Exercise routine on HRT

[SurelyNot22]

Would love to hear about others exercise routines on HRT and specifically if you vary it to suit you at different points in your "monthly"/HRT cycle, whatever that may look or feel like for you...

I do the following:

Mon/Wed/Fri am short 5km run
Mon/Wed/Fri eve weight bearing training
Tues/Thurs am arms/glutes
Tues/Thurs pm abs
Sat rest day
Sun longer 15-20km run

Which generally works for me but I definitely find it harder in the first two weeks of the cycle when my mood can be flatter and I personally find life generally physically and mentally tougher (I have monthly withdrawal bleeds due to utrogestan)

I listened to a pod cast which was talking about the idea of varying the perimenopausal exercise routine to reflect the different phases of each cycle and so just wondered if anyone had successfully done this and if so what it looks like?

I just take it as it comes.

So one morning a 3mile power walk before work (even in the dark in the winter)

Then swim in my lunch hour, plus I get a lot of steps in at work.

Or another morning it'll be a 40min weights sesh in my garage, I use bodyfit by amy, plus if time a 30min kassandra yoga before I shower. Then it's swim or walk at lunchtime.

And at the weekend it's always x2 three mile walks, plus weights.

If I'm feeling very diet-y, it's weights, yoga, swim BEFORE work in the 25min gap i have, then walk at lunchtime.

This is all very normal for me though and it's nothing to do with being in peri or MY HRT. I do it irrespective of how I feel on any given day. That said, presumably if I didn't do it, I'd feel rotten.

what did the podcast say? what is the point in varying exercise around a hormonal cycle? Are women supposed to do this for life?

(was this an 'influencer' or sound science?)

It's unusual to have a flat mood in the first two weeks.

@JinglingSpringbells no it wasn't an influencer! It was a qualified menopause practitioner taking with a well regarded sports scientist who throughout his career had done extensive research with female athletes and had developed this further to include retired athletes in peri. It was interesting to me hence why I'm asking for others to share their exercise routines.

@Moredarkchocolateplease thanks for your reply, it's really interesting to see the variety you have there. I like your approach. And I agree; if I took the exercise out I'd be finding all of this so much harder to deal with!

OP i listened to a Rangan Chatterjee podcast a few months ago about fasting and it made reference to fasting and exercising diffferently according to your cycle.

And I've seen it in other places. I think I do tend towards yoga more before my bleed, so as the days go on during the progesterone phase.

And then after the bleed, I go heavier on weights.

Thanks @Moredarkchocolateplease I'll look for that one. It's fascinating to me. I've always been into exercising and it's so interesting to feel my body responding differently at the moment. It's so clear that some exercises/activities are just more effective and achievable at certain points in my cycle than at others

I can recommend Stacy Sims ‘next level’ as a book specifically geared to exercise during peri, menopause and post menopause. She is excellent. She has also written a book called ‘Roar’ which is for women who have a cycle.

She has loads of videos on YouTube if you want to get a feel for her recommendations. I definitely feel better and stronger since I have been incorporating some of her recommendations. Namely stopping intermittent fasting, lifting very heavy stuff and HIIT along with doing things to reduce cortisol. She recommends working at polar extremes ie high intensity as we need a bigger stimulus as we get older and low low intensity with adequate nutrition, so we are recovering when we aren’t working out.

@Wellthatwasodd thank you! This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to hear about. I'll get those books ordered on payday!

As for my routine I normally do 2 heavy lifting (lower body) sessions a week, 1 HITT/SIIT session, 2 kettlebells and 2 bouldering gym sessions a week. Ish. I might drop one session if I have a busy week, but I always have one full rest day.

I’ve also been incorporating one deload week a month, which I really like for variety. Stacey Sims recommends women have a deload running up to their period and I’ve also heard her recommend this for women who are post menopausal too just to give our bodies a break about once a month.

Good luck! For me exercising has become more about avoiding osteoporosis and sarcopenia in later life and realising I have to work on this now to get a greater quality of life in my later years. I also love it!

I like Stacey Sims' Roar book but I also read that there's no uniform response to training cycle in women. Some women have more energy at the beginning of cycle, some of them the other way round. I think the best thing is to listen to your body, and take a step back when you don't feel the best. Based on the latest research I concentrate my workouts more on heavyish lifting, interval training and explosive movements, but I do some runs for the fun of it. Yoga/rest one day a week.

Interesting post. I used to train a lot more, I was super fit, a lot of running, before menopause. I also find I am flatter in the first two weeks of my cycle, better on the progesterone taking phase. It is different now as my periods are starting to change and I only occasionally get a period, and I am on utrogestan every day. What I used to do is a bit less cardio in the first two weeks, concentrating on weights and pilates, walking and yoga etc and doing HIIT cardio and things when I had more energy. Sometimes I could not keep it up at all during the first two weeks, I found it hard. Now I feel more balanced throughout the month unless I happen to get a period, every 3 or 4 months, so I can do what I want to, which is typically 3 x strength training with fasted walk in the morning, and 3 x cardio/pilates/yoga style workouts. If that makes sense. I definitely understand where you're coming from and found it better ti reduce the exercise on those weeks otherwise I had no energy for anything else.

I've been regularly going to the gym for 20 years and ditched cardio two years ago for strength training and I've never been in better shape. I can't recommend it highly enough - body fat down, muscle percentage up and I am able to eat what I want, within reason.

There is definitely a difference in effort required / performance through my cycle, with the first two weeks being much better and the second is a bit of a slog. Jessica Ennis has an Instagram account all about this (wearejennis or something like that).

Weight training is a wonder imo. It has made me feel so much more confident and improved my posture. I'm so clear headed and I'm much more relaxed and in an overall better mood.
I cannot fathom how just shifting a load of metal about does all this.
It may partly be because my diet has changed gradually. When I realised how much protein I actually needed to gain muscle, I changed what I ate somewhat to hit my protein goal.
56, body fat about 20%

Thanks for all your replies! I'm so inspired by your different routines. I'm looking forward to refreshing my own plans now x

All
I.know this is an oldish post but its an inspiring read

How old are you all? I'm struggling with weight gain and have restarted joe wicks 90 day plan which is meal plans and cardio/ weight training mix.

However it's taking far longer to lose the weight than it did three years ago. I'm 51.

I'm looking at the Stacy Sims book thinking it might be for me. I tend to exercise at home as I've got weights and bench here...

Thoughts welcome!

I'm 48 (just). I also find that trying to lose weight is a problem with peri, just doing calorie restriction doesn't work. But things have started getting better once I stabilise my HRT dosage. Stacy Sims advocates HIIT rather than steady state cardio and any resistance exercise to start with will be good for you. I find building strength such an empowering thing at this age, not just for looking good but being healthy too.