TWO ways for midlife women to build a STRONGER BODY without exercising harder
Ok so I’m going to level with you here, if you want to build a stronger body you will need to build MOVEMENT into your lifestyle.
How we like to move and exercise is different from one woman to the next, but you will only start to feel stronger/build muscle and stay mobile if you put your muscles under stress with load.
If you already exercise, have you started to notice that you are no longer seeing the results you want or used to get when you exercised in this way?
If you are struggling to get back into exercise complete my Soulful Health check & listen to my 10 min Hormone Health Audio to help get you started, then read on.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Its confusing and if you are over 35 you are likely to be experiencing a sequence of hormonal events that start to make it harder for women to build and maintain lean muscle mass. Plus we have a billion pound diet & fitness industry that has conditioned us to believe, if we exercise harder and eat less we will achieve the body we want!
THIS IS RUBBISH and it’s a combination of your mind & body working together to get over these deep stories embedded in so many women
TAKING ACTION NOW WILL SUPPORT YOUR FUTURE HEALTH
There really is a critical window before you reach menopause where you can tackle health issues so they are hopefully less likely to amplify into larger health problems later in life.
As I’ve said, women’s bodies are not the same as a man’s, our hormones impact & interact with so many body systems & vital organs.
Plus we all react slightly differently and have different experiences because WE ARE ALL UNIQUE.
Here are two of the biggest reasons that I see getting in the way of the woman who come to me that’s stopped them achieving the results they want;
1. Not giving your body adequate time to rest & recover.
Recovery is so important, the body needs to rest, repair and take on adequate nutrition at the appropriate time for lean mass development to happen. Typically you could do two hard sessions over 48 hours and recover for 24 hours.
Also over the length of your cycle you want to be dialling your intensity down as you get nearer to your blead and using this phase to focus more on technique/skill based work or restorative forms of movement like Pilates, yoga and walking.
2.Exercising in what we term the “grey area”, which can lead to elevated cortisol levels leaving you feeling drained, tired and not seeing results.
You are exercising in this steady state (grey area), which isn’t giving the body the stimulus it needs to build lean muscle. In fact as we start to loose the stimulus from oestrogen & testosterone as we move into our 40s, we need more of a stimulus through exercise for lean muscle mass development to take place.
Adding in more harder workouts, and by hard it only needs to be for around maximum 30 minutes and by the end of the session you should feel ready to stop, working at a 70%-90% maximum HR after your warm up.
The good news is you don’t need every workout like this all the time, and you can be done within 30mins.
HOW TO MIX UP YOUR EXERCISE
Its good to alternate exercise modalities with strength based sessions and appropriate recovery in your follicular phase. In your luteal phase you can focus more on technique and restorative practices.
I know when women realise they didn’t have to exercise hard all the time to see results it was a lightbulb moment and their energy & physique started to change.
If you want to know more & get a handle to support your exercise rhythm and lifestyle get my FREE HORMONE bundle, designed for busy woman to listen to on the go and make CHANGE TODAY.
Much Love
Jem x