My Favourite Quick Leg Day: As a Busy Mum of 2 in Perimenopause!

Lunging, Lifting, and Little Changes:

Read time: 4 minutes

Coming up: protein, pushing, small exercise life hacks, 2 useful supplements, why you shouldn’t work as hard as you might think, and a leg day you can do on even your busiest days.

⌚ You’re here because you don’t have much time ⌚

… and I get it: I don’t have much time either.

👋 I’m Elaine Ellis; an entrepreneur, a mum of two, and the co-founder of Sentro Labs.

(I’m also busy with many other things, but I won’t bore you with the details).

Anyway, I like keeping fit and healthy.

Why?

Well, for the same reasons you like keeping fit and healthy.

But I’m also going through perimenopause. So: I get tired and sluggish, I suffer from crashes and cravings, my weight is now harder to manage, and my stress and sleep have become a tad more tricky.

… which means I now take even more care with exercise, supplements, and nutrition.

So—here’s my favorite quick-but-challenging leg workout:

My quick leg workout as a busy mum of 2 (with only four stages!)

First of all, head to a gym (even the most basic gyms should have everything you need):

Warm up: 10 minutes walking on the treadmill. Your breathing should be slightly heavy for the last 5 minutes.
Leg extensions: 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Between each set, rest for 60 seconds.
Leg curls: 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Between each set, rest for 60 seconds.
Walking lunges: 3 sets of 8-10 reps. You can hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand, to make these more challenging. Between each set, rest for 60 seconds.

Some important notes on my leg workout:

● Sometimes, you might want to do 1-leg extensions and 1-leg curls (instead of the standard 2-leg variations of both movements I’ve described above). These are better for working on balance, coordination and stabilisation—especially useful if you hike or run; or do yoga or pilates.

● Don’t skip the warmup, even if you’re short on time. At our age, warming up is VERY important.

● Similarly, make sure you do all four exercises, even if you don’t do all four sets of each. These exercises, in this combination, are chosen specifically to work as many leg muscles as possible.

● Focus on slow, controlled reps: this builds more muscle, and helps to avoid injury. Most importantly, take 2-3 seconds to do the ‘lowering’ portion of each lift.

● To maintain your strength and simply focus on being fit, do this workout once a week. But to build muscle and strength, do it twice a week. If you decide to hit this workout twice a week, you could switch out some exercises (eg., swap the lunges for squats, and swap the leg curls for Romanian deadlifts).

● Make sure you’re getting enough protein: this helps build muscle, boost metabolism, and improve recovery. Here’s much more on why protein is so important for women in menopause and perimenopause.

For more exercise ideas, here’s my favourite gentle full-body workout (focusing mainly on flexibility and core strength).

What if I don’t want to go to the gym?

Before we get to that, I do recommend getting to a gym:

● They’re supportive places

● It’s nice to exercise somewhere other than home

● I’ve made friends in the gym, and you can build a community there

● The equipment I’ve recommended will isolate your muscles in the right way. This will reduce your risk of injury, and make it easier to make progress without lots of specialist technique and knowledge

That said, if you don’t have access to a gym, you can:

● Go for a walk or hike

● Try the lunges at home (in this case, add more reps each time you do the lunges)

● Use water bottles as weights, or buy some affordable dumbbells or sandbags online [1]

Other ways I help and support my body during perimenopause

Because I’m currently going through perimenopause, I really need to prioritize my rest and recovery.

So, here are 3 other things I do:

● Control my stress and sleep: my bedroom is cool and dark, I get around 7 hours of sleep per night, and I try to wake and sleep at the same time every day (though that’s not always possible). I also take the EQUILIBRIUM stress & sleep complex, featuring Ashwagandha, L-Theanine, Magnesium, and more.

● Pay more attention to what I’m drinking: I slurp on 6-8 glasses of water per day, and I drink before I’m thirsty. I’m also much more mindful about when I do (and don’t!) drink caffeine and alcohol.

● I take HARMONY. Featuring Vitamin D, Magnesium Bisglycinate, Zinc Bisglycinate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Selenium, and Lion’s Mane, it’s specifically designed to help with the symptoms and side effects of menopause and perimenopause. It’s reduced my stress, inflammation, fatigue, crashes, and cravings—and boosted my mood, energy, and gut health.

Legs and lunges: final thoughts

Done! That’s everything you need to know about my favourite leg workout.

To sum up (as a short-on-time mother going through perimenopause!), my 4 top tips on exercise are:

Prioritise performing exercises properly, using short workouts, and getting good recovery
Make sure you’re working as many muscles as possible
Focus on adding more protein to your diet
Consider using some simple supplements

These four tips will get you fitter and healthier, and offset some symptoms of menopause and perimenopause.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the workout,

Elaine x

Oh, and before you go: for a bit more about my personal life, here’s a day in the life with me. And for the men in your life, here’s my husband Robert’s favourite testosterone-boosting quick cardio workout.