Diving In-1

Looking for a workout to help with hormonal balance? Or do you already have Healthy Hormones Menopause Management?

As I stated in my last blog post, HHMM as we call it is not just for menopausal women.  Men can even benefit from it!  It was developed specifically to help women struggling with the hormonal changes of menopause, especially thyroid and adrenal issues that can be “subclinical” and not diagnosed until the ovaries start shutting down, revealing imbalances.  The female hormones, the thyroid, and the adrenals work together for hormonal balance. When one is out of whack, it affects the others.   For example, if the thyroid is not working optimally, the adrenals and female hormones will try to take on the portion the thyroid can’t carry. That can work for awhile, but eventually the adrenals wear down and/or the female hormones get more imbalanced (estrogen dominance, anyone?).  This will really show up when we hit perimenopause, that period of 10 years or so before menopause when the ovaries start slowing down in preparation for menopause.  That is why some women feel like they are “losing it” in their 40s and 50s! It’s not hysteria–it’s hormonal imbalances that were already there but masked that are showing up in full force!  We can feel like we’ve lost our body, our mind and sanity!

Thankfully, there is help!  As I stated earlier this week, I feel AMAZING when I do about half of HHMM at a time.  Any more than that and I will usually need a nap (or two!) the next day–a very clear sign that I have pushed too far.  Each of us needs to listen to her body’s cues and learn to stop before pushing too far. Sometimes that is a rear-view mirror look after the fact!

As promised, I’m going to share some ideas for splitting the Healthy Hormones workout to suit your schedule and your stamina level!

 

How Do I Know Where to Start?

If you have any–and I mean ANY–hormonal issues, including estrogen dominance, thyroid issues or adrenal fatigue, start small. You can always add to what you’re doing, and hopefully find your “sweet spot” before crashing.  But if you go all out and crash and burn, it will take longer to crawl out of that hole. NO one wants to do that!

So let’s start “small”.

HHMM has 9 moves, and the Instructional has 10, including the stance.  Start with the Instructional and go through it at least 4 times total. There’s no rush!

We’ll take it in a 3 moves per day schedule (this is the regular workout, but it’s close to the same for Instructional):

M-Spinal Curl through Plies Sequence (this includes using a towel for part of the Spinal Curl)
T- Spinal Curl, then Plie Pulls & Combo, finish with the Spinal Curl after Combo
W- Spinal Curl, T-Tapp Twist with a towel (light day)
Th- Spinal Curl, T-Tapp Twist, Hoedowns
F- Spinal Curl, Oil Wells with a towel, Oil Wells
S- Spinal Curl, Hoedowns
Sun- Off or Spinal Curl

I’ve used a Monday through Sunday “week”, with Sunday off, but if your day off is Tuesday, just put Monday’s moves on Wednesday.

You can rotate through the moves in various ways–just be sure to do them in the same sequence.  In other words, you can skip moves, but don’t go back and do moves you skipped.   On Thursday’s example above, you wouldn’t do Spinal Curl, T-Tapp Twist and then go back and do Plies Sequence. Also, be sure to do Spinal Stretch before you do other moves, especially twisting moves.  You can skip some of the towel work of Spinal Stretch from time to time for time’s sake, but don’t omit it all the time!

If you find this routine is still too much, cut back to every other day.  On the off days you could do just Spinal Stretch.  You can use this same idea with the Instructional–you may even want to do just 2 moves per day on some of the moves that take longer.  Listen to your body and let your stamina be your guide!  I would suggest splitting the form tips up over 2 days and go through them at least once.

 

Feeling Really Tanked?  How About in a Chair?!

If you can’t stand for even 3 moves, whether it’s adrenal/thyroid issues or joint issues, did you know you can do many of these moves in a chair?  Oh yes you can!

Stand to do the Spinal Stretch, then sit down to do the towel portions.  You can go down the legs as you sit in a chair–just don’t go too low if you start getting dizzy.   Plies, Plies Pulls and Combo, the standing portion of Oil Wells, T-Tapp Twist and T-Tapp Twist with a towel can all be done in a chair!  If you have MORE or TappCore 2, you know how to do Hoedowns in a chair–and yes–that counts!

The other standing move you might want to do is the “Mitten Chop Organs in Place” which is sprinkled throughout the workout.  Healthy Hormones–even in a chair!

 

When Can I Do More?

Once you tolerate 3 moves daily with no worsening of symptoms and actually feeling better, you can start adding a bit more.  I call this “short workout every other day”. It’s doing about half of HHMM every other day. This is approximately 4-5 moves, with off days having 2 moves.  You can do just Spinal Curl or take off days completely off.

Let’s take the Instructional first:

M- Beginning through Organs in Place (this includes the Intro through curling the spine, Plies and then OIP)
T- Form Tips
W-The Stance, Curl/Scoop Spine; Lat Pulls through Oil Wells
Th- Form Tips
F- The Stance, Curl/Scoop Spine, Using a Towel; T-Tapp Twist and Oil Wells
S- Off
Sun- The Stance through Using a Towel, Hoedowns

And now the regular workout:

M-Beginning through Oil Wells
T-  Spinal Curl, T-Tapp Twist with a towel (or off)
W- Spinal Curl, then T-Tapp Twist through Hoedowns
Th-  Spinal Curl, Oil Wells with a towel (or off)
F- Beginning through Oil Wells
S-  Spinal Curl, T-Tapp Twist with a towel (or off)
Sun- Completely off or continue alternating half at a time

 

Graduating to Daily Workouts

Using the halfway split in the last sequence, you can start doing workouts daily. Now, don’t just jump right in to a workout every day!  Work out Monday and Tuesday, make Wednesday a light day (2 moves), then do half the workout again Thursday and Friday, make Saturday another light day, take Sunday off, and see how well you tolerate that.  Eventually you can ease into doing workouts Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday is a light day, do workouts Thursday through Saturday and Sunday is an off day.  Or shift the light and off days around to suit your schedule! Having a light day in the middle of your workout “week” will help guard against overtraining. Taking a day off helps as well!

 

Listen to What Your Body Says!

It’s important to listen to your body’s cues as you work through this process.  Really, there’s nothing wrong at all with sticking with 3 moves daily or doing half of HHMM every other day.  Finding your sweet spot is easier when you slowly add vs jumping in with doing all of the workout every single day.  Watch for feeling less energetic or needing naps later in the day (or the next day), brain fog getting worse, muscles or joints aching more than usual post-workout aches.  If you notice any of those, back off.   Finding your sweet spot is crucial–that place where you feel good, even better than before and possibly are seeing some improvement in inch loss. But you’re not doing too much to where you crash and burn.  Results at the expense of your health are not true results!

{Disclosure: The sentence below contains an affiliate link. If you purchase through this link I will receive a small commission which helps me keep the website updated to bring you even more information, support and encouragement!}

You can check out HHMM at the T-Tapp Webstore to read more about it.

I hope you enjoy these tips and find your “sweet spot” for HHMM–and I’d love to hear how it’s going for you!  Please comment or contact me to let me know how you like it and if you find one of these schedule ideas helpful!

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