Episode 54: Strong Women, Strong Habits: Fitness for the Menopause Transition

Movement is one of the most powerful ways to thrive through menopause—but it’s not just about finding the “right” workout. It’s about defining what you want your life to look like in the years ahead and making choices that support that vision. In this episode, we talk with two experts who help women reconnect with themselves, stay true to their goals, and bring more movement into everyday life in ways that feel realistic and energizing. Whether it’s lifting weights, yoga, or sneaking in short bursts of activity, this episode will inspire you to see movement as a way to create the life you want—one step at a time. 

Find Lisa King:

email her directly:  lisa@lisakingyoga.com. 

Lisa King Yoga

Find her on Facebook-Lisa King Yoga

Find her on Instagram- Lisa King the Menopause Yogi

Find Laura Coombs:

LauraPCoombs.com

Find her book: Of Course Your Knees Hurt

thestartinggatepodcast.com

Email us with questions and topics you want us to cover at
contact@thestartinggatepodcast.com

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The content in this podcast is for general reference and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be complete or exhaustive, or to be applicable to any
specific individual’s medical condition. No information provided in this podcast constitutes medical advice and is not an attempt to practice medicine or to provide specific medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This podcast does not create a physician- patient relationship and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please do not rely on this podcast for emergency medical treatment. Remember that everyone is different so make sure you consult your own healthcare professional before seeking any new treatment and before you alter, suspend, or initiate a new change in your routine.

Transcript

Episode 54: Strong Women, Strong Habits: Fitness for the Menopause Transition

[00:00:00] Before we start today's episode, I would like to quickly read you our podcast disclaimer. The content in this podcast is for general reference and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be complete or exhaustive or to be applicable to any specific individual's medical condition. No information provided in this podcast constitutes medical advice and is not an attempt to practice medicine or to provide specific medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

This podcast does not create a physician patient relationship, and it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please do not rely on this podcast for emergency medical treatment. Remember that everyone is different, so make sure you consult your own healthcare professional before seeking any new treatment, and before you alter, suspend, or initiate a new change in your routine.

Welcome to the starting gate. We're your host, Dr. Kitty Dotson and Dr. Sarah Schuetz. Two internal medicine doctors who spent years practicing traditional primary care. Over time, we realized something was missing from modern healthcare, a [00:01:00] real understanding of how everyday lifestyle choices impact overall health.

We'll help you cut through the noise of the countless health influencers and their conflicting opinions because no matter who you follow, the basics of lifestyle medicine are at the heart of it all.

Welcome to the starting gate. We're your host, Dr. Kitty Dotson 

and Dr. Sarah Schuetz. 

 Today we're wrapping up our menopause series, and we've talked about a lot in the last few weeks. We've talked about hormones, we've talked about nutrition and weight, we've talked about mood, we've talked about sex, we've talked about breast health.

And in all of those conversations, one thing has popped up, I think, every time, and that is movement.

So we're gonna start exploring how movement, whether it's lifting weights, or even using yoga, can help you move through that menopause transition stronger. Calmer and healthier. Many times we only talk about movement and its relationship to a scale, and we don't even want to think about that conversation today.

That is not what we're here to do. We really wanna talk about all the [00:02:00] other aspects that it can help us with. So we brought on two specific powerhouse guests that specialize in women in this time of their life. We have Laura Coombs, who is a resistance trainer, who helps women stay strong and confident, and also have Lisa King who uses yoga, as well as resistance training to help women with their balance, flexibility, and bringing that calmness to both their body and mind.

So Sarah and I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa this spring at the Thrive event, and Lisa King is one of those people that as soon as you see her in a room, you know she's there and you wanna give her a hug.

She has that kind of energy. So Lisa, thank you so much for coming to do this with us today. 

Thank you so much, kitty and Sarah for inviting me to participate in such an important conversation. I am so thrilled to be here with you ladies today, 

and I think it'd be great for our listeners to understand how did you end up here?

How did you end up focusing [00:03:00] on both yoga as well as women in this stage of their life? 

, My first career was as an educator, an early childhood educator and a literacy coach. And then I retired from that work and perimenopause came just as I was moving into that phase of my life.

And I was extremely. Frustrated about the care I was receiving. And I can tell you, I went to my doctor, told him what was going on, and his first line of response was to prescribe me an antidepressant, talked to my mom, and her response was because she didn't talk about it. When she went through it, her response was honey, that's just how it is.

That's just getting older. . Neither one of those things sat well with me, as you can imagine. I was like, no, this is just not how it's going to be for the rest of my life, because I felt horrible. I was having hot flashes, horrible, insomnia, heart [00:04:00] palpitations, and it was really impacting my daily life.

So I sat in my car when I left the doctor that day upset and really angry that I wasn't getting the help that I was looking for because basically he said, if you don't do this, there's not anything we can do for you. So being the. Education nerd that I am. I started Googling menopause and found out that there was just not a ton of information at the time.

It's having a moment right now, but at that time about nine, 10 years ago, there just wasn't a ton of information out there that I could find. And so I did find with the international doula movement, a menopause doula training, and that's where I started. So it was really for myself I just wanna learn as much as I can about what is happening now and for the rest of my life so I can just live my best life.

And so I did that, and then I found the menopause movement training. So it was during COVID and everything went online, so these ladies were physiotherapists in the United Kingdom, and I was able to train with them over an [00:05:00] extended period of time, virtually. And then just a few years ago, I became certified as a women's wellness coach.

So this journey for me and what I do now really started just from a personal need and wanting to thrive. In midlife and beyond. 

This is a common thread. Say that we're hearing from many of the people that we brought on this show. Even some of the people that we had at the UN Unmuted Conference.

Really their interest is because of their own personal need. Getting the education and then wanting to share that information with others because you're like, wait a minute, this isn't fair. We all need to know this information 

well, right. I have two daughters that are in their late twenties, early thirties right now.

I have a sister, I have lots of friends, a mom, aunts, and I was like, I don't want any other woman to experience menopause the way I've been experiencing it. And that is really what brought me to this work. I love that.

So can you tell us what you are doing now for women in perimenopause and menopause? 

Okay, so I am. [00:06:00] A menopause coach and I offer private sessions based on every woman's individual goals and what they value as they get older.

So I work with private clients and I also teach a class at a local yoga studio in a very menopause informed way. 

What have you noticed working with your private clients, the impact of movement on women in this stage of life? 

I know this is gonna really sound cliche, but it changes their life. So I have clients that are. Lifelong athletes, and I have clients that hardly move their body at all before they start working with me.

And every person will say, after a few months of working with me, I can see the impact of what we're doing on the yoga mat in my everyday life. To me, that's the biggest success so women are saying things like, I'm sleeping better.

I'm able to downregulate my nervous system [00:07:00] and not have the rage that I was feeling and self-regulate a whole lot better. Or I'm feeling stronger and I'm able to get up and down out of the floor. And I couldn't even get in the floor before, right? Now I'm able to get up and down out of the floor, I'm able to carry my grandchildren.

I've seen it take women who have. Hardly moved at all for a long time, who had a lot of pain or for whatever reason that they haven't been moving and really changed their life. 

That's great. 

It is. Yeah. That's our goal with moving every time is to improve our quality of life 

right 

now.

Have you always been into yoga? 

 No. No. This is gonna sound really crazy because in my early twenties I just stopped moving, right? 

So many. Yeah. Very 

common. 

Unless it was in the club dancing, I wasn't moving a whole lot. 

Hopefully we can see some of those moves before you 

leave.

Yes. And so then I moved into my thirties. I became a mom and life just [00:08:00] happened. And so again, not a ton of movement. I did start strength training in my late thirties and don't even wanna know why, because I wanted to get smaller. Yeah. Not because I wanted to get stronger because I wanted to get smaller, and I hated every minute of it, to be honest.

And so then that just fell by the wayside again, life kept happening, and so finally my daughter says to me, and this was really when my menopause was probably at its worst, she said, mom, I think you would like a yoga class. Go to this yoga class with me. Of course I'm gonna go with her. It was mom, daughter time, and I fell in love with it.

I fell in love with the practice of yoga and the way it made me feel in my body, the way it made me feel off the mat. Just again like that. Downregulation of my nervous system and I fell in love with it. And so no, I have not always been even a person who moved a whole lot. I see the difference. It's made though in my life doing it.

Like I do it almost [00:09:00] every day in some way. Like whether it's 15 minutes of legs up the wall or it's an hour complete yoga practice, it just makes such a difference. And sometimes we do things, and I tell clients this all the time, sometimes we do things not because we absolutely love doing them in the moment.

That's hard for us sometimes. 

motivation to go do it. waiting to feel like I'm excited to go do something. Right. Is going to fail you more times than not. 

Exactly. And when it comes to strength training, which I have again just added back into my movement practice in the last year regular strength training.

It's not that I love to go to the gym, it's, I love the way it's making me feel and what I see in my functional movement every day. And so I think it's about deciding, like what are your goals as you age? What do you want to still be able to do, what do you value? And then what are the kinds of things that you're gonna do so that you can do all those things?

Yeah, I think that's really important because many [00:10:00] times we're waiting for that. Day that we're just get up to be excited to go exercise. And that's may never come for some people, especially if they haven't moved for a long time. Really trying to work through that so you can see the benefit and then receive that motivation because of what you get on the other side of it.

I wanna go back to something 'cause I think this is really helpful with yoga and dealing with some of the mood changes that women experience during this time. Can you talk about how women can see an improvement in their nervous system and their mood just by regular yoga? We have science to back it up.

Sure. But I would love to hear your, real time experience that you see in people. 

Yeah. I tell everybody, if you don't do anything at all, you've gotta find a way to downregulate your nervous system when you're on your menopause journey. When I say menopause journey, I'm talking perimenopause through the rest of your life.

'cause we're gonna live postmenopausal, right? And so the key with yoga is that our progesterone is dropping as we age. And [00:11:00] so our nervous system can become dysregulated much easier and it's a lot harder to calm ourselves down because that's something that progesterone helps us do. What yoga does is it teaches us to tap in to the breath and to how we feel in our body so that we can calm the nervous system down.

And what. People will say after just a few months of practicing yoga is I can see a difference in how I'm sleeping. Because a lot of times we can't go to sleep because our nervous system is still just like screaming at us, right? Or I'm not waking up as much in the night. Or if I do, I can go back to sleep faster.

I'm not raging at my kids and my husband. Or if I feel it coming on, I can plant my feet, take some deep breaths, bring myself back down. And yoga is just the key to that mind body connection. And a lot of clients too, a lot of women, when we start to age for all of our life, we've started to disconnect from our bodies.

 You know what I'm talking about? Like people just are [00:12:00] like, okay, I am just not gonna tap into what I'm feeling. And what yoga does is it gives you that opportunity to reconnect to your body and. Just really ask yourself like, how do I know when I'm getting ready to rage? What do I feel in my body?

And you start to notice that. And the more you do it in a safe place like your yoga mat, the more likely you are to do it when you feel the meltdown coming on. 

I think on the flip side that can be scary for a lot of women, especially for someone that has tried to disconnect from their emotions.

And if you're someone that's never done yoga, and I've never been a big yoga person too, sometimes I think about, I see all the great evidence behind yoga and I'm always like, I need to do that more. But then it can feel like if you're not someone that's great at meditating. Or haven't done a lot of yoga, it can feel a little daunting.

Like, I don't know if I can do that or if that would be enjoyable for me. 

I'm a terrible [00:13:00] meditator, i've got to have an app and I'm good for about 10 minutes, but it does make me feel so much better. So yeah, I'm not a great meditator even though I'm a yogi. But what I would say is just teaching people how to regulate their breath is so important.

And can be a gateway in I just want you to stop and breathe. So let's just breathe together. Take a long deep breath into your belly, take a long exhale out and just take four or five of those. And so for someone who is I can't meditate, I'm not flexible, I've never done yoga before a day in my life, that's an easy gateway in it is just helping them check into their breath and just saying, what do you feel when you get ready?

To blow a fuse, what do you feel in your body? And when you do that, you could take this breath. This is a breath practice you could use. And so I think that is, is a really I don't wanna use the word easy. I'm having a moment of [00:14:00] brain fog here. I'll just share it with everybody. I'm looking for a word and I can't find it.

But I think that is an easy way for people to start the practice. It's not just about moving the body, it's also about the mind quieting, the mind connecting to the breath. 

 Another thing that I think yoga is very helpful with as we age, but also concerns people is just seeing people do yoga poses, right?

Is that flexibility and balance. 'cause working on that is really important, How do you encourage people to calm that anxiety about doing yoga if they're not good at that already? 

Most people will say, when you say, why haven't you tried yoga? Or they'll say, I haven't done yoga because I'm not flexible.

But that's like the response, right? Then , you need to be on your yoga mat if you're not flexible. You need it more than anyone. You need it more than anyone. But I think it's really important to have someone that you work with, whether it's a yoga teacher in a [00:15:00] class or a private coach who really listens to you and hears what you're saying about that fear or that insecurity.

Because most women, as they start through the menopause transition, start to also lose confidence. Even the most confident women. You're starting to see changes in your body. You're starting to not feel as strong. You're having brain fog, which really messes with your confidence. And then now you want me to go into a strange class where I don't know anybody and do these strange.

Movements with my body that I've never done before. So I think finding a class that's beginner friendly, finding a teacher who really respects and uses props , we call them props in yoga, but I think when you hear the word prop, you think, oh, then that's just gonna make it easier for me. Or, I'm not doing something right or I can't do the full expression.

A prop can make a pose harder, honestly. So you're looking for a teacher who really values and will encourage you to use the yoga blocks, the yoga strap, the blankets, the [00:16:00] bolsters. So then it will help you get into some shapes that maybe would feel a little tricky. And also someone who really understands how to progress a yoga practice in a yoga pose.

So if you're someone who's not super strong and it's your first class of yoga, I'm probably not going to suggest that you do a downward facing dog in the class. Because that's holding your whole body weight upside down on your hands, right? And so I think it's just really important if you're thinking about starting a yoga practice, you check out the studio, you talk to the owner or to some of the teachers, maybe a person that you know who's taking the class, go with a friend.

But you are in control of that yoga practice. A yoga teacher is just your guide. So I always tell my class and my students, if you wanna leave something out, leave it out. If it doesn't feel good in your today body . So I think you wanna look for somebody who really gives you , some sense of agency in your yoga practice.

And another thing that you've done [00:17:00] recently is started to educate other yoga instructors about menopause. What is , the message you're trying to get across to these other instructors so they can help women during this time of life? 

Yeah, so I think it's really important if you are working with women either in strength weight training, yoga, that you understand the menopause transition that you understand there are going to be days when women are not feeling their best and knowing that, there are like 80 symptoms that are recorded.

I 

think there may be more than that. 

There probably are more than that. We just haven't, they're not recorded anywhere. But to know that and to respect what a woman says I don't feel good in my joints today. And being mindful of that and offering still movement and moving them forward, but offering poses and suggestions that will help them feel comfortable.

So you're mentioning women not feeling right within their joints or something feeling off 

in their today [00:18:00] body. I really like how you Mm,

yes. 

Yeah. 'cause one today body may be different than tomorrow's body. 

Yes, girl. It is. You wake up one day and you've got the energy, you're ready to go. You wake up the next day and you can't lift your arm above shoulder height.

And so being able to respect that yourself and to know, okay, when I get on my mat today, I'm gonna honor that, my shoulder is really hurting today. I'm going to leave some things out. And being in a class where you feel safe enough to do that is really important. 

Yeah. 'cause I feel like that was a symptom that was unrecognized for a long time with some of the musculoskeletal complaints women had during this transitional time.

And it is something that I think at least helps knowing it's a part of that. Yeah. To know that you'll notice your body feeling different from day to day. 

And about 70% of women will experience some sort of musculoskeletal pain or issue. And so it may not be all the time, it may not be chronic, it may be more acute, and [00:19:00] then it may fade away.

But it's really important for anyone who's working with women of that age to really understand that those things occur. And if a person comes into your class or into your private session and tells you, I'm experiencing hot flashes today, you've gotta be able to go, okay, in your head, how am I gonna tweak what I have thought we would do today to support this person in front of me today?

Because it's a different person than it was last week when she was here on her mat. And so that's one of the things that I'm just very passionate about, is educating coaches and yoga teachers just about the menopause transition. And not only the physical symptoms, but the emotional, mental, energetic things that are gonna happen as women go through this phase of their life.

So when you were saying that just then I was picturing a woman, I got this visual of this woman having a hot flash. , She was in downward dog. And the sweat was dripping off and then her hands were [00:20:00] slipping on the mat.

That was just the image I got. Yeah. Just does yoga seem to help at all with hot flashes in your experience? 

So here's what's interesting. Yes and no because menopause is a unique experience for every woman. And what works for one woman will not always work for the other. So you're saying, okay, this woman's in downward facing dog, she's dripping sweat.

I can obviously see, or she may have even told me before class, I'm having hot flashes. Not every yoga pose is created equal. So a downward dog is probably not the best thing. Even a child's pose. So you think about a child's pose and you're putting your head toward the floor, you're curling up in a little ball.

That's not gonna feel great if I'm having a hot flash. So when hot flashes are happening, the more space you can create in the body, the better. So yes, yoga things like legs up the wall. Are great because the more you can, again, calm your nervous system, you know that nervous system when it is just really in that state of fight [00:21:00] or flight, you're going to have more symptoms and more severe symptoms.

So if you're in a hot flash and you start freaking out, like you start going, oh my gosh, I'm standing in front of 15 people having a conversation. I'm starting to drip sweat, I'm freaking out. If you can plant your feet just, where you are, wherever you are in a chair or standing, take a few nice deep breaths and know that this hot flash is not going to last forever, then you're gonna be able to bring that down, right?

And then knowing that there are some yoga poses that you can do, so you're at home or you're in a place where you could, whip out a downward facing dog or a child's pose, maybe not the grocery store, but when you're at home and I'm gonna have, I have a lot of night sweats, for example.

So how do I downregulate my nervous system? You're gonna do things like. Poses that open your heart up so your arms are out to the side your heart is forward. You're not gonna wanna do a lot of those poses that fold you in, that close you off. You're gonna wanna think about taking up space and [00:22:00] taking big breaths, if that makes sense.

That definitely makes sense. And you're mentioning before bed, I think that there's a lot of value. It's not talked about a lot in people's bedtime routines. I love talking about , wind down routines, kit's oh gosh, here goes Sarah again. Anyways, but I do love talking about wind down routines.

I find a ton of value. When people are dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety as well as this time in your life of menopause, of having a stretching routine before bed being helpful for all these symptoms we're talking about. Insomnia can help with hot flashes, , because all that tension's built up and you're talking about opening up your body.

That is such a great practice to have to get you ready for sleep. 

Yes. I stretch every morning before I get out of bed, so I wake up about 10 minutes earlier and I'm gonna stretch in bed because, the joints are creaky. A lot of women say, I can't hardly walk in the morning. My low back is killing me.

So I, I tell my clients, stretch for 10 minutes, wake up 10 minutes early, [00:23:00] do some stretches in your bed, and then get up and start your day. And then you wanna bookend that with some stretches in the evening. And so thinking about the kind of stretches and movement that sort of. Bring that nervous system down.

So very gentle. I'm not going to want to go whip out planks and down dogs right before I'm going to bed, but thinking about a slow, maybe a gentle flow or some more restorative type of movements, and it's really gonna bring that nervous system into more of a regulated state. So you're gonna sleep a little bit better.

And in addition to teaching yoga, you also are a menopause health coach. 

Yes. 

Can you tell us what does a menopause health coach do? 

That's a great question. Everything, all of it. So what I do is help women get clarity on their vision for their menopause and post menopause life. , Because sometimes you think about, I don't know.

I don't know what's important to me. I'm just trying to get through today. [00:24:00] Exactly right. Yeah. I'm just trying to survive the hot flashes. And all the other stuff that is going on, but I think it's important. So whenever I start working with a client or a potential client, we talk about, what are your goals?

I want you to think about what do you value, what's important to you? Things like, playing with your grandkids, still being able to carry in your groceries, being able to get up and down off the toilet. Being able to go down into the basement to do my laundry. Okay. Participating in some sports that you play being part of aboard that you sit on, being able to do those kinds of things.

So we start to build a plan together around things that you could do, you can do, changes that you can make, things that you can continue. That will support that lifestyle that you wanna have. And then coaching them through. So I usually, my clients I see once a week. I have some that I see twice a week, but most clients I see once a week, and that is for their movement practice usually is to get on their mat and move in some way, whether it's to build strength, to relax, whatever their [00:25:00] goal is when they're on the yoga mat.

And then it's just supporting them. Phone calls, emails, text messages. You need somebody really to keep you accountable. We're, we know that from goal setting and changing habits that if you have an accountability partner, so I'm that person. I'm like the person that says, oh, last week you said you were gonna start walking every night after dinner.

How's that going? And then. Helping women step back and reflect on the decisions that we've made together and are those working? How do we need to tweak those? And I think one of the things I do is I help my clients and we come up with a good, better, best plan. And so how often do you set out on Sunday night and you're like, this is what I'm gonna do this week.

I'm gonna go to the gym four times. I'm gonna walk every night after dinner. I'm gonna ride my bike, I'm gonna go play pickleball with a friend. You've got all this movement, for example, a movement plan, I'm gonna eat this way or whatever. And then all of a sudden life just happens, right? The [00:26:00] kids get sick or there's an emergency at work, whatever.

It's, and so then you just go, I missed that one day at the gym. I'm just gonna stop, Or, I've missed two days at the gym. But what if you had a good, better, best plan? So knowing that, okay, my plan today was to go to my yoga class and I can't get there 'cause I had to stay late at work. But on my good list, I could go take a walk tonight, however long that is, I can get in.

, So I think we just operate from this all or nothing mentality. So I try to help my clients see it's not about perfection, it's about consistency and it's about checking yourself back in too. It's also about, having those hard conversations with yourself of I didn't get to the gym one day last week and I probably could have done it a couple of days.

And then having that accountability person to say, okay, then what are we gonna do? How are you gonna set yourself up for success this next week? 

Oh, that's all great stuff. You're saying all the things we'd love to hear on this show. All of them. I love it. And I [00:27:00] think one key point that you brought up that I love, and I think it makes a big deal, is having.

That set appointment with yourself to reflect oh, this happened, it didn't go well. How could I have done this differently? Because that really helps you continue to have progress in your journey when you are taking that time to learn from yourself, 

right? 

Because nobody else knows your life better than you.

So use your own experiences, obstacles, responses to learn from so you can try again next week and do it differently. 

Exactly.

What are those must haves that you tell women that you're working with that they need to be having a routine of with their movement during the stage of life? 

Yeah, so I think of course yoga because of that mind body connection and that bringing down the nervous system is essential. Whether you're doing a little bit every day or you're going to a couple of classes a week.

[00:28:00] Secondly strength training. ladies, we have to strength train it. Yeah, it's just a non-negotiable. And that's because, we're losing after the age of 51 to 2% of our muscle mass and three to 5% of our strength. And so if we want to be vital in our seventies and our eighties and our nineties, we have to mitigate that with strength training.

It does not have to be four days at the gym for an hour. That's a lot. You could do 20 minutes. I'm gonna tell a quick story. The other night I'm grilling, I'm literally grilling chicken and I have nine minutes on each side for the chicken. I had, did not get a workout in, but I have weights and a yoga mat on my back porch.

So I set the timer for the chicken. I go through a circuit. Keep repeating it for the eight minutes. Upper body, flip the chicken, lower body, eight minutes. I had 16 minutes of a workout in. That's what I got in that day. 

I love that. That is habit stacking. Yes at 

its 

finest. I love 

that. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am.

It's strength training is non-negotiable. [00:29:00] That's so important. The combination of yoga and strength training, because it's going to improve your balance and your core stability. And we know that about 40% of women over 60 are gonna experience a fall, So if you start to fall, you wanna either be able to keep yourself from falling and , correct that.

Or if you do fall and get injured, you wanna be able to recover more quickly. And so yoga combined with strength. And then lastly, you've got to move and get that heart rate up so you don't have to be out running a mile or two, but walking, just walking in your neighborhood, walking with a friend.

Building that cardio because again, as we get into post menopause, we're seeing the challenges of cardiovascular health. All three of these things are great for your brain, right? 

Yeah, we did a whole show on dementia prevention. And the evidence for exercise in decreasing your risk is huge. Yes.

So if that [00:30:00] is a worry of your all's, you can go back and listen to that show. But there is so much evidence that exercise is one of the best ways to mitigate that risk. 

 Sometimes, and. This is something that I think is particularly hard in perimenopause and menopause is a sense of feeling overwhelmed with everything you have going on internally and then all of the responsibilities that tend to fall on women at this age.

So someone might be listening to you and say, I already feel overwhelmed in my life. You just told me I have to do cardio yoga and strength training. Can you add another hour to my day? Or, what's your advice? I loved your example of when you were grilling, but what's your advice for someone that's really struggling to incorporate this?

Yeah, so I think instead of thinking about yoga and strength training, like I said, is I've got to go to an hour yoga class and I've got to go to an hour to the gym, X number of days of the week. looking at your whole day and thinking, where can I sneak in, if you will. [00:31:00] Some yoga and where can I sneak in some strength?

Can I find 20 minutes in my day to downregulate my nervous system with some yoga? And can I find 20 minutes, four times a week to squeeze in some strength training? And I'm talking about things like, again, back to your habit stacking comment. I'm a big habit stacker when I get up to go to the bathroom.

I do five squats every time. So think about how many times you go to the bathroom every day and you're doing squats. I keep a weight by my desk, so if I'm at the computer, I set my timer and every hour I'll do something. It could be bicep curls, it could be overhead presses, like 10 of those. And so when you think about, are there little ways.

That I call them like little movement snacks. And I'm sure I didn't coin that term. It's probably somebody else has said it, but I love that idea instead of thinking of this long amount of time, because you're right kitty, we've all got kids and aging parents and just life [00:32:00] is happening. And so I really encourage my clients to look at their whole day, their whole week and thinking about where can I squeeze this in?

Back to atomic habits. It's like keeping those things there, like the weights by my desk. The shoes by the door. My husband hates that 'cause he's these shoes are, why do you have a tennis shoe? Why are your shoes always in my way? Because if I get the urge, I'm just gonna slip 'em on and I'm gonna go for a walk.

But it's changing that mindset from exercise to movement. I love changing it. Just from how am I gonna move my body today? 

Yeah, no, I think that is fabulous. I even have had patients take a kettlebell to work and use it in between meetings or whatnot. Knock out some squats, knock out some some movements just to be able to do it because they know there, there's no other time. But you can do quickly do a set of those at your desk and honestly spreading those throughout your day so you're not sedentary for [00:33:00] eight hours. Exactly. If you split those up. That 20 minute split up is probably doing you even more benefit than trying to like do it first thing in the morning because you're breaking up all that sedentary time.

Yeah, I have one client better I 

insulin sensitivity with 

that. Yeah, 

I have one client right now who's doing things like when her coffee is brewing in the morning, she's doing heel lifts and for impact, then I have her standing on one leg and the other while she's brushing her teeth to work on her balance.

So we're just with her, we're just trying to just fit in all these little things. If you're sitting in the car line, think about how often moms spend time in the car line. 

That's so true. 

Good grief. What if you just stood outside your car? I know people might look at you a little bit strange, but then you might in a couple weeks have a bunch of other ladies out there doing it with you.

I 

would love to see a car line. I love of moms outside of it doing squats 

let's make this normal. Exactly. 

I was actually pacing back and forth by my car when I was waiting on my click list the other day and I thought, what are these people think about what I'm doing? [00:34:00] 

When I was in, 

but 

I didn't just wanna sit there.

I was like, right 

when I was in the office and I, some days I would be like preparing for trainings before I retired and I would just drop in the floor, and to hit a yoga pose and somebody would come and go, where's Lisa? My colleagues who shared office space with me. Oh, she's over there with her legs up the wall.

You can go talk to her. She's just got her legs up the wall. Let's normalize this. Let's normalize it. Let's 

normalize this. 

 you've mentioned a few things you've told clients tips and tricks. Can you kinda share with us maybe a client that's gone through this with you and how it's impacted her life?

Sure. So I have a client who came to me almost two years ago and she was an athlete. She's an athlete, she's a cyclist. She cycles all over the country. She's a runner. And she had an accident. She had fallen. And hurt both of her shoulders. She was postmenopausal. And she said she came in and she said, I just wanna be able to lift my arms.

I wanna be able to ride my [00:35:00] bike even if it's not as long as I'm used to, without pain in my shoulders. I don't care if I ever do a down dog. I may never do a down dog. I said, okay. And so I met her where she was and we started there. And so we started work with mobility and building some strength and slowly progressing her in her yoga practice.

She just, last year, did a five day ride in North Carolina on her bike, hundreds of miles. And she's running again on a, regular basis. She has a bike ride planned in November that she's super excited about, but she just came in this past week and she's doing planks down dogs three, three point plank where she's lifting and hovering and she cannot be happier because she can do the things that she loves.

It was so important for her to be able to ride that bike. And she came in the other day and she said, we rode bikes three days this week and my shoulders hardly hurt at all. 

That's amazing. 

And [00:36:00] that's the success, right? When you're seeing in your everyday life that change. 

That's great. So with that story, if someone wants to come see you work with you, how can they find you and get in touch with you so they can start on this journey themselves?

 the easiest way to get in touch with me is through email and it's lisa@lisakingyoga.com. I have a website, Lisa King Yoga. Keep it pretty simple because I can't remember, I post menopausal, so I gotta keep it pretty simple. I have a Facebook page, same thing. Lisa King Yoga. I am most active if you're just interested, like on the daily, like tips and tools on Instagram.

And I, she does 

a great job like that. Yes, I 

love her 

Instagram. And I'm Lisa King, the menopause yogi on Instagram. So you can follow me along there 

and we'll link those in our show notes so y'all can find that. 

Yeah, definitely recommend following her because as we said in the beginning, [00:37:00] to aside, just from giving wonderful tips on how to move your body and incorporate it and get through this transition of life, you are just a joy.

To be around. 

Oh, thank you so much. 

I always 

like when see one of 

yours, come on. I'm like, oh, 

there's Lisa. 

It just 

makes you feel good. 

And I keep it pretty real too, I think. Yeah, I think you do. I'm all about let's just keep it real and let's just say how it is. And the other day I post, my husband laughs because he doesn't have Instagram, but I also pop into his Facebook feed.

He's I just saw you in your pajamas on the back porch doing some strength training. And then this week it was like, why were you brushing your teeth and you posted that on your Instagram standing on one leg? I'm like, because I want women to see just in your everyday life, this is how you can do it.

Keeping it real. 

And I love it. Keeping it real. 

Keeping it real with Lisa King. Thank you so much for 

joining us. 

 While Lisa King will [00:38:00] show us how yoga can bring us balance, flexibility, and calm that nervous system today we've got not just one, but we have two powerhouse guests to guide us. We also have Laura Coombs who will share with us how resistance training can help women stay strong and confident as they age. 

Laura we would love for you to introduce yourself to our guests and how you have specialized in this space of helping women as they age. 

Hi. Thank you for having me.

My background is in athletic training, which means I always have taken care of injured athletes and helped them get back in the game or stay in the game kind of bigger, stronger, faster, and better performers at whatever game they're playing. When I outgrew that, I decided that I wanted to work with active adults, keep them in the game,

and then once I myself became a woman of a certain age of specifically menopausal age, I realized. That the playbook had to change the bigger, stronger, faster was [00:39:00] not working anymore. The old protocols were not working anymore. The body is so different as we go through menopause and reach menopause, that we need a new set of rules.

So that's where I am now. I am a strength coach. I'm an athletic trainer who keeps women in the game and helps them not necessarily be bigger, stronger, faster, but certainly better performers using all the tools that are available to us at this age, in a way that fits into their specific lifestyle.

when you shifted to this specific population, what are some of those things that you notice had to be different That once. Just stopped working. That used to work. 

For me it was the duration of the workout. For whatever reason, we've always been sold a 60 minute workout.

It's always one hour, it's a one hour class, it's a one hour session, it's a one hour, Peloton workout or whatever. And for my body that [00:40:00] was not working anymore, I could get through the hour, but for the next 47 hours, I was tanked. I bottomed out, I was depleted. Just zero energy, zero motivation, famished it, it just wasn't working anymore.

So I needed to adjust. Firstly, the duration. The intensity of my workouts can be the same, but the duration cut way back and where I landed was about 20 minutes. So now I package my workouts into 20 minutes or less, and that's how I train my clients as well. Another thing that had to change was the corrective exercise budget.

Previous to menopause, I would say about 90% of my exercise minutes were, hard. We were working hard, we were lifting the heavy weights, we were doing the high intensity interval training, and then 10% of my exercise budget was a little cardio and a little stretching.

And now about [00:41:00] 70% of my exercise time budget is on correctives. And that's how I train my clients 70% of the time that we spend together. Either in the session or during the week, even on their own, we are doing corrective exercises. And corrective exercises can be anything from those physical therapy exercises that you learn to rehab your knee or your twisted ankle.

Or it can be correcting your nervous system. It can be some yoga, it can be some mobility and balance stuff. It can be flexibility. , If you are taking a lot of prescription medicines for blood pressure or cholesterol or bone density, your corrective exercises might want to address those issues as well.

And then after we. Use up all that great time doing corrective exercises, then and only then can we move into the strength training and the high intensity interval training and stuff like that, the more glamorous, sexy, [00:42:00] flashy influencer style workouts. So that was a big shift for me as well. 'cause I was always wanting to do the, the glamorous, sexy influencer type of workout.

My body just couldn't handle it anymore. My body can still handle it, but in much smaller doses and only with this big foundation of corrective exercises. 

And when you're working with clients. Does this kind of take them back? They're like, wait, why are we doing all this? Is this gonna help me? And and what's your response to that? 'cause I know some women would be like, okay, getting myself a trainer, we're going to go, we're gonna grind, we're gonna grind, we're gonna go hard, they're gonna push me. I 

wanna sweat, I wanna be sore. 

All this stuff. And then you're there telling 'em, oh no, we just need to work on fixing all these things.

How does that conversation go? 

It's, it is not always well received because a lot of people see it as a regression or a really remedial version of the workout that they have in their mind. And so I just try to give them the customer service exercises at the beginning and the end, which is when they're gonna remember the [00:43:00] flashy, sexy stuff.

And then I sneak in what they really need in the middle of the workout. And I'm saying sneak it in. But obviously there's a lot of conversations and there's a lot of reality checks. And I say how are you feeling after you do those really intense workouts? And if you're still feeling great and your heart rate variability is still good and your resting heart rate is still good, and your sleep score is still really good and your bone density is still really good and your mobility and your aches and pains are still really good, then and only then will I believe you that we can actually work at that intensity level still.

But a lot of women aren't even checking in with their bodies. To ask themselves those questions, or they don't know that there are some markers for over training that they're not paying attention to. So it's my job I think, to educate them. Here we are at this age now here we are in this new sport.

We are in the sport of menopause. 

That's a, That's a great way to think 

about and we need to change our, but wait, 

I didn't sign up for it. 

Right? Right. You're in it. You [00:44:00] are in the sport. And so we need to change the plan a little bit. We need to change our practice plan. We need to change the game rules because the rules changed and we have to change with that.

And that doesn't have to be a compromise or a setback. It can be a very beautiful way to just honor where we are now biologically and take advantage of these new tools. 

 And when it comes to working on strengths training, because women are now. They've received the message, Hey, I need to be strength training.

I think we've finally gotten that message out there to women. How does a woman actually feel like they're gaining muscle mass? Because so many times, they're like, I am not seeing any return on doing these exercises. And how do you coach women through that to, to keep with it, to get those results?

That's good. We do need to be measuring. . I have my clients measure every other month. Every other month we're doing some kind of measurement, either how many sit to stands can you [00:45:00] do in 20 seconds or how fast can you walk one mile? Or what's the circumference of your thigh?

What's the circumference of your hips? And once the circumference of your waist, maybe we're measuring your blood pressure, maybe we're measuring your sleep score. We are measuring something every two months to make sure that we're making progress. And if we are not, it's because . We have to change the plan.

And a lot of times the plan is on my end. I have to make sure that they're doing the right exercises, at the right intensity, in the right volume, and we want to make sure that we're doing the smallest effective dose. When we're in our thirties, we can do the most effective dose. We can do all the exercise and all the flash and all the grind, but now we have to do the smallest effective dose, otherwise we get burned out or inflamed or injured.

And then the other thing that we need to make sure that they're doing to gain muscle is they're sleeping well, they're eating well, and most importantly, that they are recovering well. The you guys know this, the magic is [00:46:00] not in the actual session as far as muscle building goes. It's in the recovery. So after you finish that session, number one, if you didn't tear down enough muscle because you weren't using heavy enough weight or you weren't doing enough repetitions or working the right body parts in a way that's functional.

You are just exercising, you're just getting your heart rate up, and there's certainly value in that, but there isn't enough stimulus to tear down the muscle tissue in order for it to actually rebuild. And then the rebuild will only happen if your nutrition is spot on. And even if your nutrition is spot on, if your gut health is not spot on, you could be eating all the high quality protein and all the vegetables and all the supplements, but if your gut isn't digesting it and delivering it, it doesn't matter.

You just ate for the toilet and not for your muscles. Are we allowed to say toilet on this show? We sure are. Absolutely. 

Yes. We're doctors. We can talk about poop [00:47:00] if you wanna. 

We love it. So I so it's a different responsibility for the trainer as well when we're talking about women in this age group.

I definitely don't think that a sweaty workout or a, I got so sore workout, or I burned this many calories. Workout is. Important or even responsible at this point in the game. I think the smallest effective dose, using the right exercises for the right body with masterful recovery is where the strength gain and the muscle gain actually happens.

And it's coaching them on those things which are not flashy and not sexy and a little bit boring, but so important in that I think is the missing link. It's the correctives and the recovery that we aren't paying enough attention to. 

And something that you, just as you're mentioning all of these different parameters that you're measuring, I just want our listeners to realize the parameter was just not the scale.

Oh my 

goodness. I never heard you say 

pounds. 

Oh, no. [00:48:00] No. And so thank you for doing that, because again, I think when we're talking about making these big changes and working on these things, if we're only focused on what that number on the scale says. Like within a month's time, you're just, you're not motivated to continue because , we have other things that are going to happen first when we're trying to make these changes.

And that's where we should put our time and energy and focusing on So you can see that progress 

Exactly. 

To keep going. 

Exactly. And certainly the number on the scale is a number, and it's important that we keep an eye on it, but there's 27 other numbers Correct.

That I think are even more important. Exactly. And certainly there's some more sophisticated measurements. Not everybody has access to those. So I understand that those are available. But I personally don't recommend those because most of my clients just would rather use a tape measure and a walking test.

And speaking of walking, what's your advice for a woman who's, maybe, let's say they've walked their whole life. They're a. Three mile walker. They do it at least five days a week, but they've never really done [00:49:00] anything else. Mm-hmm. And are intimidated by it.

Where do you recommend that woman start? 

I think that woman definitely needs to start with a personal trainer, not for the rest of her life, but maybe for 10 sessions, who can take an inventory, do some measurements, educate them on how to use the machines, or how to do some basic lifts, work with that woman's lifestyle.

I understand that it's not everybody's full-time job to be at a gym. So I try to take that into consideration. What's the smallest minimum dose that we need to get you the results that you want? And then usually for most women after 10 sessions, and that can be spread out over a whole year, you are gonna feel so much safer and more confident, and more savvy and better educated about how to use strength training in your exercise budget.

Than just walking alone. The other thing I would say to a woman that's been walking their whole life is, congratulations, man. Yeah. Commitment is maybe the third [00:50:00] piece that I think is underutilized in women over 50. Commitment and consistency. It doesn't have to be flashy, it does not have to be this high intensity stuff all the time, but it does have to be consistent.

So a plus to all those gals that are already walking and know that I just listened to a great podcast and they mentioned that when we do aerobic exercise in zone two, 65% of your heart rate max, we are directly impacting the volume of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain of course that helps us to retain short-term memory and emotional health and spatial recognition.

Just walking three hours a week or swimming or bicycling or taking a group exercise class can impact the brain. And who doesn't want some of that, right? In addition to that, when we do strength training, yes, long term we get more muscle mass, but in the moment of that strength training session, your body is releasing additional beneficial hormones 

It's an [00:51:00] unbelievable tool that we have at any age to just keep releasing these surges of longevity into our body. Let's take advantage of all the tools that we have walking as a great tool, but we don't just need a hammer. We need the entire toolbox. At this age, we need all the tools on deck.

So don't overlook the benefit of strength training there. 

What is the tool you recommend for consistency? 

I recommend an identity shift. I am. A person who does strength training. I am at the gym Tuesday and Thursday. I am the person who has a gym bag at all times in my car.

I am an athlete. I am whatever, fill in the blank. But I am a strength trainer. I am an athlete, is gonna help you get out of this reliance on motivation and willpower or apps or accountability partners. [00:52:00] You have to be a new person and I think that's one of the exciting things about menopause.

You get to be a new person again. You get to reinvent yourself and reexamine kind of your attitudes. It's like going to a new school. You get to be a new person. People don't know you , anymore. In menopause you get to, okay, you know what, I'm a per, I'm an athlete now.

I was always afraid of the gym, but now I'm an athlete. I'm that person now. So that's what I recommend. I don't think that it's willpower and I don't think it's somebody else's responsibility to be your accountability buddy. 

I like that. 

I do too. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that to be answer. 

I think I might have stolen that from James.

Clear from Atomic Habits. Yeah. Oh yeah. I think I might have. We love Atomic Habits. Yes. Hello James. Clear. 

So when you're working with women who are in menopause, , there has to be a lot of consistent things that you hear from clients. What are some of those things that you hear women that are experiencing as they're trying to become [00:53:00] active, and how do you coach 'em through that?

There are two things that I always hear. One of them is. My mom always fill in the blank. My mom had bad posture. My mom had bad feet. My mom always a little thick around the middle. My mom really struggled with anxiety. That's lovely, but I'm not training your mom and you aren't your mom.

, even though those things are very important to you for you to know about your mom, it's not who you are. You are your own identity. We are gonna leave that school behind and step into this new school where you are. You are an athlete. So it's not your mom's fault anymore. It's not your aunt's fault.

It's not your big sister's fault. The other thing that I hear all the time is I used to look really great in a bikini. I used to have these legs that could stop traffic. I used to be able to run 10 miles. I used to. Love doing this or that or the other thing. And I used to as so dangerous because , we're not going that [00:54:00] way.

It's dangerous for a lot of reasons, number one, 'cause it's the wrong identity. We are stepping into this timeline now and that needs to be lovely and exciting and whatever you choose to make it. But then the other reason that that's harmful is because then we are always exercise for going backwards.

And that's not how biology works. Biology's not working backwards. Biology's taking us forward. And so we're gonna have a lot more fun and we're gonna be a lot more effective and be a lot more satisfied with our results and our time that we put into this if we keep building for forward. So I'm 55 right now.

, Whenever I go to the gym, I am building the body that 60-year-old me wants to have. What are the things that I wanna be doing when I'm 60? I still wanna be driving to my mom's every Christmas. I still wanna be. Climbing the Swiss Alps, I still wanna be on my hands and knees cleaning my own kitchen floor.

Therefore, what exercises am I gonna choose today to make sure that I can do those, not the exercises I think [00:55:00] I should be doing. So I look like I did when I was 30. 

What a mindset shift. That is really critical. And I do think when we have that change in how we think about aging, we can actually prosper as we age.

Exactly. And that's what it's all about, prospering as we age and me helping you build a body that's gonna do all the things that you wanna do and maybe a couple things that you don't even imagine yourself doing. Big fun, exciting things that are gonna honor your beautiful life on this earth.

Never going backwards to what you used to do when you were 30. Who cares? Let the 30 year olds do what is cool for being 30. We're doing new stuff. 

I don't even know what's cool when you're 30. 

I think we missed the 

window to be cool kitty. When we were 30. 

We really do. I had seen some things on your website that you had talked about aging as an opportunity.

And, that's what I'm hearing from you is really thinking about it as an opportunity and instead of thinking about it as something you're [00:56:00] dreading. 

Exactly. And I think when I wrote that somebody, probably my marketing person said if you wanted to share one thing with people, what would it be about aging?

And that came to mind because three of the most important people in my life never got to age. My college roommate died in her forties of triple negative breast cancer. , One of my best friends and business buddies died in his late forties in a plane crash, and my dad died at age 60 of heart disease.

They never got to be old. So I feel super lucky to be 55 people that I love. Never got to see this age. In five years, I'll be the same age as my dad was when he died. And so that to me just seems like I have an opportu, excuse me. I get a little choked up. I have an opportunity here. I have an opportunity to go lift heavy weights for 20 minutes and build a body that I'm gonna be really excited about when I'm 60 and still be hopefully a really fun, engaging member of my family and of my community and still [00:57:00] thriving for the, women in my tribe.

So I, I think it's a really cool time to change my identity a little bit. Yeah. 

Something else I know that is important to you is talking about posture and is something that we, I don't know, there's not many social media influencers out there that are like, let's work on your posture.

I'm an island as far as 

so know that is very unique to something that you are very well versed in. Can you explain to our listeners as a trainer, why are you talking about posture? 

Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about my favorite thing. Posture, first of all is part of your identity, isn't it?

If you see somebody walking down the street that you know right away that that's them, not because of what they're wearing or what their hair looks like, but by their posture or the way that they're carrying themselves or the way that they're moving and the way that they walk.

Oh, that's so and so, I can tell by the way they walk. Or, that's so and so I can tell by the way they're standing. So it's part of your identity. It's also part of [00:58:00] your ability to do the strength training that we're talking about. I really believe that one of the ways forward to really honor these 37 trillion cells in our body and to build these bodies that we want to have five years from now.

It depends on your musculoskeletal system being an optimal posture. That does not mean that you're standing up perfectly straight. It means that every joint in your body is working in all the ways it was designed to. And if you look at an anatomical chart. It gives us the clues. The hip and the shoulder are balls and sockets.

A ball is meant to rotate the shoulder and the hips are meant to rotate, and so many of our lifestyles force the ball and socket joints into a stiff single plane movement pattern. In other words, we're just moving those shoulders forward and back, or the hips forward and back when really they're designed to do [00:59:00] all of this rotation.

So posture means that the shoulders are rotating, the hips are rotating. If we look at the knees and elbows, they are hinges. They are meant to bend and straighten and bend and straighten so that we can lift things with our arms or squat down with our legs. If you're. If your hips and shoulders aren't mobile enough to rotate, now your hinges have to do twice as much work.

They have to be hinges and rotators, and now your posture is off or your relationships are off, and now your knees or elbows hurt because they're doing the job of their neighbor joint. So there's a lot of different relationships with posture. One of the most fundamental aspects of posture is your foot posture, if you will.

Some people say I just have really flat arches, or My mom had really flat arches. What your mom had was really weak feet or very stiff feet, and the foot is four layers of muscles. [01:00:00] And when they are supple and strong and mobile and working in relationship with your ankle and your toes, then our foot has a beautiful posture.

And now everything above that, the knees and the hips and the pelvis all have a new place to land. They have a new relationship with your movement patterns and a new ability. To work optimally without doing too much or too little. So that's a very long-winded way of saying posture really means that every joint is doing the job that it was designed for in relationship with all the other joints, whenever we need them to do it.

That's what posture really 

is. Yeah. And we saw that in practice all the time when someone has an injury in one part of their body and let's say an ankle injury and then the knee and then the hip, one always ends up leading to the other if you don't fix it. So that is very practical in a way to think about it, but it's not something that we're assessing until it's a problem.

Exactly. And a lot of [01:01:00] times when it becomes a problem, the protocol is to go treat the symptom. But we still haven't solved the problem. And oftentimes the problem is that the feet have terrible posture or the knees are doing too much work because the hips aren't doing their job. So it's usually the symptom is in the area that's being treated.

But the problem is usually in one of the neighbors. It's because the neighbor is not doing it's fair share and there's a whole systemic breakdown. so part of the posture coach's job is to zoom way out, wide angle lens. Most other treatments are zooming in, looking really closely at a targeted area where you're complaining of pain. And I. Do care about that from a empathetic standpoint, but from a healing standpoint, I'm coming way back here and saying of course your elbow hurts Dr.

Sarah's because your spine is shifted to this side, or you're overcompensating on that side, or your head position is causing your elbow pain or what. So I'm, I like to pull way back. And then that [01:02:00] protocol to fix the posture, if you will, becomes the base of our workouts. That's our corrective exercises.

So the hour that we spend together is gonna probably be about. I don't know, 20 minutes of just correcting your, again, your posture, your alignment, your relationships the function of each joint. And then, and only then can we get into a few really targeted strength training exercises. And then we'll probably finish by putting you back together again with additional posture exercises.

, When clients work with you, in case any of our listeners are as they're listening, they're like, Ooh, this sounds like what I need. 

Yes. 

When they work with you, is that something that they should expect, that you're also going to be assessing their posture? Yes. Or is that a different service?

Nope. That you do 

That is the same. That that I will not train somebody with bad posture. I just can't. I just. Philosophically can't move on to the big kid lifts, so to speak, until we've corrected your function and your relationships. 

Yeah. Ultimately [01:03:00] if you don't do that, you're gonna get hurt.

You're gonna get hurt. Exactly. And then you're gonna think that strength training doesn't work for you because your mom had flat feet or because you used to be 30 and have great legs and No, it's because we need to spend more time correcting your machine and turning you back into a machine and using the smallest, effective dose of the strength training exercises, but the largest possible dose of all the corrective stuff so that we have a really solid foundation so that not only are you safe and effective while you're strength training, but you're safe and effective when you're taking out the trash or you're lifting up your Labrador to take 'em to the vet.

Or you're on an airplane trying to push your carry-on in the overhead compartment. You don't always want to be feeling your back after a trip. 

Another thing I know you like to talk about just because we've met before this show is I know you love learning about longevity and we've even talked about Blue Zones together.

What I, what are some of the aspects that you also consider educating your [01:04:00] clients on to help them think about long-term health outside of even strength training? 

As I said, I think one of the magic elements of strength training is the recovery. So that for me includes stress management and sleep management, and nutrition management, stress, sleep, and nutrition.

Boy, I, I'm sure you've already touched on stress management, but if I could just touch on it for one quick minute. For me, what has made the biggest difference in my stress management over the last five years since I've moved through and now beyond menopause? I made it, I'm on the other side. Is my social health and I'm an introvert and I really talk myself into, I don't like people, I need to be alone.

I need my quiet time. And , I didn't know what was best for me because as soon as I made a commitment to expanding my social network. My recovery and my muscle mass and my ability [01:05:00] to digest food and feel better and be more alert has improved exponentially. And the magic for me is in trying to engage with people in every decade.

So I have some kids that I hang out with that are under 10. I have some ladies that I hang out with that are in their thirties, and I have some clients that are in their eighties and nineties and I try to fill every single decade with some touch, so to speak, at the end of every month. And that has changed my identity, how I think about my next five years, how I think about my purpose in a way that I am sure has managed my stress level, my anxiety levels, and my anger, my worry.

Your world just gets more about them and less about you, and that is so healthy. 

What a nice secret sauce. 

I 

like that. No, that was, yeah, that was not the answer I was expecting. Can I throw this out at you? Someone might hear that , and that may resonate and they think I, I [01:06:00] probably need to be doing that too, but I don't know how.

How did you expand? 

What we did was we put our backyard patio furniture and our front yard, and you would be surprised at how many people you meet when your patio furniture is in your front yard. And when they walk by on their way somewhere else, or to the park, which is near my house, you stop and say, oh, hi.

I've lived here for 10 years. I didn't know that your name was. Sarah and you live around the corner from me and now, oh, and now your 5-year-old kid really loves to come over Tuesday night. So now Tuesday nights, it'll be tonight if you're in the neighborhood, stop by. Our patio furniture will be in the front yard and we have a big jug of water and a big basket of snacks that are family friendly.

And we have cornhole boards and dominoes and the neighborhood kids and their parents come over and we hang out every Tuesday at six. It's happy hour. And the kids probably go to school Wednesday morning and say, yeah, we went to happy hour at Laura and Mike. Oh gosh, I love this. But that is something that has definitely changed [01:07:00] my health.

I love that. That is such a great idea. I the I don't know. There's something that used to happen in neighborhoods that went away. 

Yep, 

exactly. And really trying to bring that back, that connection to the people that are not next door. We talk about being busy and , we're overscheduled and just connecting with people is hard, but we're not even looking at our next door neighbor.

That's such a great opportunity. 

Right. I'm here to tell you, you don't need to join anything. You do not need to join anything. You just need to put your chair in your front yard and it will come to you that people will come to you. It's because they're starving for it too. They don't even know that they're starving for it.

But when they see you sitting there, they cannot help but come up and strike up a conversation. Especially if you have a big jug of water and some snacks.

Oh, 

that, 

That is great. 

Yeah. Yeah. I love this. 

I was just thinking of things. I could do two to be better. Mm-hmm. About that. Mm-hmm. That's just such a great idea. 

I [01:08:00] was also the person that would show up, you know, five minutes late to church and leave during the last hymn. 'cause boy I didn't wanna talk to anybody.

And then, you know, in reading the blue zone stuff mm-hmm. One of their secrets to longevity is going to church and being engaged with your church four times a month. And I thought, well I'm going, but I'm not engaging. So I hear you universe. I am going to start trying even though I don't think I like it.

And even though I think I'm an introvert, um, I know that my health. Depends on it.. And I know that person that I want to be five years from now is gonna be a much better, happier person and a more functional member of my community if I continue to try to engage. 

No, that's that's great. And I love that.

'cause we're always trying to we haven't done a whole lot of shows just dedicated to social connections. So I like when we can drop in some knowledge bombs related to that. Cool. And that is a great idea. Good for our listeners. Let's all have neighborhood parties. 

That's right. Yes. And [01:09:00] you also have a book as well, don't you?

I do, yes. It's called, of Course Your Knees Hurt. The subtitle is Take Charge Now of the one thing that matters most. So I'm gonna put you guys on the spot. What do you think that one thing is that matters most to knee pain, which of course really means joint pain, which of course really means.

Successful aging. So what do you think is the most important thing, 

your mindset? 

Okay. Good answer. 

That is a good answer. 

Sorry, I said it first. 

Yeah. Yeah. I would say. Prioritizing your sleep. 

Okay. Good answers. Yes. The both of those are great and you can, I look forward to your books on that. Dr. Sarah, you are closer.

The answer in my book is your locus of control, , or what is your attitude about what affects your outcomes? If you have an external locus of control about aging, you're gonna say things like [01:10:00] it's because of my mom. She started looking old and feeling old when she was 50.

Therefore, so will I. Or, oh, it's because my physical therapist is terrible or My doctor can't read my MRI or my insurance is terrible and those are the reasons that I am really struggling with menopause or aging or whatever. , Your outcome depends on things that are outside of you. If you have an external locus of control, and hopefully you can tell by the tone of my voice that those are not positive ways of thinking.

What I want us to think about is having an internal locus of control and really, truly believing that our actions affect our outcomes. Not the people around us, not the cards that we were dealt, not what our, not if our mother had flat feet, but what my actions are and believe that they affect my outcome.

So that would mean things like, you know what . I am tired all the time. Is that because I have bad genes, or [01:11:00] is that because I'm 55? Or is it, because a lot of times my diet is not really what I'm telling my clients to eat. Is it because my actions could really be affecting my outcome?

I could be eating more vegetables, I could be eating more fiber. Other things could be, oh, my knees hurt, but everybody in my family had knee arthritis and I'm 55, so this is just how it's gonna be. And my MRI shows that I have really bad meniscus. Or could you say, I'm gonna take charge of this, and I know that my actions matter.

I know that if I get my feet strong and supple, and if I get my shoulders in a really balanced and aligned posture, that my knees are gonna feel better. And I know that if I do strength training and I use corrective exercises as the focus of my workouts, and I'm consistent and I change my identity, now my knees are gonna feel better.

So it's all about attitude and specifically believing that your actions. Kitty and your actions, Sarah, affect your outcomes, not the world around you. I think that's the gist of the book, and I break that down [01:12:00] into four different pillars, posture, exercise, nutrition and hormones, which covers sleep and stress.

That's great. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, 

so it's it's a guidebook and it's an attitude shift and it's an identity change, and it's an empowering manual of another way to look at your health as you age. Instead of it just being a series of MRIs and calories burned on your Fitbit, it's what's your attitude about all these things and what are some targeted ways that we can take charge of that?

Oh, that's good. 

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, and I think attitude as you go through this time in life is just. So incredibly important because we've had several people say that during these menopause related podcasts, I think I loved Dr. Degler talking about all the things that, that you can potentially do in this phase of life.

And it's whatever you dream up that is what can happen and there's things you need to do along the [01:13:00] way. But having that dream initially is what's great. 

Exactly. And then I would encourage your listeners to just keep imagining their dreams and stepping into an identity that's gonna fulfill those dreams.

And understanding the physiology of how strength training is such an impactful way to help you get there. If you are weak, if you are deconditioned, if you are dysfunctional, if you are in pain, do those dreams come to fruition in the way that you imagine them? Or can they be even better if you just spend two or three days a week doing some targeted strength training with a qualified professional who's addressing your background and your goals and not just a general recommendation?

 Speaking of that, if someone wanted to come see you as their qualified professional, where could they find you? 

Thank you for asking. I work on Zoom, so it's easy for everybody to find me wherever you are. I love to do a [01:14:00] complimentary consultation on Zoom. Regardless of where you are in the world or regardless of where you are in your fitness journey, or your attitudes or your identity about strength training, let's just meet for 20 or 30 minutes on Zoom and feel each other out.

If you are somebody. That's already exercising in some way and is curious about this five year plan that I've talked about. Let's talk, because I think it would be really fun to spend 10 sessions together, either on Zoom or at a gym here in the Lexington area and see what we can see, what we can build, see what we can build over 10 sessions.

And that would include the posture and the measuring and the smallest effective dose of really effective strength training and coaching you through the recovery so that you're maximizing the muscle gains and the bone density gains and everything. Yes, so you can find me at, of course, your knees hurt.com.

Of course, your knees hurt.com. And there's [01:15:00] also a link there to my book. You can purchase it on Kindle for 99 cents or you can buy the actual print book from Amazon. From that website, we'll be sure 

to add 

those to our show 

notes. 

Yes. 

Yeah.

 So I think you've done a great job teaching us why it's so important to Strength Train and really it's just so that we can reach that version of ourselves that we envision and we can be functionally sound and safe as we do things in our life and are able to have our happy hour in the front yard for our neighbors.

That's right. As we go through life. And I love the thought of being able to re-envision yourself and I am an athlete, I am a person that goes to the gym. Even if you have never been in your 60 years prior or however long. 

And understand too, kitty, that doesn't, I'm not saying that you have to like it.

And I'm not saying that you have to be motivated. And I'm not saying that you have to have the willpower. I'm saying you, you just have to be it, and those athletes that we admire, they don't always want to either, but they're doing it 'cause that's who they are. And I [01:16:00] am challenging all of your listeners and ourselves to just re.

Connect with that version of ourselves or explore it. Yeah. Yeah. Let it out of, let it out of hibernation and bring it along. 

Yeah. And embrace the other things that allow you to continue to do that. So getting that social connection and how important that can be, embracing the recovery, the sleep, the nutrition that you need for doing that.

I think all of that's a great way to wrap your mind around the importance of doing this. 

I feel like this has been such a great way to wrap up this whole series on menopause. We've talked about. Everything the women in midlife experience over the last few weeks. So this is your first time listening to one of our menopause shows.

I do encourage you to go backwards and listen to our shows related to mood as well as nutrition. And we talk about our breast health, we talk about sexual health. We just have so much information out there and we feel like [01:17:00] women are just being inundated with so much info and it's hard to know who or what to trust.

And so we've brought all these local experts for you all to be able to hear from and please use that knowledge so you can best advocate for yourself, make a plan for midlife and become who you want to be as you age. 

And if there's anything that you feel like is still confusing or you feel like you would love for us to cover that we didn't, please let us know.

You can click on that button that says, send us a text, and we'd be happy to do more shows on the topic if people are looking for it. As always, if you have time, please leave us a review or follow us and we look forward to seeing you next time.