Suggestions for best exercise for menopausal women?

megan9567
megan9567 Posts: 157 Member
I am looking for exercises that can help to firm up the skin, add small muscle mass and thereby help with the bone mass and strength. I feel what I mostly see on YouTube are for 18-35 year olds and not a post menopausal woman.
A little background, I never exercised before. I had my daily 10k steps a day in May. I want to add three half an hour minimum exercise session a week this month to my daily steps. I appreciate any suggestions.

Replies

  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
    Without sounding snarky, the best exercise is the one that you will actually do.

    If you already have walking as your cardio, you should be lifting weights and doing core strengthening. Barre classes and pilates would be beneficial.
  • megan9567
    megan9567 Posts: 157 Member
    Without sounding snarky, the best exercise is the one that you will actually do.

    If you already have walking as your cardio, you should be lifting weights and doing core strengthening. Barre classes and pilates would be beneficial.

    Any suggestion for core videos I can do at home while I wait for the gym in my building to re-open?

  • megan9567
    megan9567 Posts: 157 Member
    tmbg1 wrote: »
    I've started Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube and it's awesome.

    Thank you. I wil give it a try.

  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    These days I do cardio and a body weight routine. Before the pandemic that meant standard body weights, and Pilates/Yoga/Piyo. Now it's mostly bodyweight and pilates.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
    I found the HasFit channel on Youtube that has great exercise videos from using body weight to hand weights to exercise bands and more. I have found the videos easy to follow and they offer modified moves when you are not quite up to a full movement ... I work up a sweat and feel challenged and have noticed that when I use hand weights, I am not losing much ground by not being in the gym.

    I also try to walk 4-5 times a week at a brick 3.5 - 4 mph pace. If I cannot, I march inside, jog in place, etc. to get my steps in.
  • FibroHiker
    FibroHiker Posts: 347 Member
    I agree with @MostlyWater. I am in an exercise group on Facebook with a few friends. One friend loves to post workout routines filled with burpees and squats. I tried it a couple times but hated it. There's no way I would stick to such a program. I do my usual walking hills in my neighborhood, short hikes, and recently started jogging again. I love to use weights for toning and have started that again as well.

    It could be the greatest, most beneficial exercise routine in the world, but if you're not motivated to keep it going it won't help you.
  • tmbg1
    tmbg1 Posts: 1,251 Member
    edited July 2020
    Yoga (from YouTube) has really helped me a lot. Physically I am more balanced and flexible. Mentally it is helping with stress and depression.....oops I just realized I already posted in this thread...oh well yoga is just that amazing!
  • megan9567
    megan9567 Posts: 157 Member
    Update:
    I am still doing the minimum 10,500 steps a day. I started incorporating a daily 5 minute plank in the mornings as well as strength training with the good old thigh master I found for sale in Whole Foods. The gym and pool in my building is still not open. I squeeze a 100 inner thigh routine every night, I also use it for arm workout three days a week. I started small a 5 repetition of 3 arm exercise and gradually increased it to 20 repetition. So far I am not seeing much difference in my inner thighs but I am starting to see a small definition in my arms. It is probably the result of both plank and thigh toner.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    I have found these videos really helpful (and not too hard on my knees). The first three are 10-15 minutes; the last one is 25 mins. Total ca. an hour. Having a selection of shorter options means that I can mix and match if I am pressed for time.

    1. low impact beginners' cardio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H9qdpUzu4M
    2. arms workout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSH-WFfxwbo (I started this with 0.5kg weights or even none at all and after about 10 weeks am doing it with 1.5kg weights. I have had shoulder issues in the past so have been taking it really slowly.)
    3. beginners abs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY5Dp0s4IxI
    4. Scottish Ballet warm up and barre for over 55s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNnzK5NjsZk&feature=emb_title (I generally have a weekly ballet class with the guy on this video!)