Menopause & Lifting Heavy-Max 8 Reps

[Ivy]

Thanks for answering my question. I was sure I’d be ghosted. I know at least one person has me on ignore.

You all seem so serious about your weight training that I’d assume you have some way to accurately measure your success. That’s not a negative observation. I appreciate the care you obviously put into your workouts. I read your posts to better understand your approach.

I do know calipers aren’t accurate. I use a high end Tanita segmental body composition scale. We got it when I was medically fasting to shrink two benign tumors and because DH has a tendency to have really low body fat so he monitors it. I don’t use it more often than monthly because it’s easier to see changes long term. It’s been super helpful to DH.

Cathe mentioned this way of tracking body composition in one of her articles she used to send out, though not Tanita specifically.

I don’t give a hoot about my weight other than how it relates to my muscle. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m satisfied. I eat more high quality protein because of my age and individual needs. I eat more fat because of my genetics.

Ivy, I’m sorry if my comment sounded smug. It wasn’t meant to. I also have problems sleeping. Not always but periodically. Try as I might I haven’t been able to figure it out. I’m a 24/7 caregiver but that’s not always what triggers it.

I’ll let you get back to it and will keep my nose out of it going forward.

I appreciate your viewpoint as well. It helps to have a variety of experiences shared.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

don't count calories, weigh, or measure myself, etc., as I get too fixated on numbers. I have distorted thinking when it comes to body image, and I start to weigh my worth as a human being by such things. It's not emotionally healthy for me. My best tell if I'm slipping somehow is how my clothing fits.

Could not agree more with what you have quoted above. I no longer count my calories.

I am just careful to not indulge myself into excessive sugar consumption.

 

[Lannette]

I’m short on time but I wanted to stop in and apologize. I very much meant what I said about appreciating and learning from your view points. I also realized that I’m a bit envious of you and your abilities to lift heavy.

I’m currently trying to figure out a way that I can gear up to do the original STS. My neck and shoulders are my Achilles heel and they impact my ability to spend significant time with a heavily loaded barbell (35#s is it for now) or even weighted vest on my shoulders. I’m experimenting with using balance and other methods to increase intensity with lighter weights.

Ironically push-ups, the exercise I most feared is going really well.

So once again thank you for sharing and sorry for being less than gracious.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

I’m short on time but I wanted to stop in and apologize. I very much meant what I said about appreciating and learning from your view points. I also realized that I’m a bit envious of you and your abilities to lift heavy.

Apologies taken. It take a lot of courage to admit that.

If I had to push a button and share the least motivation, ability, strength etc....to help anyone to achieve whatever she desires I would. Life is too hard for us women.

Take care

 

[snowlover]

I read and still have Dr. Stacy Sims' book called Next Level. I have found it helpful in my athletic journey coupled with menopause. I don't take books like these as "absolute must follow the rules" but as a reference book with ideas that I may benefit from or never considered and may try, if that makes sense. It's kind of like the Cathlete wisdom on these forums.
All that being said, I'm about to turn 55 and years ago my sister told me after you turn 50 you can't lift and carry heavy weight. Well, maybe she can't, but I still do it right along with Cathe and her crew. Also, this summer I'm going to do an event, called a ruck, in which I carry a heavy backpack over 10k of trails. No fitness guru, nor relative, nor casual acquaintance can say you shouldn't do it or couldn't do it. Menopause and age be damned, all we all can do is continue to challenge ourselves, not limit ourselves.

 

[Lannette]

I’m short on time but I wanted to stop in and apologize. I very much meant what I said about appreciating and learning from your view points. I also realized that I’m a bit envious of you and your abilities to lift heavy.

I’m currently trying to figure out a way that I can gear up to do the original STS. My neck and shoulders are my Achilles heel and they impact my ability to spend significant time with a heavily loaded barbell (35#s is it for now) or even weighted vest on my shoulders. I’m experimenting with using balance and other methods to increase intensity with lighter weights.

Ironically push-ups, the exercise I most feared is going really well.

So once again thank you for sharing and sorry for being less than gracious.

THANK YOU!

I shared my appreciation for reading and trying to understand your viewpoints in your various threads. I shared that I realized that there was a bit of envy mixed in with that appreciation.

Well, envy is a funny thing. It can knock you on your butt if you let it or it can be a motivator. I decided to make it a motivator.

The very day I typed that post I re-examined my plans. I determined what possibly was holding me back, what could overcome those issues and drafted some changes.

Things are headed toward my goal again. Probably not as quickly as I’d like but definitely on course. The excellent examples you all set are still a motivator - so Thank you!

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Menopause and age be damned, all we all can do is continue to challenge ourselves, not limit ourselves.

I shall say Amen to this above. Oh I shall respond to anyone trying to make me feel guilty by quoting "I should not fight aging too much". Instead I should switch off completely/ease off my active lifestyle and accept aging process as a fatality.
@snowlover, let's not listen to those whispers!

 

[Lannette]

I’m coming back to share that I examined my plan and changed it. I spent the last 2 months working toward my reformulated goals. I would have been happy with 10 full body push-ups but yesterday I actually did two sets of 25. I also worked my way back to using a 17” Firm box for balancing step ups 16 each side, 2 sets and striding lunges and balancing dips.

I’m in my first week of an STS Prep rotation. I’m still not putting a barbell across my shoulders but using alternate methods to build my LB strength. I just need to do weekly Egoscue or other alignment work to make sure I stay aligned.

So thanks for providing that little touch of Envy that I used to motivate myself. Hope you are all reaching the goals you are setting.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

So thanks for providing that little touch of Envy that I used to motivate myself. Hope you are all reaching the goals you are setting.

Many women, like me, do not need that "little touch of envy/jealousy" to motivate themselves. What they do instead, is to fully focus on their needs (intellectual, physical, physiological and mental) to better themselves.
This type of women do not need to compete against other women in any aspect of their life!

Enjoy your SETS of push

 

[Braille]

I have heard the 8 rep max recommendation that was mentioned in the original question. I did not, however, delve deeper into it, because I've heard sooooo many "experts" over the years, and the recommendations keep changing, and it goes against what I have found works for me. I'm in menopause, and have worked out my entire life, with the exception of about a 2 year span of time. I have been back at it for 10 weeks, and already my body tries to get stagnant in its its progress if I don't change (confuse) it. My body has always been that way, but peri-menopause... it became more evident. Menopause... yeah, my body gets "stuck" as far as how I measure progress (visible muscle definition and strength) even sooner than it used to, if I don't keep it guessing. Everybody's body is different, though, so you can try something for awhile and then discontinue if it doesn't work for you. I am a caregiver for my adult son (disabled), and when I lose strength... I notice it, because I can't safely do the things (risk injuring him or myself) for him that are required. It's what motivated me to get back into working out, and it's what keeps me changing things up (high reps/lower weight, heavy weights - sometimes 8 reps, sometimes 10 or 12, sometimes pyramids, sometimes total body, other times push/pull, lower/upper body split, or a 3 to 4 day split. For me to make a substantial change to my mindset regarding what experts say, I have a guideline: at least 3 different expert sources with at least 3 different studies (with at least 1 being long term and specific to women). I'm kind of lazy in that I won't even bother to check into anything else. lol What I've learned from Cathe (and found works for me) has served me well, so it takes a LOT of evidence to get me to change my mindset and my routine. That said... there have been times when I was getting ready to do just that (enough evidence existed), and then Cathe started including it in her articles and videos. lol I think she's always at least 2 steps ahead of me. lol

 

[Debinmi]

Looks like we each need to discover what works best for ourselves. I keep written details on every weight workout as to the exercise, the weight used, # reps & # sets. Then i strive to improve on the reps completed with good form. When I reach 2-4 more reps than Cathe does in a set, I then increase the weights (i may have to decrease the reps if the jump in weight is high). It's a technique called double progressive overload. It's concrete, objective & not subjective. Works for me.

You may find Cathe's Xtrain Burn Sets helpful to push yourself to increase your strength - she goes to failure in the 3rd set - if your rep count is high in that failure set, you know you have to increase the weight the next time you do that workout. I saw noticeable, concrete improvements in my strength doing the 90-day Xtrain rotation with that technique. It was very motivating to me to see the improvements over the 3 months.