I haven’t done much strength/weight work since I quit my Lifetime Fitness membership back at the start of COVID. (I do weights at home sometimes, but not nearly as often as I should). I FINALLY just this week purchased a 10 session pass to the yoga studio near me, which specializes in women over 40 and has strength training classes. IF I don’t like the class format, I may get a personal trainer for several sessions, especially to help me get my form right. I would love to go back to Lifetime Fitness, but it’s just too expensive now.
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Yes, this target audience is menopausal women, as indicated by the title. I don’t doubt that the target audience is menopausal women. However, the author goes in to detail within the article comments to explain who she chooses the unique workout structure beyond this.
For example, why 100 minutes of weight training per week? The article makes in explicitly clear she selected 100 minutes because the study at https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/60/12/874 found there was no significant reduction in all cause mortality beyond the 90 to 119 minute group, and 100 is the mid point of (90 + 119)/2. She also mentions that her recommended number of minutes changed as the new meta-analysis found a different “sweet spot”. She is determining her number of minutes per week recommendation by following studies, rather than that number of minutes being a good starting target for menopausal women or inexperienced persons starting out.
Similarly the article mentions that she chose 15 minutes per day of weight training because 100 minutes split in to 7 days is 100/7 ~= 15, rather than she finds that her target audience does better with splitting workout in to two ~15 minute segments of cardio followed weights instead of 35 minutes of a single activity. The article does mention “consistency” multiple times, which may be a factor in why she seems to favor repeating the same workout every day, without mention of rest days.
In any case, my point was this is a unique workout structure recommendation that is likely to be less effective (in terms of strength, muscle, cardiovascular, … gains) than more standard workout structures, with the same number of minutes, as described in my earlier post. However, I agree that doing something is generally better than doing nothing. So if the unique workout structure helps people switch from nothing to something, then that’s obviously going to be helpful for them. The best workout structure for a particular person can be the workout that they continue with over time.
My method is just do what works best to keep me moving, off the couch. Which tomorrow means 7am pickleball (lol - and possibly a nap later). Extra bonus is socialization and a whole lot of laughing.
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Oh, and most days (especially if I’ve played pickleball) I do a variety or stretches for lower body and abs. Some days I also do dumb bell workout. I have not yet gotten into weightlifting/gym routine… on training class waitlist again but may need to eventually try a different approach.
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My trainer warned me that I would be sore yesterday after our session on Thursday and she wasn’t joking. She is really pushing to strengthen/increase flexibility in my hamstrings, achiles tendons and hip flexors.
She
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A good kind of sore
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I missed out on the HDL conversation and it is one close to my heart (there’s a pun in there somewhere). My HDL has been between 30-35 my entire adult life. Exercise has no impact. During a period 15 years ago where I was doing both cardio and strength training at least an hour a day/6 days a week as I trained for triathlons it actually declined. My drs and I have decided that genes have a big impact on HDL level. I would love to give a glp-1 a trial so see if they impact it at all, but my BMI and blood sugar are both too normal.
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Interesting.
I dread the prospect of going on meds. I deal with some borderline prediabetic A1C numbers and highish LDL (but with very high HDL). My only prescription now is eyedrops for highish pressure readings, due to family history or glaucoma. Someday I’ll need to add to the list, but only want to do so after proving lifestyle changes don’t help enough.
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I decided to ride the exercise bike this morning. I found it less exciting than running laps on the track :). This is massive change for me– maybe I don’t hate running after all.
I made the change because I tweaked my ankle playing soccer yesterday and I was worried about running on it.
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Well, in one respect, I am normal. Last Friday, I went to the lab for routine bloodwork. NORMAL!
I was just a little worried because I’ve been taking 5mg of creatine and I eat a lot of protein. So cholesterol and creatinine and eGFR levels (kidney function) were a concern. After the fact, I read that pausing creatine would have been advisable.
But no matter, all good.
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“Normal” or “optimal”?
My doctor’s message said “Congratulations. Your blood tests were normal.”
Did you at some point post something related to taking creatine and how it may be good to take to help prevent Alzheimer’s?
If so, do you remember what it was, and could you post again? I’m thinking I should probably take it.
If anyone else has thoughts related to taking creatine, please share.
TIA
Yes, I started taking creatine back on 9/24/25, IIRC, mainly for the potential “mental acuity” effect.
I take 5 mg of this product daily.
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There are many studies that found creatine may improve measures of mental cognition particularly memory, attention, and processing speed. An example meta analysis is at Preparing to download ... and summary of memory related studies is below this post.
The brain uses ~20% of the body’s total energy, and creatine facilitates restoring ATP more rapidly in high energy demand situations such as memory recall, so it seems reasonable that creatine supplementation may improve these types of measures of high demand cognition.
However, Alzheimer’s is believed to be caused by other factors, so a mechanism for how creatine would prevent Alzheimer’s is less clear. Creatine may help compensate for Alzheimer’s symptoms related to lack of ATP for cognitive function, but prevention is something else.
I also started taking creatine. I only rarely take supplements and instead favor getting sufficient nutrients from my diet. However, the research surrounding creatine was so overwhelmingly positive, that I decided to give it a try. I’ve been taking 5mg for the past ~3 months. I’ll soon stop for another few months to get a better sense of personal benefits.
So far I believe I’ve seen the largest personal benefit in HIIT or similar short sprinting. For example, when walking my dog in the morning we’ll sprint up a long steep hill a few times per week. Since taking creatine I’ve found I make it further up the hill before I become too fatigued to keep up the pace. It’s only a few seconds longer, but it’s consistent. The improvement was too sudden for me to associate it with general cardiovascular fitness improvements.
Muscle strength/growth/recovery is less clear. I believe I’ve experienced improved recovery and slight improvement in strength, but it’s small enough that I’m not certain the change is from creatine. I notice a change more in the early sets than when I am fully warmed up for both HIIT and weight training, which is also consistent with creatine supplementation.
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I’ll agree, the benefits to muscle strength/growth/recovery is less clear, at least in my situation. However, I may know more after my next meet. If my power numbers increase, over prior meets, then I’ll likely have creatine to thank.
Creatine will likely add 2-4 lbs of water weight.
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If you do a sport subject to WADA or USADA rules, be sure to check creatine and other allowed supplements for third party testing and certification against contamination with banned substances. Supplements are ordinarily less regulated than food or drugs.
This is a fun read that I thought y’all would enjoy.
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If you’re ever in Grand Teton and like to bike, this is a great ride. 40 miles round trip Jackson to Jenny Lake and back.
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It looks like a great ride. We didn’t realize that it existed until the last day or so of our trip, when it was too late to rent bikes and go. It’s on my list for if we make it back there. We loved the Tetons.
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