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Why walking is not enough! The importance of adding load and impact in Post menopause.
- Christine Chapman
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
"I've joined a walking group!" "I walk every day!" "I get 10,000 steps in every day!" As a health and menopause coach, I hear this often from women, pre and post menopause. Effective, fun and enjoyable, but if women's bones and joints are to remain strong in later life, especially after menopause, additional impactful activities need to be considered.
Whilst accessible and sociable, our health span, future independence and freedom to continue doing the things we love is founded on having strength and mobility as well as cardio health. Age related decline in muscle mass and bone strength increases the risk of falls and fractures, especially in women with osteopenia and osteoporosis.
Benefits of Walking
Walking must be the easiest, most convenient activity right outside the door that gives effective low aerobic stimulus, improves mood and when organised in a group gives a rewarding social connection and community feel. Walking is often the beginning of an exercise regime, it can lead to walk-runs, trails and hiking adventures and perhaps holidays. For many postmenopausal women, it is the "go to" exercise for wellbeing.
Limitations of Walking
However, walking does not challenge upper body strength, develop the core or substantially load the bones enough to result in an improvement in balance and bone density. If you are looking to improve health span and overall fitness, we need to encourage the addition of multi component exercises through progressive weight training, own body weight training and dynamic balance drills.
Before adding load
Gain confidence in movement patterns.
The synthesis of movement patterns like bending, squats, hip flexion, overhead presses and twisting are fundamental for mobility. It's important to look at each exercise individually before adding load and break down movement patterns that ensure correct body alignment. As high intensity resistance training is so beneficial for post menopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis, training the body in movements for weeks before adding weight gives confidence and provides a great foundation to add load. If this means asking for help from a trained professional then this investment would be recommended.
Practice Balancing exercises - often
After a holiday break, an illness or injury, class member or clients will notice that the first thing that's lost is their balance. Our ability to process sensory information, either because of age or lack of practice, declines with time. Remaining sharp; having quick responses to physical challenges or unexpected situations with good balance, will help prevent or minimise bone fracture from a fall. One leg balances, tandem feet, closing the eyes for a few seconds, are simple accessible exercises that stimulate our balance receptors. Yoga poses such as Tree pose; Eagle pose and Dancer pose will improve proprioception, awareness and steadiness, as will ballet, dance and pilates routines.
Add load
Start soon, very soon
If significant weight bearing exercise has NOT been introduced during the peri menopausal years, it's harder to add load that will contribute to bone strength and maintain bone density. Once movement patterns are secure, load can then be added. So if you are pre menopause. Get going!
The ideal
It is not the safest thing to start with 80% of your 1 repetition maximum and often newcomers will not know what that means anyway! But it is the ideal and the target when looking to add intensity. Asking for a number out of 10; for example: "What does this resistance feel like on a scale of 1 to 10?" - These 'Ratings of Perceived Exertion' (RPE) are a great way to monitor intensity. Ideally we are looking for 5 sets of 5 repetitions at a no. 8 RPE intensity. Listening to the body's response signal, adjusting the weights accordingly, and then continuously increasing will then add load.
Moderate intensity is ALSO useful.
High intensity resistance training doesn't have to be required for every person and/or in every situation. After a period of progression in weights for perhaps 8 weeks where adaptations have occurred, a continuous period of stabilisation could be introduced. Life happens and there are times when motivation could be flat and weights just feel like too much. Here, fewer sets, lighter weights with good quality ARE ENOUGH to keep the consistency. Let's just think of it as low pressure lifting.
Add impact
Alongside load, is impact. Exercises like skipping and jumping are more effective than walking for building bone, especially because they put significantly more force through the bones of our feet, legs and spine (especially the hip and neck of femur bone) compared to walking. However, jump training may not be suitable for everyone. Once again, a professional will advise and demonstrate, but a reachable goal would be to progress from a squat, to a squat toe raise, to squat light jump.
Have an impact, consistently!
So ladies, enjoy your walk! Take your men along with you too, but remember that in order to ensure continuous improvement in bone health and overall fitness, add in some progressive training through load and impact!
If you would like a break down of your movement patterns so that you can safely add weight and or impact then book a call with me to make a free initial appointment.
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