Category: Daily

To understand why my fitness efforts turned into a big bowl of death jelly last month, we need to look at what went down in those four weeks.

Let’s see.

– Round two of COVID for all except our son. (Who had no symptoms and felt rather jovial about it.)
– Cyclone Jasper. (The cyclone wasn’t much, but the prepping and unprepping took time.)
– The 1000mm+ of rain following the cyclone. (Thankfully, besides the roads being cut off, our family was fine.)
– Christmas and everything that comes with it. (All of which is positive. Except for one’s fitness.)

Overall, I think the kids went to daycare about four or five days in December.

Usually, I’d get 12+ strength workouts in a typical four-week month. In December? I don’t even know, maybe four.

Was it frustrating? You bet. But we can only control so much. And getting all Hank about it loses its shine real fast.

When we sign up for fitness for life, months like that are part of the deal. (And that’s mild compared to what others go through.)

When we sign up for fitness for life, we measure success in years. Not in days, weeks or months.

A month of fitness death jelly makes no difference to our long-term progress.

-J

 

Lift weights and eat a healthy diet. That’s your ticket to improving:

• Cholesterol
• Mood
• Weight
• Bone density
• Strength

And reducing the risk of injuries.

Sure, there’s a chance that kettlebells and carrots might not eliminate or even reduce all the symptoms. And you might need hormone therapy no matter how fit you are.

But even if lifting and food have a little improvement on how you feel, those actions serve you well once the menopause symptoms subside.

And the earlier you start, the better off you’ll be.

-J

New year new you? I call bullshit. The old you is just fine. You’re doing great. High five!

But how about a new year, stronger you? Now we’re talking. You could be like these two:

Conveniently enough, I am taking on 5 new online coaching clients this week. Are you a woman over 40 who:

✅ Juggles work, parenthood and about a gazillion other roles and responsibilities
✅ Gives zero f*cks about having abs and doesn’t want to focus on weight loss
✅ Wants to feel strong, confident and full of energy in the outdoor activities you love doing
✅ Is willing to carve out 60-90 minutes a week for the next 12 weeks to build up your strength and reduce the risk of injury

If that resonates and makes your neck more sore than a two-hour Slayer gig, I’d love to help you.

Reply with “Baltic herring”, and we’ll have a chat to see if my coaching program would be a good fit.

It was the right fit for all these women (and some men too, because whatever).

-J

Coffee is about the best thing in the world when it’s either hot or ice-cold. But when coffee is lukewarm, it’s as enjoyable as a secondhand bathwater. 

Cardio is no different.

To get the most benefits with your cardio training, you either want to 

1. a) Go easy (Zone 2)
   b) Go hard (HIIT: high-intensity interval training, or SIT: sprint interval training)

When you go lukewarm, aka kind of hard or kind of easy, you miss out on the benefits of:

– Zone 2 (active recovery, aerobic base building). 

– HIIT (better blood sugar control, metabolic benefits to help with belly fat, anti-inflammatory effect, aerobic capacity, cognition, and working memory).

– SIT (improved insulin sensitivity, increase in lean muscle, increase in fat-burning).

This gets even more important from perimenopause onward.

Estrogen and progesterone affect every system in your body, including the way you respond to training. These hormone levels gradually decrease in perimenopause, affecting the body’s ability to handle inflammation, insulin sensitivity, and fat-burning capabilities.

For the most health benefits, focus on high intensity on most cardio days. And pepper it with slow Zone 2 cardio. 

And say no to secondhand bathwater. 

-J

Now that you know how many calories you need, you might wonder how much protein, carbs and fat you need.

Right? Good.

A super simple version goes like this. As an active woman over 40, divide your daily plate as follows:

1/2 Vegetables (both starchy and non-starchy)
1/3 Protein
1/3 Wholegrains
Top it up with fats
Drink water

But since that’s annoyingly vague, here are some ballpark numbers for you:

Protein

1.8-2.3g/kg per day (e.g. 70kg x 1.8g = 126g).

Space that protein evenly throughout the day. The internet is full of protein source lists, so I won’t list them here.

Remember that most things you need will have at least a little protein. It all adds up. But if you’re eating a mostly plant-based diet, you probably need to supplement to hit your protein targets. Yay.

Aim to eat 30 grams of protein within 30-45 minutes after your workout.

Carbohydrates

At least 3g/kg per day (e.g. 70kg x 3 = 210g).

Besides low calories, I’ve noticed that active women tend to skimp on carbohydrates. And this amplifies the downsides of the low-calorie diet I wrote about yesterday. Especially all things hormones.

That 3g really is the low end for the days when your activity levels are lower. If you’re doing long hikes and other endurance stuff, you want to increase your daily carbos.

On that note, if you’re hiking, cycling or doing cartwheels for >90 minutes, eat 0.8g-1g/kg carbs within 30-45 minutes of finishing.

If you’re in your menopausal years, your insulin sensitivity isn’t going to be what it used to be. So favour whole grains, fruits and starchy vegetables as your carbohydrate sources.

It’s a good rule for anyone really, but especially important as you get older.

Fats

20-30% of your total daily calories. Mostly from plant-based sources.

Alright. You’re set.

-J

 

I’ve worked primarily with women for the past 13 years. A lot of things have changed since I first started, but two things have stayed the same:

1. Working with women is awesome.

2. Women tend to undereat. Both the total calories and carbohydrates. This is true across the board, but especially noticeable with active women.

Undereating for a day here and there doesn’t make a difference. I mean, that’s life, right? Some days we all get kicked in the teeth and feel about as excited about eating as Varys feels about an invitation to an orgy.

It’s the chronic undereating that fucks up the hunger signals, immune system, hormones, strength, fitness and mood. While also increasing the risk of injury and bone fractures.

And because all these downsides sort of sneak up, you often don’t realise that you’re not functioning as well as you could.

So, how much do you need to eat? 

Head over here to calculate your daily kilojoule needs for maintaining your weight. Divide it by four to get the daily calories.

Once you have your number, aim for that calorie amount daily for the next two to four weeks to set your baseline. Even if your goal is to lose fat.

Then adjust either up or down (or don’t), depending on your goals and how your body responds.

-J

So, the King of England has appointed a homeopath.

Yes, a person practising homeopathy.

Yes, homeopathy. A practice that’s been proven to have zero scientific standing. Over and over and over again.

From The Guardian:

“Why are kings, movie stars and the rich so susceptible to this snake oil?

Two factors, I think, are at play. The first is that elites tend to overestimate the value of their instincts.

King Charles and Cindy Crawford spend their time surrounded by suck-ups. They are themselves exceptions to the rules that govern others. If a gut feeling leads them to “thought field therapy”, rather than modern medicine, they might be more inclined to believe it.

And the second is something first observed by Charles Percy Snow in his famous remarks about the “two cultures” in the west.

Ignorance of literature and the arts will exclude you from “highly educated” circles, but it is perfectly acceptable to have no grasp of basic science – the second law of thermodynamics, for example, or how to define “acceleration”. [My bolding]

Combine overconfidence and an ignorance of science and you get an aristocracy convinced that crushed bees and aconite are the answer to their problems.”

Here’s the article.

Sigh.

-J

Over the years of working with women, I’ve noticed a common theme with most new clients.

Postponing the meal after a workout. And it can hurt strength and lean muscle gains.

Which kind of sucks because aren’t those the reasons you’re lifting weights in the first place?

To make the most of your workout, eat 30 grams of protein right after a workout. This is based on a recent study on 26 to 27-year-old resistance-trained women.

You can have that protein as a part of a normal meal if it is convenient for your schedule. Or, if in a pinch, down a protein shake/smoothie.

You don’t have to stress over eating that protein immediately after the workout. But aim to eat within 30 minutes.

“Post-exercise ingestion of 30 g or 60 g PRO [protein], but not 15 g, acutely increased MyoFSR [myofibrillar synthetic rate] following two consecutive bouts of RE [resistance exercise] and extended the anabolic window over 24 h. There was no difference between the 30 g and 60 g responses.”

Here’s the study. 

-J

Are you dealing with chronic sleep issues, feeling tired and sore, and your body is not looking the way you’d expect, even with all the activities you’re doing?

Even though you’re eating “healthy”.

There’s a chance that the things that you’re doing aren’t the right things for you.

Most health and fitness studies are done with male participants.

And what works for men doesn’t always work for women.

Especially as you get older.

-J

Injuries happen when the demand for tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons) is higher than the tissues can tolerate.

You twist your ankle, a knee, a hip, a shoulder, or a… because the force is higher than your body can resist.

You can’t eliminate all the injuries. In some situations, only Villanelle or Batman can tolerate the forces: car crashes, nasty falls on slopes, falling off a relatively small building, etc.

But in most situations, you significantly reduce your risk of injury by doing these two things:

1. Increasing your tissue strength with resistance training so you can resist the outside forces

2. Increasing your cardiovascular fitness so you can pump oxygen into the tissues that need it

Being strong and fit makes you more resilient when the shitty, unexpected things happen.

-J