Kait Ann-Michelle describes herself as an “exercise scientist”, so what does that mean?

It means: she has an MS in exercise science, and an MA in clinical psychology.

With this mind, here’s what she has to say about hormones, weight gain/loss, and more:

What she wants us to know

Things to bear in mind over a certain age include:

• That “certain age” is about 35. If that seems a lifetime ago to you, in a way it could well be, if your hormones were very different then. In popular culture, menopause is often played as a joke, and the bar for having passed it is usually set quite high. But since the hormonal changes themselves begin nearer 35, that’s where to start examining things.
  • A lot of online advice is woefully inappropriate for women over that age. Which is quite an injustice, as the 25–35 age range is such a tiny slice of life, yet it seems 80–90% of everything is aimed at it and tailored for it.
• Estrogen gets talked about a lot, but there are many hormones involved in perimenopausal symptoms, as one thing affects another, and before you know it, estrogen, progesterone, and even non-sex hormones like cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormones, and melatonin can be entirely out from where they should be. And the longer this goes on, the more pronounced and deep-rooted the effects.
  • That goes for weight too, especially given the cortisol, insulin, and thyroid imbalances.
• It’s not just a case of “one hormone affects another”, either. Yes, it’s that too, but for example if you have a mood swing due to low estrogen, which creates a stressful situation that ups your cortisol, then you don’t sleep so well, then the next day you are more tired so you skip the exercise you planned, and then and then and then… In short, lifestyle factors matter a lot too; they affect, and are affected by, our hormones.
  • All of this does tend to lead to weight gain if mismanaged.
• She advises advises taking up HRT once it becomes appropriate (which for most women means around menopause—though other conditions can make HRT indicated earlier or in some cases not at all), and/but also focusing a lot on “lifestyle medicine”, that is to say, diet and exercise, good sleep, stress management, and so forth.
  • All of this does tend to lead to weight loss/maintenance if managed correctly.
• She doesn’t recommend guesswork when it comes to hormones, though, and rather recommends getting regularly tested for: thyroid panel, estradiol, progesterone, DHEAS, testosterone, CBC, lipid panel, CMP, and hemoglobin A1c, as well as, ideally, “nice-to-have lab values” of cortisol, IGF1, vitamin D3, homocysteine, B12, SHBG, FSH, LH, iron, ferritin, and CRP.
  • That’s a lot of tests, so note, they’re in relative order of importance.

She notes that your doctor probably won’t want to do all those and will probably try to talk you out of them, so be prepared to advocate for yourself, as comprehensive lab work gives a full picture that the bare minimum does not.

For more details on all of these, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

• What Does “Balance Your Hormones” Even Mean?
• What You Should Have Been Told About The Menopause Beforehand
• HRT: A Tale Of Two Approaches (Bioidentical vs Animal)
• HRT & Your Heart
• Hormones & Health, Beyond The Obvious

Take care!

Do more with less:

Let’s open things up…

Hip mobility exercises will, by default, be hip-opening exercises. The criteria used by mobility coach Liv Townsend to qualify these top 5 exercises are:

• improves both strength and range of motion
  • these are the qualifying characteristics for a mobility exercise; if an exercise improves only one or the other, then it’s just a strength exercise or just a flexibility exercise
• is accessible from almost any starting point
  • realistically, rather than “if you can’t do the vertical splits while balancing on one leg, start by doing the vertical splits against the wall” (yes, that’s a real piece of advice this writer saw in the wild one time)
• can be progressively loaded or deepened
  • because otherwise we would get very limited benefits from it, so this characteristic is necessary too
• delivers high value by working multiple muscles
  • because frankly, we have a lot of muscles, and working them all individually would take a lot longer than most of us have time to commit

With these criteria in mind, here are 5 exercises that do all those things, and do them well:

• Bulgarian split squat: ranks highest for accessibility, progression, strength, and mobility, improving hip extension in your back leg, hip flexion and internal-rotation stability in your front leg, and stretching your glutes, quads, and hip flexors through deep ranges, with balance easily assisted if needed.
• Lateral squat: delivers high value by improving mobility and strength in your glutes, quads, adductors, hamstrings, and ankles, emphasizes inner-thigh mobility and external hip rotation, and progresses with depth or load, but can be less accessible due to common form challenges.
• Single-leg Romanian deadlift: combines hamstring lengthening with strength through your full hinge range, is accessible at any flexibility level, and progresses easily with load, but ranks lower because it mainly targets a single mobility area.
• Squat: develops quad strength and stretches your quads and hip flexors on descent, is broadly accessible and scalable with depth, blocks, or bands, but offers lower overall value because it lacks hip rotation and minimal posterior-chain involvement.
• Shin box: builds strength and flexibility through internal and external hip rotation, strengthens your glutes on the lift, stretches your hip flexors and adductors at the top, and is easily progressed with load, but loses points for accessibility due to required internal rotation and starting-position demands.

For more on all of this, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

The Most Underrated Hip Mobility Exercise (Not Stretching)

Take care!