HOW TO BUILD MUSCLE & REDUCE FAT THROUGH PERI & POST MENOPAUSE
At Club Spirit we're always studying and looking for new research into what's actually effective for us to stay fit, healthy, feeling and looking great through and post menopause.
The information below is from some research articles and a brilliant book Sara's been studying. The book is called 'Next Level' by Dr. Stacy Sims. She's a doctor who specialises in training athletes of all ages, including those going through menopause. It's a fantastic book and we urge you to give it a read if you'd like to delve further into this.
But we know you’re all busy! So if you don't have time for that, we've pulled out some of the main points, which pretty much follow everything we do at Club Spirit.
It's always good to be reminded of what's going on in our bodies and how to achieve our goals...
We all probably know by now that our estrogen levels massively decline and eventually flat line as we go through menopause and into post menopause. This causes your body to burn less fat at rest and store more of it leading to that middle age spread.
We have 3 types of estrogen:
E1 - Estrone - This is a very weak form of estrogen that the body continues to make in small quantities from fat tissue post menopause. This can actually cause women to carry on having vasomotor symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats for many years after their periods have stopped. Research shows that reducing body fat can help alleviate these symptoms.
E2 - Estradiol - This is the main female hormone that is referred to when we talk about estrogen, the one we make over the course of our reproductive lives, and the form of estrogen that flatlines post menopause.
E3 - Estriol - This type of estrogen is pumped out during pregnancy, but we only have barely detectable trace amounts when we're not pregnant.
What we're most concerned with here is E2 - Estradiol. This is the one that flatlines post menopause.
E2 helps drive the development of lean mass. Without it, your body isn't as good at building muscle, and that's why we need to change the way we work out to stimulate and build muscle to make up for the decline of E2.
So we need to make sure we're doing:
RESISTANCE TRAINING
If you're a beginner and have never used weights before, you can start by just doing Bodyweight Exercises where you use your own body weight as resistance, e.g. Press Ups, Squats, Tricep Dips.
We need to keep challenging the muscles, so once you can handle the bodyweight exercises, you can start adding in resistance using bands, dumbbells or kettlebells. When you need to level up from there, you can either start using heavier weighted objects or maybe start using barbells too.
The key to working out safely is to start slowly and progress your way up to heavier weights once the ones you're using become fairly easy to lift.
SIT/HIIT/PLYOMETRICS
The next thing we need to be doing to counteract the drop in E2 is some sort of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and Plyometrics which are short explosive moves.
SIT (Sprint Interval Training) is the shortest, sharpest form of HIIT. Super short, and super intense 10-30 second sprint style exercises.
These types of exercises provide the metabolic stimulus to trigger the performance-boosting body composition changes that our hormones helped us achieve in our premenopausal years. They help increase lean muscle mass and reduce fat mass quickly, and are more beneficial than longer workouts at a more moderate pace.
The key is the intensity of the exercises followed by short recovery periods.
This type of high intensity work demands carbohydrates, and pulls a lot of glucose from your bloodstream. Your body responds by replenishing your muscle and liver glycogen (carbohydrate) stores with carbohydrate and using more of your fat while you're at rest, because it knows that you're going to need those muscle stores to perform those intense exercise bouts again.
Premenopause, E2 (estradiol) helps with this blood sugar control. Now we need the high intensity training to mimic what E2 used to do.
POLARIZE YOUR TRAINING AND REST DAYS
The types of exercise above require intense work (at whatever level that is for you). So we don't want to be doing that EVERY day. This is really important! The body needs time to rest and recover in between. Doing them every day will just leave you exhausted. So we need to think about our schedules over the week.
For instance, you could do HIIT/Strength workouts Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then a rest day in between where you have a walk, do some gentle Yoga or Pilates. Rest days don't mean doing nothing, but you don't want to be going hell for leather on those days.
If you're more advanced, you may want to do 2 consecutive days of HIIT/Strength, then a rest day, 2 days on, 2 days off, and then a REALLY gentle 7th day with some stretch and meditation.
We don't want to be in a 'grey zone' where we're just doing something moderate each day.
You'll build muscle and burn fat quicker if you practice working out more intensely 3 times a week and then have really gentle rest days.
Remember if you need extra support and guidance through the menopause sign up to our mailing list and …
Please don't suffer through the menopause alone. Millions of women are feeling the same way.
Spirit love and strength,
Dr. Clare & Sara x
REFERENCES:
'Next Level' - Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond - Dr. Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager
Rogeri, Patricia S. et al. “Strategies to Prevent Sarcopenia in the Aging Process: Role of Protein Intake and Exercise.” Nutrients. Dec 2021. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8746908/
Lowe, Dawn A. et al. “Mechanisms Behind Estrogen’s Beneficial Effect on Muscle Strength in Females.” Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. Apr 2010. Web. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/Fulltext/2010/04000/Mechanisms_Behind_Estrogen_s_Beneficial_Effect_on.4.aspx
Dupuit, Marine et al. "Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training or High-Intensity Interval Training with or without Resistance Training for Altering Body Composition in Postmenopausal Women." Med Sci Sports Exerc. Mar 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31524825/
'Next Level' - Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond - Dr. Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager
Rogeri, Patricia S. et al. “Strategies to Prevent Sarcopenia in the Aging Process: Role of Protein Intake and Exercise.” Nutrients. Dec 2021. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8746908/
Lowe, Dawn A. et al. “Mechanisms Behind Estrogen’s Beneficial Effect on Muscle Strength in Females.” Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. Apr 2010. Web. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/Fulltext/2010/04000/Mechanisms_Behind_Estrogen_s_Beneficial_Effect_on.4.aspx
Dupuit, Marine et al. "Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training or High-Intensity Interval Training with or without Resistance Training for Altering Body Composition in Postmenopausal Women." Med Sci Sports Exerc. Mar 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31524825/