I am 49 and just entering menopause and have noticed that my muscle mass is depleting( and unfortunately slowly being replace by fat cells). I swim about 15000 ( 3000 5 days per week) meters a week and lift weights 2-3 days per week. My last meet was horrible and wonder if my poor performance is linked to this loss of muscle. I am not taking hormone replacement therapy because I don't have the other nasty symptoms of night sweats and hot flashes. My only other complaint is not sleeping well. (awake at 2 a.m. and have trouble returning to sleep).
My question to you women who have already come out the other side is really this- menopause is here to stay, no way around that. But does that mean I have to swim so poorly?? Obviously there are still 45-55 year old women who are still quite fast. Would horomone replacement therapy help me there? When lifting weights, should I do more weight and less repetition? Should I cut my yardage some so that I have more rest?
I know there was an article on this in Swim magazine, but it didn't address these specific questions. Thanks for any input.
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Former Member
This will be a very interesting thread for the women over 50. I have the sleep problems too. My doc thinks swimming in the evening is too stimulating and that may be part of the sleep problem. He told me to swim in the morning. Only problem the pool doesn't open early enough for me to swim more than 30 minutes! I haven't followed his advice on that. Recently there have been weeks when I couldn't get to the pool, so I'm pretty sure it isn't the swimming that is keeping me awake. I have trouble falling and staying asleep even when I don't swim in the evenings. I tried HRT hoping that would solve the sleep problem... no improvement... so I'm no longer doing that. As for muscle mass, I saw an improvement in my muscle mass when I started swimming, doing deep water aerobics/weights and taking CLA. (Oh boy I've openned the worm can again)
This will be a very interesting thread for the women over 50. I have the sleep problems too. My doc thinks swimming in the evening is too stimulating and that may be part of the sleep problem. He told me to swim in the morning. Only problem the pool doesn't open early enough for me to swim more than 30 minutes! I haven't followed his advice on that. Recently there have been weeks when I couldn't get to the pool, so I'm pretty sure it isn't the swimming that is keeping me awake. I have trouble falling and staying asleep even when I don't swim in the evenings. I tried HRT hoping that would solve the sleep problem... no improvement... so I'm no longer doing that. As for muscle mass, I saw an improvement in my muscle mass when I started swimming, doing deep water aerobics/weights and taking CLA. (Oh boy I've openned the worm can again)
