Menopause and exercise - really need some advice please.

[INeedToMoveItMoveIt]

Hello everyone, I'm early 50s and in menopause. I'm on HRT and it's ok....ish.

I really need to start exercising again as I stopped doing anything quite a few years ago following a back injury but I'm starting to seize up now. My back is still a problem and I can do exercises like squats as my back will quickly give out and I then can't do anything!

I'm typically not very active and am desk-based throughout the day so I'd like to start small but know that I need to build strength and stamina (and lose weight including belly fat).

If anyone's got any ideas I'd be very grateful. If anyone mentioned dumbbells please tell me how heavy they need to be as I'm very confused by them :)
TIA

Swimming, yoga or Pilates?

Sorry - should have said that I want something I can do at home. Thanks

Swimming or cycling

I’m 46 perimenopausal and was hammering my body with hard workouts and getting fatter and more miserable! Now I do 3 home workouts with kettlebells and resistance bands and walk. I have really cleaned up my diet but I’ve lost a stone so far and feel loads better. Building muscle is important as we lose it as we age. My HIIT workouts were not doing me any good at all! I also do yoga but I’m crap at it!

Walking is great exercise, and you can do free exercise by taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking as much as you can instead of taking the bus/car etc

With dumbells, start with using water bottles or something. The exercise are hard when you start but you'll soon get stronger.

Thanks, everyone.

Are there any workouts you would recommend?

If I were you, given your back issues, I would start with using very light weights, (1kg or 2kg) and high reps. I would also get some ankle weights that you can wear around the house, out walking or while doing leg lifts. Take the slow road, keep increasing your reps, and increase the weight you use as you tone up.

I would avoid squats altogether at the beginning and learn stretching exercises that will help your back.

Also, as a pp mentioned, resistance bands are great as well.

I'm not suggesting g you take up sport but if you read this information England Netball have developed on sport, injury, exercise and the menopause it may be useful to you in terms of understanding your body and what it needs during the menopause and beyond.

Suggest starting with a session or two with a personal trainer who knows about physio to get started - that way you know you will be starting off and increasing what you do safely. I did this (menopause , health condition) with a trainer who does PT and also physio for people with illnesses. Apart from me being too lazy to do it, it worked very well!

Ps I did it at home, sessions online, trainer advised on equipment as well

There are countless videos on YouTube to exercise along to. You can search for key words like "beginners weights", "weights for women", "menopause exercise" etc, etc.

I would go and see a physio for a start to get some building up exercises to for any dodgy bits - else you could really hurt yourself (I have so please learn from my stupidity)

I have back issues (previous fractured vertebrae) and do Caroline Girvan iron programme on You Tube. I use half her weights and 3kg, 5kg and 10kg dumbells cover most exercises. I find that weights reduces my aches and pains but if you are worried it may be worth booking a few sessions with a PT first.

Look at Annie Deadman on YouTube or her website. She’s early 60s and does workouts from beginners to experienced. I do several of her workouts a week - strength and HIT. She does the Blast programme too which you pay for, still v reasonable, and it is pitched at beginners upwards. She writes a column in Woman and Home and also is on Instagram. Really recommend.

Get a Peloton and do the Powerzone training programmes mixed with the strength classes. There are female groups you can join if you want encouragement from others but you don't have to do that.
Yes they cost a few quid but the money encouraged me to use it.
It's the most convenient exercise I've ever done and only thing I've stuck at.

Try Jessica Valante. She is kind of bits of gentle exercise with a big focus on pelvic floor (she had a prolapse repair herself) and lots of back health etc.

I wouldn't do caroline girvan at this stage, I do her workouts but I've been doing weights for 10yrs.

Bodyfit by amy does some good beginners workouts too.

I love kassandra for yoga and she has some lovely yin yoga sessions on YouTube - yin yoga is just lovely stretching really but if you do it often enough you will feel some difference.

It is possible that your bad back is contributed by very tight hip flexors from sitting down all day.

I am also office bound and really have to concentrate on my hip flexor stretching.

Am 45 and in peri and on HRT.

I walk a lot (at a decent pace which I built up) a Peleton and do an aerobics class once a week. A menopause consultant recommended 1/2 hour a day rigorous exercise to help with my symptoms and it has. Dh very good at dragging my arse out for a walk if I ever try to skip a few days. I manage 6 out of 7 days most weeks.