Everyone keeps saying I should lift?

[chowmeinz]

Any advice? Peri menopausal, almost 50, recently lost 6 stone on Mounjaro with a few stone left to go. I’m just at the stage now where I feel able to do something a bit more physical than walking and I keep reading how important weights are. Is this true?

My diet is really good, I don't take protein shakes etc or use supplements though I just get it all from food.

Does it really matter? My ‘everyone’ was ‘everyone who’s talking about it on MN’ and they were right.

I did distance running and Les Mills classes for a long time and was otherwise sedentary (desk job) . After painful lower back and neck problems in my late 40s (diagnosed as discs and muscles) and some physio started rehab/resistance/strength/core work with a PT a couple of years ago. Light weights and bodyweight at first.

I didn’t enjoy it much for the first year - missed running - but felt benefits quickly and have enjoyed progression and been able to resume some running but more of a mixed weekly exercise routine.

Am not yet sure if I’ll progress to heaver weights with my back being as it is, will see how it goes, but feel pretty good.

My main takeaway from my experience is beyond the exercise - damage done by sitting/hunching all day. Can’t undo the past but making changes now, eg standing desk, breaks, walking more.

Though I enjoyed it, I now think (Les Mills style) Body Pump is risky, since it’s fast and in a large group the instructor can’t correct form.

Thanks @Notsurewheretostarthere, I’ll have a look at private physios in my area. £70 or so doesn’t sound outrageous if it means getting proper advice. Really interesting to hear that advice might have changed on lifting heavy weights- sounds like lots of older GPs and gynaes are erring on the side of caution but it’s good to think I might be able to lift heavy again without affecting the prolapse.

OP doesn’t need to.

You are the only person concerning yourself with this whilst also adding nothing to the thread of any interest at all. Can you not just give it a rest?

I was horrified to find the 'never lift weights again' brigade. It felt like my life was over briefly! Good luck with the physio.

I found physios variable in terms of their manner and advice, and it’s expensive, so recommend ‘shopping around’ or seeking recommendations from people you know. I found my PT from a recommendation from an acquaintance who’d experienced a similar health issue.

I just wanted to add thanks to everyone who has replied with advice. I think I have thanked everyone individually but if I have missed anyone out I apologise!

I have been given so much information here and am grateful to you all, I will look into it properly and see what the best options are for me but I have some great starting points now, thank you

Good luck!

Yes- I must have looked like a rabbit in the headlights when the GP said I shouldn’t lift heavy weights. Doing so makes up a fair chunk of my income 😂 But even if I wasn’t doing it for work, I’d be devastated to have to give it up!

Good luck @chowmeinz, and enjoy. You’ll be an addict in no time- you might even become an ‘everyone’ that tells other people to lift weights 😉😂

Lifting lighter weights for more reps will abuild muscle very well - there are some interesting recent studies. You have to get exhausted though, so it will take longer with lighter weights.
I also teach bodypump, I have a lady in her 80s - she looks incredible, fit and toned. but more importantly, moves with the ease of a 20yo. And all she does is bodypump - she has done it twice per week for 20 years, she told me.

@Waitingfordoggo My doc told me that oooh no I don't know about weights during pregnancy, not sure, have I tried some gentle yoga instead? No thank you, lifted til it was literally time to go to hospital.

@chowmeinz you might like Stacy Sims's Next Level and also, Casey Johnston's Physical Education.

The Sims is a how-to guide and the Johnston a memoir, both recommended!