Today on the podcast:
Dr. Stacy Sims is a Researcher, Author, and Leading Global Expert on Female Physiology & Training.
Stacey was on the podcast in July 2021 in episode 338 talking about nutrition and training sex differences and why women are not small men.
In today’s podcast, we are going to take a look at her new best-selling book – NEXT LEVEL.
For active women, menopause can hit hard but it doesn’t have to be the end of you kicking ass at the gym, on the trail, in the saddle, or wherever you work out. Once you understand your physiology, you can work with it to optimize your performance. In NEXT LEVEL Stacey teaches the underlying causes of menopause—the hormonal changes that are causing all the symptoms you’re feeling, and their impact on your wellness and performance—and what to do about it.
Episode Outline
- 11:18 The Stats, The Stigma, The Science
- 13:12 The Science of the Menopause Transition
- 18:59 Eat Enough and Fuelling for the Menopause Transition
- 23:02 Kick up Your Cardio and Time to Lift Heavy Shi*t!
- 25:47 Looking at The Nutrient Density of Your Diet
- 28:18 Sleeping Well and Recover Right
- 29:26 Motivation and the Mental Game: Your Mind Matters, Menopause Hormone Therapy, Adaptogens, and Other Interventions
- 33:28 Hormones and Symptoms Explained
- 35:29 Supplements: What You Need and What You Don’t
- 39:43 Why Resistance Training for Women
- 42:48 Perimenopause versus postmenopause
- 47:24 What Dr. Sims is Most Excited About
Key Points
- Pay attention to your bleed pattern for changes as an indication of shifting hormones. This is especially true for women in their 40s and above who are starting to see a slowdown in their fitness. It goes beyond stress: Hormonal changes due to menopause lead to fatigue, increased belly fat, erratic mood swings, and more.
- If unsure whether you are experiencing low energy availability or perimenopause, it’s better to err on the side of both. Focus on consuming an adequate amount of high-quality protein and doing resistance training on the regular. The worst thing to do is to get into the negative feedback loop by thinking only about calories-in, calories-out, or looking for the latest fad diet to try to remedy how you look and feel. Don’t be afraid of eating, and note that women will burn more belly fat doing hard resistance training over cardio.
- At the same time, the type of resistance training you do matters as you head into your postmenopausal years. Many women understandably believe that they need to decrease the weight and intensity as they grow older, but studies have shown that heavy, explosive movements are more beneficial than your standard 3 sets of 10 reps.
Powerful Quotes by Dr. Sims
- Women will say, “I get squishy every night and I put on all these kilos of belly fat.” This is perpetuated a lot by that moderate-intensity work, where we stay in this zone where it’s too hard to be easy to optimize recovery and growth, and it’s too easy to be hard to get the stimulus that we want to stop that visceral fat gain.
- “Is it low energy availability? Or is it perimenopause?” And when we look at perimenopause, it’s better to err on the side of both.
- The psychological supersedes the physiological at every point.
Guest Info
