I started strength training with a trainer in January also after a diagnosis of osteoporosis at 63. I fell in love! Pushed a 345 lb sled 20 yards the other day. I also only workout with weights twice a week. It’s made such a difference in how I feel about my body. I’m so proud of what it can do. I do cardio three days a week (mostly 😁) weekends I just walk for pleasure with the doggie. Strength training has honestly changed how I go around in the world.
DAMN!! That's awesome. I need to try out the sled, they have one in the new gym I joined (which I'll talk about next). I love how you said that--that it's changed how you go around in the world. Same! Go us!
Love this for you! I am learning how much strength training and functional workouts are so important for women our age (like I really feel in my bones that I want my workout to keep me strong and healthy and be able to move for longest time possible without pain, little different than what motivated me in me 20s and 30s). I have recently fallen in LOVE with yoga, in particular hot yoga and yoga sculpt. It’s checking all the boxes for me right now and that’s what matters bc I crave the workouts for my mind and my soul and I can feel how good it for me. Like so many of us, I have a twisted relationship with exercise due to diet culture and so I have to make sure I am being really honest with my self here.
Also the book cover- I mean…I can’t! I thought I tried every diet/workout but I never saw that one! 😂 On that same vein, for the longest time I couldn’t remember which diet in college I was on where I literally “prayed when I was hungry and drank Diet Coke” until I started doing my work to unhearth/heal the wounds of purity culture I couldn’t escape by living in south. This is the diets book cover 😳😳😳 And yes- Gwen Shamblin (God rest her soul) is a whole other rabbit hole you can go down and her hair got higher and higher as time went on!! Oh the things we do 😂😂😂🫠
(Okay I can't figure out how to post a picture to my substack comment but here is the link to that book in case anyone wants to see it...its a REAL THING unfortunately
It is a real thing here in the south -"the higher the hair, the closer to God." In my defense, her hair was not at its peak when I was drinking her kool-aid - I hope that if it had been I would have noted this as a red flag and second guessed her advisement but who knows ;). I was at Baylor back then, so was swimming in Evangelical Christianity.
Omg Molly, we've got to talk, sis. When I was deeeeep in cult-christianity I actually worked as an admissions counselor at Baylor for 2 years before my ex-husband and I were asked by our church to move to Benghazi, Libya to smuggle Bibles just 4 weeks after getting married in 2011. I can't say I hated working at Baylor because it was during RGIII's Heisman days, but YES -- half of this work seems to be unwinding the mind/heart from harmful theologies.
WOW!!! When were you at Baylor? I was there before I think 1999-2003 but dated a baseball player while I was there so mostly hung out with the atheletes. Wild, wild stuff! I would love to hear more about your deconstruction. This stuff is always super fascinating to me!
Molly! I actually went to Rhodes College and Oxford in the UK for school, and only worked at Baylor during a brief stint back in the States to get married before returning abroad. The Bible-smuggling group I was involved with was (you guessed it) Antioch, but it was easy to slip into because Chip & Jo were involved there 2007-2013.
Okay wow!! Yes oh yes I know Antioch. My goodness- I am sure you have some stories. I know a few people who were there and left. I went to University Baptist- remember that one? With the band and the Jesus jams 🤣🤣 it was like a tiny Hillsong. Very very very much into deconstruction stuff! I did a lot of my own work alongside the people who do the podcast Strait White American Jesus- if you haven’t listened I highly recommend and all the Axis Mundi podcasts! I will for sure listen to your story! Thank you for sharing Pete! 🤍🤍🤍
@Alex S - I KNOW! And I fell for it, hook/line and sinker in my early 20s for a solid 6 months. There is a documentary series on her and her church that is very interesting if you want to go down that rabbit hole called The Weigh Down (link below)
Omg…”Buff Brides.” 😂 I would have totally bought that. Love this heavy lifting topic and the peek into your solid routine that works with reality. Last year my barre studio unexpectedly closed, and it was honestly devastating. It had been one of the few things keeping me semi-grounded during the worst/final years of my drinking. And then when I got sober, it became a pillar of my non-negotiable routine. It became a place of refuge, a place of easy and honest friendships. A place I could show up no matter what my mood/vibe/energy and always walk back out the doors better than I’d entered. There was chat (if I wanted) or I could go simply inward and get in my movement without being judged. I never would have stretched or planked or pushed myself on the barre the same way solo. Then it closed—and I was shocked at the sense of loss—but then I rejoined my old gym and surrendered to the change. I fell back in love with the machines and my music and my usual weight routine (the same half-dozen moves my now-husband had first taught me back in 2006 at our 24-Hour Fitness—lol.) But then last winter, I was invited by a few fun mom friends to join their twice-weekly training sessions at a pro fitness gym. (Think trophies on the walls and old school Metallica and Depeche Mode on the speakers and the sound of clinking weights.) I actually love this vibe. Not only have I felt stronger than I have in a long time, but I realized how much missed that feeling of pushing my limits and tapping into a bit of my aggressive side. At the same time, I’ve finally stopped resisting yoga. I joined a gorgeous (but not frilly) studio, found my favorite new teachers, and there’s a full-blown love story happening with my own mat. My crow is still crap, but I finally get that that’s not what it’s about anyway. Along with my vital/solo woodsy walks, it’s one of the few places I can tap into that truthful quiet voice within. I still have body issues. They are nestled in there good and deep. But I feel closer to a place of balance that’s been missing for most of my life. After a few decades of punitive harm and self talk, the shift toward softness is both scary and very welcome. The harsh voice has taken me far, but I think it’s time to let it go. How long until I will actually befriend my own body—my sacred home of 46 years? I’ve been asking myself this more lately. Thank you for posting this! Loved hearing more about this part of your wholeness journey. 💪🏻🙏🏻 (And I didn’t know about the volleyball love + background. I can totally see that!)
The Buff Brides book is still embarrassing. I remember my friend from grad school seeing it in the backseat of my car and laughing his ass off and I wanted to die. Je-sus.
The way you described your new gym is what my new gym is like. There's usually hard rock/metal playing, there are pictures of Arnold in there, and it's all so masculine. AND I LOVE IT.
I'm glad you're edging closer to your softer place. You've proven you can roll with transitions and that's awesome.
Hi Laura - I started strength training 2 years ago because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I love it; it makes me feel confident! I tried to up it to 3 times a week this year but it was just too much. The idea of a week off is interesting, I will explore that. I walk too and also do yoga daily (also Peloton) but I do mine in the morning. Tennis is my sport. With supplements, walking, tennis and strength training, my DEXA has remained steady which is encouraging. I’m glad you found a way to incorporate this into your life; it’s made a difference for me! Thanks, too for the great speaker meeting yesterday. Catherine
This is great, Catherine. I want to get a sport back into my life. Maybe tennis?? Taking a week off with weights was so helpful. I don't have to do it anymore, but I do slow down still the week of my period and go easier all around.
I hope you can explore tennis. I started 2 years ago (at 63!) and so enjoy it. A friend encouraged me to sign up for a “newbie” clinic and I did and now, 2 years later I’m on the courts 3 days a week! Here’s to trying new things.
Oh I love this! Weight training is my magic place - I started at 38 and am at my most consistent now at almost 48. I had surgery end of feb then a big trip this month which has upended my routine and it’s wild how much it impacts my mindset. 💪🏻
Omg I love this sooo much!!! I started strength training in a group workout class beginning of November. Right now I can deadlift 185! It's just a number, but it is an amazing accomplishment for me and I'm so proud..
I also do not seem to be able to keep a strict diet, it feels like just one more thing to do. Trying to focus on eating foods that fuel my body and leave it at that. With quitting alcohol and problematic history with food, it fuels my anxiety too much to track everything I eat.
185 is RAD. And same, it's exhausting and it backfires with the food. I try to eat in ways that make me feel grounded and less anxious. When I do that, everything in my life is easier.
Love that you’re talking about this, Laura! 💪💛 I drank the CrossFit koolaid for 2 years in my mid 30s and the best part about it is that it taught me how to lift correctly. It helped me so much with seeing what lifting heavy could do for my body, talk about empowerment! Unfortunately, my addiction to cardio (due to the 90s cultural indoctrination we all got) destroyed my ability to move without pain. I’m slowly getting back into it (4 years later) and am loving the gym feature on the Peloton app. For anyone who just needs programming it is a perfect solution. Keeps me on track at the gym so that I’m not aimlessly doing my own thing and mixes up the moves enough to where it’s not boring.
I love how the way in which we move our bodies coincides with our internal growth. 💫 My mantra lately is “my body is my home” and I’ve got so much more respect +honoring that I ever did in my earlier years.
I love that you just wrote about this as I am about to start a new program with an online coach! I have wondered if I’m doing the right thing but I keep getting signs like this that I am! I have always been in that mindset that I have to go hard and everyday to see results. This has changed over the last few years since perimenopause has started… it’s nice to enjoy working out and not feeling overly exhausted from it every day.. and allowing time to rest. The period week is a rest week! I think that’s my biggest fear about not having one anymore bc it gives me the excuse to rest. I need to change my mindset that I just need to give myself the rest with or without period weeks.
Thank you for the inspiring message - Similar to you, exercise has been an important part of my life. I ran track, played softball and tennis in high school - took up running in my 30s and 40s, running lots of halfs and a couple of marathons. Last year I challenged myself with my first olympic tri and eventually completed a half ironman. We love hiking and backpacking - Several years ago, I joined a gym for women that offered 45 minute workouts with weights - and loved it - During COVID, I purchased a Mirror and beefed up the free weights I have at home. They are great workouts - I just need to settle into a routine. I do get burned out and bored easily so the need to keep things fresh is important to keep me motivated. The last 6 months I have struggled to keep a solid exercise routine - After reading your message, I feel inspired to get back to lifting - I know it is what my body needs at this phase of life (54 menopausal). Its there just waiting for me - Thank you.
First things first, two Boston marathons!? That's 26.2 miles at an 8:15ish per mile pace -- you're made of STEEL! Second, do I hear with my little ear Ani Difranco's "32 Flavors" on the second video? Never worked out to Ani before, but I'm refreshing the gym playlist now.
I'm more like a 9 mile pace, but yep. Yes, that song is on many of my playlists so I don't know which playlist I was listening to, but -- Ani is just the right mood sometimes.
Twenty-six 9 minute miles is still legend-status in my book! Ani is on Broadway in Hadestown now starring as Persephone, queen of the Underworld -- who helps inspire Orpheus to write the song that makes Spring return. What can't Ms. DiFranco do??
I took a 2x week kettle bell/TRX "class'' several years ago. I loved it. That said, technique is sooooo important b/c you can really hurt yourself if you swing a bell that is too heavy. The biggest thing I'm struggling with now (former competitive athlete) is menopausal weight gain from sarcopenia. It is real...I lost muscle mass after COVID and gained 10#'s each year after. At 62 trying to put muscle mass back on is 10x harder. I lift 3-4's x a week and walk about 5-7 miles a day. I've cut refined sugar out and eating more lean protein and vegetables. It's taken a few years to reset my system and to be able to stick to it. It's also hard to separate how I feel vs. how I want to look.. I just want to get back into a size LG. LOL. Strength training is so important when you get older. I'm a licensed athletic trainer by trade, and luckily if something hurts I know what it is, why it happened and how to fix it. I know what I can push through and what I can't. I think the one thing people don't realize is the rest/recovery part. It's an integral part of any program. Also, I found that radical changes or behaviors don't work. Slow and steady wins the race..baby steps and lots of patience.
Chris - Have you encountered Stacy Sims work? I was going to write about her in Part 2 but it's worth dropping here. She talks specifically about the kinds of exercise women need in peri/menopause years and it's not what you think. My guess is that you probably need a lot more protein than you're eating and also more carbs. I have found her to be SO helpful and her books are excellent. https://www.drstacysims.com/
Thanks, Laura! I am familiar with her via a several published papers she wrote with fellow Athletic Trainers. I know she has done research on women needing different diet and exercise then men b/c of our cycles. And yes, I agree not enough protein for me. That's been the case since COVID when the drinking ramped up, I ate poorly, got lazy and never recovered. All of the sudden my arms got smaller, my gut and butt got bigger and the hair on my arms disappeared and my damn eye brows thinned out! SMH. I'm trying to figure the protein thing out now. I appreciate the suggestion and I'll definitely check out her website! Do you do protein shakes/smoothies? Thanks again!
This! I was a 4X/week gym-er for years but with Covid, I thought I'd lose all my strength and energy, so I turned my empty-nest-daughter's bedroom into my gym and started doing my own workouts. I'd owned a gym in California years ago, so I knew what to do, but I was bored. I started my at-home workouts by going upanddown three flights of stairs 12-20 times, and then working each muscle group with 10-12 lb weights. Again... boring. In the 80's and 90's I was a Step Aerobics fanatic and missed it when gyms around here stopped offering it. But then I found CDorner fitness on-line and I was back in business. Chris Dorner offers daily live (and recorded) step classes that are some of the best I've ever taken - amazing choreography and cuing. She also offers great strength training, aerobics, dance, and yoga classes and videos. I alternate workouts with walking 3-5 miles while listening to audiobooks. I'm in the process of weaning myself off HRT (estrogen) veeerrryyy slowly, and hoping (against all odds) that my body adjusts and I don't lose muscle tone or strength. At 65, I can't afford to lose any more! Like my mother use to say, "getting old is not for sissies!" https://www.youtube.com/@CDornerFitness
I want to know more about the eating thing. Food. My God. It’s just like alcohol. But you can’t just abstain. I feel like the food noise is the next layer of the onion for me (4 years sober).
And like you, I try to “control” and that backfires and I’m stuffing my face with cookies in the pantry. I recently started taking a probiotic that claims to help you produce more GLP1 in your body and curb cravings. So far I am pleased with it, but we will see. Anyway, perhaps an idea for a future newsletter topic.
I hear you. I don't know that I'll talk much about the food thing because I have no real answers and it's such a touchy and specific topic, but I'll say: it's been a lifelong journey. I am so much more settled in it than I ever have been but when I feel out of control or scared, I tend to resort back to old behaviors. It's sneaky.
thank you, this is so interesting. I'm impressed at your Bostons finishes! Such an epic marathon. I've been doing ST as well, more geared towards gentle stuff since I have osteoporosis AND a second breast cancer dx - I have been doing exercises specific to that so I can hope to avoid cording which is when your tendons get tight due to surgery and lymph node removal. I've been frustrated because coincidentally, I was also dx with posterior tibial tendonitis as a result of overdoing it on a hike last year. I love being outside and walking to help with mood (depression and anxiety) but am severely limited on this now. Also, can't swim because of 1) surgery 2) radiation. I finish the latter this week. Well, not sure I have a specific question but felt the need to say all of that today...looking forward to part 2.
Love this! And have had a similar experience with zoom training and lifting heavy things at home. Question: what weight rack did you get? I have been looking for one without success!
I wanted to write something golden all day, but there's nothing to say except I'm so glad I had the balls to write that comment. And I'm so grateful for the internet shoutout - you've brought me close to other sober women who were rrrready to unleash their physical strength to match their inner strenght like you. It's been a gift to help launch your strength ~journey~ and watch you just do all the fierce things you know yada yada mush mush lots of love!!! (And I love reading all the other stories in the comments)!
I started strength training with a trainer in January also after a diagnosis of osteoporosis at 63. I fell in love! Pushed a 345 lb sled 20 yards the other day. I also only workout with weights twice a week. It’s made such a difference in how I feel about my body. I’m so proud of what it can do. I do cardio three days a week (mostly 😁) weekends I just walk for pleasure with the doggie. Strength training has honestly changed how I go around in the world.
DAMN!! That's awesome. I need to try out the sled, they have one in the new gym I joined (which I'll talk about next). I love how you said that--that it's changed how you go around in the world. Same! Go us!
Yes! Things like lifting your carryon into the overhead bin with no difficulty are so transformative! I feel so much less awkward now.
Love this for you! I am learning how much strength training and functional workouts are so important for women our age (like I really feel in my bones that I want my workout to keep me strong and healthy and be able to move for longest time possible without pain, little different than what motivated me in me 20s and 30s). I have recently fallen in LOVE with yoga, in particular hot yoga and yoga sculpt. It’s checking all the boxes for me right now and that’s what matters bc I crave the workouts for my mind and my soul and I can feel how good it for me. Like so many of us, I have a twisted relationship with exercise due to diet culture and so I have to make sure I am being really honest with my self here.
Also the book cover- I mean…I can’t! I thought I tried every diet/workout but I never saw that one! 😂 On that same vein, for the longest time I couldn’t remember which diet in college I was on where I literally “prayed when I was hungry and drank Diet Coke” until I started doing my work to unhearth/heal the wounds of purity culture I couldn’t escape by living in south. This is the diets book cover 😳😳😳 And yes- Gwen Shamblin (God rest her soul) is a whole other rabbit hole you can go down and her hair got higher and higher as time went on!! Oh the things we do 😂😂😂🫠
(Okay I can't figure out how to post a picture to my substack comment but here is the link to that book in case anyone wants to see it...its a REAL THING unfortunately
https://www.amazon.com/Weigh-Down-Diet-Inspirational-Weight/dp/038549324X
Oh, I've heard the Maintenance Phase folks talk about Weigh Down and watched the documentary. WILD. The hair. THE HAIR.
I love yoga too and I need to find a good hot studio. I used to have that and it was so healing.
It is a real thing here in the south -"the higher the hair, the closer to God." In my defense, her hair was not at its peak when I was drinking her kool-aid - I hope that if it had been I would have noted this as a red flag and second guessed her advisement but who knows ;). I was at Baylor back then, so was swimming in Evangelical Christianity.
Omg Molly, we've got to talk, sis. When I was deeeeep in cult-christianity I actually worked as an admissions counselor at Baylor for 2 years before my ex-husband and I were asked by our church to move to Benghazi, Libya to smuggle Bibles just 4 weeks after getting married in 2011. I can't say I hated working at Baylor because it was during RGIII's Heisman days, but YES -- half of this work seems to be unwinding the mind/heart from harmful theologies.
WOW!!! When were you at Baylor? I was there before I think 1999-2003 but dated a baseball player while I was there so mostly hung out with the atheletes. Wild, wild stuff! I would love to hear more about your deconstruction. This stuff is always super fascinating to me!
Molly! I actually went to Rhodes College and Oxford in the UK for school, and only worked at Baylor during a brief stint back in the States to get married before returning abroad. The Bible-smuggling group I was involved with was (you guessed it) Antioch, but it was easy to slip into because Chip & Jo were involved there 2007-2013.
If you're into deconstruction stuff, I share all the cult-y details in this podcast interview with a psychologist who specializes in trauma/religious abuse. It's from Oct 2021, right when I was a year sober with TLC, so thats fun: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sister-speak-with-dr-emma-church/id1583099109?i=1000539039417
Okay wow!! Yes oh yes I know Antioch. My goodness- I am sure you have some stories. I know a few people who were there and left. I went to University Baptist- remember that one? With the band and the Jesus jams 🤣🤣 it was like a tiny Hillsong. Very very very much into deconstruction stuff! I did a lot of my own work alongside the people who do the podcast Strait White American Jesus- if you haven’t listened I highly recommend and all the Axis Mundi podcasts! I will for sure listen to your story! Thank you for sharing Pete! 🤍🤍🤍
Omg that book cover 😂😂
@Alex S - I KNOW! And I fell for it, hook/line and sinker in my early 20s for a solid 6 months. There is a documentary series on her and her church that is very interesting if you want to go down that rabbit hole called The Weigh Down (link below)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15286764/
Omg…”Buff Brides.” 😂 I would have totally bought that. Love this heavy lifting topic and the peek into your solid routine that works with reality. Last year my barre studio unexpectedly closed, and it was honestly devastating. It had been one of the few things keeping me semi-grounded during the worst/final years of my drinking. And then when I got sober, it became a pillar of my non-negotiable routine. It became a place of refuge, a place of easy and honest friendships. A place I could show up no matter what my mood/vibe/energy and always walk back out the doors better than I’d entered. There was chat (if I wanted) or I could go simply inward and get in my movement without being judged. I never would have stretched or planked or pushed myself on the barre the same way solo. Then it closed—and I was shocked at the sense of loss—but then I rejoined my old gym and surrendered to the change. I fell back in love with the machines and my music and my usual weight routine (the same half-dozen moves my now-husband had first taught me back in 2006 at our 24-Hour Fitness—lol.) But then last winter, I was invited by a few fun mom friends to join their twice-weekly training sessions at a pro fitness gym. (Think trophies on the walls and old school Metallica and Depeche Mode on the speakers and the sound of clinking weights.) I actually love this vibe. Not only have I felt stronger than I have in a long time, but I realized how much missed that feeling of pushing my limits and tapping into a bit of my aggressive side. At the same time, I’ve finally stopped resisting yoga. I joined a gorgeous (but not frilly) studio, found my favorite new teachers, and there’s a full-blown love story happening with my own mat. My crow is still crap, but I finally get that that’s not what it’s about anyway. Along with my vital/solo woodsy walks, it’s one of the few places I can tap into that truthful quiet voice within. I still have body issues. They are nestled in there good and deep. But I feel closer to a place of balance that’s been missing for most of my life. After a few decades of punitive harm and self talk, the shift toward softness is both scary and very welcome. The harsh voice has taken me far, but I think it’s time to let it go. How long until I will actually befriend my own body—my sacred home of 46 years? I’ve been asking myself this more lately. Thank you for posting this! Loved hearing more about this part of your wholeness journey. 💪🏻🙏🏻 (And I didn’t know about the volleyball love + background. I can totally see that!)
The Buff Brides book is still embarrassing. I remember my friend from grad school seeing it in the backseat of my car and laughing his ass off and I wanted to die. Je-sus.
The way you described your new gym is what my new gym is like. There's usually hard rock/metal playing, there are pictures of Arnold in there, and it's all so masculine. AND I LOVE IT.
I'm glad you're edging closer to your softer place. You've proven you can roll with transitions and that's awesome.
Hi Laura - I started strength training 2 years ago because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I love it; it makes me feel confident! I tried to up it to 3 times a week this year but it was just too much. The idea of a week off is interesting, I will explore that. I walk too and also do yoga daily (also Peloton) but I do mine in the morning. Tennis is my sport. With supplements, walking, tennis and strength training, my DEXA has remained steady which is encouraging. I’m glad you found a way to incorporate this into your life; it’s made a difference for me! Thanks, too for the great speaker meeting yesterday. Catherine
This is great, Catherine. I want to get a sport back into my life. Maybe tennis?? Taking a week off with weights was so helpful. I don't have to do it anymore, but I do slow down still the week of my period and go easier all around.
I hope you can explore tennis. I started 2 years ago (at 63!) and so enjoy it. A friend encouraged me to sign up for a “newbie” clinic and I did and now, 2 years later I’m on the courts 3 days a week! Here’s to trying new things.
Oh I love this! Weight training is my magic place - I started at 38 and am at my most consistent now at almost 48. I had surgery end of feb then a big trip this month which has upended my routine and it’s wild how much it impacts my mindset. 💪🏻
10 years! Love it! Yes, I am impacted too when I don't have my routine. I hope you've recovered from surgery well.
Omg I love this sooo much!!! I started strength training in a group workout class beginning of November. Right now I can deadlift 185! It's just a number, but it is an amazing accomplishment for me and I'm so proud..
I also do not seem to be able to keep a strict diet, it feels like just one more thing to do. Trying to focus on eating foods that fuel my body and leave it at that. With quitting alcohol and problematic history with food, it fuels my anxiety too much to track everything I eat.
185 is RAD. And same, it's exhausting and it backfires with the food. I try to eat in ways that make me feel grounded and less anxious. When I do that, everything in my life is easier.
Me too Emily. I’ve had All the eating disorders but for now, food is my friend and I use it to fuel me. Congrats on 185lbs!!
Love that you’re talking about this, Laura! 💪💛 I drank the CrossFit koolaid for 2 years in my mid 30s and the best part about it is that it taught me how to lift correctly. It helped me so much with seeing what lifting heavy could do for my body, talk about empowerment! Unfortunately, my addiction to cardio (due to the 90s cultural indoctrination we all got) destroyed my ability to move without pain. I’m slowly getting back into it (4 years later) and am loving the gym feature on the Peloton app. For anyone who just needs programming it is a perfect solution. Keeps me on track at the gym so that I’m not aimlessly doing my own thing and mixes up the moves enough to where it’s not boring.
I love how the way in which we move our bodies coincides with our internal growth. 💫 My mantra lately is “my body is my home” and I’ve got so much more respect +honoring that I ever did in my earlier years.
God, we really did get indoctrinated, didn't we? The STAIRMASTER. For fucks sake.
I love the Strength offerings on Peloton too. I use them a lot when I travel or just want to do something at home. I love Rebecca!
I love that you just wrote about this as I am about to start a new program with an online coach! I have wondered if I’m doing the right thing but I keep getting signs like this that I am! I have always been in that mindset that I have to go hard and everyday to see results. This has changed over the last few years since perimenopause has started… it’s nice to enjoy working out and not feeling overly exhausted from it every day.. and allowing time to rest. The period week is a rest week! I think that’s my biggest fear about not having one anymore bc it gives me the excuse to rest. I need to change my mindset that I just need to give myself the rest with or without period weeks.
Thank you for the inspiring message - Similar to you, exercise has been an important part of my life. I ran track, played softball and tennis in high school - took up running in my 30s and 40s, running lots of halfs and a couple of marathons. Last year I challenged myself with my first olympic tri and eventually completed a half ironman. We love hiking and backpacking - Several years ago, I joined a gym for women that offered 45 minute workouts with weights - and loved it - During COVID, I purchased a Mirror and beefed up the free weights I have at home. They are great workouts - I just need to settle into a routine. I do get burned out and bored easily so the need to keep things fresh is important to keep me motivated. The last 6 months I have struggled to keep a solid exercise routine - After reading your message, I feel inspired to get back to lifting - I know it is what my body needs at this phase of life (54 menopausal). Its there just waiting for me - Thank you.
I'm glad this provided a little nudge. A half ironman is NO JOKE!!! Amazing.
First things first, two Boston marathons!? That's 26.2 miles at an 8:15ish per mile pace -- you're made of STEEL! Second, do I hear with my little ear Ani Difranco's "32 Flavors" on the second video? Never worked out to Ani before, but I'm refreshing the gym playlist now.
I'm more like a 9 mile pace, but yep. Yes, that song is on many of my playlists so I don't know which playlist I was listening to, but -- Ani is just the right mood sometimes.
Twenty-six 9 minute miles is still legend-status in my book! Ani is on Broadway in Hadestown now starring as Persephone, queen of the Underworld -- who helps inspire Orpheus to write the song that makes Spring return. What can't Ms. DiFranco do??
I took a 2x week kettle bell/TRX "class'' several years ago. I loved it. That said, technique is sooooo important b/c you can really hurt yourself if you swing a bell that is too heavy. The biggest thing I'm struggling with now (former competitive athlete) is menopausal weight gain from sarcopenia. It is real...I lost muscle mass after COVID and gained 10#'s each year after. At 62 trying to put muscle mass back on is 10x harder. I lift 3-4's x a week and walk about 5-7 miles a day. I've cut refined sugar out and eating more lean protein and vegetables. It's taken a few years to reset my system and to be able to stick to it. It's also hard to separate how I feel vs. how I want to look.. I just want to get back into a size LG. LOL. Strength training is so important when you get older. I'm a licensed athletic trainer by trade, and luckily if something hurts I know what it is, why it happened and how to fix it. I know what I can push through and what I can't. I think the one thing people don't realize is the rest/recovery part. It's an integral part of any program. Also, I found that radical changes or behaviors don't work. Slow and steady wins the race..baby steps and lots of patience.
Chris - Have you encountered Stacy Sims work? I was going to write about her in Part 2 but it's worth dropping here. She talks specifically about the kinds of exercise women need in peri/menopause years and it's not what you think. My guess is that you probably need a lot more protein than you're eating and also more carbs. I have found her to be SO helpful and her books are excellent. https://www.drstacysims.com/
Thanks, Laura! I am familiar with her via a several published papers she wrote with fellow Athletic Trainers. I know she has done research on women needing different diet and exercise then men b/c of our cycles. And yes, I agree not enough protein for me. That's been the case since COVID when the drinking ramped up, I ate poorly, got lazy and never recovered. All of the sudden my arms got smaller, my gut and butt got bigger and the hair on my arms disappeared and my damn eye brows thinned out! SMH. I'm trying to figure the protein thing out now. I appreciate the suggestion and I'll definitely check out her website! Do you do protein shakes/smoothies? Thanks again!
This! I was a 4X/week gym-er for years but with Covid, I thought I'd lose all my strength and energy, so I turned my empty-nest-daughter's bedroom into my gym and started doing my own workouts. I'd owned a gym in California years ago, so I knew what to do, but I was bored. I started my at-home workouts by going upanddown three flights of stairs 12-20 times, and then working each muscle group with 10-12 lb weights. Again... boring. In the 80's and 90's I was a Step Aerobics fanatic and missed it when gyms around here stopped offering it. But then I found CDorner fitness on-line and I was back in business. Chris Dorner offers daily live (and recorded) step classes that are some of the best I've ever taken - amazing choreography and cuing. She also offers great strength training, aerobics, dance, and yoga classes and videos. I alternate workouts with walking 3-5 miles while listening to audiobooks. I'm in the process of weaning myself off HRT (estrogen) veeerrryyy slowly, and hoping (against all odds) that my body adjusts and I don't lose muscle tone or strength. At 65, I can't afford to lose any more! Like my mother use to say, "getting old is not for sissies!" https://www.youtube.com/@CDornerFitness
Thanks for the rec. I love how we're all finding what works for us. Getting older is not for sissies at all.
I want to know more about the eating thing. Food. My God. It’s just like alcohol. But you can’t just abstain. I feel like the food noise is the next layer of the onion for me (4 years sober).
And like you, I try to “control” and that backfires and I’m stuffing my face with cookies in the pantry. I recently started taking a probiotic that claims to help you produce more GLP1 in your body and curb cravings. So far I am pleased with it, but we will see. Anyway, perhaps an idea for a future newsletter topic.
I hear you. I don't know that I'll talk much about the food thing because I have no real answers and it's such a touchy and specific topic, but I'll say: it's been a lifelong journey. I am so much more settled in it than I ever have been but when I feel out of control or scared, I tend to resort back to old behaviors. It's sneaky.
thank you, this is so interesting. I'm impressed at your Bostons finishes! Such an epic marathon. I've been doing ST as well, more geared towards gentle stuff since I have osteoporosis AND a second breast cancer dx - I have been doing exercises specific to that so I can hope to avoid cording which is when your tendons get tight due to surgery and lymph node removal. I've been frustrated because coincidentally, I was also dx with posterior tibial tendonitis as a result of overdoing it on a hike last year. I love being outside and walking to help with mood (depression and anxiety) but am severely limited on this now. Also, can't swim because of 1) surgery 2) radiation. I finish the latter this week. Well, not sure I have a specific question but felt the need to say all of that today...looking forward to part 2.
Love this! And have had a similar experience with zoom training and lifting heavy things at home. Question: what weight rack did you get? I have been looking for one without success!
I wanted to write something golden all day, but there's nothing to say except I'm so glad I had the balls to write that comment. And I'm so grateful for the internet shoutout - you've brought me close to other sober women who were rrrready to unleash their physical strength to match their inner strenght like you. It's been a gift to help launch your strength ~journey~ and watch you just do all the fierce things you know yada yada mush mush lots of love!!! (And I love reading all the other stories in the comments)!