is a good way to release it. Managing stress is key because we don’t want our stress to increase cortisol levels which then increases belly fat.
How to avoid stress? It’s more about managing it! Any type of training that you enjoy is going to release stress. Maybe you have yet to discover this superpower of what type of training you enjoy. We have many members who found this joy and power later in life and it IGNITES that much more energy into your life!
🔥 The Most Important Trend That's Buzzing Right Now - Core & Pelvic Floor training - This should be incorporated into your everyday life, as your core and pelvic floor are with you in every movement you make. As we are combating muscle loss, we need to incorporate the pelvic floor as well, since this is a sling of muscles that are also in decline as we age.
This will equip you to avoid back pain, leakage, and prolapse, symptoms that also show up during this time. We have a program to teach the most up-to-date techniques to incorporate into your everyday life and other training. The core & pelvic floor is the missing link in women's health and fitness. Master this training to serve you in ALL your daily life and physical activities.
"How do we do this? Train like a WOMAN! This is an advantage, some simple training changes to accommodate what your body needs, and what your body will respond to.". Trainer Cheryl Coppa
All of these styles of training listed will combat depression. Movement is medicine. Movement is essential across the board with any professional you ask. Your body was designed to move, if you start to move you will feel better. Just start, you will see movement fuels movement, and your body will crave it more. It’s truly amazing what happens to the body when you listen to what it needs, work with it, and start to add a little TLC.
When you start incorporating all of these movements you will gain confidence because you become more in control of what is going on in your body and you will feel the strength. It really is a domino effect of POSITIVE SIDE EFFECTS! Move better, feel better, and look better! You want to avoid being sedentary as much as possible.
Have you ever heard of N.E.A.T? I have also heard it be called “Fidgetcize“ lol. My grandma years ago noticed me swinging my legs back and forth when I was sitting with my legs crossed. She said: “Oh you are just like me, you can’t stop moving, that means you will always be thin” ☺️ Turns out she knew what she was talking about!
N.E.A.T. stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It can range from walking, typing, tapping your foot, tapping your pen, talking with your hands, and well fidgeting! Although this movement does not give you the benefits as all the suggestions mentioned above, it still counts for something. It all counts! These movements do in fact burn calories. So in addition to following the suggested protocol below, add some N.E.A.T, and some fidgeting in your life! This is why I always tell our amazing members, even if you come to a class for 10 minutes, this is 100% better than nothing!
We can ALWAYS do something. I can tell you, this is not as hard as one might think. Gone are the days of needing to spend hours on fitness or in the gym, this is not even our recommendation at all! Stress-free, enjoyable, and productive solutions you can do right at home!
We can always tailor a very personal solution for you, but as a basic suggestion, this would be it:
2 Strength training classes a week
2 Aerobic session (could be cardio or HIIT)
1 Yoga/Pilates/Stretch
1 Core & Pelvic Floor Training
This can be mixed up to your liking. Your strength classes could be pilates or yoga. So much flexibility in this and you can change it based on how you feel on any given day. Because Life is Life, the name of our company is “Ola Ka Ola” which means LIFE GOES ON, and it does! We created this company to accommodate and serve the busy midlife and beyond women because we are in this stage of life as we. So we adapt as we need on any given day and any given stage we are in, but we keep moving as part of our solution. Part of this process is getting in tune with your body and learning how to give it exactly what it needs.
"Gone are the days of needing to spend hours on fitness or in the gym, this is not even our recommendation at all!", Cheryl Coppa.
Eating Well As You Age We definitely have to mention nutrition. Exercise and movement are the easy parts and the fun parts as we only do them in the smallest time deposits. Nutrition however is a 24-hour thing. But you can make subtle changes that will have more of an impact than you might expect. We have an award-winning Dietitian /Nutritionist who is part of our team of experts that gives us guidance and challenges within our community. For a basic start - PROTEIN - we know we are losing muscle mass by the year. So it is important to FEED the muscles. Muscles need protein. Make protein a priority in your meals, and make an effort to include protein in every meal. You will even notice with this increase in protein you will feel more satisfied, not reaching for as many snacks throughout the day. But if you do, see if you can make them protein snacks. Not recommended to skip meals! This stage in life we are in since we are combating muscle loss and our muscles break down so easily, you want to feed them! We suggest both before and after your workouts. Be sure to include carbohydrates in your diet so your body doesn’t use the protein you are taking in as energy, save the protein for the muscles! Check out this BLOG by our Dietitian-Nutritionist about protein. Your solution, your very own team of experts, and a community of women invite you to feel the experience for yourself! We can’t wait to meet you 💕 Yours, Cheryl
About Cheryl Coppa
✔️ A certified Core Confidence Specialist (Core and Pelvic Floor retraining)
✔️ A certified Personal Trainer specializing in women's fitness over 40
✔️ Low-Pressure Fitness / Hypopressive certified by creator Dr. Tamara Rial
✔️ Pre/postnatal corrective exercise specialist
✔️Instructor of the Pelvic Floor Health program, Ola Ka Ola
✔️ 40 years young, wife & mother of 3