Lifting After Menopause: Rest, Reps and Fewer Training Days

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabes? Hey, everybody. Nikkiey here, and welcome to our Sunday WarriorBabe Revolution Rally Call. I am excited to be here with you all, to fire you up with today's topic and drop some more golden nuggets. We're going to talk about the workout training side of things today, so I'm stoked to be here right now. Go leave a comment inside the Facebook group and let the other WarriorBabes in the group know that this call is getting started and they want to tune in, because I know this topic is going to really help. Every topic does, but I know this one is going to help a majority of our community. Actually, I'm not going to drop that hint right now. But go to the Facebook group and let them know this call is getting started and they want to chime in. Maybe they just don't know it's 6 o'clock yet. Extra reminder, so go let them know this call is live.

If you guys are new to WarriorBabe, welcome to all of the new WarriorBabes. I'm so stoked our community gets bigger and bigger each week. I just want to let you know that we do these calls every single Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so make sure you mark your calendars and set your alarms so you're here every time, because we get started sharp at the 6 o'clock hour Eastern Standard Time.

Now, before we dive into today's topic, again, welcome, WarriorBabes, into the group. I also want to remind you about the WarriorBabe Revolution blast-off emails that are in your email inbox for the first 14 days after you've joined this program. They are really, really freaking important to transition yourself into this WarriorBabe lifestyle and to help you start off on a really strong foot: to go through your whys, to go through your goals, to change anything you've done in the past, to rid yourself of any negatives from programs you've done, and to really focus on the positives you're after here with WarriorBabe and the goals you're looking to accomplish. So those blast-off emails are so important. It's just one task per day, and it lays down some really strong foundations for you to get started inside this program.

I'm really stoked to talk about this topic with you, because I know that you experience this, have experienced it, and just need some more refreshing insight on it. It'll help you get fired up, have some light bulbs go off, and also understand that maybe you need to tweak some things or do something a little bit differently that will help facilitate more results for yourself. So there are going to be some golden nuggets. It's going to be a good call, and I'm super excited to talk about today's topic.

One last thing really quick before we dive in. If you're new to WarriorBabe, please don't be the person who asks questions inside the Facebook community that can be answered inside the application and floods the community with them. I'm going to tell you to go where I know the answer is, and the other WarriorBabes are going to tell you to go where they know it is. It's for learning purposes. You've got to know what you're getting yourself involved with and search every place the answer might be, because that's how you're going to learn. If your question isn't in the app, click on the home screen, click Need Help, and that will take you to the frequently asked questions resource page. It's an entire platform with our most frequently asked questions, and the team is updating it and making it a heck of a lot easier for you to work through. So all the questions can be found there as well.

If your question can't be found in any of those areas, which is unlikely, then attend the Q&As every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. So we have two calls weekly: 6 p.m. Sunday and 6 p.m. Wednesday. Really simple to remember. Ask your questions on the Q&A. There are no silly questions, so it's a very valuable Q&A. You come to the Q&A, you're talking to me, and I'm helping you with the questions you need clarification on. So attend those Q&As. They're really freaking helpful for you. And if you can't find your answer in any of those resources, then come into the Facebook group and ask your fellow WarriorBabes for some help with the question you have.

Okay, so now let's dive into today's topic. I'm really, really stoked to talk about this with you, because I know it's going to bring more light to the situation you may be experiencing. It may have a couple of light bulbs go off as to why you may not be getting the results you're expecting, or getting results as fast as you expected. It's going to be a really good topic. Okay, Nikkiey, enough, enough. Just dive into it.

What we're going to talk about is how to train after menopause, if you're perimenopausal, or even if you're somebody who is experiencing hormonal imbalances. So listen up. If you're premenopausal, perimenopausal, through menopause and postmenopausal, or someone who has hormonal imbalances, this is your rally call right now. It's going to bring a lot of insight to you. I'm going to talk about what happens during and after menopause, and I'm going to talk about the importance and simplicity of proper nutrition and strength training.

This phase of life is a unique phase. I don't want you to look at it as something bad or horrible, like, oh my God, I'm experiencing this. It's a phase of life, guys. It's what we're all going to experience. It's just something we all go through. And it's pretty fucking cool to be able to go through it, especially as females, because men don't. It's something the human body is just capable of doing. So look at it that way. Don't look at it in a negative light.

During this phase of life, menopause is associated with a natural decline in estrogen, and that increases visceral fat mass. What I mean by that is it increases abdominal fat. To my postmenopausal women who are like, oh, I just can't believe it, in these past couple of years the weight has just flooded to my belly area and it seems so freaking hard to get off: yeah, it's because of the natural decline in estrogen, which increases visceral fat mass and holds on to more abdominal fat. So that's what that is.

It also decreases bone mass density, which leads to osteoporosis and fractures. I think of the older women I used to see in the emergency room coming in with hip fractures, and people who experienced osteoporosis. Along with this, your muscle mass, your strength and your cognitive function start to decline. This is just what happens during that phase of life. Your body shifts. How your body once performed at a younger stage changes during this new stage of life.

Okay, I'm pretty sure I probably scared the tits off of you guys with what I just said, or a lot of you are like, yeah, that's me, I'm experiencing that. Look, there's a way to still work with these changes. You can adapt to new methods and still get the results you're seeking. It's really as simple as what I'm going to say in a couple of minutes, but there's a way to work around it. If you're postmenopausal, what got you here is your hormonal changes and probably a lack of nutrition, or the decades you've spent trying program after program after program and yo-yoing after yo-yo after yo-yo. There's a way to work around it now. You being a WarriorBabe is the first step. But then there are these little things that may help you even more moving forward.

The number one prevention, the number one way to prevent those symptoms I just shared with you during or after menopause, is legitimately as simple as the next four words that are going to come out of my mouth: strength training and proper nutrition. The number one way to prevent those symptoms, visceral fat, osteoporosis, hip fractures, lowering estrogen, decreasing muscle mass, from worsening at a fast rate during the menopause period of your life is strength training and proper nutrition. Look, it's literally that simple. I could end my rally call right now. But I'm going to deep dive a little further so you can understand this and it really drills into your head.

So, a couple of areas when it comes to the workout arena. For you older women, if you were athletes or you've been working out the majority of your life, you have mature muscle mass. The way you want to maintain that mature muscle mass so it doesn't decline and doesn't get weaker, and you've got to write this down, is to create longer rest periods for yourself, lower reps and a challenging weight. This helps with maintaining your bone mass density and keeping your muscle mass from decreasing.

Let me say it again. Longer rest periods, like 60 seconds as opposed to 45 seconds. Possibly lowering your reps to maybe 10 reps as opposed to 15. And challenging your weight. This helps with maintaining your bone mass density and keeping your muscle mass from decreasing. It keeps your mature muscle dense. And for those of you already doing this, your body needs this type of resistance at this stage of life. Your body needs strength training. It needs this type of resistance on your muscles at this stage of your life. Strength training is a way to continue maintaining and building a strong body throughout the rest of your life.

So even if you're perimenopausal, you're here inside WarriorBabe and you're doing exactly what I'm telling you to do, you are legitimately setting yourself up for ungodly success as you move into the menopause arena of your life. If you're past menopause, this is something you need to take fucking seriously. I'm not kidding. I've seen it. I've seen people come into the ER. I've seen people with broken backs and broken hips. I've seen people have the worst recovery time at that stage of life. For me, in my 30s, I look at it like, this time fucking matters. This time matters even more right now for me, if I can establish a really strong foundation for my body. But for you, if you're postmenopausal, this really fucking matters. Strength training, creating more resistance on your body and on your muscles, is a way to make your body strong.

And proper nutrition: you cannot fuck up here in the nutrition arena. You've got to really get real with yourself. Do you want to live a strong and healthy rest of your life? Do you want to be strong and healthy the rest of your life? Then you can't fuck up with your nutrition. You can't be inconsistent, because then you're just fucking around with your life. Literally, it matters now. It matters at any stage of life. But most importantly, postmenopausal, it matters because everything starts to shift.

What I really want you to understand with what I'm about to say next is that less is more. It's a really important concept to understand here. Lowering stress on your body by lessening the number of days you work out will create way more results. If you are 50 years old or older, you need to incorporate the less-is-more motto into your life. Really understand that concept. This may be completely opposite from what you're used to, but too much working out could be the reason you aren't seeing the results you want to see. If you're creating too much stress in your body at this stage of life, and your cortisol levels are already naturally risen after menopause, it will raise your cortisol levels even more. Cortisol is the hormone that stores body fat when it's elevated. So if it's elevated from too much working out, your body could be storing fat, and it's that visceral abdominal fat, which is completely counterproductive to what you want to accomplish.

Let me share an example with you, because I'm literally taking this from my WarriorBabe Blueprint program right now. The information I'm sharing with you is a module inside my WarriorBabe Blueprint program. On my WarriorBabe Blueprint coaching calls, there are two per week where I'm able to speak with each person directly, hear them and unmute them. This woman came onto my Q&A and said, Nikkiey, I'm training six days a week. I forget how old she was, but she was definitely 50-plus. Six days a week. I'm so freaking tired. I'm so fatigued. I'm not seeing any changes in my body. I'm putting in the work. What is going on?

And I said, well, it sounds like this particular thing I'm sharing with you right now. She had just gotten into the Blueprint program, so she wasn't too familiar with this module yet. I told her to go listen to it and to implement the strategies I'm sharing with you about lessening the amount. I would recommend you do four or five days of training, maybe even three, but I know that's pushing it for you go-getters. So maybe backing it down to four days a week of training. She knocked it down to five. She came back about a week later and said, Nikkiey, oh my God. Her weight dropped. She felt so much better. Her photos were insane, and you could see the changes happening just by backing down one day of working out. No changes to her macros, no changes to anything else, just eliminating one day of working out. It can be an absolute game changer. So take this seriously.

If you're somebody who is struggling, who's kicking your ass, you're a go-getter, you're doing six days a week, I fucking love that mentality. But let me tell you, you're going to drill your head into a wall wondering why you're not getting the results you think you should be getting for the hard work you're putting in. You're putting too much stress on your body. Now, don't get me wrong. The stress you put on your body with your workouts is a good thing, but it's too much. It's too much all at once, especially with what your body is going through in the menopause stage of life.

So back it down, guys. Back it down to five days, maybe four days. You have the ability to do that inside the application. Pull it back a day and then see how you feel. Reassess your energy levels, reassess your recovery, reassess all the things you may be experiencing now that are painful, suck and hurt. Then implement what I'm telling you right now: the change that creates less is more. At this stage of life, my friends, less is more.

If you need to listen to this rally call again, go listen to it again. This is absolutely game-changing information for the women who need it right now. Let me know what you thought about this rally call inside the Facebook group. I would love to know what you think, especially my menopausal and perimenopausal women. Comment inside the group, and remember to tune in to our Q&A on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. All right, babes, start the new week strong, and I will see you inside the community. Bye, everyone. Thank you.