One thing we all did during lockdown was exercise and exercise is great for helping to stabilise our hormones during menopause. We overcame the biggest hurdle of all, getting started. So why stop now? Don’t let all that good work go to waste just because we are no longer restricted to one hour a day. You do have time, so stop using lack of time as an excuse to give up the best thing you can do to improve your health and wellbeing.
Join a gym, not because if you pay you will feel obliged to go, but because you might actually enjoy it! Large, faceless chain health clubs are no longer your only option. Do some research into boutique gyms because they are popping up everywhere offering tailored sessions to suit everyone. Because of current restrictions on class size and social distancing it’s like having a personal trainer, but within a class setting.
One such boutique gym is Ride Cobham, where the ethos is to get to know every client as an individual. They want to know about any injuries or weaknesses, so that they can make sure you exercise safely and efficiently within your own personal limitations. If you have particular health goals tell the instructors. If you are feeling particularly anxious or having an ‘off’ day due to bad hot flushes or aching joints, or a poor night’s sleep, do not use this an excuse to avoid the exercise class. Explain how you feel to the instructor and go with the flow. Hormonal flux in women during perimenopause, menopause and menstrual cycle can play all sorts of havoc with our happy hormones. There is more than one way of stabilising them and focussed exercise is one of them. It’s for you to choose which modality works for you the best. To be able to do this in a supportive and non-threatening environment is what we need as women in times of media and social pressures. It is all about working towards well being both mind and body.
Ride! is an Indoor Cycling studio that also offers small group fitness classes in TRX Suspension Training, boxing, yoga, HIIT circuits, low impact body sculpt and yoga – a little something for whatever the mood dictates. The instructor is interested in you as a person and will help you maintain and build on the level of fitness that you worked so hard to achieve during lockdown. By exercising alongside a small group of other people, who are equally motivated, you are almost guaranteed to feel a sense of personal achievement, companionship, motivation and well being.
Now is the time to ditch the pjs, online exercise classes and get yourself down to the gym. No more excuses, exercise helps with everything and nothing should stop you from making it part of your daily or weekly routine.