7d ago
Sixty and standing outside my local gym last Tuesday like a complete muppet, coat on, bag on shoulder, just... not going in. Watched three women probably half my age bounce past me and thought nope, turned round, went home and had a biscuit. I know that's not the story anyone wants to hear but there it is. I've been reading about strength training because everything I've come across says it matters more after menopause, not less. Which is annoying because I genuinely thought I'd earned the right to stop caring about this. But my joints have been awful and my GP mentioned that building a bit of muscle might actually help with that long term. So I'm not doing this for aesthetic reasons, I want to be clear about that. I just want to be able to open a jar without wincing. What I have actually managed, which is more modest: I've been doing some gentle mobility stuff before bed. Hips mostly. Ten minutes off YouTube, nothing dramatic. And honestly it's the one thing I've kept up because it doesn't require leaving the house or wearing trainers in public. My sleep has been slightly less terrible on the nights I do it. Could be coincidence. Could be the fact that I'm finally just lying still for ten minutes before I expect myself to sleep. Who knows. The gym thing is still hanging over me. I'm not ready to walk back in and pretend I know what I'm doing. But I have a GP appointment next month and I want to ask properly about where my fatigue levels actually sit before I push myself too hard. Because last time I tried to "get back into exercise" I went too hard too fast and then crashed for a week and felt worse. I don't want that again. Has anyone here started strength work really, really gently? Like embarrassingly gently? I'd find that reassuring. x