#47: 5 Best New Year’s Resolutions to improve your fitness in 2024
[00:00:00] Welcome to 40 plus fitness for women. I'm Lynn, your host, a certified 40 plus fitness coach. And today we are going to be talking about the five. Top New Year's resolutions that I really hope that if you're over the age of 35 You are looking at as far as improving your fitness and health and for the year ahead But before we get started, I wanted to say thank you so very, very much for the year 2023. I actually launched this podcast in February. And just because I really felt a need to share the information that I was getting with women who are going through perimenopause and menopause, because I know there's so much misinformation out there.
And the podcast has really, really grown. So right now, 40 plus fitness for women podcast is in the top [00:01:00] 25 percent of all podcasts, there have been over 55, 000 downloads of the show in. 123 countries. And so far, I've put out 46 episodes. So one a week since I started in February. So I want to thank you so very, very much.
If you've been enjoying the show, please tell your friends about it. I know some of you have been doing that very actively and thank you for that. Though I do sell my coaching services, I do this podcast for free, and I know that a lot of people have been able to get started with the information that I give.
So if you want to show your support financially, I would be happy if you want to buy me a cup of virtual coffee. And if you're interested in doing that to show your appreciation, then there is a link in the show [00:02:00] notes. All right. Before we move on to 2024, I want to say that if you have been starting on a fitness journey or made some changes in 2023, please take Take an hour this January, in the beginning of January, to look back at how far you've come. Now I'm recording this on the 28th of December, so this is in my plans for the next couple days, to really look back, like, You know, to take one more set of progress pictures, probably tomorrow morning, and compare it to what I was looking like in January to see how far I've gone to dig back into my training, uh, tracker to look at what were the weights that I was using in January and see how far I've come.
So really exciting when you can see how much can happen in a year. The progress comes little by [00:03:00] little, right? Especially when you're making lifestyle changes, you start walking more.
Well, that's not going to show up overnight or in two weeks or three weeks. But maybe in three months. So it's important to look back over a longer period of time to really be able to see how much progress you have made. Okay, but let's get into my suggestions as the best New Year's resolutions for women above the age of 35. And these are really about self care, right? When you do fitness things, make lifestyle changes to improve your fitness and your health, this is self care. It's not another task on your to do list every week.
It should be something that becomes part of your every day. Like brushing your teeth, like putting those serums on your face or using body lotion or whatever it is that you have started doing to take care of yourself to make sure [00:04:00] that your body is in shape for the years ahead. If you think about it, why do you brush your teeth?
Remember the tooth brushing or the toothpaste industry for a long time was talking about, hey, you don't want your teeth to fall out. You want to have your teeth and not dentures. And that's why I think tooth brushing became. Really, really just part of life. You don't question, do I need to brush my teeth?
Oh, tooth brushing is boring. You just do it, right? Because you don't want to be using dentures when you're older. And the same way, some of these fitness things, and as you, if you know me at all, you know, I mean that lifting weights and weight training is going to be the number one thing that I want you to start doing.
But I'm not going to start with that.
So what I'm not going to encourage you to do is to start on some cleanse or a fast or some crazy diet to get rid of all those pounds that you've put on over the holidays [00:05:00] and, and you know, go do a ton of cardio, sweat it all out, pay back for all the calories that you've spent over, you know, the, the holidays.
No, that is not my opinion as far as what you should be doing in the new year. And if you listen to my most recent podcast, you will understand why. So don't do that. That's not very kind to yourself. If you want to do a cleanse as far as not Drinking any alcohol in January, that is amazing. And that actually supports all of the things that I am putting on my top five list.
And, um, you know, I don't think I'm going to do that myself actually, but I know a lot of my friends who have been out drinking many, many times a week, they are doing a. Alcohol free January. Anyway, so let's start with the first thing. So, new habits [00:06:00] for the new year. First is to really focus on your sleep.
And I know, sleep is boring. Oh my god, what's that going to do for me? It's not going to trim me down or anything. But actually, you know what? It will over time. So I'm really talking about lifestyle changes. And especially if you're in perimenopause and menopause, sleep for many, many, many women becomes a big issue.
It's harder to fall asleep. It's harder to get good quality sleep. And the repercussions of not getting good sleep are that you don't have enough energy to get through your day. You'll maybe have more brain fog than you normally have. You will have trouble recovering from your workouts. Your hunger and satiety hormones go out of whack, which means that you may be eating more than you would otherwise.
So, really, sleep is super important. And I know, for me, that was one of the [00:07:00] first things that I struggled with when I hit perimenopause was, I just couldn't fall asleep. I'd be lying in bed, And, you know, I'm totally calm, no concerns going through my head, but it was like the light just wouldn't switch off.
And I did get help from my doctor and started taking melatonin and even for a little while was using some AIDS so that I could just fall asleep. And, um, and I, you know, I, I, I'm not promoting any of these for any of you. It is always an individual decision. So talk to your healthcare professional. But if you are not getting quality sleep, if you're having trouble sleeping, then You may need help, but there are also a lot of sleep tips.
So I feel like I will do a sleep episode About some great things that you can do to improve your sleep that don't require [00:08:00] any kind of medicine or pills or whatever So if you're interested in that hit the subscribe button to make sure that you don't miss the episode It'll probably be in February because January I'm really focusing on Fitness stuff because people love to start fitness habits in January
the thing about sleep is that it is kind of like oxygen, that if you're holding your breath, like let's say you are swimming, you hold your breath and then you come up for air, you breathe a little bit harder for a little bit because you have to make up for the air that your body wasn't getting. And sleep is the same way.
It's not like you can just skip a night of sleep and then the next night you sleep a normal amount and. You don't notice any consequences. You know that of course you do. And you kind of need to get rid of that sleep deficit. And I think that our society today way too much encourages us to be like getting up super early in the morning that you [00:09:00] can't be a winner if you're sleeping till eight o'clock or you know, the, the, the successful people get up at five and go to the gym.
I think if you are a woman, especially in perimenopause, menopause, You need that sleep. And it is going to help you to be that super person because your brain will be working better. Your body will be working better. So aim for that seven to eight hours of sleep. So that's, that's my recommendation. Like focusing on sleep, making sure that you're getting the seven to eight hours of sleep.
And this is going to be a controversial opinion, but. I do not advocate getting up in the morning, skipping your sleep to train. Yes, I do think training is very important, but I think that sleep is even more important. So if you're somebody who's got to get up at five to fit it into your schedule, and then you're going to [00:10:00] sleep less than you need to sleep and you're living on coffee and you're not feeling good.
then no, don't do that. Personally. I luckily have a flexible work schedule, because I don't do this whole full time yet, though my, my hope for the future is that I will be able to do this full time. But so now when I go into bed, I set my alarm so that it's about eight and a half hours into the future.
So while I'm lying in bed, I know I'm going to turn out the lights. I set my alarm and I set it for about eight hours and 15 minutes, eight hours and 20 minutes into the future. And then I sleep till then. So some days I start my work day at eight. Some days I started at nine and then I just, you know, run the other end since I have sold eight hours of my day to my employer.
So that's how I do it. And that makes sure that I get enough sleep. So, there's just, uh, an idea for you. , I've been using the [00:11:00] Aura Ring for years now. And one of the things that it taught me very early on is that you definitely don't fall asleep the minute that your head hits the pillow.
Or if you are falling asleep the minute that your head hits the pillow, then you are sleep deprived, actually. It should be taking you, like, five minutes or something to fall asleep. But, um, but normally you don't fall asleep the minute your head hits a pillow. So you do need to take that into account as well.
All right. So sleep was number one, and number two, surprise, surprise, is weight training. So if you've got your sleep covered. The next thing that I would definitely do is.
Weight training, because every week, every month that you push that off into the future, your body is getting weaker and it's getting weaker. Not just your muscles, your bones, your [00:12:00] ligaments, your tendons. So weight training has health benefits far beyond just getting bigger muscles or being able to lift.
bigger weights. So it's important for you to get started so you can stop the decline and even reverse the decline and I talk about this and so many episodes, but even two days a week for an hour is plenty. You just make sure that you hit each of your muscle groups twice a week. And that is going to be stimulus For them to get going and shameless plug as usual is that if you need help, I have my do it yourself courses.
So my self study courses, which give you everything that you need to know to get started. So those are an inexpensive alternative with all the information that you need. And then if you want some coaching from me, then my group program is a great option. And the first one. For this [00:13:00] year is kicking off now in January.
So, uh, don't miss that registration. That's a lot of fun. Get lots of help from me.
And by the way, you know, the weight training, though, it has all those amazing health benefits and fitness benefits. You know, you can't forget the aesthetic benefits and that, you know, we're human. We like that motivator and it will really transform your body. So things that my clients have told me is that their friends have noticed like, Hey, you look different.
You're like standing differently, move differently. Uh, you look more firm, and it's okay to be happy about looking better. You know, we care about that. I'm not gonna deny that. I love that. I love it when people tell me, wow, I can't believe you're 52. You look great.
You look really firm. You look really fit. And that is a great [00:14:00] motivator. And then you get all the wonderful health benefits on top.
Okay. So number three on the list is movement. And now this was something where I was like, uh, movement or weight training, movement or weight training, which one do I want to put first? Because the thing is that the more they have studied it, the more they've realized that even just getting people walking.
Is super beneficial versus not moving. All right. You can think of this in two ways. And I really think about movement as how much you're moving during the course of the day, not like exercise movement, but that. Are you sitting at your desk all day? Or are you on like a walk pad? Or do you take five minute breaks and walk up and down the stairs?
Or are you talking on the phone and pacing in your office at the same time so that you're getting those steps? Are you parking a little bit further away in the garage so that you have to walk? Do you walk up the [00:15:00] steps rather than taking the elevator when you go shopping? So this kind of movement, the more of that you can get in your day, the better.
And that is actually the movement portion of the calories that you spend in a day is larger than what you spend going to an exercise class. So you are not going to be able to make up for the fact that you've been sitting all day by just going to the gym. And burning calories like a maniac for an hour.
So those kinds of step trackers are really useful for this. , you can use a sports watch or a Fitbit or, or a ring or whatever. And these tools are not exact, right? It's not like if it tells you you've done 10, 000 steps that you've actually done 10, 000 steps. And you can check this yourself. I did this, uh, where I checked how many steps my sports watch told me I'd done and my aura and wrote them down.
Then I went in, I walked [00:16:00] around my house for 200 steps. Like I went up the stairs, I went down the stairs. I did a little bit of like moving from one foot to the other. I paced around my living room, this kind of thing. And then I looked at what each of them told me and they're not accurate and they're not even in sync with each other.
So they give me different readings. So it's not like an exact science, but the idea is just for you to know at the end of the day that, Oh my God, I. barely budged today versus, wow, today I really like moved around. So, and I aim for about the 8, 000 steps per day. And if I get to 10, that's wonderful. And if that seems like a ton for you, so right now you're maybe at 3000 steps a day.
Don't, don't think that, Oh my God, I got to do 8, 000. And if not, then it's worthless.
So these New Year's resolutions that I'm proposing here are not [00:17:00] about like quick fixes. These are about lifestyle changes. So if today you're walking, 3000 steps, and you can increase that. By let's say 100 or 200 steps a day, just by taking two five minute breaks during your work day and walking around the office or walking up and down the stairs or not taking the elevator and using the stairs when you go to work.
That is already, that is a huge change over the course of the year, right? Cause it's like these small things that you change. which start to compound over time. So please don't feel like, Oh my God, Oh, I can never do the 8, 000 steps. So I'm not even going to start. No incremental is great. And the same thing with the weight training.
That's why I have programs which allow you to train just twice a week, because it's more important to get started and just consistently do it than it is for [00:18:00] you to do it perfectly all the time.
All right. And number four, actually, you don't need to move at all to do this one. So this is a, in a way, an easy one. Uh, no, maybe simple, but not easy, which is getting in more protein. And I have talked about this on past. episodes, but I think it's important to repeat this stuff over and over again. I actually had one podcast listener who wrote to me and she said she's listened to all my , podcasts once, and now she's going through and listening to them all a second time.
And she's noticed that she's catching more things the second time around. So that's why I figure I will repeat these things, because it's the repetition that is going to help you to remember them. But so with protein, The important thing to remember is that your body does not store amino acids in your body.
[00:19:00] So you actually need to be giving your body protein every single day. And your body is constantly, , breaking down your muscles and building them back up like in a small way, even if you're not weight training, because it kind of refreshes you all the time. Your body's doing that all the time, like your, your skin cells slough off and, and all that, right?
So muscles are similar in that, like break down, build, break down, build. But the problem is that if you don't have amino acids available in your body, then what's your body going to use to build those muscles back up, let alone if you're weight training, you need even more protein so that it can build bigger muscles than you had before.
So make sure that you are eating enough protein and that is so easy to say it is not so easy to do And as you age you actually need to be eating more protein not less protein [00:20:00] because your body gets worse about taking advantage of the protein that you're eating. So I've told you guys about my mom before who I preach this to her.
Every time I see her, I'm like, mom, have a steak, have some chicken, you know, have some salmon. Cause she's always, Oh, I just have a vegetable. She's like, Lynn, I had a sandwich for breakfast this morning, which with a slice of cheese and a slice of ham. It's like, Okay. That was maybe 20 grams of hem and cheese on there.
And those are not a hundred percent protein, by the way. So she's gotten maybe five grams of protein in that day. And she would need to get minimum hundred grams. I would say like, even if you don't know what your weight is. Try to minimum get a hundred grams of protein, and then if you want to be more optimal, get one gram [00:21:00] per pound of body weight.
And like I said, it is not an easy thing to do. Uh, it doesn't happen by accident. So you have to be conscious of what you're doing. So let's say I'm reaching for a snack. If I get a sandwich, piece of bread with some butter and cheese and, and ham, like really the If I weigh all those things, the majority of that is carbohydrates and fats and very, very little protein.
If I, on the other hand, choose a snack that's low fat cottage cheese, and then I have the slice of bread with it, that is going to be a whole different story. I can get like 25 grams of protein in that way. And you just need to make like a mindset shift to start getting in more protein that your snacks are built around a protein source.
Your meals are built around a protein source. And I have other podcast episodes around [00:22:00] protein. I think I have two of them and I'll do another one in February. So, uh, you can go back and listen to those. Or hit the subscribe button so you don't miss the February episode on protein. Okay, and then the fifth thing, because this too is important, but I'm putting it at five because this is the one that most women have got under control if they are working out at all.
And that is the cardio portion of fitness. Cardio is important. cardiovascular disease is a leading killer of women. It is important to be doing cardio exercise. Actually they had a recent study that, you know, weight training is starting to be recognized as having some cardio benefits, but I do still believe in doing separate cardio sessions.
But the thing about cardio [00:23:00] is it's a bit easier to add in there, right? Because you can do pretty much anything you like. You can play tennis, you can go spinning, you can go skiing, go for a walk, go for a jog, go dancing. Uh, you know, you can do stairs, whatever, you know, to get your heart rate. up a little bit, blood pumping.
And as far as, you know, what is the optimal cardio workout and how much zone two and, very high, heart rate cardio you should do. The recommendation for women in perimenopause and menopause is to make sure that we are doing the very high, hard cardio. And this is of course something you need to Build up to it's called sprint interval training, where you kind of go all out.
For a short period of time, and then you take a break, and then you go all out, and, and again, take [00:24:00] a break. I wouldn't recommend that if you've been a total couch potato, that would not be the place to start. You need to build up to that. And, uh, I'll talk more about Sprint interval training in a future episode, because that's a whole topic in itself, but suffice to say that number five.
So if you've got all the other things under control, so if your sleep is good and you're getting the seven to eight hours of sleep a night, you are weight training at least two days a week. You are moving. So you're getting in your daily steps. You have started eating protein enough of it, at least that a hundred grams a day, preferably more, but at least that a hundred grams a day, and there too, if you're now eating 20, getting to that a hundred is going to be like a huge leap.
So just start slowly. Inching up, think like, Hey, breakfast, what could I do to make my breakfast a little bit more protein rich? That already, you [00:25:00] know, every day you eat a breakfast that's more protein rich. That's great. Try to make your lunch a little bit more protein rich. Changing your habits slowly.
But so anyway, so if you've gotten these other four under control, then you're ready to get the cardio in there. And the reason that I will always put the strength training before the cardio is that, okay, strength training does have some cardio benefits. And also because cardio is much easier to build up than strength training, the, the muscles, the learning, the movements, all those things that.
Just takes time and cardio. If you start doing something for just a few weeks, your body starts adjusting quite quickly to cardio. So that's something that's just a bit easier for women. I think humans in general to get better at.
All right. So Final thoughts is remember that this is not a to do list that I'm trying to hand to you or [00:26:00] propose to you that oh my god, now this year I have to get these five things in place and it's a checklist and it's one more thing for me to stress about. No, what I'm proposing here is that if you want to be healthier, and more fit this year than you were last year.
Here are five areas to work on. And in my opinion, that would be the priority order
and think of it as self care. Now, some women may think, Oh, I need self care. I'll go and have a massage once a month or go to a facial once a month. And that's a pleasurable thing for them.
And in my opinion, getting a good night's sleep is a pleasurable thing. If you've ever slept well for like a week straight, Remember what different person you felt like, and any of the women who have started strength training [00:27:00] and kept at it for two or three months can tell you that you, you just start to feel really different and good in your body.
You're. Every day life gets easier. So these are self care things. Mindset is important. You get to do them so that you get to have a higher quality of life. All right. So wishing you a very, very happy beginning of 2024.
And next week I'll be talking about. The benefits of weight training for women and perimenopause and menopause. So that's really focused around why it is good for women in particular, and what's going on with our bodies in midlife. So till then happy training.