If you’re not already health coaching along with the fitness, I suggest you start. The two major areas to focus on for fitness in midlife:
Exercise
Every hour outside of Exercise
In the exercise itself:
Type of exercise and time it’s done
Length of the exercise
Intensity of the exercise
Sequence of exercises
Frequency of exercise
Rest between exercise
Purpose of every exercise and every session
…. Each of these has to be related to endocrine status, musculoskeletal status and conditions or injury history.
Outside of exercise:
Nutrition contributing to the preparation
Nutrition contributing to recovery
Hydration (for the same)
Course correcting to optimize effects of exercise on system (a body under stress can’t exercise hard and get results and eventually more intense exercise will be a part of muscle and bone success)
Sleep
Stress
So there’s a little to unpack during this episode. In fact, that would be an overwhelming amount of information for an episode. That in fact is more like a course (like the Flipping 50 Menopause Specialist Course). We’re going to focus here on the one biggest thing women want in midlife and find elusive: a flat belly. It’s so tied to metabolism, so we’ll focus on this little slice of information so you can start using it with clients tomorrow!
The #1 Key to Helping Clients Get a Flat Belly in Midlife
It’s all related to controlling BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS
a. Overall reduction
b. Reduction of spikes
5 Go-To Flat Belly Strategies to Drip Out for Clients
REDUCE OVERALL STRESS. That includes…
Monitor Exercise Effects on Your Client.
Exercise – walking + strength training are best. The exercise that causes more cortisol is that “moderate level” where after about 45 minutes blood sugar levels tend to increase and stay there.. causing your body to store fat. You can’t both store and burn fat.
But women can make a mess of walking and strength training unintentionally too. More is better mentality will kill the positive results they could be getting.
- Walking after meals is MOST beneficial
- Brisk walking trumps slow walking
- Strength training that increases lean muscle tissue makes every other movement or exercise you do daily support blood sugar control: muscle is a sponge for blood sugar
Change the order of the foods they’re eating.
Changing the sequence you eat foods putting protein and vegetables first and carbs last can change the impact of glucose spikes by 75%
Start with Apple Cider vinegar before a meal 1-2 T diluted in a glass of water is proven to significantly reduce blood sugar spikes that occur after meals.
2 More Ways to Help Clients Get a Flat Belly in Midlife
Increase movement throughout the day. Even a few minutes of standing pacing, sitting on a desk bike, a few times during the morning and the afternoon reduced post meal blood sugar spikes 17% even when the activity didn’t occur after meals
If you know you’re going to eat something that will spike your blood sugar (I like my morning caffeine and unfortunately it spikes my blood sugar – rather than give it up, I’ve decided it stays but afterwards I go for a 30 minute walk every day shortly after when otherwise blood sugar would spike. Go me… and go my matcha! This should be the same for stress…. In an argument, take a walk and blow off steam. Many of us do this naturally and don’t even know it. Moving moves emotions through us but joyful and grief and anger. And it helps keep the blood sugar levels stable.
For coaching, these could be dripped out teachable parts of a mini course, a bonus course to live beside your fitness course, or an upsell to a mini course.
When female clients come to you for core exercise, it’s often not the right tool for the job. Use that to attract and this to give them what they need.
Other Episodes You Might Like:
7 Tips to be a Personal Trainer Every Midlife Woman Wants to Work With https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/be-a-personal-trainer/
5 Menopause Exercise Programming Tips from Recent Exercise Studies
https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/menopause-exercise-programming/
Training Midlife Clients | Zone 2 Training For Menopause: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/zone-2-training-for-menopause/
Resources:
Menopause Fitness Specialist™ Program:
https://www.flippingfifty.com/menopause-fitness-specialist-program-2022/
Health & Fitness Business Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard
WellPros Mastermind & Mentorship Group: https://www.flippingfifty.com/WELLPROS
Theia Glucose Monitor: https://www.flippingfifty.com/myglucose
