By Jo Tuffrey
Discussing Menopause is extremely important to me having gone through Menopause at such an early age, that’s why ‘Pilates for Menopause’, was the first online fitness programme I created and released
Having entered Menopause at such a young age ( I was in my early 30’s) I wanted to highlight the importance of keeping both physically and mentally strong through the various stages of Menopause.
As we enter Menopause the lower Oestrogen levels can have many effects on our bodies ranging from
-a negative effect on our metabolism
-a negative effect on our cholesterol
-decrease our bone density
-increase our anxiety levels
_decrease our muscle mass and bone strength.
The above effects of the Menopause on the body and mind were only some of the reasons I put the Pilates for Menopause programme together
Pilates aims at building strength, flexibility and endurance for the whole body, placing emphasis on alignment, breathing and a strong centre.
As we age and enter menopause we lose muscle mass so it is extremely important to work with our own body weight or with weights to try to diminish this. It is so important as the more muscle mass we have the more metabolically active we are…so the more calories we can burn!! ( our metabolism slows down during menopause)
During the menopause we can also experience changes to the pelvic floor muscle due to our hormonal changes, an area that Pilates focuses on a lot
Personally for me Pilates was invaluable in my menopausal journey. I had several rounds of IVF and then was told I had gone through Menopause so having children and ultimately doing IVF would not work. At that point all my peers were having children so I was not in the baby club…and I wasn’t I wasn’t allowed in the club discussing Menopause with older women as I was deemed to young! A lonely place to be!
In my hours of anxiety and grief Pilates and Exercise really helped me and made me aware of the importance of keeping my body and mind as healthy and as fit as i could to counteract and deal with the effects of the menopause, so that’s why I’m so passionate about it!!
Exercise through all the stages of Menopause are vital for the complete well being in the everyone’s Menopause journey!
Why not go to my website where there are 8 free video classes for you to try?
