Managing Menopause

We recently hosted a Fitness & Training Conference at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland OR and flew in an international presenter, Hayley Hollander, from Chicago, IL.  She spoke on a variety of topics sharing cutting edge health and fitness info and I thought I’d share some of her tips on, managing menopause.

She pointed out that…..

…….managing the effects of menopause can be up to a 20 year process which is a big chunk of our lives so we definitely want to understand what’s going on in our bodies and do what we can to prevent, reverse or minimize any negative symptoms.

The highlights including the importance of Strength Conditioning and High-intensity Interval Training to offset the negative symptoms of Menopause.  She also outlined the most important strength exercises for women to include in their strength training routine on a weekly basis which include:

• Overhead Press
• Squat
• Pulling
• Bridging
• Walk/Run/Locomotion
• Bicep Curl

Each of these exercises provide specific benefits in terms of either loading the spine or the hips, strengthening the lower body and our ability to move in a manner that promotes our ability to function in life, strengthening the postural muscles and improving our posture and alignment, strengthening the core, conditioning our upper body, and improving our ability to move through space.

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She also noted that it’s important to perform these exercises in a variety of different angles and planes. Most of us get stuck in a rut doing the same exercise in the same way each time. But she pointed out that the body, specifically the muscular and skeletal systems, responds better when we mix it up each time we perform an exercise.

Here are some examples of how you can mix things up:

• Perform a wide squat, a mid squat, a narrow squat
• Perform a squat with one leg positioned more forward than the other or a one legged squat.
• Hold a weight on one side of your body and not the other and then switch to the other side.
• Try going very slow and then fast.
• Move through space squatting laterally or moving forwards or backwards

The idea is that our body moves in 3D and we want to make sure we’re not doing everything in a linear format.  So as you perform each movement, ask yourself each set or session, ‘how could you do this exercise differently?’

*Note* – these exercises are not an exhaustive list. There are hundreds of other exercises and variations to include in your program to reach optimal fitness and conditioning but this is a great place to start!

Yours in health & fitness,
Sherri McMillan

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COUVE CLOVER RUN – 3, 7 & 10 MILES – March, 26th 2017
RUN, GIVE BACK & PARTY AT MAIN EVENT AND OTHER DOWNTOWN PUBS!
We will make you earn your post-event party by running or walking 3, 7 or 10 miles, but it will be off the charts hosted by Main Event and other downtown Vancouver Pubs & Breweries.